Mystery Combat Man IV: The Warship Borealis (Iceland, 2001)

Mystery Combat Man IV: The End of Time is the gripping final installment in the legendary Mystery Combat Man series of Source Engine mods. The story follows the Mystery Combat Squad, led by the Mystery Combat Man on their time-traveling and globetrotting quest to save the timeline of Earth from meddling by nefarious forces.

In 2001, the Icebreaker vessel Borealis has been captured by a band of terrorists in league with Odell and remodelled to become a formidable warship. Its target is the Icelandic capital city of Reykjavik, which will be bombarded with horrific chemical warheads if Mystery Combat Man doesn't place a series of bombs inside the ship in time.

This mission uses the prototype Borealis levels from the 2003 Half-Life 2 leaked build as a basis. My primary responsibilities were to do a total artpass to overhaul the ship's appearance from an unassuming icebreaker vessel (based on the real-world Polar Star) to something far more villainous. The usual clinical white and grey texture set was swapped out for dark greys, blacks and navy blues to provide a more militaristic and sinister look. The lighting was entirely redone using texlights (textures that emit light) in order to cut down on lighting data that would bloat the map file.

The interiors were stuffed full of explosives and breakable props to add extra chaos to the close-quarters nature of combat in the warship's tight corridors. A stray bullet or grenade could cause a whole room to erupt into flames, which could be both helpful and harmful to the player.