Black Mesa (Windows) 2012
Most advanced game mod
Gameplay video
Review- Softonic (2012)
"If you haven't played any of the Half-Life games, this is the one to start with. The developers who worked on this project have crafted an extremely faithful
homage to the first Half-Life game. Black Mesa takes you through the horrors of the events at Black Mesa leading to the Combine invasion of Earth.
All of the different elements within Black Mesa create an extremely immersive environment and story. The people and lab feel completely real and lived in. There are
many little details in the environment that make you want to wander around to see all the little details.
All of the characters from Half-Life make their return and look better than ever. You really feel for them if you've been a fan of the series. Seeing them young and
whole really taps into gamer nostalgia.
Graphics
The graphics of the original game have been completely scrapped. The textures and environments in Black Mesa are all new, giving the game a fresh feel and look.
There are minute details scattered throughout the game that make the Half-Life world feel lived in. The graphics in Black Mesa are so detailed at times that you'll find yourself reading a sign or
staring at all the switches on a computer console.
While the Source engine is quite old, the graphics in Black Mesa make put the whole franchise on the same graphical level. The original Half-Life looks aged but
Black Mesa looks contemporary but won't impress folks who've been used to the stellar graphics found in modern games like Sleeping Dogs.
Gameplay
Gameplay for Black Mesa is exactly what you would expect if you've ever played a Valve game. Designed for a first person perspective, Black Mesa is a first person
shooter. All of the controls are identical. Even the heads up display is very familiar, although a bit smaller and easier to read than the one in Half-Life 2.
Black Mesa includes some puzzles, which are simple but satisfying. You'll find yourself mostly navigating around unknown environments and shooting alien creatures
to death. You start off with the iconic crowbar, but will be given guns and other weapons later in the game.
Gameplay is fun for the most part but is very linear. Black Mesa made sure that it didn't stray too far from the game that everyone loves and keeps all of the
elements that made Half-Life great. Level designs have changed a little bit but overall, it is a faithful homage and still fun learning the story of Black Mesa.
Sound
The original soundtrack has been completely scrapped. Black Mesa features an all new, original score that you can download at Black Mesa's website. The soundtrack
is ominous and works well to set the mood for different scenes.
Voice acting has also been updated but still utilizes the voices from the main characters in the original Half-Life. Other characters in the game have been
re-voiced and given different lines. Each character will interact and speak with you so desire, making the world feel more realistic. The original voice acting in Half-Life was good but felt
robotic at time, especially when combined with blocky graphics.
It's great to see, and hear, that the developers overhauled everything from the voice acting to the soundtrack.
Wrap-up
Black Mesa is an incredible re-make of a classic game. While it doesn't deviate too far from the original, where it does deviate makes it successful in refreshing a
old game and making it relevant again for 2012. If you haven't played any Half-Life games, this is a must play.
Still, the game is not perfect, marred only by its extremely lengthy installation and long loading screens. Overall, Black Mesa is a must download. Its excellent
story, soundtrack, and attention to detail make it one of the best gaming experiences out there."
Trivia:
1) During its eight-year development period, Black Mesa has been featured in several video game publications and received direct attention from Valve.
2) The first part of Black Mesa, which included remakes of chapters "Black Mesa Inbound" to "Lambda Core", was released as a free standalone download on September 14, 2012. On May 15, 2016,
version 0.3.0 was released, dubbed "The Surface Tension Update". The update integrates a popular mod, Surface Tension Uncut, into the game (the mod's developer, TextFAMGUY1, had previously been
added to the development team). The new content adds about an hour of gameplay to the game. The update also adds high definition shadows (using Cascaded Shadow Maps), faster map load times, and
translation support for 5 additional languages. As with previous updates, 0.3.0 additionally contains game balance and level design changes across singleplayer and multiplayer, as well as
programming bug fixes. Notably the game's Artificial Intelligence was modified in singleplayer.Additional Xen levels were added over time, and by December 24, 2019, the full Xen chapter was
released as part of the game's early access. The finished Black Mesa was released for Windows on March 6, 2020.
3) Released on Half-Life 2 Source engine - features the Havok physics engine and improved effects
for
water and lighting. The level architecture, textures, and models of the game however, remained unchanged from original Half-Life.
4) Black Mesa began as the combination of two independent volunteer projects, each aiming to do just that: completely recreate Half-Life using Source. The Leakfree modification was announced in
September 2004. Half-Life: Source Overhaul Project was announced one month later. After realizing their similar goals, project leaders for both teams decided to combine efforts; they formed a new
13-person team titled Black Mesa: Source.The team now consists of 40 volunteer level designers, programmers, modelers, texture artists, animators, sound engineers, voice actors, and support
staff. Originally based on the version of Source released with Counter-Strike: Source in 2004, the project switched to a more recent version released with Valve's The Orange Box in 2007.
5) Black Mesa won ModDB's Mod of the Year Award for 2012.
6) There is a women scientists now included in the game.
7) A mod or modification is the alteration of content from a video game in order to make it operate in a manner different from its original version. Mods can be created for any genre of game but are especially popular in first-person shooters, role-playing games and real-time strategy games. Mods are made by the general public or a developer and can be entirely new games in themselves, mods that create an entirely new game are called total conversions.
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