Can Black Mesa Replace Half-Life? (Analysis/Comparison)

My HL1 settings: Brightness 0.5 Gamma 1.8 and since FOV scaling is messed up for widescreen, default_fov 106 (Around the same as 90 for 4:3) gl_texturemode GL_NEAREST will deblur all textures and display them pixelated like in software mode, which I personally don't like, but others do. Update: I've started using a brightness of 1 rather than 0.5 for videos because it improves visibility while keeping most of that atmosphere.

When people ask "What is the best way to play the original Half-Life", I answer with "Why choose? Play both. But for the love of God, do not play Half-Life Source."

I can't really criticize them that much for their voice actor of the Gman. They asked Michael Shapiro, and he politely declined

I completely disagree to the "They worsened the nihilant fight by removing the platforming sections" part, those sections are a really big pain in the ass that make the nihilant fight even worse

In my opinion I feel like having 41 soldiers between the helicopter makes it feel like a war zone and that the soldiers are in control

"Never play HL-source." Everyone ever

This is the most critical i have seen someone being on Black mesa.

That System now under military command voiceline is iconic in my opinion, and evaluates the chaotic situation within the story.

Can it replace it? No Is it a good alternative? Hell yes it is.

We all know Hunt Down The Refund is the BEST way to experience Half-Life.

Am I the only one that thinks Black Mesa's Xen is the most beautifully crafted game world in a first person shooter?

While I appreciate the effort that certainly went into this video, and I see where your criticism is coming from, I think this is overly harsh. Let me start by saying that I grew up playing the original and love it to this day, and it is one of my favorite video games. Still, I really love Black Mesa and while it does feel different, I really agree with many if not most of their changes. So here are some thoughts after listening to your points. I had to actually split it into several shorter comments: Combat: HL's combat is not about run & gun. It is about taking fights in a smart way. BMS enhances this aspect in my opinion. The fact that the try to pin you down with others trying to push you is so engaging. You then go on to say "Pray that a grenade doesn't land at your feet", which is what constantly happened in HL - only that you couldn't pick them up and throw them back. Yes, there are a lot more (and bigger) fights but I always felt that when taking them with a bit of strategy, you can turn the odds into your favor. In HL, it was just "wait for the marine to run around without shooting, then charge at them and insta-gib them with the shotgun". Oh and I agree that weapons felt better in the original. Especially the SMG in BMS is really unsatisfying. Sprint & Always run: You complain about the fact that you can sprint here. One issue I had with the original is the amount of walking long and boring corridors. Adding the sprint mechanics from HL2 was a great way to cut some of these short without changing the familiar layouts too much. Then, you complain about the fact that it isn't standard. But the option which turns it into the standard is also not right for you, because it makes controlling the platforming sections harder. Well, that's why it isn't standard. A minor point in the video but I found this complaint really pointless, sorry. Puzzles: I personally really liked how they took some puzzle mechanics from HL2 and put them in this game. It fits well with the theme of bringing the two games more in line. I don't think the puzzles "fail to justify their inclusion" since otherwise it would just be a straight run-and-gun shooter, which HL isn't meant to be. Finding the button to press, the valve to turn and - yes - the cable to plug is very much in the spirit of HL, in my opinion. You then go on to critique how they added some extra routes to navigate through and how it doesn't add anything. As someone who played the original so much that I can almost beat it with my eyes closed, I appreciated these extra moments a lot, bringing back some sense of exploration. Then you say that navigation is "often confused by the added detail" and complement HL on its "minimalist design", which clearly is simply driven by the technical limitations of the time. Look at HL2 (or even better, HLA), the environments are messy and cluttered, as is appropriate for the setting. The fact that I had to look around and got a bit lost here and there was very refreshing in that I couldn't just speedrun the game at my first try because I played HL1 a thousand times. Visuals: You start this section by claiming HL only looks bad because of its default settings. I mean, come on. It simply looks bad by today's standards because it's outdated. And are we sure it's the "intended look" if I have to fiddle around with console commands to get there? Maybe. But still - using this to talk down on the visual advantage that BMS has over HL is so out of place and really feels like you're scraping the bottom of the barrel to make the game look bad for some reason. You go on to claim that HL attempted a cartoonish style. I fail to see that and don't think that the presence of dark humor in HL can be taken as proof of that. I am also VERY glad that BMS didn't try to go for a cartoonish look and went for a graphics style that - to my eyes - looks like a more up-to-date HL2 art style. I think this was the right way to go for the intended atmosphere and I think they absolutely nailed that. The inside sections look fantastic IMO, the color shemes are both true to the original as well as adding what is possible to add with present day technology. I don't have see the issue with the presence of lense flares, I feel they are only added in very specific moments where you're staring into a light source that is much brighter than the surrounding area. You might be of the (perfectly valid) opinion that this might be a bit too much, but your outraged "who asked for this??" is so overblown it had me shaking my head. I somewhat agree with you on the soundtrack. It feels a bit generic and sometimes out of place.

I think the reason Black Mesa's combat is criticized so harshly here is that he's trying to play it like it's Half Life 1. However, this game is very different from Half Life, and the combat is no different. In fact, every game's combat is different from each other, so you need to learn the mechanics for each game. Hell, if you try to play Half Life 2 like it's the original, you will get through, but you'll constantly be at low health and loading saves. In Black Mesa, the combat is very Fast-Paced. In Half Life, you could crouch behind cover and wait for the enemies to come to you because they couldn't shoot while they moved. But that doesn't work here. Instead, keeping your distance and moving around as fast as you can is the best strategy I have. Your weapons are far more accurate and do much more damage than those of your enemies, so you can strafe around a group of soldiers and pick them off with your revolver if you need to. And the weapons function a lot better too: The MP5 is more accurate and does more damage, the Grenades actually respond to physics, making them a lot easier to throw, and generally the weapons look and feel a lot better than in Half Life 1. The only one I REALLY don't like is the Tau Cannon, which has been changed in a fundamental way. I found that combat in Black Mesa is built off of 2 pillars: Run Fast, Shoot Faster. And once you internalize that, this game becomes HELLA fun to play. Edit: And if you're really THAT pissed about the Ammo Values, you can edit the Game Files to change this, or enable cheats to change it. You're not forced to play with those values.

"The security guard does his best G-man impression" ...they were always the same voice actor.

Don’t ever insult triage at dawn again

I actually really enjoyed triage at dawn in half life 2. I think it added a nice bit of calm before the storm

Idk man, Black Mesa recaptured that feeling I got when I was a little kid playing half life for the first time. All those "next-gen graphics", all those encounters, the story, going back to the original definitely feels home, but Black Mesa manages to fascinate me even through years of experience with many other videogames that beat many concepts to death.

I love how every person on youtube showing their Xen gameplay failed to realize if you hold crouch while landing off the boost jump, you will continue to slide at the same speed. This makes the chase sequence and the Nihilanth fight insanely fun and epic.

Honestly never had an issue with black mesa.

Haha, unplugging the blast shield was the first thing I did with that laser in the remake. I was so conditioned to "see plug, invert state" that I didn't even realise there was a puzzle to be solved Honestly my favourite part of Black Mesa (that I've played so far, haven't reached Xen yet) is the sort of urban exploration vibe you get platforming in the chemical processing zones etc.