I have never finished a Half-Life game before (tried Half-Life 2 like 12 years ago but couldn't get into it at all) and the release of Black Mesa and hype surrounding it made me finally give the Half-Life franchise a real try this time :-) I finished Black Mesa like 2 weeks ago and I was amazed, I immediately played through Half-Life 2, then Episode One and Two and then Opposing Force and Blue Shift. I don't just like the series, I freakin love it and I'm definitely a fan now :) I also just ordered my first VR headset just to play Half-Life: Alyx. So yeah, if anyone's unsure about the original I'd say go and play Black Mesa, it's absolutely amazing and it's head and shoulders above current FPS games, just a great overall experience.
Black Mesa has always really interested me as someone looking to get into the series so I'm glad you covered it and you know what, I'm stoked I can't wait to boot this game up now and finally experience this series. Great series mate, love your work!
Thanks man! Yeah it's definitely worth checking out, but I'd recommend trying the original first. It is showing its age in many ways but it also still holds up remarkably well.
@@CloudConnection I am currently installing all of the games (I've owned them for ages which is baffling that it has taken me so long) I will heed your advice though and give the original a go first!
I wish they added in some of the unused concepts or enemies, for example the Human Sergeant, who could've been a great miniboss and could've worked well in Surface Tension, Forget about Freeman, or in the chapter where you get to the Lamba Complex, he and the remaining H.E.C.U units could've worked well as the final H.E.C.U obstacle preventing Gordon from getting to the Lamba Complex, and have the H.E.C.U throw everything they have left at you. I don't think Valve has ever officially stated why the Human Sergeant was cut, he was a concept they tried using basically throughout the entirety of the games development up until presumably the last few months before the game's release, they probably cut him due to time restraints.
Your content is so underrated. I was seeing this vid in my recommended and was avoiding it until I got bored and decided to watch it. You deserve says more subs, views, and likes. You just earned a sub.
Maybe unpopular opinion, but I absolutely adored the length of Black Mesa's Xen. I couldn't get enough of it, the visuals, the music, the strange level design. Every turn led to some new awe-inspiring thing. The 4 or 5 hours I spent there BREEZED past because I was thoroughly enthralled the entire time.
Ah, yes. As of now, the Steam Workshop release of the Hazard Course mod is available. With that along with Further Data which serves as a reimagining of the Uplink demo, the Black Mesa experience is finally complete. In my opinion of course. If any of you reading this are interested in these two mods, look them up in the Workshop. Specifically, the one for Black Mesa. That is all.
The one map I loved the most in Xen or the only map I love is from "Interloper" chapter, yet they completely changed it or did not include it in Black Mesa, sadly. I even prefer the original "On a Rail" chapter because it is long and it's maps, I had no idea it was hated, they cut one my favorite 2 maps from "On a Rail", at least an addon allowed me to play on a rail uncut. Overhaul, Black Mesa is an excellent remake/reimagining, I may still prefer a lot of things from both 2012 and 2015 versions over the 1.0 but it still a good remake.
I wouldn't call Xen the worst part of the game as a whole. The first 2 levels are fantastic imho. But Interloper really drags the whole experience down, it should have been way shorter and some level design choices are just plain bad - like the endless elevator or the fights on moving conveyer belts. On a Rail still takes the cake at least for me... I have to say that the music is probably my favorite thing about Black Mesa, Joel Nielson did fantastic job!
Honestly I feel a lot of the criticism aimed at Xen comes from expecting HL1s 1 hour jumping map pack at the end of the game and instead getting a full fledged third of the entire game set in the world. Interloper drags because by that point you're wondering why it hasn't ended because HL1s Xen ended hours ago. Taken on its own I honestly love BM Xen, even Interloper. But were it not a HL1 remake that requires the same chapter titles, Interloper should be divided into two chapters to make it clear how long it is and so it doesn't play with your expectations and tire you out by the end.
Just play this with the original-half-life stuff from the workshop and it CAN be the definitive way to play the game. I do NOT agree with this guy that it differentiating itself from the source material is a good thing.
