Black Mesa

A beautifully done remaster of the acclaimed cult classic Half-life in an updated Source Engine. I'd long awaited the release of the game with the Xen portion when I finally played through the full game upon release this past March, and was even where portions dragged on, not in the least bit disappointed. Every sound effect has been pleasantly redone, weapons feel familiar

A beautifully done remaster of the acclaimed cult classic Half-life in an updated Source Engine. I'd long awaited the release of the game with the Xen portion when I finally played through the full game upon release this past March, and was even where portions dragged on, not in the least bit disappointed. Every sound effect has been pleasantly redone, weapons feel familiar yet with some modernized updates to gameplay such as the ability to utilize iron-sights which you can toggle on and off in the game's options menu. No new weapons have been added to the arsenal, but all of the old favorites are back, beautiful, satisfying to utilize, and deadly as ever. The game is almost entirely a faithful remake of the original Half-life save for the re-imagined Xen portion. Xen had been considered the low point of many in the game. A stark contrast to the satisfying gunfights spanning laboratories and industrial warehouses caught in a three-way battle between aliens and responding government security forces sent to hide any trace of interdimensional meddling that leads to the games plot by murdering all involved scientists and other maintenance or security personnel present that precede the arrival on Xen. Xen has been entirely reworked with much more varied and lush environments making a more believable habitat for the diverse species that inhabit it over the otherwise sparse floating islands found in the original Half-life. Each beautifully done with effort clearly hinting at why it took so long to release the entire reworked Xen portion after releasing the game incomplete without it. The environments of Xen just as in the original feel exotic and thoroughly alien, with a more vivid alimentary chain and ecology presented than in the original as imagined by Crowbar Collective. The developers of Black Mesa with Valve Corporation's consent to remaster their title and distribute it for profit on Steam. Despite this, the Xen environments tend to drag on in length, sometimes coming to be exhausting beyond their original beautiful and welcomed challenge to traverse. With portions coming to be a gauntlet to endure, leading up to a final excellently done visually updated confrontation with a final boss encounter to end the game. For those who've played Half-life, the HECU Marines that make up the human conventional opposition are just as engaging an opponent as ever, with artificial intelligence that leaves nothing lacking from the original game as they maneuver to flank around you and attempt to flush you out should you stick to a position for too long. And like all sound effects, and dialogue including new entirely original dialogue, are just as lively with personality communicating tactics in a believable manner with each other as you gib them to avoid being gibbed first as both player sometimes accompanied by oft-short-lived security guards and the opposing military faction also fend off from attacks by aliens that come to overwhelm the military as the story progresses. All of the old familiar enemies find themselves returning with facelifts and lively well-done animations appropriate to a modern title, with no additions save for a few variants to familiar enemies for those who have played Half-life 1.