Firearms is a first-person shooter mod for Half-Life which originated from a Quake modification. Initially developed in 1998, Firearms was created as a quasi-realistic team-based FPS. The mod's main feature is the large amount of usable weapons in the game.

Gameplay

In Firearms, players are divided into red and blue teams and are tasked with completing objectives. Objectives can vary from controlling areas to destroying objects. The main objective in all maps is to reduce the number of the opponent team's reinforcements to zero. Reinforcements determine the number of times players on a team can respawn. A team loses reinforcements when killed players respawn. The loss of reinforcements on a team can be stifled by completing map objectives and the direct and indirect actions of medics on the team. As long as a team has more than 0 reinforcements, players can respawn instantly. Firearms was the first FPS game to feature player-deployed parachutes.

Unlike other games, players are free to choose what weapons they want to use. There are no classes (although players can choose predefined and editable weapon configurations) or a money system used to buy weapons. Every player starts out with 1 skill point and can earn another skill point for every 10 points they have. No more than 7 skill points can be obtained this way. The skill points can be used to buy skills which help the player. There are seven different skills to choose from, three of which have a follow-up skill. Firearms was at one time the #3 most popular mod based on the Half-Life engine, after Counter-Strike and Team Fortress Classic. Later versions, (RC) 2.6 through (RC) 3.0, were developed under the direction of Ben Irwin and Alex Jordan.

Reception

PC Gamer US named Firearms the best mod of 2000. ModDB named it a runner up for Most Improved Mod of 2002. It was released on July 23, 2010. The initial release included eight maps, five game modes, and 31 weapons. Giochi per il mio computer gave the mod a rating of two out of five.

References

  • (archived)