Recent reviews by DoctorOdds

Hold up well to modern standards

When you have great source material you're working from, it'd be hard to make a bad game. I enjoyed my time with the mod, but going back to the Steam release more recently has made me question what I want from a Half-Life remake. There was a time where I called this the definitive remake that far surpassed Valve's own efforts, but now I am more inclined to call Half-Life: Source the only update that could be made to improve on the original.

Sure, the graphics in Black Mesa are improved---bringing it alongside Half-Life 2---but like original Doom, I think some of the charm of the original Half-Life lied in its dated graphics. It is not all flawless either. Many times you can come across enemies, but not trigger their AI, so you can shoot them without really fighting them. Other times they will spawn, but not immediately start their AI. In the Akira cargo elevator part, the falling headcrabs are particularly janky. Whereas in HL1 they pretty smoothly attacked you, here they pause on the platform after landing.

There are changes to the pacing as well. The original opening is infamous for its length before any combat, and this mod/remake extends it by about ten to fifteen minutes. Your first weapon, the iconic crowbar, is pushed back, for reasons I can't quite fathom; perhaps to give it a survival horror feel?

The soundtrack and some of the voice lines have been changed. Some of the dialogue changes have attempted to fix things they retconned in future games (and making explicit that the two scientists after the cataclysm are Kleiner and Eli), and the voice acting is fine in all regards. However, while the soundtrack is fine, it isn't able to match Kelly Bailey's original soundtrack. And probably nothing could.

This review comes off as waxing nostalgia, which it admittedly is. Yet, this is a dated game, from the beginning of an era of trigger-heavy, guided gameplay sequences. While I am of the belief that HL1 is still a good game by today's precedents, it feels primitive. To take the same formula but apply graphics from recent years obscures what made the original game a milestone in gaming history. I've mentioned Doom once already, and I point to now to the example of DOOM 2016. While DOOM 2016 is not a remake, per se, it takes the idea of original Doom and applies modern mechanics and level design to the fundamentals that comprised original Doom, and does so expertly.

My ideal Half-Life remake is not simply a graphics overhaul, revamped soundtrack, and fresh vocal recordings. I would want a game that took the fast-paced, meandering journey through a deteriorating mad-science research facility and reimagined it in a new light: meaning, new levels, and perhaps even evolving on the already minimilist story. I critiqued the game for evolving on the original pace from 1998, but perhaps I should reword that to say that I wish they had gone much further.

Black Mesa is good. Full stop. But, I don't think I can say it does a better job at delivering the 'feel' of Half-Life than the original (or slightly higher-res Source version). Even if the Xen section was included, I don't think this is the way anyone should experience HL1 for the first time. It remains, however, a well realised and mammoth undertaking of a project from passionate fans of the original Half-Life for fans worldwide to enjoy.