10/10 would recommend- Double Action: Boogaloo (Half life 2 mod)

This is a series that will not stick to my usual schedule. It won't replace the post that week, you'll get a bonus one. But this is an occasional thing where I will talk about something I played/watched/maybe even read that got my attention and deserves yours. This time it's a mod for Half Life 2. Console fan boys can leave now, this is PC's time to shine.

Double Action: Boogaloo is a mod that is ridiculous. You realize this after reading the title for the first time. Yes, it is actually called that. Now, how to describe this game. The closest I can get is by saying that if The Matrix and Max Payne were at a party one night, got very drunk  and made an increasingly poor series of decisions, this game would exist in 9 months time. And I am glad we live in a world where this game exists and I can use that as a metaphor and you're just going to accept it.

In case my description there was poor, this is a multiplayer game in which you must run around, do the shooty and complete various objectives. You can choose from three character models and five classes and a variety of loadouts. At this point, the fun starts. This being a game on the source engine, gameplay is smooth (other than lag but my internet sucks, so not holding that against it) and the graphics are good enough. Not impressive but not poor either. These all need to be like this to make way for the ridiculous gameplay that ensues. You run around, trying to find another player. Once you find them, execute them with extreme style. Literally. The game awards your style with points that go towards your meter (I'll come back to this in a second). You can get these points for getting kills while you are in the air, sliding on the ground or when you and your target are both in the air, charging towards each other.

Oh yes. You can leap at each other. You can slide along the floor. You can wall jump. All at the click of a button. It's so easy. And once you've collected enough of these style points, you can use slow-mo. This should be chaotic but it's not. It's beautiful. All players in the map are brought into slow-mo but this means you can appreciate the beauty of their kill or use this to take out another player. Because of this, every single match is filled with moments that the best action films will only ever get at the end. But you get these moments frequently. And their beauty and intensity never lessens. It's an art form at this point.

I'd say that if you own a decent PC and a copy of Half Life 2, you have no reason to not be playing this. It's over the top silliness, constant action and beautiful slowmo are unmissable and are something that more games should be trying to do. If a modder can create this kind of magic with the right ideas, imagine how incredible a AAA version could be. It would be possibly the best game ever made and would sell more copies than any game ever made. Hyperbole, maybe, but this is a mod you should be playing right now. No excuses

Edit: This game is now a fully fledged free to play game on Steam. At the time of writing, I'm yet to try it. But if it keeps all the above, this means the game will only be busier, available to a larger market and having even more potential for crazy random fun. Huzzah