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HL2’s Ravenholm: Yours, For Free
Written by Alec Meer on November 15, 2007 at 7:57 pm.
Nick sends a piece of Half-Life 2 fan-art ingenuity that’s not only awesome, but also going for free to anyone interested. Free! If only I a) lived in Minneapolis b) had an empty warehouse to keep this stuff in.
Seems a chum of his held a Ravenholm (spooky HL2 zombie level) theme party this Halloween, and now he’s not sure do to with all the gigantic and impressive props he made for it. To whit: a headcrab rocket, a stack of authentic HL2 ammo crates and eight replica buzzsaw blades.
Nice work, Nick’s friend Jarrin.
So, have a gander at the ad on Craigslist, and if you’re able to go collect this huge haul of unique Valve tribute, you know what to do. And if an RPS reader does grab this stuff, we fully expect to see what you’ve done with it, m’kay?
Related Stories:
- The Orange Box: Team Fortress 2 Beta, And Half-Life Themed Peggle
- RPS Verdict: Half-Life 2 Episode Two
- Half-Life 2: The RTS
__________________
Nick says:
He (Jarren, the host) actually dressed as the G-Man. I was a City-17 rebel, and there was an excellent Alyx Vance there, as well.
November 15th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
Matthew Gallant says:
@Nick
To stay in character, were you saying “excuse me” and reminding people to reload a whole lot? :O
November 15th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Wroth says:
I demand costume pics!
November 15th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Jarrin says:
Yes, he was.
Sadly, no one came costumed as Dr. Freeman so we couldn’t harrass him endlessly (or, alternatively, politely got out of his way when we would have inevitably blocked him in the hallway).
November 15th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Inglorion says:
I don’t mean to troll or anything, but I found Ravenholm to be the most boring part of the HL2 series thus far. Not scary either: just a bit eerie.
November 15th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Eschatos says:
Maybe if some of the traps were for sale, like the car crushers or a gas tank/electric spark combo.
November 15th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
I thought Ravenholm was the worst part of HL2 too, as it happens. In terms of level design/structure, anyway - the atmosphere certainly worked for me.
November 15th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
Will Tomas says:
I dunno, I quite liked Ravenholm. I came to it on the back of just having played Doom 3, and kept thinking all the way through, “this is so much better than Doom 3.” So that rather brightened my view of it. Also those black headcrabs managed to be fairly freaky. And realising you could sythe down zombies made me grin like a maniac.
But different strokes for different folks. Personally I found much of Episode 1 to be the most boring (read: routine) part of the HL2 series, but thankfully Ep2 made up for it.
Anyway, back on topic, those props are nicely done. Although mocking up a Gravity gun (with blu-tack on the end? Double-sided sellotape?) would have been brilliant.
November 15th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
Nick says:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB_TmIJ12Wo
Headcrab rocket mobile phone video, crappy quality
November 15th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Chis says:
This is how successful those crates are: I desperately want to smash them with a crowbar. :P
November 15th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
chesh says:
Oh, man, I totally grew up right by there (50th and Vincent). If my dad hadn’t just moved out of state, I’d have him get it all and somehow ship it to me in Utah.
November 16th, 2007 at 2:32 am
chesh says:
And for the record, I loved Ravenholm. I kept a single Weighted Companion Blade through the whole level, but it was tragically lost somewhere in the mines :(
November 16th, 2007 at 2:35 am
JVGP100 (Katsumoto) says:
I’m afraid the second level of Episode 2 takes my award for shittest moment of HL2+Episodes. I thought it was by far the weakest moment in the entire series, including Half Life 1. You know the bit I mean. Antlions. That spit. God.
Incidentally, awesome costumes! A step up from the normal “i’m a pirate” routine that gets rolled out.
November 16th, 2007 at 9:01 am
derFeef says:
I want to have on of these crates. Having it in my room makes me feel safe. “Im sure there is something useful in there, regardless of the situation I am facing” Thirsty? break it and there is a bottle of water inside. Cut your finger? break it and there is a plaster inside. Your girlfriend is getting romantic? You know what do to…
November 16th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Andrew says:
Awesome, I love the crates. Ahhh…memories.
If anyone could get some better pictures or info on how they were made then non-Minneapolis people can make their own! That’d be cool.
Great idea too, I’d go as a rebel since it’s a lot more personal then one of the main characters, and you can utter nonsensical things all the time!
November 16th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
FaceOmeter says:
I’d like to join the Ravenholm apologists (and by the way, awesome props, minneapolis people!). I *hate* Ravenholm, but I think it’s designed to be hated, and it works brilliantly. Think of how delicately valve manage your ammo conservation. They put enough ammo in the level that you can get through, but not so much that you aren’t CONSTANTLY wetting yourself. Genius.
And that’s before you factor in my pathological, irration, crazy fear of headcrabs. I’ve been known to jump backwards from my computer desk. I mean, seriously, I have a problem. And don’t even TALK about the sodding fast ones… uhuhuhuh
Overall then on Ravenholm-
Design: 10/10
Enjoyment: -10^10/10
November 16th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
pikov says:
A Weighted Companion Blade is quite nice, but I enjoyed Ravenholm much more when I replayed it with my Weighted Companion Ball (stolen from Dog).
November 18th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
mike says:
ravenholm was crap bang zombie dead bang another zombie dead ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzz
August 12th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
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Best Halloween party idea ever? Definitely.
I bet the host dressed as Father Grigori.
November 15th, 2007 at 8:31 pm