A few months ago, we examined a total-conversion Pirate mod for Battlefield 2 that replaced the modern shooter's sophisticated weaponry with 18th-Century cutlasses and blunderbusses. If this kind of close-quarters combat floats your boat, then we've got another sword-fighting challenge for you, only this time with Valve's Half-Life 2. Released just this month, this new multiplayer add-on (the sequel to a much-loved Half-Life mod) throws three historically disparate factions at you in a bloody free-for-all for online bragging rights.

I'd recommend some thick armor and a good helmet.

Pirates Vikings and Knights II Beta v2.0 (Half-Life 2)

Developed by a three-dozen-strong team of modders and artists, Pirates Vikings and Knights II is a worthy successor to an original Half-Life multiplayer mod that generated over 10,000 downloads on FilePlanet.com alone. The concept seems a little strange at first blush -- 9th-Century Vikings, 12th-Century Knights and 18th-Century Pirates wage a vicious war for booty and territory -- but after a few hard-fought online sessions you'll probably be just as hooked as I was. There's something quite cathartic about bashing an opponent's head in with a genuine Viking battle-axe, or ventilating their mid-section with a medieval crossbow.


These contrasting factions duke it out over seven highly detailed maps in which PVK2's visual canvas is every bit as impressive as the official Valve stuff. Backdrops ranging from a booby trap-laced temple to a lush island fortress provide gamers with plenty of strategic options, and the beta release also links four different gameplay modes to specific maps. Team Deathmatch is a straightforward "kill anyone that doesn't look like you" scenario; Booty mode challenges each team to locate and retrieve treasure chests scattered throughout the area; Booty Tag places a single chest somewhere on the map and rewards the team that holds on to it the longest; and Territory -- similar to King of the Hill -- requires competing factions to hold and defend key locations.