Everything the Crowbar Collective team has set out to do was accomplished with a sense of polish unheard of for an indy team making a game of this scale. Although not everything is perfect, such as the dam scene or the infamous Xen, it is still a breath of fresh air into one of my favorite games.
It's a bit of a mixed bag, but I'd say try it out anyways when it's on sale.
It's Half Life but with some improvements here and there. Xen does have a couple parts that drag on though, and the combat is nothing really special.
It's Half Life but with some improvements here and there. Xen does have a couple parts that drag on though, and the combat is nothing really special.
a mixed bag that shows how certain parts of Half-Life have aged since 1998 — but the Xen chapters, which were completely rebuilt and redesigned by this team, might be the best final act a Half-Life game has ever had.
it's the best way to play half life 1 but the Xem part gets really fucking bad in chapter 17-18. The first Xem part had great level design but the rest of it was the most boring fps level I've ever played.
One other issue I had is that the pretty graphix made it so important things like buttons don't stick out at all. As a first time player I was never sure if a button on a console was just decoration or actually what I needed to press to progress in the level. In the original game it'd stick out way more, which means the level design sometimes only works if you've played the original and know where to go.
One other issue I had is that the pretty graphix made it so important things like buttons don't stick out at all. As a first time player I was never sure if a button on a console was just decoration or actually what I needed to press to progress in the level. In the original game it'd stick out way more, which means the level design sometimes only works if you've played the original and know where to go.
Very cool to play HL 1 nowadays. Didnt age that well though.
The game hard crashed for me one night while I was on the final level before Zen so I just rewatched the final act of HLVRAI and yeah this game is really good.
Even without the Zen overhaul this is such a spectacular love letter to one of the most influential and important FPS games of all time, taking everything great about the original and making it better in every way possible. The things they didn't even do better are so negligible that it'd feel like nitpicking to even bring them up.
If you couldn't play Half-Life 1, give Black Mesa a chance. The difficulty may not be to everyone's liking but it forces players to think outside the box and come up with some really fun and unique ways to approach combat. Even as someone who doesn't enjoy challenge in games, the satisfaction I got from clearing a difficult section in this game was tangible and insurmountably amazing.
Even without the Zen overhaul this is such a spectacular love letter to one of the most influential and important FPS games of all time, taking everything great about the original and making it better in every way possible. The things they didn't even do better are so negligible that it'd feel like nitpicking to even bring them up.
If you couldn't play Half-Life 1, give Black Mesa a chance. The difficulty may not be to everyone's liking but it forces players to think outside the box and come up with some really fun and unique ways to approach combat. Even as someone who doesn't enjoy challenge in games, the satisfaction I got from clearing a difficult section in this game was tangible and insurmountably amazing.
If nothing else, Black Mesa is a worthy remake and a wet dream for any dedicated Half-Life fan. The game was remade from the ground up, changing up some of the more tedious parts of the game while keeping all the charm it previously held.
Being a Source Engine game, the graphics are about what you'd expect for the most part, but certain scenes stand out, like most of Xen for example, and push the engine to its absolute graphical limits to make a stunning and awe inspiring environment.
If you enjoy Half-Life, this is definitely worth playing.
Being a Source Engine game, the graphics are about what you'd expect for the most part, but certain scenes stand out, like most of Xen for example, and push the engine to its absolute graphical limits to make a stunning and awe inspiring environment.
If you enjoy Half-Life, this is definitely worth playing.
Half Life 1 has that special kind of story and character motivation of "shit's fucked, get out there" that my brain got infatuated from a young age. This is that game, recreated with the most love possible on a modern engine. Some of Xen is bad, which I guess comes with the territory of remaking Xen. Just going around, seeing Black Mesa and traversing it will never get old for me. I got the stupid hat all the way to the Nihilanth and it was worth it.
Spectacular
Half Life: Source
Por fin puedo decir que me he pasado Half Life 1, aunque no sea el original 100%.
Versión adaptada por fans, añade algo de contenido y alarga según que partes de la versión normal, aunque esto no es del todo bueno, ya que por alargarlas algunos trozos se hacen algo monótonos.
Esta "remasterización" le ha sentado bastante fresca, los gráficos te llevarán a algunos años atrás, pero en comparación obviamente le pega una paliza al original, con texturas mucho más detalladas y polígonos más definidos.
La banda sonora va muy acorde en casi todos los momentos, buenos temas y muy épicos.
Mencionar también que en la segunda mitad del juego mejora bastante, sobretodo en diseños y ambiente.
En definitiva, si eres como yo y todavía no te lo has pasado o quieres rememorarlo con un soplo de aire fresco, te lo recomiendo, tal vez con una pequeñísima oferta estaría mejor, pero lo vale.
Versión adaptada por fans, añade algo de contenido y alarga según que partes de la versión normal, aunque esto no es del todo bueno, ya que por alargarlas algunos trozos se hacen algo monótonos.
Esta "remasterización" le ha sentado bastante fresca, los gráficos te llevarán a algunos años atrás, pero en comparación obviamente le pega una paliza al original, con texturas mucho más detalladas y polígonos más definidos.
La banda sonora va muy acorde en casi todos los momentos, buenos temas y muy épicos.
Mencionar también que en la segunda mitad del juego mejora bastante, sobretodo en diseños y ambiente.
En definitiva, si eres como yo y todavía no te lo has pasado o quieres rememorarlo con un soplo de aire fresco, te lo recomiendo, tal vez con una pequeñísima oferta estaría mejor, pero lo vale.
stunning remake, absolutely worth the wait!! though i have to admit i didnt really like xen that much LOL
makes xen actually good. amazing
best remake ever
A superior way to play an already great game.
This is going to be a little bit of a cynical write-up. I did, admittedly, fall out of the appeal of Half-Life for a while, having used to be a big fan. Not fps as a whole though, I've played countless more and I'm also an avid fan of a lot of walking sims.
Why do I bring up walking sims? Because that's kind of what Black Mesa has made HL1 into for a solid 50% of the runtime. A super strong percentage of what you're doing in the game is navigating level geometry, looking at pretty screensavers, and sometimes music will kick in to give some real emotional weight to the scene, whether that be heartpumping or in awe.
The biggest issue is none of this is that engaging. There are visual delights for sure, but it wears off quickly. You will spend an enormous amount of time walking to hit a switch, or putting an object into an object, dealing with really boring easy encounters every 5-10 minutes along the way. There's not a lot of reason to be engaged, other than maybe nostalgic purposes. This particular problem applies to a little over half the levels, including Xen. I was actually super disappointed in how they made Xen and Interloper massively built around platforming that wasn't interesting and to bring this home, they tried to rip off HL2's dark gravity gun sequence with an infinite ammo Gluon Gun/Tau Cannon as you rise up the biggest encounter in Interloper.
It's just so unfortunate because within a few levels and very very select encounters in other levels there's actually really competent hard hitting design. The ones I'll name drop being Questionable Ethics, Surface Tension, Forget About Freeman, and then some select encounters in Lambda Core and Nihilanth. These encounters don't just throw super strong AI enemies and large amounts of them at once, but they also take place in arenas that effectively use spacing and your general speed (even though they removed bunnyhopping). They were parts I super enjoyed that I found real unfortunate that they decided to shift their focus off that for something that was, compared to others of its genre, very bland.
There is an almost good game under all this monotony and willingness to be a graphical powerhouse journey. Beneath this brandishing of Half-Life 1 as Half-Life 2 there are genuine improvements that could've made a far better fps that may have rivaled the greats. Like one of my favorite changes is they made the Vortigants dodge shots as well as your aim, or how the new modifications to Xen enemies work.
It just never reaches that. It seems content on resting on its laurels of looking beautiful but lacking depth. It's a mixed bag that tries to be a moniker of what people want Half-Life graphically updated to LOOK like, but not what Half Life actually PLAYS like. It almost cynically becomes nostalgic fulfillment, rather than a good fps or walk sim of its own.
That being said, I do still think that I may be a minority here. Maybe what I describe is exactly what you want out of Half-Life, and maybe you haven't played the original at all so you don't know what you're really missing. It does still have its good moments, so I can still somewhat recommend this game. But this isn't a good fps game, it's an alright underbaked immersive sim. (6.5/10)
Why do I bring up walking sims? Because that's kind of what Black Mesa has made HL1 into for a solid 50% of the runtime. A super strong percentage of what you're doing in the game is navigating level geometry, looking at pretty screensavers, and sometimes music will kick in to give some real emotional weight to the scene, whether that be heartpumping or in awe.
The biggest issue is none of this is that engaging. There are visual delights for sure, but it wears off quickly. You will spend an enormous amount of time walking to hit a switch, or putting an object into an object, dealing with really boring easy encounters every 5-10 minutes along the way. There's not a lot of reason to be engaged, other than maybe nostalgic purposes. This particular problem applies to a little over half the levels, including Xen. I was actually super disappointed in how they made Xen and Interloper massively built around platforming that wasn't interesting and to bring this home, they tried to rip off HL2's dark gravity gun sequence with an infinite ammo Gluon Gun/Tau Cannon as you rise up the biggest encounter in Interloper.
It's just so unfortunate because within a few levels and very very select encounters in other levels there's actually really competent hard hitting design. The ones I'll name drop being Questionable Ethics, Surface Tension, Forget About Freeman, and then some select encounters in Lambda Core and Nihilanth. These encounters don't just throw super strong AI enemies and large amounts of them at once, but they also take place in arenas that effectively use spacing and your general speed (even though they removed bunnyhopping). They were parts I super enjoyed that I found real unfortunate that they decided to shift their focus off that for something that was, compared to others of its genre, very bland.
There is an almost good game under all this monotony and willingness to be a graphical powerhouse journey. Beneath this brandishing of Half-Life 1 as Half-Life 2 there are genuine improvements that could've made a far better fps that may have rivaled the greats. Like one of my favorite changes is they made the Vortigants dodge shots as well as your aim, or how the new modifications to Xen enemies work.
It just never reaches that. It seems content on resting on its laurels of looking beautiful but lacking depth. It's a mixed bag that tries to be a moniker of what people want Half-Life graphically updated to LOOK like, but not what Half Life actually PLAYS like. It almost cynically becomes nostalgic fulfillment, rather than a good fps or walk sim of its own.
That being said, I do still think that I may be a minority here. Maybe what I describe is exactly what you want out of Half-Life, and maybe you haven't played the original at all so you don't know what you're really missing. It does still have its good moments, so I can still somewhat recommend this game. But this isn't a good fps game, it's an alright underbaked immersive sim. (6.5/10)
An improvement on the first Half-Life. Not afraid to rearrange or change things from the original, for better or worse (but usually for the better).
I played Black Mesa a few times while it was in development, but I never expected the final product would be this good.The addition of Xen takes what was already a loving, meticulous recreation of the original Half-Life and turns it into something special.
A great remake of one of my favourite games with occasional rough spots, mainly when fighting the military. Half-Life is one of the few games I can happily fire up and play through at least once a year, and I can say the same thing for Black Mesa, which is pretty high praise. Certain bits of Xen drag on and are sort of shit, but fails to drag the game down.
literally just half life but without the graphical problems, which makes it perfect in my opinion
different thing bad
Do not miss this shit
A great reimagining of the original Half-Life, and feels great to explore and play. My only gripe is the factory level is overly long and the red hue is oppressive in its presentation. The Xen levels, however, are simply breath taking, and worth the experience alone.
An incredible achievement.
Oh yeah this is great, forgot how good Half Life is. Now if only they could remake Half Life 2 with this same engine.
This review contains spoilers
Pretty much everything about this game is an absolutely beautiful masterpiece. Even when things got annoying I pressed on because I wanted to see how it all ended. The world of Xen in particular was mesmerizing. The first time I was sent there I was struck with sheer awe by what the developers had accomplished. An absolute gem of a game at every moment.
Love it, one of the best remakes I have ever played
best remake of best gaem <31
The game I was hoping for years and years ago on the Black Mesa Source forums. I'm so glad to have it, and nearly every change makes it superior to the original game. I was thinking of calling this the canonical version of Half-Life throughout much of my playtime until I got to Interloper, a chapter within Xen which makes you slam into a wall of really obnoxious plug "puzzles" (read: spam e on everything and plug shit in wherever it lets you) and jumps which as far as I can tell rely on slamming your face into the walls until it happens to shoot you upward. Oh and the vorts say the same 3 voice lines repeatedly. Everything looks the same. It's painful.
Needless to say, this absolutely ruins the pacing of the lategame and killing the tension. I suggest skipping the Interloper chapter. I loved original Xen and I love this Xen too as long as that's removed.
Incredible game, if flawed.
Needless to say, this absolutely ruins the pacing of the lategame and killing the tension. I suggest skipping the Interloper chapter. I loved original Xen and I love this Xen too as long as that's removed.
Incredible game, if flawed.
Never actually had the chance to play original Half-Life all the way through so this did the job nicely. Excellent music throughout here that I honestly did not know was original scores!!!