![]() ![]() You had to make sure to autosave before attempting any dangerous jump. The annoying jumping sections are still present, but they’re vastly improved from the original, or even the Source engine version of the game. To say they were clunky in the original would be an understatement. The original Half-Life’s major flaw was the awful jumping mechanics. You don’t even really need your gun until a few chapters into the game when much more human enemies become a threat. They can mostly be taken out with your trusty crowbar. Most of the enemies you encounter at the beginning of the game aren’t as threatening as they appear. You have to think your way through situations, which is one of the elements that separated it from its contemporaries in the FPS genre in 1998. Half-Life has plenty of gunplay, but it’s not strictly a run-and-gun affair. There are few games that are as expertly paced.Įnemies can be slow and easy to kill, but others can be incredibly light on their feet. The games always subtly lead you in the right direction, while pushing your gaming skills just enough to always keep you engaged, but not pushing too hard so you become discouraged and stop playing. As linear as the games are, you would think they would eventually get repetitive and tedious. ![]() Maybe the single biggest reason the Half-Life games are so good is their expert pacing. Gameplay Pipes inside the Black Mesa Facility. We know from Half-Life 2 that he worked at Black Mesa, and having him there as a talking NPC at the beginning of Black Mesa adds cohesion between the two games. But including Eli Vance is a great addition. They had the same voice actor voice different NPCs who are having conversations with each other, which can be confusing since it makes it hard to figure out who is talking. But anyway…)īlack Mesa takes some small liberties with the characters. I imagine it could be confusing to new gamers who aren’t familiar with the original Half-Life. (I’m not sure why Black Mesa is not called Half-Life: Black Mesa. Black Mesa is, without a doubt, the definitive version of Valve’s classic FPS, and was made with their blessing. The events and world of Half-Life are now considered classic, seminal moments in gaming, and Crowbar Collective’s remake modernizes the whole experience. But it never lasts long, and before you know it, you’re back in the lonely world of the Black Mesa Research Facility with only the sounds of the environment to keep you company. Black Mesa, while still understated and sporadic in its use of music, uses it to underscore important events and sequences in the game. There wasn’t much of one, and what music there was in the game was sporadic. You are the Freeman.įor example, Half-Life was pretty understated with its musical score. There’s never anyone barking in your earpiece telling you what to do, or where to go next. Its use of environmental storytelling was way ahead of its time, and it’s not used in a lot of FPS games to the same extent to this day. Everything about its story is told through what you hear, what you see, and talking to NPCs. The world of Half-Life and the Black Mesa Research Facility, the sights and sounds of the game, tell you everything you need to know about what’s going on. Without delving into spoiler territory, what he thinks is just another day at his job turns into a situation that is quite dire. You play as low-level scientist Gordon Freeman working at the Black Mesa Research Facility. Story And Characters Black Mesa scientists. It was mostly told through NPC dialogue and what is now referred to as ‘environmental storytelling’. But it didn’t do it through cut-scenes, lore, or anyone talking to you in an earpiece. Whereas other popular FPS games up to that point ( Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem) were violent and let you shoot lots of bad guys and monsters, they didn’t tell much of a story. The original Half-Life came out in 1998 and was a huge step forward in the FPS genre. ![]()
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