De inferno snow edition

Title: De inferno snow edition
Link: https://www.gamemaps.com/details/22133
Author: Valve, Alex Zen
Survivors: L4D2
Notes: This is a port of DE_Inferno, CS_Italy, and DE_Prodigy from Counter-Strike: Source. The finale does not work and requires a manual quit to the menu.

De inferno snow edition is the second in a pair of CS:S ports made by Alex Zen, both of which are fundamentally unfinished campaigns. This snow edition is the second one, which consists of two maps, DE_Inferno, CS_Italy, and DE_Prodigy. The porting job here is somehow not as bad as the regular De inferno campaign. Ported by the same guy, this version includes a third map (De_Prodigy), adds a layer of snow to the maps, some Christmas trees, snowmen, and a snow effect to the screen, making this actually one of the only Christmas-themed campaigns (other, better ones being A Baltic Tale and Innes Road Rash Christmas Edition). 

This time around, it seemed as though the bot nav was a little bit better, and the ambient setting with the change of skyboxes made the maps seem a little bit more appropriate. It actually felt kind of decent, more so than the previous De inferno campaign. Maybe it was because I knew what to expect, but this is still not what I'd call a good job. There’s still the big problem of the gigantic file size and missing textures in the second map. Plus this campaign uses CS’s fire particles, which don’t render properly in this game so fire looks weird.

The other big problem is that the finale event doesn’t work properly so there’s still no way to finish this campaign other than to quit to the menu. There is a radio, but it doesn't work properly. The first time I activated the radio, nothing happened. When I went back through the map a second time, it did spawn a horde and a tank, but nothing after that. I think the porter might be capable of making the train doors open and have that function as the rescue area, but I don't think he is well-versed enough in Hammer to make the train actually move.

As of right now, the only new map, the third, is vastly bigger than it needs to be, since the finale area is pretty much right next to the saferoom. Plus, if you go exploring, you’ll find things you’re not supposed to see like a dev texture that says “trigger,” and of course the second map still has missing textures, which is bizarre considering how many textures this campaign includes. In general, the only draw to this campaign might be playing the maps for nostalgia, trying something Christmas-themed, or playing a custom mutation.

Difficulty: I have the same criticism leveled against these maps as I do for the maps of the previous campaign, De inferno campaign. Neither common infected nor special infected pose much of a threat in these maps and again there aren't events to make things challenging.

Final Verdict: The porting on the CS maps here feels only slightly better than the previous job with De inferno campaign, which isn't saying much because that campaign had a huge problem with both maps being impossible to complete for different reasons. At least here it's possible to complete the first two maps. Still don’t get it unless you want to play deathmatch with friends or some mutation in CS maps that are unjustifiably big. If the finale worked and if the .vpk only included materials required for the maps, I could see this as being a standard, albeit mediocre campaign. Not recommended.

Rating: 1.93/5.