For like 5 years, I have been hot on the heels of this half life 2 mod, Neotokyo. In the beginning, there wasn't much to see, but the concept art was hot. And I am excited to see that they have for the most part, kept true to that sci fi cyberpunk dystopian urban society looks, reminiscent of such works as Bladerunner, Akira, and Ghost in the Shell. More recently though, they have been steadily releasing new media to the public, in hopes of generating interest.

For the past THREE years, I've kept close ties with the IRC channel community, where I really got a chance to know the devs behind this game. They are really not shy about the influences. Hell, the name of the game is Neotokyo! and it's got tachikoma like robots! The game is vaguely similar to Counter Strike in that two factions square off against each other and use mainly automatic weapons.

The delivery, though, is completely different. The gameplay is quite versatile from what I hear, and does not get stale easily. Currently, the game is pretty much done. But, for a mod to be successful, it needs a fair amount of users, especially at launch. So they have been working on increasing interest. I am proud to be a fan of this game even though I haven't played it, I know I won't be let down. I have seen it develop from concept art into full gameplay.

Neotokyo was recently selected as the runner up in the 2008 best upcoming mod award competition held on moddb.com

A few months ago, they also released an original soundtrack, available for purchase online. It has been praised by virtually everyone who listens to it.

There was also a trailer released in December, which the devs humbly noted 'generated too much interest'.

In the past few weeks, they have released tips for beginners and early concept art.

The amount of work that has gone into this game is unheard of for most mods. Keep in mind that none of these people are earning anything to make this game and all have full time jobs and families to commit to. The Radi-8 team is a really well accomplished group of designers with great ideas and creative minds. They have impressive resumes; one of them works with the prestigious Weta Workshop! I really hope that this game gets a lot of players. It is aesthetically very creative and makes great use of the engine to create some dynamic gameplay.

I don't want to give anything away and load my post with gameplay details and screenshots; I believe that finding out about this game is quite an experience in itself. [/existentialism]