Reviews - Black Mesa mod for Half-Life 2

It is a perfect game. Sure, there's few quirks such perfectionist like me would change, but even with that, the game is simply perfect.

I never knew You could make Half-Life 1, a legend, even better. And they did. They did and made my jaw drop at least few times.

The flares, the ability to beat the **** out of the zombies with the office equipment, the amazing art, sound and maps design (they'd easily win the contest in every single mentioned aspect), THE CHARACTERS!!! the gameplay, the small things that make you ask yourself "WHY NO OTHER DEV THOUGHT OF IT? GENIUS!". All of the HL holes and flaws fixed or filled. This is what DNF should be - a legend reincarnated, that came back and kicked *** like the original.

And BMS does exactly that, even ******* better!

It puts HL2 to shame. Also, it's the best looking Source Game. It's AAA quality game, for free. And it's a Half-Life. Great, new-old Half-Life! Eh... Sadly there's no 99/10 rating.

Sadly, because this mod deserves it. It's the best SP mod I have ever played, and I played a ton of them.

Thank You SO MUCH, Black Mesa Devs, and I hope to see You working in Valve soon.

Well, off to squishing headcrabs, jumping on the crates I put on them... and shooting soldiers. A lot of soldiers. DUR DUR DURRR

Thanks once again!

A very good mod! It was everything I expected and a bit more.

The level design is arguably the mods best aspect, with voice acting and modelling following closely behind.
I can't express how much I enjoyed seeing how the game has not only been remade, but also brough to life in a way Valve never could have when the original was made. All the small scenes, even the inconsequential ones like the two scientists arguing below when you ride the tram. All these small things bring the mod to life, and I love it for it.
I also really enjoyed how the various locations had been given a purpose and logic that it missed in the original or that the original didn't get through because of the detail level required.

Voice actors were on overall ace. Sure they dropped the ball every now and then, but with the amount of work put into this, it's hard to perform 150 % all the way through. I especially like the work done by the guy who voiced the barneys, he was easily the best voice actor on the crew.

What I didn't like is the approach to the soldiers. It's been stated that they were made into over the top, cliche, B-movie jocks because they didn't want the player to sympathize with them. At the same time they were made cheesy. Cheesy enemies loose respect. Enemies without respect aren't dangerous.
On overall the voice over for the soldiers sound like a parody of the original or of any kind of voice the soldiers should've had. My mind keeps going to the flash artist EgoRaptor when he parodies marines and fanboys from various games.

I'm also not a big fan of the new zombie sounds. It sounds like the voice actor is trying his level best to strangle himself. And that is what I hear, not the zombie.

Lastly, a lot of the more emotional scenes were destroyed by the characters ragdolling. Example; The guard in the beginning reaching for the health station, then instantly ragdolling as he dies. It becomes slapstick.

All in all, awesome mod, with a few minor design faults.

10/10

Fantastic mod. Clearly all of the waiting was worht it :)

What is there to say?

Rebuilding HL1 from the ground up in a modern engine is no easy task and the 7 years development time really shows throughout. Even with the early ending this just feels so complete.

I think anyone who has played it should consider this to be a free game rather than a mod. The sheer length of it, and the consistently fantastic quality throughout is nothing to be sniffed at.

10/10, 100%, Game of the Year, Game of the Decade, Best in show, Gold Medal and whatever other gaming awards you can think of.

Thank You BM Developers. :D

after years...Awesome again !

I am amazed at how un source like this mod has turned out in places i nearlly mistook it for a current generation retail game it looks like it could look better than hl2 ep 3 might. And in total shock and awe i can honnestly say this is as good as hl2 if not better certainly better level design.It follows the main areas in Hl1 without trying too look exactly the same not like a HD remake but more an adaption of Black Mesa with the not soo limited engine.The gameplay is amazing it feels like Half Life fast paced and furious. A couple of bad bits the reload animations on some of the weapons like the glock and mp5 are not very good i dont know if it was a decision to keep them like in hl1 but i feel a little more realism wouldnt go a miss. This truely has been for me the best source mod i have ever played if not mod on this site.

:D waited 3-5 years and its what i been waiting for.... ALL OF IT !!!!

100000\10 ВЕЛИКОЛЕПНО!

GOOD:
+Excellent execution of the intro sequence, visuals, and unique heads work great.
+Great dialog with friendly NPCs. Added mini-stories explaining why some scientists stayed behind.
+Atmospheric music.
+Crowbar animations.
+Decals splatter on viewmodel.
+Good health and HEV charger models.
+OP4 references: Medic soldiers and a few lines.
BAD:
-Marine combat is mediocre at best. They seem to have a smaller spread cone than you and most shots hit you regardless how fast you're moving. Discourages tactical manuevering, but instead it wants you to sit back behind some obscure staircase and pick with 357.
-Enemy gunshots low SNDLVL, often only hear impacts but not shooting.
-Annoying viewkicks/
-Bad clean voiceovers for marines, should of stayed with radio style/
-Sounds for houndeyes and bullsquids are quiet and dont appear to resemble/improve on hl1.
-Really missed out on bringing the vorts to life, no death screeches or significant chatter.
-Alien grunts lack loud metallic footsteps and good death noises.
-Gibbing sounds are way too subtle.
-357 viewmodel is crooked during ADS and texture is bad on the back of the cartridges.
-Cant ADS with 357 until it completes take out anim.
-Scripting, when you save a guard from a sniper by shooting RPG at him. He dies regardless and the scientist sits frozen crouched.
-Scripting, with helicopter at the canyon, It ZOOMED extremely fast across the map to the scripted crash site.
-Lack of clip brushes, constantly stuck on tiny details that barely stick out of walls and handrails.
-Movement doesn't feel fine tuned. Jump height is bad and too much sliding.
-Zombies throw props that dont collide with you.
-Auto reload sometimes ignores the most recent quicksave.
-Satchel doesn't stay upright or slide.
-Flashlight is obstructed by viewmodel.
-Grenade throw physics suck and bounce badly.
GUN GRIPES:
Glock17 stance sucks, MP5 permanently stuck in burst, SPAS12 hint "m2 to fire both barrels" and 40mm pickup model is too small.