BLACK MESA (PC)
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Publisher: Crowbar Collective.
Developer: Crowbar Collective. Released: September 2012. Genre: FPS. Posted 17th January 2014. By Alan Passingham © 2014 |
If you were a programmer and had the option to remake a game for a modern audience, what would you choose to remake? Ultraman, Daikatana, Metal Gear Solid; something sh!t so that if your tweaks and additions fail to deliver a half-decent title nobody is going to complain because the original game was such a miserable turd in the first place? At least there would be the likelihood of actually improving upon the original. So, to want to attempt a remake (or restoration) of a vastly popular game must be akin to kicking yourself in the b*llocks. You may as well do it yourself as somewhere out there will be a small army of impudent Internet troglodytes looking to stick their foot square between your plums anyway for bastardising their most favourite of games (even if your efforts do in fact turn out to be quite good). With that kind of atmosphere it’s a brave team that would take on a project where they could become synonymous as the guys who broke Syndicate. That would make it a foolhardy team that would dare to think about making Half-Life better...
It’s not an impossible ask though. Resident Evil on the Gamecube is different class, and so much more than a straight-forward port. Likewise Retrospec’s colourful update of Head Over Heels is just delightful. Perhaps one of the things that really filled gamers with confidence about Black Mesa was that the development team were all volunteers and, importantly, fans of Gordon Freeman’s original travails, not parasites that would look to sell Half-Life down the river for some Scooby snacks. And besides, what with Valve being too busy to give Half-Life a full proper make-over with the Source engine it was inevitable someone would eventually have a pop and do it themselves. Although it has taken the 40 individuals in the Black Mesa Development Team eight years to deliver on their promise (somewhat taking the piss even by Valve-time standards) and have only delivered up to Gordon leaping into the portal to Xen, Black Mesa is by and large a rather incredible attempt at recreating Valve’s masterpiece.
Scientists MUST wear glasses. It's the law.
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Bah. Who needs ammo when you have a crowbar!
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So what’s new in the world of Black Mesa? Well, female scientists for a start (#feminism). Black Mesa is no longer an all-boys club, although judging by the corpses littering the facility it’s only the male nerds that feel the wrath of Xen’s minions. So much for equality! Also, there’s more than one Barney; the benefits of having a greater number of character models to choose from. Indeed, the most obvious difference is the graphical style. Improving on the technology of 1998 means that the environment of Black Mesa now takes shape as a fully functioning research facility. Whereas empty warehouses and scantly decorated rooms bedecked the original, the game area is now alive with the buzz of machinery and the bustle of several trips to IKEA. Nice touches such as a family photo on a desk or a mug that features the Lambda insignia resonates a more human angle to the disaster that has befallen the facility, especially once the Vortigaunts and the military response team start to obliterate scientists and security guards in equal measure. Their plight is just that little more tangible.
Of course, the resonance cascade remains a beautiful initiation into the game world and pretty much everything else looks super swish. From the Vortigants fingers crackling with lightning as it’s thrown your way, to the tentacle beast of ‘Blast Pit’ and ‘Surface Tension’s’ wonderful warzone scenario, this is an impressive visual rendering of the original. It’s not quite up to scratch with Half-Life 2’s beauty – that under-water beast still looks crap – but it certainly adds to the look of the originals marvellous level design. The additional voice acting and more expansive dialogue is also welcome and it’s pretty cool that the Dev team have clearly identified Eli Vance and Dr Kleiner amongst Black Mesa’s large boffin contingent considering the more expansive roles they play in Half-Life 2.
The changes to level design and enemy A.I. are probably the most important differences between Half-Life and Black Mesa though. With the potential to affect gameplay the decision to streamline sections of the game to off-set some tedium means Black Mesa is more than a simple make-over. The good news, however, is you barely notice the difference. There are certainly sections one does not quite recognise, but only ‘On a Rail’ seems to have been radically re-fitted. Playing very different and much quicker than in the original Half-Life, the enjoyment of the original version of this stage will dictate whether this can be considered desecration or not! Likewise, A.I. routines needed very little tweaking considering enemy actions in Half-Life were already pretty much superlative. But again, any changes here have made no real difference; the A.I. remains a constant, cunning threat ensuring that Black Mesa maintains the necessary difficulty and challenge expected of a Valve title. As such the whole endeavour still plays very much like Half-Life. Well, uhm, apart from one annoyingly annoying niggle.
Of course, the resonance cascade remains a beautiful initiation into the game world and pretty much everything else looks super swish. From the Vortigants fingers crackling with lightning as it’s thrown your way, to the tentacle beast of ‘Blast Pit’ and ‘Surface Tension’s’ wonderful warzone scenario, this is an impressive visual rendering of the original. It’s not quite up to scratch with Half-Life 2’s beauty – that under-water beast still looks crap – but it certainly adds to the look of the originals marvellous level design. The additional voice acting and more expansive dialogue is also welcome and it’s pretty cool that the Dev team have clearly identified Eli Vance and Dr Kleiner amongst Black Mesa’s large boffin contingent considering the more expansive roles they play in Half-Life 2.
The changes to level design and enemy A.I. are probably the most important differences between Half-Life and Black Mesa though. With the potential to affect gameplay the decision to streamline sections of the game to off-set some tedium means Black Mesa is more than a simple make-over. The good news, however, is you barely notice the difference. There are certainly sections one does not quite recognise, but only ‘On a Rail’ seems to have been radically re-fitted. Playing very different and much quicker than in the original Half-Life, the enjoyment of the original version of this stage will dictate whether this can be considered desecration or not! Likewise, A.I. routines needed very little tweaking considering enemy actions in Half-Life were already pretty much superlative. But again, any changes here have made no real difference; the A.I. remains a constant, cunning threat ensuring that Black Mesa maintains the necessary difficulty and challenge expected of a Valve title. As such the whole endeavour still plays very much like Half-Life. Well, uhm, apart from one annoyingly annoying niggle.
Black Mesa shows off the Source engine in all its gory glory
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Not falling for that old chestnut again
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Jumping in Half-Life was never a problem. Pressing the space bar was generally sufficient for Gordon to reach whatever it was he was attempting to leap to. Black Mesa does not employ this simple control mechanism though. Well it does, but the space bar jump is about as useful as a dog licking its balls when it should be playing catch. Instead, to make a more ‘robust’ jump the player needs to depress Ctrl and the space bar. Awkward! Which becomes even clumsier once you realise the directional key also needs to be used. Oh, and don’t forget to press the shift key if a blast of speed running from Gordon’s Hazardous Environmental suit is required to make those more lengthy leaps across cavernous pits of doom. Considering the ease of control normally reserved for a mouse and keyboard FPS, this is an oppressive mechanism for ones un-bendy, inflexible chop-tubes. To a certain extent it ruins what would otherwise be a perfect simulation of Half-Life, as even by the later levels its wonky implementation means that the unnatural placement of your fingers is never truly comfortable with the means to do a simple jump.
Fortunately, if you can get beyond this aspect of controlling the mighty Freeman, not only will you find some new found finger dexterity but you’ll also be constantly reminded of why you loved Half-Life in the first place. Black Mesa perfectly assimilates the marvellous balance between puzzles and full blown action. Scripted sequences remain spectacularly awesome and along with the new graphics further enhance the multi-layered atmosphere. Small things such as only getting the rail-gun a few levels away from the leap to Xen reminds just how Valve kept things constantly fresh as new elements were gradually introduced to the gameplay. I said in my original Half-Life review that it was still as much fun to play as it was back in the day, thanks to its subtle refined craft, immense gameplay mechanics, intelligence and exquisitely conceived plotting. Black Mesa is no different in this regard. A mighty fine effort by the Dev team, a mighty fun game to play, but just that inexplicable means for jumping that stops it from being a perfect restoration.
So, who is looking forward to the Black Mesa Development’s Team take on Xen? I’ve already let out a little bit of wee in anticipation. Just don’t take eight years to release this time, please…
Fortunately, if you can get beyond this aspect of controlling the mighty Freeman, not only will you find some new found finger dexterity but you’ll also be constantly reminded of why you loved Half-Life in the first place. Black Mesa perfectly assimilates the marvellous balance between puzzles and full blown action. Scripted sequences remain spectacularly awesome and along with the new graphics further enhance the multi-layered atmosphere. Small things such as only getting the rail-gun a few levels away from the leap to Xen reminds just how Valve kept things constantly fresh as new elements were gradually introduced to the gameplay. I said in my original Half-Life review that it was still as much fun to play as it was back in the day, thanks to its subtle refined craft, immense gameplay mechanics, intelligence and exquisitely conceived plotting. Black Mesa is no different in this regard. A mighty fine effort by the Dev team, a mighty fun game to play, but just that inexplicable means for jumping that stops it from being a perfect restoration.
So, who is looking forward to the Black Mesa Development’s Team take on Xen? I’ve already let out a little bit of wee in anticipation. Just don’t take eight years to release this time, please…
