Black Mesa Review

When Half-Life first came out, it took the gaming community by storm. It quickly took the number six spot as a top seller which came as a surprise to Valve as they had only expected a lifetime sale of 180,000 units. Now, we have seen sequels, mods and a fan-made remake of the game called Black Mesa. The developers, Crowbar Collective, remade Half-Life (with permission from Valve, surprisingly) with the desire to give it updated graphics and reworked some of the more tedious levels such as the infamous Xen. With Half-Life being one of my all-time favourite games, I jumped into Black Mesa with a hope that Crowbar Collective did Half-Life justice.

The first thing I noticed when the game loaded was that the graphics have been given a much needed update. This made it easier on my eyes but if I am 100% honest, it did not meet the standards I was expecting considering that Black Mesa was released in 2020. Crowbar Collective had been developing Black Mesa since 2012 so I had high hopes for the graphics. Instead, it almost looked like they took the graphics and just filled in holes and smoothed out corners of the models. It still looked grainy and instead of looking like a game made in 2012, it looked more like a game made in 2000. Even Half-Life 2 which came out in 2004 looked better than Black Mesa.

However, the updated graphics were definitely an improvement; more details have been added in each level to make it feel more like a lab or an alien world. I remember in Half-Life some objects or enemies I would miss because they blended too much into the grainy background. I also could not really see too many details from the computers in the labs but with the updated graphics, I could easily tell they were computers. Not only that, but they also had things on the screen to make it feel more authentic and not the copy paste on every screen like in Half-Life. The character models were also more distinct now and diverse. Before, I could not tell the difference between each scientist unless they had a different skin tone and every security guard looked the same. Crowbar Collective made each character different from one another and it became easier to see who was who. Enemies are also a lot more unique or updated such as the end boss. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the new version of the last boss in Black Mesa. In Half-Life, the boss was a bit anticlimactic but in Black Mesa, I was disgusted (in a good way) and thrilled to kill the final boss. There also were the occasional nods to Half-Life 2 every so often which were not included in the original Half-Life.

The sound in Black Mesa was vastly improved. People actually sounded like people now and not robotic like they did in Half-Life. Plus, I could tell that the voice actors definitely worked hard to stay true to character. The gunfire also sounded a lot more realistic as do vents breaking. I also liked how the aliens now actually sound alien-like and not some weird electronic mashup.

The best part of Black Mesa was definitely how a lot of the annoying sections have been replaced or improved on. One great example was the level Xen. In Half-Life, Xen was a confusing, low gravity world where I easily got lost and disoriented. Honestly, it took me far longer than necessary to get past that level. Crowbar Collective took Xen and remade it from the ground-up while trying to stay true to Half-Life. Now, it was more straightforward while still looking very alien. I didn’t get lost as easily and I was able to progress smoothly through the level without much issue. Some other places that have been improved involved storytelling through the world. In one section of Half-Life, you would briefly see how some aliens were enslaved. In Black Mesa, this same section of the story is expanded on and you now truly see how devastating the enslaved aliens are.

All in all, Black Mesa was a great remake of Half-Life. One can definitely tell that it was professionally made and after eight years in the works, it is a great game for players new and old to the Half-Life universe. It is also amazing that Valve not only allowed this to be made, but it even allowed it to be published and sold on Steam. While it does have its hang ups such as random loading screens that freeze the game, Black Mesa is still a great game to pick up and play.