Developer Crowbar Collective has taken some liberties with level geometry, pacing of action sequences, and even the story. (Okay, the magnum has iron sight aiming, don’t me.)īlack Mesa is such a faithful recreation, that every iconic moment from the original is there, but in greater fidelity. Don’t expect down-the-barrel aiming, though, as Black Mesa keeps itself pretty close to the original game on which it is based, before the practice was popularized. It still feels aged-it’s been in development for around fifteen years, after all-but being made in the Source engine, it has nearly modern lighting effects and other graphical bells and whistles to make it feel almost like a modern game. Black Mesa, on the other hand, is a great stepping on point. But it is old-so old that one of our other Games & Tech writers was born AFTER its release-so it may not be a draw for younger gamers trying to see what this Half-Life nonsense is all about.
Even the original Half-Life is still surprisingly playable, despite its age. So years ago, when I heard that it was being remade with updated graphics in the Source engine, I was thrilled.ĭon’t get me wrong. There really hasn’t been anything like it since. And when the action did come, it felt like a desperate survival horror bid to escape turned into an action movie where your only goal was to survive. Half-Life’s beginning tram ride was more outside-the-manual world building in a first person shooter than I had gotten in the entire library of games I’ve played before it. I had never played a first person shooter that took the time for… well, anything other than constant action. And for good reason: Half-Life was transcendent. The only person who noticed I was playing a game that wasn’t familiar was my brother, and he was delighted at my subversion of Christmas norms. I couldn’t possibly wait a whole month to play it, so I did what any reasonable kid would do: once it was wrapped and put under the tree, I got an exacto knife, and surgically cut the tape and removed the CD. I convinced my mom to buy it for me “for Christmas” around its release in November.
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