So... Black Mesa

[RubyT]

I'd like to get this, but I essentially want something completely faithful to the series and the vision.

For all intends and purposes, Black Mesa is functionally identical to Half-Life. The level design is 90% identical, some minor variations here and there, but usually in places that don't matter. The G-Man encounters are the same. The walkthrough is identical.

When they started, all those many years ago, I thought they should definitely do this, do a 1:1 copy. But now that I'm playing it, it becomes obvious that even the best level and game design of 1999 just won't cut it anymore.

Being locked up in the Black Mesa Station for the majority of the game is boring, the level design of it is boring. The world - a showcase for dynamic and interactivity then - feels dead and dull. Enemy A.I. is non-existent. NPC interaction is rudimentary.
One of the coolest things used to be the various encounters with scientists scattered throughout the place, they gave a feeling of a living world. But today even third rate shooters have more immersion like this.

And yeah, as somebody else pointed out, the jump height issue is just appalling. I haven't done a duck-jump in ages and here I have to do it ALL THE TIME. I had to deviate from my regular key mapping to accomodate for this.

I used to think that Black Mesa was a way to introduce a new generation of players to one of the quintessential video games, but now I think NO, just prettifying it won't do. You can't recreate the impact HL had in 1999. If anything, it will diminish the greatness of Half-Life, because it now looks modern and new players might judge it against modern shooters - and it will fail.

In hindsight, they should have taken more artistic license. Even if extreme fanboys would be on the barricades (how many of them could be left anyways). But then a team of dedicated amateurs (as in not paid, not untalented) would have never been able to finish it. And it already was a monumental effort by the devs. Kudos!

I will gladly play through it, if just to bring up all those fond memories...

 

[Ickorus]

Why did you bring up Valve to this topic when they are irrevelant? This is a fan made mod.

Valve has everything to do with it. You think they had no input in this mod whatsoever? To think so is... well its just naive.

Being that I lurked on the Black Mesa forums for quite a long time I can quite safely say Valve had little to do with the mod.

Nice compliment to the BM team there though.

 

[Ickorus]

A question from someone who played the original but couldn't get past the older gameplay, is the story the same? Are the G-Man encounters still there? Do the Vortigaunts and the final boss still talk, act like they're being controlled by a higher master? Is this close enough to the original to be canon, or is this like MGS: Twin Snakes? I'd like to get this, but I essentially want something completely faithful to the series and the vision. Also, any news if Steam's put it out yet?

Story is the same except for some minor details to fit in with altered level structure, G-Man still shows his face, and Xen hasn't been completed yet and will be added to the game at a later date.

The game has been greenlit but isn't yet on Steam.

 

[Xanadu84]

So far its good.

That said, some of the changes are a bit baffling. What purpose did it serve to give you the crowbar later then usual and to replace the first shotgun that you get with a magnun? The mod has these little changes here and there that while not really "bad" per say still weren't really needed.

I am also not a fan of how some of the areas have been messed with and redesigned. I hate those god damn barnicles, and now they are in lots of places where they weren't before. I almost got eaten by one in a barnacle trap that isn't in the original game

But generally speaking this mod is great, so far I have made it to the Blast Pit chapter.

I think that the changes are intentional and well thought out. The change in crowbar location, for example, improves the pacing: you have flares that allow you to fight off the bad guys in a passive, more tense way. It basically bridges the gap between powerless and having the almighty crowbar, which is something they just couldn't do very well in the original without a physics engine. Now you have burning headcrab zombies wailing as they flail towards you, while you are there powerless, hoping it burns to death before it catches you. Which is perfect, seeing how that first stretch of the game goes a long way towards establishing the pace and atmosphere.

My only complaint is that when you first see the microwave, there is a power setting called, "Head Crab". It's not a particularly inspired joke, and it requires a complete dismantling of the fourth wall, which feels sort of amateurish. But yeah, if that's my biggest complaint, that's pretty incredible.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Anyone catch the gremlins reference with the headcrab?
Mostly I'm really enjoying it. The music is good, but it doesn't feel like Half Life to me. Not enough synth.

 

[bafrali]

The fan people are weird. I made a pose were a half naked Alyx was shooting it out in the Black Mesa complex. Good grief the shit storm I got. Examples!

- Alyx was not born yet. Are you stupid?
- Alyx was just 12.
- Alyx was 10.
- Alyx was 7. You have no right to do this unless you know the game.

I understand that people love their games, but this was so funny. Get the timeline wrong and you are destroying their private universe. Sometimes the gaming community leave me speechless^^

And I personally love the remake. Kudos to Valve.

It is fan made so thank the fans whom you just regarded as weird. Awkward isn't it?

 

[bafrali]

It is fan made so thank the fans whom you just regarded as weird. Awkward isn't it?

What? Most of the HL fans enjoys a good joke and a sexy pose. I am one of them. It is just the other kinds of fans who seems to think I rip the fabric of space because it does not compute with their *reality.

*Which is really awkward.

Did yu deliberately miss the point that mod was in fact made by the fans (not by Valve as you presumed) who criticized your joke which doesn't even make sense in context (if you had put a baby with a shotgun blasting away zombies that at least would have got some chuckles) and whom you failed to give credit for making the mod which was in fact the labor of eight years.

 

[bafrali]

Did yu deliberately miss the point that mod was in fact made by the fans (not by Valve as you presumed).

I stand corrected. Sorry about that. It is in deed a third party mod. Still does not change the fact that some fan people are overly offended and sensitive.

On reflection, I think it took around 8 years to complete Black Mesa.

"the mod which was in fact the labor of eight years."

Thnaks for reminding me that...