Heart of Evil

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"There is a conflict in every human heart, Freeman. Between the rational and the irrational. Good and Evil. Light, Darkness... Good does not always triumph. "

Heart of Evil is a Half Life Game Mod that takes place during the Vietnam War. While it seems to take itself seriously at the beginning, the mod slowly grows to out of the ordinary into something different.

American soldier Percy Freeman receives his first mission: to find a traitorous Colonel by the name of Kurtz and kill him. But once on-location, things change for the worse. The US Army suddenly grows hostile and decides to eliminate Percy, the Viet Cong are not different, and the hordes of zombies created by a mad man Roames. With no ally but Barney on his side, Percy Freeman can do nothing but venture in the jungle, to fulfill his mission.

The mod was remade six years later as Heart of Evil Napalm Edition, which managed to make the experience even Weirder.

Tropes used in Heart of Evil include:

Barney: Those creatures out there, and not a living human to be seen. This whole town is gonna be like that. You want my opinion, sir? This mission is fubar. We are up shitcreek without a paddle. I miss my mommy.

  • Apocalyptic Log: Several barracks have diary entries and letters in them.
  • Bag of Spilling: Twice. Both times it is when Percy gets captured.
  • Battle in the Rain: One between the US and the Viet Cong. The player can interfere if he wishes to.
  • Big Bad: Colonel Kurtz.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Kurtz kills Barney, who becomes a zombie. When Percy finally kill Kurtz, he takes the position as the new leader of the zombies. Mad with power, he lets the zombies take over the world. But hey, mission accomplished!
  • Black Mesa Commute: Percy flies to the site of mission in a helicopter, while The Ride of The Valkyries play. Familiar?
  • Broken Bridge: A literal one.
  • Cave Behind the Falls: The cave in this case leads to one of Viet Cong's many underground tunnels.
  • Captain Crash: Barney is good at driving trucks, but not a plane.
  • Chainsaw Good: Beside the shotgun loaded with power rounds, the chainsaw is the only other weapon can quickly take down the very damage resistant zombies.
  • Cruel and Unusual Death
  • Deadly Lunge: The monkeys love to jump-attack the player.
  • Dead Sidekick
  • Death From Above
  • Decapitation Presentation: Done with Barneys head.
  • Dude in Distress: Both Percy and Barney becomes captured at different points, and has to be rescued by the other.
  • Drill Sergeant Nasty: One is heard shouting at his recruits and forcing them to do push-ups in the barracks early in the game.
  • Driven to Suicide: If the player kills Barney, the screen fades to black and tells us that Percy commits Hara-Kiri in shame of overcome.
  • Enemy Chatter: "Stay alert for the Yankee Pig."
  • Escort Mission: Aside from having Barney throughout the whole game which feels like it, Percy lets out a US soldier from a prison.
  • Evil Laugh: Sergeant Kilmore does one when promising Percy that he will come and "rescue" him.
  • Face Heel Turn: Sergeant Bob Kilmore, who flew the Percy to the mission, soon captures him and Barney when he finds out what their mission was about. Being a Sergeant, he order all the troops to kill Percy once he escapes.
  • Flanderization: The Napalm Edition of the mod made Barney even more clumsy, and your officer snaps into talking about food during your mission briefing.
  • Game Within a Game
  • Gas Mask Mooks: The Combine who appear very late in the Napalm Edition.
  • Get on the Boat: The Second attempt to escape is with a boat through a swamp.
  • Go Look At the Distraction: One of the rare cases the player character is the one tricked into searching a three headed monkey.
  • Going Through the Motions: Barney likes to knock the radio a lot when he listens to it.
  • Grenade Launcher
  • He Who Fights Monsters: Percy Freeman
  • Hellish Copter: Many of them are fought in the mod, and before the player has to take them down, Percy witnesses the Viet Cong destroying them.
  • Heroic Mime: Percy Freeman, who you play as.
  • Hyperspace Arsenal
  • Hungry Jungle: The apes aren't exactly looking for bananas.
  • Idiot Ball: Tossed between Percy and Barney, from Percy´s walking into a obvious trap with Barney as bait, to Barney telling about their secret mission to the One Sergeant that is one Kurtz´s side, and many more.

Barney: He said he wouldn't be my friend if I didn't tell him!

  • Immune to Bullets: Napalm Edition made the zombies only killable by the chainsaw and explosives.
  • Imported Alien Phlebotinum
  • I Miss Mom: Barney tells Percy this.
  • Justified Tutorial: Your general tells you to try some of the Roasted Moose imported from Canada. This is one of those mods in which you press the use key frequently to pick up objects.
  • Klingon Promotion: Percy learns from an note written by Kurtz that the zombies get their new leader this way. Since Percy has killed him by that point, reading the note makes Percy suddenly mad with power and takes the position as the Zombies leader.
  • Large and In Charge: One of the generals early in the mod who give you your mission briefing is fat, and Kurtz too.
  • Large Ham: Barney became full of it in Napalm Edition.
  • Law of Inverse Recoil: The sniper rifle has no recoil at all.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Getting too close to the officers secretary makes him tell you to knock it off, and that this isn't a video game where you can just ogle someone.
  • Invisible Monsters: The Commanders, who are enemies that only show themselves when they attack.
  • Lock and Key Puzzle
  • Locked Door
  • Machete Mayhem: The first melee weapon gained, which can decapitate enemies.
  • Made of Explodium: When Percy puts a rope around the column of a house and the other end to a car, driving the car forward results in a explosion.
  • Made of Iron: The Zombies can soak up a lot of damage.
  • Mind Screw: Oh it gets there slowly, towards the end of he mod when Percy is captured(again). You play a goddamn Half-life 2 arcade! In the game you find a key that unlocks your cell in reality!
  • Mini Boss: The Super Zombie that carry weapons.
  • More Dakka: The automatic weapons do this.
  • Most Definitely Not a Villain: In Napalm Edition, Kilmore apparently convinced one of Percy's officers that he was good, by giving him a basket of dog biscuits.
  • Off with His Head: The Machete can decapitate enemy soldiers.
  • "Ride of the Valkyries": Yes. While in an helicopter too.
  • Punny Name: General Dhong. Long Dhong, to be exact.
  • Schizo-Tech: The laser trip mines from Half-Life are here, but also a video game arcade where you can play Half-life 2.
  • Schmuck Bait: The trap set to capture Percy at the beginning is So obvious.
    • Viet Cong enemies might also try to lure the player out in the open by pretending to be injured... Which means that they scream for medic in English.
  • Send in the Search Team: A new squad of U.S troopers, not influenced by the earlier orders of Kilmore, start search the jungle for Percy.
  • Shout-Out: Here are most of them.
  • Standard FPS Guns
  • Stupidity Is the Only Option: Every time a enemy attempts to trick you outside combat. Every time it must succeed.
  • Suddenly Voiced: The Super Zombies only roar through the mod, until the end when they say one line:

Super Zombie: Freeemaaaannn, Ouurrrrr Leaaaaadeerrr!

  • Sufficiently Advanced Alien: They appear as enemies for no apparent reason, until one finds out that they were a part of the cause of the zombies.
  • Temple of Doom: The old temple in the swamp is inhabited by zombies, and Percy must go through it to find Kurtz.
  • Tempting Fate: "Looks pretty quiet around here."
  • Trouser Space: Lampshaded by Barney halfway through Napalm Edition, when he expresses concern over the fact that Percy might have accidentally ejaculated on the plate of Roasted Moose.
    • Barney himself yells in disgust when he realises he has peed himself... Only to find out that he had spilled his apple juice in his underpants.
  • Use Your Head: A jammed door? Barney headbutts it open by himself.
  • The Vietnam War
  • Video Game Remake: The Napalm Edition.
  • Villainous Friendship: Sergeant Kilmore and Colonel Kurtz are apparent friends, as Kilmore respects Kurtz´s plans and ideology and helps him while attempting to kill Percy.
  • Wham! Line: "Freeemmmmaaaann, Ooouuur Leeaaadeeerrrrr!"
  • Xanatos Gambit: Kurtz. If Percy is killed by the native Viet Congs, he wins. If Percy gets bloated with bullets by the US troops, he wins. If Percy dies in the hands of one of Kurtz´s many zombies, he wins. If Percy kills Kurtz and takes his place has the ruler of the zombies, Kurtz still technically wins.
  • Zombie Gait: Almost all the zombies. Averted with the Super Zombies towards the end of the mod, who aid Percy in the final fight when he takes control over them.