Another refreshing mod available for the all-so popular Half-Life is Desert Crisis. DC is basically your futuristic post apocalyptic modification. Everything is based in the future, so there is going to be some unorientated weapons and levels included. The plot revolves around a great war between the U.S. and rebels who want defection from the U.S. Eventually, they get into a big war, and that's where you come into play. Desert Crisis is a well-designed mod, with plenty of levels, and customizeable options to go along with it. Let's start with the graphics.

The graphics are very clean and stable. You'll rarely see jagged edges, or unformed weapon models. Player models are by far the best. DC is one of the few mods to incoporate a full make your own head option, which can combine for over 8000 combinations! You can wear sunglasses, a cigarette, sniper hat, anything you want. Weapon animations are very unique, with twirling of dual pistols, the neat schshing sound of the katana, and even the thwap thwap of your fists. The layout of your menus is organized very well, with cap points on the right, and they begin to flash when they're about to be captured. That way, you know when and where the enemy is going to capture a point. There's some slowdowns on maps from special effects, but it's all good.

Sound is very punk rock oritentated. Lots of that bash your head off the ground stuff. Most of the gameplay in DC revolves around capture the point, with a winning team capturing all points on a map. There are also a few round maps with each person allowed two lives, but they're a rarity in DC. In order to capture a point, you have to press the use button at a computer terminal for a certain amount of time. If you fail to hold the key down for that certain amount of time, then your team doesn't gain posession of the point. Plus, you're vulnerable to getting your head sliced off since you can't attack the enemy while capping. Thus, teamwork becomes a heavily involved issue.

What makes DC so unique is how you can customize your character. There's a good variation of primary weapons, at least 15 different ones. Weapons have different modes, ranging anywhere from 3 round bursts, to automatic, and even your semi-automatic burst. Melee can be the most fun since there's 5 different weapons. You have machetes, a katana, an electrified sledge hammer, throwing knives, and your fists. Using melee weapons does an insane amount of damage, sometimes an instant kill if you can hit your opponent. In other cases, guns are very highly preferred. There's two different sniper rifles, and tons of plasma, flamethrowing, and shotgun beasts to watch out for. You can select armor (if you'd like), and you have a stamina bar when you sprint or jump. There's lots of special moves like flips, wall jumps, and even jump kicks.

It's almost impossible to stress how much teamwork is essential to DC. Sure, you can kill a lot of people if you want, but in order to cap points, you need distractions from teammates so they can buy you time to cap the point. DC is one of the rare hybrid games that combines teamwork, matrix-like fighting, and fun. I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for a change of pace from Counter-Strike, or your realistic Day of Defeat mods. Sure, Desert Crisis isn't overwhelmingly popular, but there's a good solid amount of dedicated servers (5-10) with fast ping times. The mod has been well out for over a year, and the skill level of the players ranges anywhere from n00b to elite. Basically, if you're looking for a change of pace in your Half-Life gaming, than DC just may be for you.

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TIPS

• While armor may seem like an upgrade, avoid using it. Armor slows down your speed greatly, and burns your stamina quicker on jumps and sprints.
• Kung-Fu is a very useful ability if you utilize it correctly. Always use the sprint attack with kung fu for maximum carnage.
• When capturing a point, make sure you have cover from one teammate.
• Wall jumps are essential to reach rare places in the game. To wall jump, jump once in the direction of a wall, and press jump again right before hitting the wall.
• The Desert Eagle is the best balance of power and accuracy for a pistol.
• The SIG is the best pistol for accuracy, try to aim for the head when in use.
• The SPAS shotgun is one of the most underrated weapons in the game, if wielded correctly, you can take down numerous opponents in a firefight.
• Switching to the braced mode on the SPAS forms a smaller spread per shot, thus taking more HP per shot.
• The SMAW Rocket Launcher is a great Extra Equipment weapon since it has infinite range, and can knock snipers out of their camping positions.
• Another weapon for annoying players is the flamethrower. The flamethrower not only causes havoc, but it puts up a wall of flames that can be used for covering your troops' movements.
• Certain weapons have the ability to overheat. Make sure you watch the meter so your gun doesn't overheat in the skidline of a battle.
• Use the long flip jump as much as possible. Flips are great for avoiding shots and kung fu people. Remember, you can flip in any direction. To flip, press CTRL + jump key. You'll do a high jump, irregular from a normal jump.
• The best melee weapon in the game is the katana. Using kung fu, you can easily rush a group of people and dash kill all of them.
• When using the sledge hammer, time your swings gently. There's a delay between pressing the attack key since it has a slow attack.
• Woo-tastic is the most n00bish way of playing DC. It provides you with unlimited pistol ammo, and increased adrenaline. Avoid using it since you won't be considered to have much skill.
• Bio Regen is the most useful ability in DC, it regenerates your health automatically. It's like having nine lives!
• Always try different modes on weapons, throwing knives for example can also be tossed 3 at a time, but lose velocity as a result.
• When sniping with the HK rifle, switch to semi-automatic mode, and zoom in for headshot kills. A sharpshooter with the HK is one of the easiest ways to get kills, but also one of the lamest.
• If you confront a kung-fu person, try to rush them, but jump over their swings. The best idea is to do a long flip jump over them, and keep shooting.
• Another way for ridding of campers is the Plasma Cannon. The Plasma Cannon shoots giant plasma balls which are "almost" a guaranteed kill if you can hit them dead on. Plasma shots also have splash damage, so try to get a shot near an opponent for some damage.
• If you want to help out your team, stick together. If a point is about to be capped, cover your capper, don't stand around like a goofball.
• When you notice one of your points is being capped by the enemy, run to that point and kill the capper. Don't get distracted and start shooting the first person you see, kill the capper at all costs. He makes the difference between your team losing or winning.
• There are secrets on each map in DC. Please note that secrets must be enabled by the server admin in order to find them.
• There is no difference between the USA and UPKO teams, except for the Desert and Black cameos.

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