A small (but not excessively short) mod that lacks a proper story but at least gives you an interesting pretext: to infiltrate a research facility and retrieve a living specimen of the unique green chumtoad, escaping afterwards. It offers up to an hour of entertainment, or half that if you know you way around HL blindfolded.
After a while, I realized that StalkLab reminisced, on a smaller scale, about Heart of Evil, a classic HL mod. It's made of 4 interconnected levels, not specially big or complex but offering several routes that demand to be explored non-linearly. The gameplay is simple: you'll keep running into dead ends as unlocking the access to the next area will require a certain "quest" item (such as keys or hacking devices). When this happens, you'll backtrack in search for it, trying a new path, until you eventually get to the alien creature.
And unlike HoE, the maps are small enough as to never get lost or confused. It boils down to trying every door sequentially, and more than once I fetched an item before getting to the spot where I was supposed to use it. The mod kep a high level of satisfaction throughout its execution, with no lulls.
The facility is based on the standard Black Mesa we all know and love, reusing the same elements. The mapping is of acceptable quality, though it can feel a little barebones or blocky sometimes, lacking a high level of detail (with some exceptions). Overall it's good, just not revolutionary. Perhaps the best feature is how the different maps are glued together. The fact that it's been developed by a single person deserves credit and adds to the score.
There's a nice mix of puzzles and combat (you'll face both aliens and soldiers, plus traps), and a welcome addition is that most medkits and HEV charger units have unlimited uses (apparently, they're plugged to the mains). I never felt that supplies were scarce.
The ending is action packed in the custom of other mods, and of course it features an Osprey, but don't expect anything intricately scripted or spectacular. It's not the most thrilling evasion I've seen, but it'll do.
Overall it feels like a good mod and its length is just right. You can't miss if you choose to play it.
Playing