Black Mesa - legendary vaporware Half-Life remake finally out

[JDR13]

ok retard

It's amazing how butthurt idiots like you get when people like something you don't.

 

[DalekFlay]

It's really amazing how good Half-Life 2 still looks today. I replayed the first half not long ago at 144fps rendered at 5k and it was stunning whenever you weren't right up close to an iffy texture.

 

[JDR13]

It's really amazing how good Half-Life 2 still looks today. I replayed the first half not long ago at 144fps rendered at 5k and it was stunning whenever you weren't right up close to an iffy texture.

I agree. For how old it is, HL2 has held up really well. I remember it was one of the very first DirectX 9 games along with Doom 3 and FarCry. By comparison, I think it's aged a lot better than either of those (as well as most DX9 games in general) from a visual standpoint.

I think it's mostly because Valve continued to patch and tweak HL2 and the Source engine for years after release.

 

[JDR13]

I think it's mostly because Valve continued to patch and tweak HL2 and the Source engine for years after release.

Sort of. Those updates actually broke more than they added.

Like what?

 

[jebsmoker]

the visual fidelity in black mesa is really, really bad, but the sound design (all of the environmental, npc, player, and weapon sound assets) is superb. if the visual fidelity was closer to half life 1's art style, i wouldn't have a problem with it. too bad its so fucking uneven; it still looks like someone's college final project. the disparity between the great sound design and awful art and visual design is almost night and day

 

[RickOmbo]

There is a mod for the original soundtrack https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=834748921

 

[jebsmoker]

youre right. the music should have just been remastered versions of kelly bailey's work; the new stuff kinda fits but its mastered like shit so it just overtakes everything

 

[Naraya]

Finished Black Mesa. Man, what a ride.

I did not remember 95% of the game and I had a real blast playing it. I liked puzzles as they seemed logical. It's hard to get frustrated or stuck because you always get subtle hints, mostly via clever lighting.

Music was top notch.

Xen level is one of the best levels I've seen in an FPS. It's also quite beautiful.
On the other hand, Interloper overstayed its welcome. I wished it was finished already since it was pretty tedious, except the last 25% or so.

Final bossfight was pretty cool and quite fantastic graphic-wise[*]. I really could mistake this game as something that was released in the last 2-3 years.

Solid 9/10 from me. If you never played HL, do yourself a favour and play Black Mesa.

[*]

Spoiler

 

[Stormcrowfleet]

Naraya It does look beautiful. You say " If you never played HL, do yourself a favour and play Black Mesa.". Do you still recommend it for someone that liked HL ?

 

[Naraya]

Naraya It does look beautiful. You say " If you never played HL, do yourself a favour and play Black Mesa.". Do you still recommend it for someone that liked HL ?

I watched a few youtube videos of original game and it looks nothing like Black Mesa so I'd say yes , I think you'll have a great time with BM. It's Half Life properly remastered.

 

[Curratum]

Playing Black Mesa for a couple of hours only made me reinstall original HL1 and delete BM.

 

[schru]

I watched a few youtube videos of original game and it looks nothing like Black Mesa ... It's Half Life properly remastered.

???

 

[Naraya]

I watched a few youtube videos of original game and it looks nothing like Black Mesa ... It's Half Life properly remastered.

???

What I meant by saying that is that original HL's graphics don't hold the handle to Black Mesa's. What's the confusion about?

 

[DraQ]

I watched a few youtube videos of original game and it looks nothing like Black Mesa so I'd say yes , I think you'll have a great time with BM. It's Half Life properly remastered.

Apart from Interloper.

With exception of some scripted sequences and Garg chase Interloper is a horrible hackjob.
The rest is mostly very good and faithful remake, although not ideal one.

 

[schru]

What I meant by saying that is that original HL's graphics don't hold the handle to Black Mesa's. What's the confusion about?

I thought by ‘looked’ you meant how the game was overall, in which case the last statement would be pretty funny.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

 

[Lyric Suite]

I never thought Half-Life 1+2 were good looking games.

Well, they were. Sure Half Life 1 was behind the times technically compared to Unreal but so was Sin or a plethora of Quake based games. Guess nobody expected the massive jump Epic made with Unreal but that doesn't mean Quake based games were ugly to look at, and if there is one thing i can credit Half Life 2 for are the visuals, thanks to the top notch art direction among other things.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I watched a few youtube videos of original game and it looks nothing like Black Mesa ... It's Half Life properly remastered.

???

What I meant by saying that is that original HL's graphics don't hold the handle to Black Mesa's. What's the confusion about?

No shit BM is going to look better than Half Life the question of whether it is a good remaster though is based on whether it maintains the look and style of the original while improving the graphics.

Improving the graphics is the easy part everybody can do it:

 

[GewuerzKahn]

No shit BM is going to look better than Half Life the question of whether it is a good remaster though is based on whether it maintains the look and style of the original while improving the graphics.

Kinda

At the end Black Mesa looks more like NuDoom than Half Life 1:


But it maintains some style from the original:

top notch art direction among other things.

I love the art direction of the enemies and citadel, but everything else... I guess City 17 reminds me too much of the ugly parts in Berlin or Poznan (I hate those cities).

 

[DraQ]

At the end Black Mesa looks more like NuDoom than Half Life 1:

That's the Interloper chapter and they dropped the ball so hard there they might have triggered Earth's magnetic reversal.
Everything else is pretty great but definitely not flawless.

top notch art direction among other things.

I love the art direction of the enemies and citadel, but everything else... I guess City 17 reminds me too much of the ugly parts in Berlin or Poznan (I hate those cities).

I would say that was kind of the point there.

 

[Carrion]

I think HL2 has aged exceptionally well and looks good to this day. Hell, I think it looks better than the vast majority of new stuff. The art direction really is excellent, animations too. Unlike many other shooters from that era (and most graphics whore stuff in general), it's one of those games where certain outdated technical aspects don't matter at all. Especially City 17 looks great.

Not sure if I have the time and interest for another tour in Black Mesa, though. How is the AI in the new version?

 

[MapMan]

I tried Xen yesterday and I must say that I'm very disappointed.

First of all, the tech, source engine, has aged a lot. HL2 aged well because it is what it is, it's strength mainly lies in art direction and that well, it's not trying to be what it is not. Xen on the other hand, was clearly inspired by very recent games but the tech just isn't there. Environments are completely static and don't react to the player, shaders, post processing, particle effects etc. are just not on the level that you now get in any Unreal Engine or even Unity3D game. Sounds effects are either straight from HL2 (which is bad) or they're custom created, e.g. for the weapons, and they're even worse. None the less, they did push source engine to the max and that is an impressive feat. But if you expected a 2019/2020 level of fidelity and interactivity, it's just not there. But that's not the primary reason why I'm disappointed.

The main reason why I'm disappointed is the gameplay. I just wanted to re-experience the fast and enjoyable combat of HL1. Instead, Xen feels like modern shooter wannabe with ironsights and only a handful of enemies. The first few maps have barely any enemies in them and it only serves as exposition, which is a shame. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend it to someone looking to revisit Half Life. It definitely looks better, but it also plays much worse.

 

[JDR13]

The main reason why I'm disappointed is the gameplay. I just wanted to re-experience the fast and enjoyable combat of HL1. Instead, Xen feels like modern shooter wannabe with ironsights and only a handful of enemies. The first few maps have barely any enemies in them and it only serves as exposition, which is a shame. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend it to someone looking to revisit Half Life. It definitely looks better, but it also plays much worse.

Eh? I think you're remembering the original game with some nostalgia, because Xen wasn't good back then either.

 

[Draconis]

Black Mesa Xen drags on for far too long but overall it's better than HL Xen.

 

[sser]

My big issue with the new-Xen is that I think it forgets its placement in the pacing of Half-Life. The level sucks in the original, but thematically it's pretty on point. You go into the portal like an oldschool sea diver would jump into the water circa 1850. A short-time, in-and-out mission, with just enough human tech on the peripheral to guide you into a void of unknown. There is just enough time to realize it's a whole 'nother world, but you're not sticking around. Xen in the new HL looks incredible, but holy shit it feels like I'm taking a fucking vacation there. I guess they wanted to go for the 'humans have been traipsing about this world for awhile' vibe but man does it do a number on the pacing. In the original HL it feels like the ending is coming the second you leap into that portal, in Black Mesa it just drags and drags and drags. Kinda reminded me of that A.I. movie where it had a good ending spot, and then just went on for another thirty minutes.