Thrik

Black Mesa Source?

Recommended Posts

This mod is awesome. I've made it up to Blast Pit so far and everything has been wonderful. It has exceeded my expectations.

It is fucking mental how good this is. The opening tram ride might have actually been as impressive as the first time I saw it in HL.

post-24644-0-25648100-1347746418_thumb.jpg

post-24644-0-12540800-1347746594_thumb.jpg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Holy shit, I'm at a loss of words. Never could I have imagined the game is going to be this good. I don't think I have anything bad to say yet (...yet :P). I guess the soldier voice acting is quite a bit over the top, but I can just roll my eyes and take it as a "evil military jarhead" caricature.

I also had a hilarious physics bug. A security guard stepped on a lamp and got attacked by a physics kraken. He quite literally exploded in a splattering of blood and body parts. The scientist in the screenshot demonstrates how she has a much better understanding of physics, and knows never to divide by zero.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So I didn't really think about it until just now, but does this mean that Half Life is a free game at this point? I'm assuming most everyone owns it or has owned ti at some point, but for those that don't and have never played it, they can play this for free instead of spending 10$, correct?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, this version of Half-Life. Valve would've killed this ages ago if they were going to.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Don't forget to install the Source SDK Base 2007, as that's required to be able to play.

I'm loving Black Mesa and all the intricate little details.

buddiesi.jpg

Can also bring a lot more buddies along this time! Would be awesome if they got a bit more banter going on.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Don't forget to install the Source SDK Base 2007, as that's required to be able to play.

I'm loving Black Mesa and all the intricate little details.

Can also bring a lot more buddies along this time! Would be awesome if they got a bit more banter going on.

post-24644-0-21147300-1347800504_thumb.jpg

So long! Sorry you can't use ladders.

post-24644-0-07820600-1347800525_thumb.jpg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hands down the original performance. It's cheesy but it fits. The new stuff just sounds like garbage. It sounds like it's stylized to be bad, which goes against my perceived point of the mod. Shouldn't the fidelity of the voice work be raised along with the graphics? They got so excited about how their voice work would be stellar early in production. It sounds like they didn't hit the mark and are now being defensive apologists about it. The visuals look great, the music and sound effects sound great, why the heck would the voices be justifiable in any way as the exception, or as an homage to shitty '90s voice work? (That also falls apart simply because their voices in the new game sound like anime voices, which have nothing to do with anything in the Half Life aesthetic.)

The thing people need to keep in mind is that voicework in video games being bad isn't a matter of choice. It's a matter of being stuck with few options, and many of those options being poor. Having good voice directors (who actually know how to direct) is probably the big gap missing in everything. A great director can instruct the most mediorcre of talent into giving out good reads.

So there's no "homage" to be paid at all, and that it was attempted was something done out of ignorance. If Valve could've hired better people for the voice work, the voices in the original Half-Life would have been way, way different. But it was far from a choice of, "Yeah, let's have campy dumb shit!"

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Is there still no way to get this directly through Steam?

Not at the moment, but it was greenlit on steam. So, it should be on there in a few weeks.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It'll make patching a hell of a lot easier. I have a feeling that, given some feedback about things (like the Blast Pit monster's behavior) they'll be doing some of that.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So far I'm about half way through it and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. It's odd, it feels like a complete Half Life remake but there are a couple of changes that throw me off. For instance the area where you first get the crowbar's been changed, which confused the hell out of me. Overall I just love the level of detail that's been put into it. Just small things like the way the first aid stations shut down when they run out or the glowing green left by Bullsquids.

Okay sure, most of the voice acting is pretty hokey but I've become fairly inured to that over the years. While this isn't saying much it does beat the voice acting in Just Cause 2, a game which I assume had professional voice actors.

I'd highly recommend it for the princely sum of nothing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The voice work in the actual mod is far less offputting than in the video with the guard conversation. I'm finding Black Mesa a very weird experience, but not necessarily a negative one.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The soldiers are definitely played over-the-top, intentionally or not. The rest of the voices are fine, though some of the (new) writing isn't that great.

And while I appreciate the addition of female scientists, it's still weirdly lacking. Although they all have the same voice, there are quite a few different models for the male scientists and the security guards, but the only thing that differs on the female scientists is whether their hair is blond or gray.

Something that I find cool, though, is how they went to the trouble of actually isolating Vance and Kleiner from the rest of the scientists instead of keeping them as the generic character models from Half-Life. It's interesting to see some sort of reverse continuity being held to.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The thing people need to keep in mind is that voicework in video games being bad isn't a matter of choice. It's a matter of being stuck with few options, and many of those options being poor. Having good voice directors (who actually know how to direct) is probably the big gap missing in everything. A great director can instruct the most mediorcre of talent into giving out good reads.

So there's no "homage" to be paid at all, and that it was attempted was something done out of ignorance. If Valve could've hired better people for the voice work, the voices in the original Half-Life would have been way, way different. But it was far from a choice of, "Yeah, let's have campy dumb shit!"

They don't need a great voice director, they just need someone without a tin ear and some patience. There's plenty of wannabe voice actors who'd happily have anything on their resume.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So this mod, well game really, is excellent in a lot of areas. It looks beautiful, really really pretty. It's obvious a lot of the artists on this are professionals.

But there's something missing, and when trying to place my finger on it, I realized it was that a lot of little things were missing. The voice acting isn't terrible, but it's not as good as Half Life's original stuff. And it's amazing the impact that can make. Even in just the opening of the original, well you really feel that despite the amazing stuff your seeing its kind of a typical day at work. The voice acting helped sell this in the original "Good morning Freeman." or etc. helped sell the world to you. Heck, as did the layout of the level. It didn't FEEL like a video game level, it felt like you were wandering around a super secret lab. Black Mesa doesn't quite nail that.

These kind of "not as polished" little things are all over. I keep seeing doors I think I miiiight be able to go into, and then can't. Or the way the G-Man is handled. Just his placement alone in the original, the way you walked into a room, one you knew didn't have anything that was going to kill you in it. And the first thing you see is him, looking totally out of place, and you see him because the door itself steered you so that you are looking directly at him and then watch him walk away; and you say to yourself "Who the hell is that guy?" While in Black Mesa they have him walking away sort of, out of where your natural line of vision would go, and sometimes while you're even in danger. The effect is dramatically lessened.

That being said there are some neat additions. The conveyor belts, little interactions with the NPCs that you didn't have before. The way something on fire sets off the sprinklers, and etc. It's definitely worth playing; but it just doesn't have that Valve feel of incredible polish and trying to think of everything. Speaking of which, if you want that feeling by all means go play Mission Improbable: http://www.moddb.com...sion-improbable . It's not perfect either, and you'll need Episode 2. But it feels a lot more like something Valve would have made, like it could've slotted somewhere into Half Life 2 without much trouble. Little things like how they set up and teach you about a puzzle, and you say to yourself "wow that's clever" if you even notice it, thanks to the little clues being so well placed that you don't even realize they're clues.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Just finished playing Black Mesa, and loved it. So ambitious, and so impressive.

It made me think about adaptations and different ways to approach them. I think I belong to the camp that thinks adaptations should be kept pretty loose.

When the Watchmen movie was announced, I was excited because I quite enjoyed the comic and was looking forward to seeing it on film. I enjoyed watching it, but was somewhat miffed at how vigilantly the film stuck to the source material. I know some fans clamor for this panel-by-panel recreation approach, but it felt awkward to me. When you have two languages (comic & film), I expect not a word-for-word translation, but an interpretation of the source material.

Black Mesa's goal was to stick to the source material (and I think it completely succeeds there), but I would've loved to have seen it expand or reinvent the environment, mechanics, and story. I know, blasphemous.

For example, Half-life has always confused me as to why I launch that giant rocket, and why it apparently does nothing. To the best of my knowledge, that entire segment is explained via a single dialogue dump from Barney. I'd loved to have seen a gradual build-up to the rocket event, much like how the HL2 Episode 2 has that slow burn leading up to the final area.

So, when I saw the Black Mesa changes like experimenting with iron sights, making everything pick-uppable, tweaking the weapon introductions - I loved that these changes were made. There's a ton of little tweaks they made to make the game speak in a more "modern game" language, and it's done very elegantly and invisibly. Re-making something revered like Half-life is pretty damn bold, and the fact they made the changes they did makes me respect them all the more.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
But there's something missing, and when trying to place my finger on it, I realized it was that a lot of little things were missing...

I'm not someone who remembers a lot of details in games, so just to check. When you compared this to the original, as you put it, did you mean the original Half-Life or Half-Life 2? Maybe some of the things are so just to emulate Half-Life. But I'm not sure, I've only started and just reached Unforseen Consequences.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So, I take it everyone's spotted that Black Mesa is now being put up on Steam to be sold? They've been doing a lot of reworking and it is looking nicer. I'm glad that this game is being further lovingly restored based on feedback, plus I'm still looking forward to having another playthrough of Half-Life 1 that doesn't make my eyes burn.

 

On a more plug-worthy note, someone on my forum had the opportunity to interview the developers about some of the technical/workflow side of things, which you can read here:

 

https://www.mapcore.org/articles/interviews/black-mesa-lets-get-technical-developer-interview-r63/

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now