Black Mesa

Valve games have a certain pace to their gameplay that I see Black Mesa trying to preserve that. TBH, if I had any complaints though, sights or no sights, the M P5s should be more 'Tacticool' since this is Spec Ops we're dealing with, like having a Red Dot or Reflex Sight. I mean, I know they're just doing what Valve did, but still.

At some point I'm definitely going to install M4 skins to replace the MP5s. Kind of curious as to why they plumped for the original weapons instead of the High Definition Pack ones - the latter are far superior, in my opinion.

Any European tropers having problems downloading BM - this is the (Germany-based) mirror I used), and it took about 18 minutes.

edited 15th Sep '12 1:59:27 AM by pagad

Funny story, I remember seeing videos from an earlier build where the mp5 had an EO Tech on it.

edited 15th Sep '12 3:11:55 AM by Ernie

I still don't know why they changed it.

So yeah, discovery; by not riding the first elevator after you get the hazard suit all the way down, but rather jumping out the open door onto the platform below as it's descending, you can miss a loading screen and break the game. Fancy that.

I am in Power Up right now, and I really dig the whole thing so far. The amount of small details are astounding, and the love that has been poured in to this project by the developers shines brightly through.

I love the small character moments with the Security Guards and Scientists, they have really managed to nail that right amount of cheese in the dialogue that was in the original game. The voice acting might be of varying quality (Eli was pretty bad, Marines are pretty "meh"), but they have really done a good job with those two.

The gunplay is also great. It feels like the guns, especially the magnum and the shotgun, has gravity and weight to them, I have really missed that feeling in newer games.

And I like how the HECU grunts are quite though to put down and packs a punch compared to the Combine soldiers. It feels like they captured that slight tingle of Survival-Horror that I felt Half-Life 2 might have lacked in places.

For now, I'd say I'm in the same situation as Bluespade. I am now full of anticipation.

Finally got to try this and wow, the crowbar suck. Hard. In the part with the lift and falling headcrabs, it was fairly easy for me to kill most if not all of those headcrabs with just the crowbar in HL 1, now in BM, I can barely hit them. And as others have said, the jump physics seem kinda wonky. Maybe that's why they delayed Xen.

Other than that, great work. I'm going to take this slow to appreciate their work more.

I decided to try Black Mesa. First time playing anything related to Half Life 1. I enjoying it. But as previously commented. The jumping seems a bit odd. I am at the hanging boxes room. But i can not seem to get on to the metal crate on the right side of the control room next to the door.Can any one give any tips please.

edited 15th Sep '12 9:15:38 AM by Hudeal

I installed it, then launched it, but it froze when loading the title screen, and I can't find where to launch the game again.

So, Gamerfront decided to play Jersey Shore against me and acted like douchebags,

Time to waste another 3hrs with another link :D

@CPF Man: I think it's likely that HL purists bitched about it. I wouldn't be against DL'ing a mod to give it that kinda sight.

The jumping physics are way to heavy in my opinion.

The only other complaint I have is a perspective issue, Some things seem too small now that the scale is based off of HD graphics instead of 2001 3d graphics.

I also don't mind that they got rid of the Tutorial level; they did the Valve thing and integrated the tutorial into the game.

I'm Hoping the next patch will have some optimization or something. For the most part it performs fine, but there are places (like when you first get to the surface) where the framerate drops dramatically for seemingly no reason. Other than that, I'm loving it so far. The Marine AI has the best elements of Half-Life 1 and 2, so they put up a good fight.

edited 15th Sep '12 1:14:20 PM by cfive

I recall magnum ammo being much more rare in the original, I almost use it entirely for taking on marines (Headshot is a kill) but I still almost never run out.

More random comments

The way the Pit Tentacles work makes it slightly easier to take care of them in blast pit, It also helps that you get satchel charges right before entering the room.

Turrets are nasty in this game, At least in the original they had somewhat of a long lead time to take advantage of. Also in We Got Hostiles I got screwed over more than a few times because I tried to go the original path where there was none (Remember that surface area? Yeah that didn't end well the first time.)

edited 15th Sep '12 2:51:46 PM by stevebat

Where do you get the notion .357s are nerfed though?

I just got to the tentacle monster. So far, this mod is awesome. In addition to the number of minute details, they also made the architecture of Black Mesa make sense and turned every enemy into a death machine (except zombies). There's no more just shooting them until they're dead; in large groups, even Houndeyes and Vorts will cut you down in seconds, to say nothing of the marines.

Voice acting wise, it's mostly high quality. I've heard some say that the voices for the marines were terrible, but II just assume it was meant to give a Ham and Cheese feel due to how over the top they always sound. Like that one soldier who was complaining about the scientists not fighting back; he sounded like he could only get an erection if he was being shot at every ten seconds.

I also love the small, visual touches that even most other source games don't have. The gibbing. The ability to pick up gibs. The film grain whenever you're around radiation. The blood that gets on your hands and gun. The way your vision is blurred when Houndeyes attack. The iron sights on the magnum. Et cetera.

Gunplay wise, I'm a bit disappointed that the pistol and submachine gun were nerfed in favor of an overpowered shotgun a la Half Life 2. Hopefully I'm just being premature about this, but it feels like you can never use nothing but the shotgun, crowbar, and magnum and win. Other than the pistol and the SMG, everything else feels pretty good. And neither of those two are bad, just not as good as they felt in Half Life 1.

edited 15th Sep '12 3:16:04 PM by CPFMfan

@Scherzo I probably should edit my earlier post

It's not the .357 that was nerfed, it was the fact that the player is staggered waaaaay too much when taking hits leading to missed shots.

What I thought was a damage reduction was actually me missing.

@CPF I thought the SMG actually does more Damage in Source than it did in the original, But since the shotgun lacks the recoil of the original and magnum ammo is candy, there is really no point to use the SMG except when ammo is a concern.

edited 15th Sep '12 3:09:24 PM by stevebat

Love the effects of the Houndeye attacks, as well as the Vorts. Like how they added in Vort Chanting from HL 2.

As for the Voice Acting; I've kinda viewed it the same way, that they're playing up the cheese. I just love all the new scripted scenes as you go through the facility, makes the world feel more 'alive' after Anomalous Material than it was in the original..

But still, the Box Smashing Room; are the rails meant to be lowered and raised? I couldn't tell.

The SMG does more damage in source; 5 in the original, 8 in Source, same as the pistol. Also, even where ammo is a concern, there's still no reason to use the SMG since it burns through ammo like a starved pig and the pistol is way more accurate, efficient, and almost as fast. And even it still sucks compared to the Half Life 1 version, which would take out marines in seven shots and let you carry two hundred and fifty bullets in reserve.

edited 15th Sep '12 3:15:25 PM by CPFMfan

The pistol is satisfying enough and good enough for me to be able to conserve Magnum ammo. I remember the SMG always being a mediocre gun compared to the sidearms and shotty, so I don't mind that it isn't that great. Can get a lot of rounds down field. Would be interested in switching it out with an M4 Carbine if I could though.

Really the only 'disappointing' weapon is the Crowbar, both because of the lack of reach and lackluster animation of it.

I think increased recoil is a good tradeoff for having such a handcannon. I can drop like three Vorts in a row with the thing.

edited 15th Sep '12 3:33:56 PM by Scherzo09

Started playing the mod today, and I love it so far. I think I'm halfway through the second chapter, at the lift. Nice to see that the developers recreated some segments and added a few of their own.

Seems like they took a cue from L 4 D, the zombies are gurglier than before...

Here's something I else I notice: it's cheap. There are several sections where you have no choice but to take a bunch of damage.

edited 15th Sep '12 3:59:30 PM by CPFMfan

Really? The only time that sticks out to me is the trip down the Vernicular, other than that the game seems about as fair as the original HL.