Macologist Mod of the Year for 2005

January 13, 2006

The year has come and gone and now we at Macologist would like to take the time to stand back and recognize some of the greatest mods that came our way in 2005. New mods as well as older mods that were updated were eligible, and special consideration was given to mod teams who made a special effort to accomodate Mac gamers.

Read on to learn more about our five honorable mention awardees, as well as our new Macologist Mod of The Year.




Honorable Mention: Heat of Battle v1.0 for Call of Duty

HoB is all about the tweaking of the gameplay to be very different from the stock game. It is a teamplay-oriented mod, meaning that it is meant to make people play together, instead of a meaningless fragfest. The gametype is built around several "capture points" throughout each map that must be captured and held until all are taken by one team. The mod also focuses on realism by removing the crosshairs, implementing friendly fire, enabling sprinting, and adding a slight sway to the guns while aiming down the sights; many of these features are notable because they are not available in the stock game. The mod has long had Mac-specific installers, and even recently hired a Mac programmer. Subsequent releases will use the Source engine, which makes future Mac support questionable, but for now download a truly enjoyable verison 1.0.



Honorable Mention: Last Man Standing v2.0 Co-op Conversion for Doom 3

Doom 3 mods sometimes don't get as much press, but this mod is one that should be highlighted as one that should be played more often. If you haven't tried it, you should. It's great fun with a group of players, and the mod team has been open and willing to work with Mac gamers to ensure compatibility. The mod has been through several cycles and now stand at a truly fantastic version 2.0.



Honorable Mention: The Telic Campaign for Alien Swarm v1.3 for Unreal Tournament 2004

The popular Alien Swarm mod was very recently updated to v1.3, and that in itself would've been significant news: just about every shortcoming and mapbug in the previous release has been handily addressed. However this update is also accompanied by the fan-made Telic Campaign, which is an entirely new expansion which brings the AS fan new alien enemies, new weapons, a complete manual and a host of optional mutators within a set of 8 all new missions. Given an exceptionally close-knit and friendly online community, a fan-friendly developer in Black Cat games, and no Mac bugs to speak of, this mod update-expansion combo is a winner.



Honorable Mention: Blitzkrieg 2: The Finest Hour v2.5 for Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour

It's not every day we come across a mod for the C&C Generals series that has a unique style of gameplay that makes it stand out from all the rest. Up to claim the honorable mention title this year is Blitzkrieg 2: The Finest Hour, a total conversion for C&C Generals. Featuring updated graphics and particle effects, the player can choose between the Allies (Britian and U.S. sub-factions), Germans, or Russia and can battle it out against online players on custom maps, or in the Allied campaign against the AI, fighting on the beaches and villages of the European Theatre.



Honorable Mention: Red Orchestra v3.3 for Unreal Tournament 2004

The overall grand finale winner of the Epic/NVIDIA Make Something Unreal contest has not been content to rest upon its laurels. Instead it released a major version update to 3.3, implementing vehicle bot AI, heavy optimizations for framerate on lower-end rigs, and an all new player momentum system. Mac support has always been good with a Mac coders, testers, and custom-written installer apps. With the new UT3369 patch, the last remaining motionblur bugs are gone for good, although the team's move to Valve's Steam for the successor to RO makes future Mac compatibility uncertain. The fit and finish of this mod, which has been through numerous development cycles dating back to UT2003, comes together with a polish that is truly exceptional and must be seen to be believed.



The Winner:
Macologist Mod of the Year 2005: Forgotten Hope v0.7 for Battlefield 1942

Forgotten Hope .7 is a mod beyond the ordinary, both in creation and game play. The mod’s website reads, "…whether you like house to house fighting in Stalingrad, tank battles in the Tunisian desert or dogfights in skies over southern England – Forgotten Hope has something for you."

Weighing in at close to 2.5GB in size, it the biggest mod released this year. Its sheer size underscores not only the quantity of the content, but its quality and overall polish achieved through several iterations of releases. Especially given Aspyr's 1.61d patch for Battlefield 1942, which fixed outstanding mod-compatibility issues on the Mac platform, FH 0.7 now becomes a "must-see" mod for the Mac gamer.

Forgotten Hope delivers on both fronts of realism and gameplay. The mod adds over 250 types of authentic WWII gear, more than any other FPS, retail or mod, Further, the aircraft, armor, and weapons are accurately matched to the context of each map’s setting. For example there are paratrooper kits for the Fallschirmjager’s invasion of Crete. Tank combat has customized armor damage, realistically reflecting that flanking tanks to target their rear armor provides a clear benefit. In the air, the new pilot class is equipped with parachutes, but the ground forces have towable anti-aircraft (and anti-tank) guns. Even the infantry forces have been significantly tweaked for a more realistic, enjoyable, and carefully balanced play between the various arrayed forces.

Consider also that this same level of attention to detail has been extended to the sounds, hit detection, and a sprinkling of secret weapons and vehicles for capture points. The mod doesn’t stop there: the current inclusion of the Polish forces, as well as the addition of the French and Italian armies, each with their entire respective and historically-accurate armamentarium, signals that the development cycles do not seem to be slowing in the slightest. To call this mod “deep” would be an understatement indeed.

The staff over at the Forgotten Hope team took this mod one step further. They wanted to guarantee that the mod would work on a Macintosh. To do this, compiler and FH member "ctz" purchased a Mac Mini to do internal testing on as well as creating a Mac friendly installation file. Not acting alone in his endevours, FH member "StrangerThanFiction" kept in constant contact with Macologist beta-tester "adamward" to assist him in receiving an advanced preview to verify their internal testing.

This attention not only to detail, but rather to the BF1942 gaming community as a whole including Mac gamers, has propelled Forgotten Hope .7 to be named our Mod of the year for the 2005. Congratulations to the FH team for all of their hard work!

Originally Posted by -=006=- Heat of Battle used to be awesome, but I try to play it now and I can't find a single server. Anybody know if people actually still play it? It certainly deserves commendation as one of the best mods, but it's kinda useless if there's no server out there.