im attempting to make a costume off the "combine" in this video heh, they look badass

That's a pretty good short film. I'm definitely thumbs-upping it.

There's something I should note with this video, which is a nit to pick; a grenade's most lethal aspect isn't the shockwave it produces, but the shrapnel instead, which means that if one were to go off by you, you'd likely be full of holes rather than flying through the air. Same with the glass, in that, unlike hollywood's own productions, normal glass is both very difficult to jump through it there's a full panel of it, and if you do, you have lots of jagged pieces falling at you. The headcrap-less zombies aren't all that impressive on the first look through, although I DO appreciate that it'd be pretty damn difficult to make them look convincing with a limited budget, so it doesn't bother me too much. Some of the fight scenes were a tad hoaky too, and there were a few elements that weren't explained at all (such as the glowing green vials of healing stuff, which were just...stuff).

However, HOWEVER, I can appreciate the massive effort that must have gone into this, as well as the time and the money, and the likely lack of professional assistance and or experience and equipment; the above stuff was all minor, and understandable, to do in order to make this thing both cost effective and enjoyable. Having played the Half-Life 2 games (well, the first one anyways, I'm still getting through it), I can see how difficult it may be to remake the entirety of the games into one movie produced by fans, much less an eleven minute one. The fact that they got THIS close (and I'll admit, this felt a lot like a Half-Life 2 game), is something to be commended for.

For the good, the location and visuals were grand, the scenery practically porn it was so in tune with the games, and the special effects were pretty damn good, not to mention the bits of fake blood (which was fairly convincing). The healing vial I mentioned before, while having only a paltry cameo, was excellently rendered and the gun fights were, while a tad storm-trooper-ish, were nicely balanced by how significantly powerful the Combine felt in combat.

If this was available on DVD, or a threatre viewing, I'd definitely put my money where my mouth was and by for a viewing. This is SO much better than the schlock that they have out nowadays (I'm looking at you, Pocket Ninjas!) and it's good to support the little man, so the big one can't exact any price they want. Thank you for showing this Isinia-chan, and for letting us know just what else is out there. Go ascended fanboys/fangirls!