Pursuing that premise even further, we put a couple of unique "historical" Half-Life 2 multiplayer mods through their paces this week. One is all about six-guns and Winchester rifles on the American frontier while the other time-travels back to an age of swords, crossbows, and chain mail armor.
Forget about red-dot laser sights and plasma guns... we're going old school.
Age of Chivalry 1.0 (Half-Life 2)
If you really want to go medieval on some enemies' asses, look no further than Team Chivalry's (Rikard Lindgren and Scott Chipman) Age of Chivalry add-on for HL2. In development for over three years, this multiplayer-only full-conversion mod delivers an impressive array of historical maps, weapons, and hand-to-hand combat scenarios.
Weighing in at a healthy 617MB, Age of Chivalry ships with its own self-installing executable that adds all the key files to your Steam folder (you'll need to ensure that the Source SDK Base utility is already installed). Once loaded, you can jump online to find an operational server or set up your own LAN or Internet match but I'd recommend you study the mod's informative online manual before you commit too hastily.
The gameplay mechanics are pretty simple: clout the other guy with your sword, mace, or axe or stick them with ranged weapons like longbow arrows and throwing spears. You can join one of two factions -- the Mason Order or Agathia Knights -- before selecting your preferred Archer, Footman or Knight class. The Knights wield the largest weapons (and their armor gives them extra protection during melee combat) but the extra weight slows them down and you can't equip them with throwable or ranged weaponry. Archers wear the lightest armor but their arrows can strike from long distances while Footmen are the speediest faction with the widest range of weapon combinations. A variety of different shields can also affect your survivability on the battlefield as you dodge enemy arrows and parry blows from bloodstained flails and maces.
Death comes quickly on this medieval playing field but respawns are instantaneous and the action never flags. There are four conventional maps to choose from as well as a bonus map depicting Helm's Deep from the Lord of the Rings movies. Age of Chivalry's map work -- which features full HDR lighting and bloom effects -- is first-rate throughout with each level optimized for 32-player games.
Unfortunately, there's no single-player game (and AI bots aren't scheduled to make an appearance until a later release) but -- with this much multiplayer goodness -- there's enough here to keep everyone engaged for quite some time... Knaves and Knights alike.
