Question on Half Life re-make Black Mesa

[rivethead]

Hi all,

I bought Half Life 1 and Half Life 2 during the Steam Summer sale. Finally getting around to seeing what all the hype is about.

My question is: should I go ahead an play Half Life 1 (as purchased through Steam) or should I download the BlackMesa remake and play that?

Looking at www.blackmesasource.com it appears that BlackMesa is a remake of only PART of Half Life (the game ends at Lambda Core and not Xen.....whatever that means).

Is that true? While I would love my first experience with Half Life to be enhanced graphically, I don't want to miss any parts of the original game.

But damn, the original Half Life (which I booted up last night) has graphics that are really tough to handle....I guess I'm just spoiled with modern graphics.

Thanks!

 

[Tweak155]

Haven't played all the way through Mesa but the parts I did play I could definitely identify differences. Overall the story is probably the same so I wouldn't sweat it... I don't remember where Lambda Core is so not sure how much that actually cuts off.

What about Half Life: Source? Might be the entire game.

 

[Ancalagon44]

Yes, it is true. But I'd say it includes about 80% of the original game, and leaves off the last and worst 20%. Its worth playing, and its also free.

However, personally I think that while Black Mesa has much better graphics than Half Life 1, Half Life 1 has better gameplay. Its hard to explain. They are similar but not identical in terms of gameplay and level layout.

EDIT: Half Life: Source is the entire game, with only minor graphic improvements.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

The parts that are cut off in Black Mesa are the stupid platforming bits in Xen. So you are not missing much by skipping the original.

 

[Throckmorton]

Dude, it's just a game. Play whatever version you want.

 

[Texashiker]

I thought black mesa pretty much sucked.

Play the original half-life and be happy.

 

[Clinkster]

Play Black Mesa IMO. Better graphics, only very slight differences that doesn't change the story or gameplay one bit.

 

[rivethead]

I appreciate the input. I think I'll stay with the original. I don't like the fact I'll be missing part of the game if I play Black Mesa, even if it does suck.

I can always go back and play Black Mesa later.

 

[darkewaffle]

Play Black Mesa, it's already too platforming heavy imo and the original was even worse about it. It gets pretty tiresome.

 

[EDUSAN]

if you can handle the kinda ugly graphics of half life 1... go play that!

black mesa is fine, but its definetely NOT hl1. it lacks the ending (which is kinda crappy, but hey...ITS THE ENDING... if you play black mesa you will play an unfinished game)
and besides missing the ending, it has parts that are completely different to the original, not better, not worse.... different. and some parts are not even there...

play half life 1, you wont regret it. Excelent experience from beginning to end.

Then, if you want play black mesa and be like "hey, i played this part, it looks awesome in the mod", but thats about everything the mod brings to the table

 

[Zenoth]

In my opinion at least give a try to the original version of Half-Life first, then if you can't stand the graphics go with Black Mesa.

I wouldn't go with Black Mesa first if you're new to the Half-Life franchise. On its own Black Mesa it's a nice breath of fresh air mainly due to the graphics, but it's supposedly incomplete, and I say "supposedly" because I've only read about it (also see the post above). I've played some of Black Mesa myself, around one hour or so just out of curiosity mostly, and it's nice really, there's nothing bad about it at all, but I just wouldn't go with that version of Half-Life if you're new to it.

In my opinion, just go with the original or at least Half-Life: Source. Another thing to consider, perhaps, is the possibility that you'd also want to play Blue Shift and/or Opposing Force after you're done with Half-Life. If that's the case then at least you won't have to go from Source (Black Mesa) to GoldSrc graphics (original Half-Life version, Blue Shift and Opposing Force). If you want to play a good graphics version of any Half-Life game then just go with Half-Life 2 and the Episodes really. And again I want to say that Black Mesa is good, there is nothing wrong or bad about it, but to reiterate, just saying, I think that if you're new to the franchise or at least H-L1 then play the original version.

If, however, you cannot stand the graphics (quite possible, who knows) or think it doesn't play well or whatever it is that turns you off from it then I do recommend that you play Black Mesa and maybe check the ending (if it's indeed missing from Black Mesa) on YouTube or something like that. With that said though, Half-Life 1 and Half-Life 2 don't "connect" with each others very well anyway, story-wise. You won't miss much if you're playing Black Mesa and miss the ending only to end up playing Half-Life 2 later on, they clearly never intended the story to go beyond Half-Life 1 originally it's just clear as day to me. Well, it's just my assumption I guess, I have no proof of that. But Half-Life 2 barely feels like a sequel, to me it's more of a re-told Half-Life 1 to some degree with some nods here and there to what happened in the original. To be honest though I've never really grasped "what's REALLY going on" when it comes to the Half-Life "story", nor do I remember all the details at this point since I haven't played any Half-Life games (nor finished any) in years, and all I know for sure is that the franchise (the story anyway) is in a severe need of continuation because

Spoiler

the very last title (Episode Two) was a massive cliffhanger of untold proportions

.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

lol guys, the "platforming" in Xen comprises maybe ten leaps at most, and with quicksave/quickload it ultimately should take no more than a few minutes combined to get through. I haven't played Black Mesa, but the last portion of Half-Life is far from terrible and if you want the full experience, play the game in its original form.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Black mesa is good and a fairly faithful remake of HL1, it misses off the alien world of Xen at the end of HL1 which many consider to be the worst part of the original Half Life.

I think personally HL1 is worth playing through, just so you can say you played it, it doesn't cost much on steam, I'd play through the whole series faithfully (inclduing add ons for HL1, Blue Shift and Opposing Forces) and then once you've played HL2 and the Episodic sequels play the black Mesa mod last.

 

[nitromullet]

Personally, I'd recommend playing them in the order they came out...

HL1 - deal with the dated graphics, the game itself is worth it
HL2 + episodes
Black Mesa - you'll be able to appreciate the effort these guys put forth to make this game for free, you'll recognize the changes, and know what you're talking about when you say 'Xen'. I believe the dev team is working on the conclusion, but I imagine it will take a long time (Black Mesa launched over 2yrs later than originally announced). It is also apparently going to be significantly more different from HL1 than the previously released portion.

 

[BudAshes]

Black Mesa is amazing. Unless you enjoy dated graphics I wouldn't bother playing the original. Yeah it's one of the greatest games ever, but Black Mesa is a better version of one of the greatest games ever.

 

[hans030390]

I understand HL1 was great for its time, but I found it boring and tiresome. Haven't touched Black Mesa.

My advice? Read a detailed story summary of the HL1 events and skip right to HL2. I wish I had.

 

[BudAshes]

I understand HL1 was great for its time, but I found it boring and tiresome. Haven't touched Black Mesa.

My advice? Read a detailed story summary of the HL1 events and skip right to HL2. I wish I had.

Nah, play Black Mesa. I can't understand how any fan of half life wouldn't love this game.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Black Mesa was amazing. I could never suffer through HL1 because of the dated feel it had.

Honestly Black Mesa was the best game I played last year, or was that this year? Who knows, great game just play it.

 

[Crow550]

Hope you got the Half-Life Complete pack. Also get Half-Life: Decay: http://decay.half-lifecreations.com/

There is also Half-Life: Uplink for HL1 & Lost Coast for HL2. Both deleted chapters & free.

Sven Co-op contains better HD models (can get the models from other places) plus makes Half-Life co-op: http://www.svencoop.com/ (Coming to Steam with HL1 included for free!)

I beat HL,OF,BS (used a separate co-op mods for OF & BS at the time) & Decay with a co-op buddy of mine. Plus HL2,EP1 & EP2. It was a blast!

If you want more info on this I can whip up a setup guide.

 

[Sulaco]

Lots of people commenting who haven't played the games. Hmmm...

As a diehard HL fan since '98 (seriously, where were you guys in '98 to 2000 where you were obviously big enough PC Game fans to be on forums talking about it, but never played one of if not THE most hyped/beloved/emulated FPS since Doom?), I have to say honestly Black Mesa is an absolutely stunning remake of (most) of the original game. Playing it now (Black Mesa) is such a wonderful breath of fresh air compared to much of the trash that comprises today's FPS:

--No regenerating health
--No contextual cover taking
--No "Tutorial Segments" that last several hours and hold your hand the whole way
--No QTE
--No regenerating health
--No mindless set pieces where explosions just go off to make you go "Oooo...puuurdy!"
--No giant arrow/blue line to funnel you to where you should go next
--No regenerating health!


I would always encourage anyone to play the original Half Life. It is simply put one of the best, most influential, most copied PC games of all time.
That being said, it's understandable that the graphics CAN be a major roadblock to really getting immersed at this point, as with any early 3D/polygon shooter.

I would say play as far as you can comfortably in the original. Maybe the first hour or two. Enough to see the massive leap (graphically) BM gives you, yet how faithful they stayed to a 15+ year old game.

Either way, enjoy.

 

[JAG87]

Play Black Mesa. Xen is a whole lot of nothing anyways.

Then you can also download Cinematic Mod for HL2 and the episodes. Although I think in some parts they went too far with the modifications, I believe you can choose to use just the HD models for the people, which is a great improvement without changing anything else from the original.

 

[silverpig]

I say play the original. I played it back in '99/'00 and have played it through several times since, switching over to HL:Source (which is pretty much identical) once that came out. I've only played a little bit of black mesa, so can't really comment on that. The point is, I'm playing through HL:Source right now (albeit very slowly) and it is still incredibly enjoyable.

After this, I will probably play through HL2 again (for about the 6th time). Usually, I play one weekend a year and just burn through the game in one go, but right now I'm playing in 30-40 minute intervals.

 

[KidNiki1]

i just finished playing Half-Life for the first time ever and yeah, the graphics are definitely old school. you might try Half-Life:Source if you got it as part of the bundle. I didn't know until after i finished playing the original that they were the same game, but Source has much better graphics.

i didn't think Xen was as bad as some others here did. It was a lot of platforming, but I don't mind that. i loved loved loved the game, even with the 'bad' graphics.

i am on HL2 now, and really enjoying it as well.

 

[Crow550]

Wasn't Half-Life: Source a lazy port?

On making Half-Life better looking. You don't have to suffer with the models with the ties pasted to there shirts. There is better models: Install the FIXED HD model pack once Half-Life, Opposing Force & Blue-Shift are installed and ran once but before you do make sure you install Blue-Shift unlocked first: http://old.hl-improvement.com/downloads.php before installing the HD models fix. (More info here:http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Half-Life:_Blue_Shift#Blue_Shift:_Unlocked) Once Blue-Shift unlocked is installed you can uninstall Blue-Shift as Blue-Shift:Unlocked makes it a Half-Life mod like Opposing Force. Now install the HD Models fix as these will improve the models a bit.

Get the HD Models FIX: http://www.google.com/url?q=http://...sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEKR2upe5luhTRtQ_2-y0b76rUSDg

& not the official Steam version as they were not fixed: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3157-QDVN-1426 <--Do not install. Make sure the Steam HD models is uninstalled if you installed it before and get the fixed version above. Explained here:http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Half-Life_High_Definition_Pack#Steam_release

There is plenty of other skins and textures as well as mods that make Half-Life look and play better.

Mods like Half-Life Redux: http://youtu.be/YkU4ovGrtqw

Again Sven Co-op has improved visuals too. You can actually play HL1 Single player in it if you set the max players to 1. I say grab a friend and beat it co-op.

 

[rivethead]

Thanks everyone for the input. You did not make it easy for me to decide how to play HL1. But in the end I got lazy and just played the version purchased through Steam. I'm about half-way though it. The graphics, while bad, are acceptable. So far, I'm enjoying the game play and story....but it's also making me appreciate modern graphics and voice acting.