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[EatChildren]

Can you explain a bit more what you mean by poorer combat? Faster enemies aside, I'm not really sure what there is to complain about.

Mostly the faster reaction speeds, which I touched on earlier. Half-Life, at it's core, was a run and gun game. Even with hitscan weapons, it was built around run and gun combat. This was mostly achieved by having enemies telegraph attacks and/or keep themselves very mobile, forcing you in turn to move quickly. Vort charging up? Move to dodge, same goes for Houndeyes. Marines? Cant stop-and-pop, as they move too quickly between cover, spray fire, flank, etc.

Black Mesa's absurd reaction speeds and aimbot levels of accuracy has reshaped the combat into slow, exploitive trial-and-error play that closer resembles a modern stop-and-pop shooter. Athletics and mobility take second place to simply getting in a quick, high damage shot before the enemy shoots you. It's particularly problematic with marines, as instead of getting up close and personal, moving between cover, and surprising them, the best tactic is to stay as far away as possible, peek around a corner, and pot shot them with the revolver.

Stuff like this, evident in also the increased Vort charge up time, says to me that the team didn't want to recreate Half-Life's excellent run-and-gun gameplay, or failed trying to. For me it feels less tactical, exciting and fast thanks to mobility of both you and the enemy, and instead slower, exploitive and cheap.

 

[DocSeuss]

@EatChildren, I'll respond to your post after I wake up. It's been fun, and your posts are thought-provoking enough that I really want to respond, but I am tired and I need to sleep.

I don't care if Half-Life changed gaming forever. I care about how it plays today, and it isn't playing well. The only "puzzle" I've seen in around three and a half hours was bringing a wheel over to a hole, and then twisting it to make a bridge with a meat crane. Not exactly MENSA-level stuff here.

There were others.

There has been no story at all to speak of post-cascade

Yes.

Because Half-Life does not have a story. Half-Life works when you play it like you are a person who got caught up in science got wrong, and now you are afraid for your life so you try to get out.

It is an event you are involved in and you must deal with it. It's not a story.

One of Valve's biggest mistakes was trying to make Half-Life into a story through Half-Life 2, particularly because it's not a very good one. They should have gone the other way, trying to make it a living, breaing world, that you, the player/character/participant could interact with however you saw fit. This was the evolutionary path that games like System Shock and Deus Ex took. Instead, they regressed.

Few highlights, to back up the "it's not a very good one" claim.

*Each of the three main plot beats have the same goal ("get to Eli")
*You are told to get to Eli at the start so that he will explain why you are back (this never happens; in other words, you're never, ever told why G-Man brought you there--most people have assumed "to take down the Combine," but the fact remains that the story breaks Chekov's Gun hard)
*You, a random guy out of nowhere, are trusted implicitly by a resistance (something which people would never do), despite the fact that when you show up, their leader goes missing, and when you go to rescue him (alongside a high-ranking member of the resistance), both she and you go missing. A normal person's reaction would be "okay, as a suspicious resistance member, I think this Freeman guy whom I have never met was a plant by the bad guys and now he's kidnapped our peeps." Half-Life 2's characters decide that it's apparently a good time to attack (leaderless and possibly compromised, being in a worse position than they were at the start of the game)

Not a great story.

and dissing Alyx is grounds for a pimp-slapping.

I used to have a job that involved critiquing bad characters. Force of habit.

Also, this jump-and-then-hold-crouch for half the jumps in the game is incredibly stupid.

The jump height is bad. It wasn't like this in the original game, and I only recall having to use it once, during On A Rail.

 

[Feep]

There were others.

Yes.

Because Half-Life does not have a story. Half-Life works when you play it like you are a person who got caught up in science got wrong, and now you are afraid for your life so you try to get out.

It is an event you are involved in and you must deal with it. It's not a story.

One of Valve's biggest mistakes was trying to make Half-Life into a story through Half-Life 2, particularly because it's not a very good one. They should have gone the other way, trying to make it a living, breaing world, that you, the player/character/participant could interact with however you saw fit. This was the evolutionary path that games like System Shock and Deus Ex took. Instead, they regressed.

Few highlights, to back up the "it's not a very good one" claim.

*Each of the three main plot beats have the same goal ("get to Eli")
*You are told to get to Eli at the start so that he will explain why you are back (this never happens; in other words, you're never, ever told why G-Man brought you there--most people have assumed "to take down the Combine," but the fact remains that the story breaks Chekov's Gun hard)
*You, a random guy out of nowhere, are trusted implicitly by a resistance (something which people would never do), despite the fact that when you show up, their leader goes missing, and when you go to rescue him (alongside a high-ranking member of the resistance), both she and you go missing. A normal person's reaction would be "okay, as a suspicious resistance member, I think this Freeman guy whom I have never met was a plant by the bad guys and now he's kidnapped our peeps." Half-Life 2's characters decide that it's apparently a good time to attack (leaderless and possibly compromised, being in a worse position than they were at the start of the game)

Not a great story.

I used to have a job that involved critiquing bad characters. Force of habit.

The jump height is bad. It wasn't like this in the original game, and I only recall having to use it once, during On A Rail.

Well, I don't mean to pick on one of your favorite games...just a difference of opinion. I just remember being *engaged* with Half-Life 2, something that isn't happening here. "Survive by getting to the surface" is just another way of saying "follow the level design", which most shooters do, but with no backing narrative structure to keep me engaged, it's tough...especially when the environments and enemies are not particularly varied. If there were puzzles other than the meat crane, they were so mentally unchallenging that I didn't even think of them as puzzles.

I'm sure an issue is also because I played this in reverse...all of these enemies, save for the Vorts, are completely old to me because I've played all the HL2 stuff. Not a fair criticism there, but...(shrug)

 

[jerry113]

This guy is doing a let's play of Black Mesa AND Half-Life 1 at the same time... by using the 3D feature in youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=tEa6sNnLGVY

 

[Cindres]

@EatChildren, I'll respond to your post after I wake up. It's been fun, and your posts are thought-provoking enough that I really want to respond, but I am tired and I need to sleep.



There were others.



Yes.

Because Half-Life does not have a story. Half-Life works when you play it like you are a person who got caught up in science got wrong, and now you are afraid for your life so you try to get out.

It is an event you are involved in and you must deal with it. It's not a story.

One of Valve's biggest mistakes was trying to make Half-Life into a story through Half-Life 2, particularly because it's not a very good one. They should have gone the other way, trying to make it a living, breaing world, that you, the player/character/participant could interact with however you saw fit. This was the evolutionary path that games like System Shock and Deus Ex took. Instead, they regressed.

Few highlights, to back up the "it's not a very good one" claim.

*Each of the three main plot beats have the same goal ("get to Eli")
*You are told to get to Eli at the start so that he will explain why you are back (this never happens; in other words, you're never, ever told why G-Man brought you there--most people have assumed "to take down the Combine," but the fact remains that the story breaks Chekov's Gun hard)
*You, a random guy out of nowhere, are trusted implicitly by a resistance (something which people would never do), despite the fact that when you show up, their leader goes missing, and when you go to rescue him (alongside a high-ranking member of the resistance), both she and you go missing. A normal person's reaction would be "okay, as a suspicious resistance member, I think this Freeman guy whom I have never met was a plant by the bad guys and now he's kidnapped our peeps." Half-Life 2's characters decide that it's apparently a good time to attack (leaderless and possibly compromised, being in a worse position than they were at the start of the game)

Not a great story.



I used to have a job that involved critiquing bad characters. Force of habit.



The jump height is bad. It wasn't like this in the original game, and I only recall having to use it once, during On A Rail.

Yeah people were saying it was like this in HL1 but I'm sure that wasn't the case. Like there was SOME crouch jumping but this game seems to require it on every little jump.

 

[leng jai]

Yeah played a bit and the jump height seems ridiculously low. Was quite annoying actually.

 

[Stallion Free]

Oh man, the temptation to participate in this discussion is so strong, but the last time I let myself do something like that I just got banned lol.

Both Half-Life 1/2+eps resonate with me on too deep an emotional level for me to enter into a reasonable discussion.

 

[eot]

I admire what they've accomplished, but acting like this is some tremendous overhaul and advancement of the Half-Life formula is a gross exaggeration.

I don't know that anyone is being that hyperbolic. It's hard to even say what the Half-Life formula is because the HL2 series is so different from the first game. Comparing the games (BM included) is made more awkward by the fact that they're made at such different times in gaming under vastly different circumstances. Personally I think the combat, even with its flaws, is more enjoyable than HL2's. Though that might not be saying much because the Combine only ever run at you in a straight line and the first hour of combat in HL2 mostly involves shooting exploding barrels.

You're right that the levels do, for the most part, have the same layout as in the original, so it's to the BM team's credit that they feel so believable. That's something which is hard to quantify, but I think the environments outdo HL2 in that regard (though again, HL2 is quite old now). It manages to create a strong sense of place and I guess that plays on nostalgia because it's cool to see Black Mesa realized to that degree of fidelity. It looks like what HL1 looked like in my head when I was playing it as a kid. If I had to sum up how I feel about it I wouldn't say that it shows Valve how it's done, I would say that it should remind Valve of how it's done. It doesn't have the polish of a Valve release but it still evokes a lot of what was great about the original, much of which is missing from the subsequent games.

 

[Metalmurphy]

Yeah people were saying it was like this in HL1 but I'm sure that wasn't the case. Like there was SOME crouch jumping but this game seems to require it on every little jump.

This probably has more to do with the level design then it has to do with the jump height.


*edit*

Nope, they are indeed quite different:

 

[gabbo]

This probably has more to do with the level design then it has to do with the jump height.


*edit*

Nope, they are indeed quite different:

Didn't the HEV suit in the original allow for the super jump (run+crouch jump = ridiculous height/distance)?

 

[Stallion Free]

Didn't the HEV suit in the original allow for the super jump (run+crouch jump = ridiculous height/distance)?

That required the jump pack which you get right before going to Xen in the original.

 

[EGM1966]

Pretty good overall and certainly looks nice so far (just past Blast Pit).

Couple of niggles though:

1 - the changed combat is a bit jarring. Before you moved and engaged, moved and engaged, with a lot of dodging. Now, most enemies lock on and engage more quickly, forcing a slower, pop out/pop back approach to combat. It's okay but doesn't feel right next to the original. I feel they should have stuck with the slower Vortigunt charge ups for example.

2 - the jump height is too small. You have to use the crouch jump almost constantly which feels a bit of a pain on the fingers (mine at least). In the original crouch jump was used more sparingly and normal jump got you up in most cases

But given this is free, I'm pretty impressed with it so far. The opening train ride was great with this level of detail and I liked the more obvious placement and dialogue of NPCs who appear in HL2 but were just random NPCs in HL.

Now if the combat/jump weren't niggles I'd be very, very impressed.

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

This probably has more to do with the level design then it has to do with the jump height.


*edit*

Nope, they are indeed quite different:

Ah, so it's not just me. I thought the jumping felt a bit odd.

(first person platforming that isn't Mirror's Edge still sucks, for the record)

 

[Sub_Level]

Didn't the HEV suit in the original allow for the super jump (run+crouch jump = ridiculous height/distance)?

Spoiler

You get the jump module near the end of Black Mesa Source.

 

[eot]

(first person platforming that isn't Mirror's Edge still sucks, for the record)

Spoiler

Mirror's Edge hasn't got anything on Quake 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt2G02go7oY

 

[MrCunningham]

Mostly the faster reaction speeds, which I touched on earlier. Half-Life, at it's core, was a run and gun game. Even with hitscan weapons, it was built around run and gun combat. This was mostly achieved by having enemies telegraph attacks and/or keep themselves very mobile, forcing you in turn to move quickly. Vort charging up? Move to dodge, same goes for Houndeyes. Marines? Cant stop-and-pop, as they move too quickly between cover, spray fire, flank, etc.

Black Mesa's absurd reaction speeds and aimbot levels of accuracy has reshaped the combat into slow, exploitive trial-and-error play that closer resembles a modern stop-and-pop shooter. Athletics and mobility take second place to simply getting in a quick, high damage shot before the enemy shoots you. It's particularly problematic with marines, as instead of getting up close and personal, moving between cover, and surprising them, the best tactic is to stay as far away as possible, peek around a corner, and pot shot them with the revolver.

Stuff like this, evident in also the increased Vort charge up time, says to me that the team didn't want to recreate Half-Life's excellent run-and-gun gameplay, or failed trying to. For me it feels less tactical, exciting and fast thanks to mobility of both you and the enemy, and instead slower, exploitive and cheap.

You couldn't be stressed enough, really. But you're right. I just played all the way from Apprehension to Forget About Freeman, and these AI difference become more and more apparent the further I get into the game. The AI gives you no breathing room in a firefight at all, it forces you to hide for cover and makes you lure the AI to you one by one. And when you are in hiding, the AI will find any vantage point they can get to snipe you down. They don't give up.

there is an area in Surface Tension where you have to pop up from an underground series of sewers to take out a Tank and a bunch of marines. The moment you look out of a manhole by about half an inch every soldier on the top side will target you instantly and gun you down with almost complete precision. And this is on normal mode.

They really need to make some adjustments to the AI.

This probably has more to do with the level design then it has to do with the jump height.


*edit*

Nope, they are indeed quite different:

You know, I thought my memory was playing tricks on me, buy you are correct. The jump height has been reduced in Black Mesa. I don't remember the crouch jump being used much at all in the original. but here it feels like I am crouch jumping almost for almost every 3rd jump.

 

[Rufus]

Pretty good overall and certainly looks nice so far (just past Blast Pit).

Couple of niggles though:

1 - the changed combat is a bit jarring. Before you moved and engaged, moved and engaged, with a lot of dodging. Now, most enemies lock on and engage more quickly, forcing a slower, pop out/pop back approach to combat. It's okay but doesn't feel right next to the original. I feel they should have stuck with the slower Vortigunt charge ups for example.

It doesn't feel right in what they have built themselves. There are arenas you only get to see the entrance of because the enemies home in on you like rabid dogs, without a chance for you to get yourself into a better position. Take note of how many times you find good cover, or higher ground, or health packs and ammo in parts that you can only reach when the fight is already over but would have been quite useful during the fight. What's the point of building those when the AI shoots you to bits without any hope of reaching them? There's one very glaring one, with a tank in the middle surrounded by soldiers. You will never, ever reach the catwalks with the rocket launcher ammo. Instead, you poke your head out of the drains like a gopher, picking them all off one by one. And forget about staying in the tank's blind spot. It doesn't have one. The machine gun can fire straight down and it will see you. Good luck if you don't have any Gauss ammo left. I'm tempted to play the original again, just to see if that part was just as fucked back then.

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

Spoiler

Mirror's Edge hasn't got anything on Quake 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt2G02go7oY

That first level looks like some gay techno club, haha. Love it. I was never a big Q3 player so I can't really comment there

In this game it feels like all of the jumps I do just BARELY make it. You have to be so precise.

 

[Diman]

It doesn't feel right in what they have built themselves. There are arenas you only get to see the entrance of because the enemies home in on you like rabid dogs, without a chance for you to get yourself into a better position. Take note of how many times you find good cover, or higher ground, or health packs and ammo in parts that you can only reach when the fight is already over but would have been quite useful during the fight. What's the point of building those when the AI shoots you to bits without any hope of reaching them? There's one very glaring one, with a tank in the middle surrounded by soldiers. You will never, ever reach the catwalks with the rocket launcher ammo. Instead, you poke your head out of the drains like a gopher, picking them all off one by one. And forget about staying in the tank's blind spot. It doesn't have one. The machine gun can fire straight down and it will see you. Good luck if you don't have any Gauss ammo left. I'm tempted to play the original again, just to see if that part was just as fucked back then.

.

This totally ruined the mod for me. It's just not fun to fight against the ai, all the timings are wrong. Eatmychildren really nailed it, what's wrong with this mod.

BUT, this is just a first release, so the developers can still fix this. Hopefully this will happen, because the rest, the looks, the feel, the architecture of the levels, is done really well.

 

[Gravijah]

why does the HUD have bloom

 

[tci]

why does the HUD have bloom

Next gen

I don't care if Half-Life changed gaming forever. I care about how it plays today, and it isn't playing well. The only "puzzle" I've seen in around three and a half hours was bringing a wheel over to a hole, and then twisting it to make a bridge with a meat crane. Not exactly MENSA-level stuff here.

It still is one of the best fps games out there. Really a sad thing that it haven't been surpassed yet. It just got it all. Today's games is too easy with health re-gen and stupid cover mechanics. Having low health is one of the most important things for a good game I feel. It keeps you on the edge. And puzzles isn't supposed to be hard. They are there for a break from the action. Valve still uses that effectively, and is one of the few devs that do. That is because of great in-house testing. You get tired of non-stop action. Having puzzles is great for that. Though it doesn't fit all games of course.

 

[Sub_Level]

Playing the mod again on Normal for the Achievements and the enemies don't do enough damage. You're totally able to run and gun. You can even take out Vorts and Grunts with a single magnum shot.

There are still more fundamental problems, though, of course, like the instant charge-up time on the Vortigaunts, Bullsquids, and Houndeyes. Even the HEADCRABS and MAWMEN are harder this time around, the Headcrabs have such a low recovery time this go around and it's harder to go "in an out" with the crowbar with the Mawmen as well without taking a hit, they're distinctly different from the HL2 headcrabs and zombies. If I were to "mod the mod" I would address these five enemies for sure.

But fighting Alien Grunts and Human Grunts remain pretty similar to the original. The Human Grunts are harder because of damage values, not due to them having better accuracy. Their damage output should be lowered maybe 10%-25% across all difficulties so that way you can actually go out and have a fun fight with them instead of killing them instantly on Hard.

But let's not forget how this mod is easier either. The Icythosaur is a complete pushover now, your shotgun has ridiculously low recovery time, they give you the magnum way earlier, and the crossbow has lower recovery time now as well. Hivehand still sucks though haha

 

[Scrabble]

I've been playing the original and Black Mesa together and as far as combat is concerned black mesa is definitely more forgiving. I've probably died hundreds of times in Half Life and maybe half of that in black mesa. Weapons have a lot more kick than they did in Half Life and while it can be trial and error in spots it's never reaches the the trial and error levels of the original Half Life. Seriously the combat in that game has not aged well at all and if you have no suit power just a few shots in Half Life and your dead pretty much forcing you to quick save and quick load multiple times through almost every encounter which is really frustrating.

 

[Snacks the sober sea lion]

What? 10 smg grenades, much more control over hand grenades, bunny hopping, slower Vortigaunt charge, Marines blowing themselves up. Maybe the original in hard mode is tougher, but on normal you can just fly through everything up to Surface Tension easily in HL1.

 

[Scrabble]

What? 10 smg grenades, much more control over hand grenades, bunny hopping, slower Vortigaunt charge, Marines blowing themselves up. Maybe the original in hard mode is tougher, but on normal you can just fly through everything up to Surface Tension easily in HL1.

When's the last time you played Half Life because playing it has been one of the most agonizingly difficult experiences I've had with a shooter. Enemy accuracy feels just as perfect as people are complaining it is in black mesa and the animations actually make it harder to hit enemies which is especially true when fighting the female ninjas in the original. I was quick loading constantly for about 15 mins during one fight with them because they would almost teleport and it was almost impossible to hit them.

 

[Metalmurphy]

Just finished it.


I was one of the doubters and I'm glad to say I'll be eating crow for a long time. It was a really well done remake. Kept the essence of HL1 in every way while improving the graphics by MILES and twisting things just a little bit to make it some what of a different experience.


The visual effects on the final room were fantastic.

 

[eot]

When's the last time you played Half Life because playing it has been one of the most agonizingly difficult experiences I've had with a shooter. Enemy accuracy feels just as perfect as people are complaining it is in black mesa and the animations actually make it harder to hit enemies which is especially true when fighting the female ninjas in the original. I was quick loading constantly for about 15 mins during one fight with them because they would almost teleport and it was almost impossible to hit them.

Which difficulty are you playing Black Mesa on? It defaults to easy and I don't think it gives you a difficulty prompt when you start a new game.

 

[Scrabble]

Which difficulty are you playing Black Mesa on? It defaults to easy and I don't think it gives you a difficulty prompt when you start a new game.

Normal and it's nowhere as frustrating as the original Half Life. Which is funny cause I beat Half Life maybe 5+ years ago and don't remember it being as hard as it was. My time replaying the original Half Life now is pretty much quick saving every 3 minutes, meeting a group of marines, getting all my health taken out in a matter of seconds, and qucikloading so I can take out one more enemy than I did before without losing to much health and then have that process repeat its self over and over. In black mesa sure the marines still have too good reaction times and perfect accuracy, but I at least feel more powerful and feel my health doesn't deplete as rapidly as it does in Half Life. Also Black Mesa gives you much more ammo than Half Life so I'm using better weapons like the magnum a lot more than in the original.

 

[Manp]

...no.

Half-Life was the game that changed first-person shooter design forever. That is true greatness.

Half-Life 2 was a weak shooter with a bad plot, flat characters, boring enemies, uninteresting weapons, and a bunch of set pieces that didn't make sense, wrapped up in a bow of physics and atmosphere. Half-Life 2: Episode 1 was shit, and Episode 2 was wackily unbalanced, first being mostly in caves, then with an extended driving segment, followed by an unsatisfying conclusion built around the only halfway-decent shooting segment (and a massive, rather repetitive strider-killing segment) in the game.

Had Half-Life never existed, Half-Life 2 would never have been as well-loved as it was.

I don't really want to rag on Half-Life 2, but I am honestly shocked by the love it's getting here. The progression through the game is basically a bunch of random, distinct sequences that don't really work well together at all. It's not even like your main goal ever changes, either. First you gotta get to Black Mesa East to meet Eli, then you gotta get to Nova Prospekt to save Eli, then you gotta get to the Citadel to... well, save Eli again. The Episodes continue the trend.

well this is something i can agree with

 

[Snacks the sober sea lion]

When's the last time you played Half Life because playing it has been one of the most agonizingly difficult experiences I've had with a shooter. Enemy accuracy feels just as perfect as people are complaining it is in black mesa and the animations actually make it harder to hit enemies which is especially true when fighting the female ninjas in the original. I was quick loading constantly for about 15 mins during one fight with them because they would almost teleport and it was almost impossible to hit them.

I played Half-Life Source two days ago, and again just now. Ninjas are definitely easier in Half-Life than Black Mesa.

 

[EGM1966]

It doesn't feel right in what they have built themselves. There are arenas you only get to see the entrance of because the enemies home in on you like rabid dogs, without a chance for you to get yourself into a better position. Take note of how many times you find good cover, or higher ground, or health packs and ammo in parts that you can only reach when the fight is already over but would have been quite useful during the fight. What's the point of building those when the AI shoots you to bits without any hope of reaching them? There's one very glaring one, with a tank in the middle surrounded by soldiers. You will never, ever reach the catwalks with the rocket launcher ammo. Instead, you poke your head out of the drains like a gopher, picking them all off one by one. And forget about staying in the tank's blind spot. It doesn't have one. The machine gun can fire straight down and it will see you. Good luck if you don't have any Gauss ammo left. I'm tempted to play the original again, just to see if that part was just as fucked back then.

Yah - I'm still enjoying the makeover but the AI is really at odds with the level design which is inherited from the original. Sours the experience somewhat and seems more in line with a Gears/Uncharted style game where you can actually take cover properly.

I've really become aware now it's everything in the game from headcrabs to soldiers. They attack very fast and very accurately and don't give you time to think and use the space you have to fight.

 

[Rufus]

BUT, this is just a first release, so the developers can still fix this. Hopefully this will happen, because the rest, the looks, the feel, the architecture of the levels, is done really well.

Yeah, guess I should mention this again with how negative I'm sounding on it. I inhaled this game in two sittings, it's not like I didn't enjoy myself, but the changes to the AI feel pointless at best, detrimental at worst.

 

[(._.)]

So I've been playing this and it isn't as enjoyable as I thought it would be. Something abut the Original HL is lost in this remake. There just isn't anything special about replaying HL1 with HL2 graphics.

 

[tci]

I played Half-Life Source two days ago, and again just now. Ninjas are definitely easier in Half-Life than Black Mesa.

Hmm.. For me they were a lot easier in BM, than Half Life. It's something about their animation. They feel a lot slower in BM than I can remember from the original.

 

[likedamaster]

I truly have to commend the makers of this mod for a 'job well done'. It's a really pretty game, and long! No complaints here outside of a few crashes to desktop. Even then, great job!

Also, I thought they mentioned the game was 8 to 10 hours, felt more like 20 hours.

 

[Sub_Level]

I truly have to commend the makers of this mod for a 'job well done'. It's a really pretty game, and long! No complaints here outside of a few crashes to desktop. Even then, great job!

Also, I thought they mentioned the game was 8 to 10 hours, felt more like 20 hours.

Yeah, fps games these days are crazy short. I remember renting Call of Duty 4 and beating it in a 4 hour sitting. Crazy thing is that Black Mesa Source is only 80% of Half-Life. They really don't make 'em like that anymore.

Anyways, any of you gents/ladies have luck with the kinetic repulsion achievement? You have to pick up a thrown grenade, toss it back and kill a soldier. The other achievements are really straightforward, haven't had any problems (though I do wish there was one for beating the game on hard) but I just cannot get these marines to throw any grenades. I wonder if only certain marine mobs are equipped with them.

Hmm.. For me they were a lot easier in BM, than Half Life. It's something about their animation. They feel a lot slower in BM than I can remember from the original.

I highly disagree! The assassins in HL really don't do a whole lot of damage to you, at least that's how it seemed. Plus they were maybe a quarter less agile? And they didn't have invisible camo either. I actually had to use the trip-wires in the first encounter and I got lucky with a satchel charge when you face 5 or 6 of them before the Lambda Core.

 

[Snacks the sober sea lion]

So I've been playing this and it isn't as enjoyable as I thought it would be. Something abut the Original HL is lost in this remake. There just isn't anything special about replaying HL1 with HL2 graphics.

But that's not what it is. The only models it uses from HL2 are Vortigaunts and headcrabs. How much have you even played?

 

[Jintor]

Where I feel confident enough to say that I know Half-Life room-for-room, I continually find myself surprised by what comes next in Black Mesa. Quite a lot has changed (for instance, when you turn the power on in Blast Pit, you don't actually murder a guy who thought it was a good idea to hide on top of a generator for some reason, because he's now hiding in one of two control rooms at the top of the shaft). A ton of stuff has been redesigned to combat the "this doesn't make any architectural or logical sense" arguments people have made towards Valve games over the years. I certainly don't remember nearly as many secrets to discover throughout the game.

Conversely, now you have to press the elevator button to send a lift full of scientists screaming to their deaths. I think you could avoid it in the original.

 

[Stallion Free]

But that's not what it is. The only models it uses from HL2 are Vortigaunts and headcrabs. How much have you even played?

He's referencing it being on the HL2 engine. Regardless of the new assets, it's going to have that HL2 feel visually because it's using the same exact rendering techniques and shaders.

 

[Snacks the sober sea lion]

Just because it's a first person shooter on the same engine doesn't mean it's the same thing. And it isn't. Architecture and item locations have been switched around, the sound and lighting are all redone, scenes have been added.

 

[Rufus]

I highly disagree! The assassins in HL really don't do a whole lot of damage to you, at least that's how it seemed. Plus they were maybe a quarter less agile? And they didn't have invisible camo either. I actually had to use the trip-wires in the first encounter and I got lucky with a satchel charge when you face 5 or 6 of them before the Lambda Core.

Pff, back to a corner and pick em off with the Magnum.

 

[eot]

I booted up HL1 and played through On a Rail. Turn out that it's actually way longer than I remember and it's also pretty fun with lots of HECU vs Vortigaunt fights. It's probably one of the longer levels in the game. Shame they ended up cutting so much of it. From what I heard it was also related to issues with one specific mapper.

 

[MrBig]

I booted up HL1 and played through On a Rail. Turn out that it's actually way longer than I remember and it's also pretty fun with lots of HECU vs Vortigaunt fights. It's probably one of the longer levels in the game. Shame they ended up cutting so much of it. From what I heard it was also related to issues with one specific mapper.

Yeah On A Rail ended up being completely butchered. It was one of the most enjoyable levels in HL1

 

[jambo]

I booted up HL1 and played through On a Rail. Turn out that it's actually way longer than I remember and it's also pretty fun with lots of HECU vs Vortigaunt fights. It's probably one of the longer levels in the game. Shame they ended up cutting so much of it. From what I heard it was also related to issues with one specific mapper.

They had always planned to streamline it, but yes, the mapper quit the project.

 

[Freezard]

They're not using the exact same shaders at all... just take a look at the water it's gorgeous, especially in Lambda Core. Also the gib and rag-doll is really great. In the end it looks like HL2 but better, although I fail to see how that can be a bad thing.

I just finished it on Hard, not having completed HL before, and the only complaints I have is what most people have already mentioned: a bad ladder system which took me half the game to understand how it works, crouch jumping is buggy and super tedious, a few crashes and game breaking glitches, and aimbot soldiers.

You get used to the AI though, and when you get the shotgun it's getting a lot easier because that weapon is a beast. I used it pretty much all the time since you have basically infinite ammo and it kills any enemy in one to two double blasts.

Oh and the rocket launcher is so useless, I swear I got 15 hits on the chopper but it still survived. I wanted to do that battle "as it was meant to be played", but then I just gave up and fired 4 Tau shots and went on with it.

 

[Haunted]

They're not using the exact same shaders at all... just take a look at the water it's gorgeous, especially in Lambda Core. Also the gib and rag-doll is really great. In the end it looks like HL2 but better, although I fail to see how that can be a bad thing.

Yeah, I think this is a great looking game. I like the look of the radioactive ooze, even if it's just glowing green water. It looks nice. I don't like how many crouch jumps there are (clicking left thumbstick in the air is a bit eh), but it's not a big deal. Haven't had to fight a lot of marines yet, but they hit pretty fucking hard pretty fucking quick. Could just be I'm rusty, though.


Overall, I'm greatly enjoying the pacing. This is the kind of thoughtful first person shooter/platformer we don't see too often anymore since CoD Michael Bay'd the genre.

 

[(._.)]

But that's not what it is. The only models it uses from HL2 are Vortigaunts and headcrabs. How much have you even played?

I only played about an hour and a half so I can't speak for the entire game. I also know they remade a ton of art assets for the game but it still doesn't change the overall look much. I noticed a few subtle changes like when you're walking into the are of your lab and there is a guy behind glass that makes a comment on you cutting your hair. I don't remember that in the original HL. I knew what to expect when going in but it just isn't as fun as I thought it would be. Feels exactly like HL changed up just a bit with dated graphics reminiscent of HL2. Not bad at all but playing this mod isn't quite as special as I thought it would be when I pictured playing it in like 2007.

 

[gabbo]

I only played about an hour and a half so I can't speak for the entire game. I also know they remade a ton of art assets for the game but it still doesn't change the overall look much. I noticed a few subtle changes like when you're walking into the are of your lab and there is a guy behind glass that makes a comment on you cutting your hair. I don't remember that in the original HL. I knew what to expect when going in but it just isn't as fun as I thought it would be. Feels exactly like HL changed up just a bit with dated graphics reminiscent of HL2. Not bad at all but playing this mod isn't quite as special as I thought it would be when I pictured playing it in like 2007.

That's more on your changing expectations than the mod's quality

 

[divisionbyzorro]

Yeah, I think this is a great looking game. I like the look of the radioactive ooze, even if it's just glowing green water. It looks nice. I don't like how many crouch jumps there are (clicking left thumbstick in the air is a bit eh), but it's not a big deal. Haven't had to fight a lot of marines yet, but they hit pretty fucking hard pretty fucking quick. Could just be I'm rusty, though.


Overall, I'm greatly enjoying the pacing. This is the kind of thoughtful first person shooter/platformer we don't see too often anymore since CoD Michael Bay'd the genre.

Wut.

Spoiler

I played Half-Life 2 for the first time on an Xbox, so I've been there. I just can't imagine playing this without KBM

 

[sp3000]

and dissing Alyx is grounds for a pimp-slapping..

Not really considering she's one of the worst characters ever written by Valve

...and I have to say, this is a severe disappointment so far. I loved HL2, but this has been nothing but two or three hours of running through samey, boring environments shooting dull enemies. It started off great, with a cool narrative focus, but that has been completely ignored since the cascade.

Yeah that's pretty much Half Life 2 your describing. Awful plot. Padded everywhere. Boring environments and boring enemies.

The only awful thing about this mod is the find the valve puzzles copied from HL2.