Black Mesa
The mod I've been waiting for 6-years to come out is finally out and what's the final verdict? I think these guys hit this one out of the fu
cking park! It's no secret that I'm a pretty big
Half-Life fan, and while I love the rest of Valve's offerings, this one means the most to me. It's definitely been hard these last five years, waiting for the next installment to the
Half-Life series, and it's no different with the
Black Mesa mod. I even had a little bet going with a friend over what was going to see the life of day first,
Half-Life 2: Episode 3 or
Black Mesa (I won the bet), and yeah... this team has really managed to do a good job with giving a classic the respect it deserves, while still making the game feel like it's their own.
What I like most about the game is that they're not afraid to fix some of the things that just didn't work in the first one, like the rails section where you have to shoot the signs to change the tracks, or that stupid giant fan section. I also like how they occasionally trick you, where you try to move forward doing the same thing you did in the original, but have it not work, it's nice how I'm not breezing through this game on autopilot. I also like the effort put into the little things, like watching a houndeye mesmerized by a TV playing static. It was also pretty cool to see younger versions of Eli Vance and Dr. Kleiner at the start of the game, and the voice acting is pretty close to the ones in
Half-Life 2. I think the best improvement though is seeing first-hand, the chaos of the facility right after the Resonance Cascade. In the original much of the facility was already overrun or destroyed by the time you started exploring it, and it wasn't until
Half-Life: Blueshift that you really got to see what happened while Gordon was passed out in the chamber, and
Black Mesa really captures that same spirit.
Basically if you missed the original
Half-Life but keep on hearing old fu
cks like myself go on about it, this is your chance to experience the magic for yourself, present with nice graphics and in a somewhat more realistic setting. Plus it's free so yeah... just get this game already.