Half-Life may be one of my all-time favorite video game franchises, especially Half-Life 2 and its story of the Seven Hour War, City 17 and the resistance against the Combine. I may be slightly disappointed that there hasn't been a third entry in the series, clamoring for details like most fans have for the better part of the past seven years, but I am incredibly glad that modders can sate me in the meantime.

This is where developer Vortal Storm comes in, with its now standalone version of Lambda Wars entering beta on Steam. The game is a mod of Valve's Alien Swarm game, used to create a real-time strategy game that draws its inspiration from Half-Life 2.

Lambda Wars focuses on classic Command & Conquer and Starcraft style gameplay where players must create bases and structures while commanding units around the battlefield as either the Combine or Resistance. The mod even supports full tech-trees that can have you commanding everything from Manhacks to Striders. It's a nifty little game that utilizes the Half-Life universe in a unique way to crafte a fun experience in a genre that I never thought of as a possible place the series could visist.

Currently Lambda Wars is in beta and available for free on Steam in a standalone form, you do not need to have Half-Life, Alien Swarm or even the Source Engine installed to play the game. Requiring just a dual-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 4GB of hard drive space, it is worth checking out to temporarily relieve that Half-Life itch that we are all hoping Valve will eventually scratch for us.