Oh Half Life… A great series of games and, at the same time, my headache. I can’t even imagine how many times I caught myself thinking that I couldn’t “objectively” talk about the shooter genre without going through Valve’s duology. These games became a splinter in the cerebral cortex, forming another unclosed gestalt. After all, how is it that everyone played, but I didn’t?? And there’s so much applause for these games all over the Internet and who hasn’t talked about them?? Even upon release, both Half Lives were doomed to become classics. And not just like that, because this duology managed to turn the game industry upside down twice, because before the release of the first HL, all shooters were compared to DOOM, and after that – to it. And so, once again, when I convinced myself that I had to go through this duology in favor of a more correct opinion expressed by me regarding shooters, Black Mesa comes out. This release served as a rocket launch into the world created by Valve, long before I plunged headlong into it.

The development of Black Mesa has come a long and interesting way. Having been announced back in 2004, it was released 8 years later as a free fan modification, however, having received approval YOURSELF Valve, Black Mesa was released into early access in 2015 as an independent, commercial game and only reached release in its completed form in 2020.

And now, after 16 years of development of Mesa and 22 years since the release of the original Half Life, it turns out that they both have something to offer the new player.

The plot of the local plot convoy begins with the fact that the not nameless, but mute protagonist in the person of Gordon Freeman (who treacherously cut off his ponytail!) arrives at the Black Mesa research station to conduct an experiment on particles of extraterrestrial origin, where a little later everything, as usual, does not go according to plan.

During the first hours of playing Mesa, to me, a person who had not previously played the original, the influence of the “great half life” on the gaming industry became clear to the naked eye. And, to be honest, armed too. Everything from the storytelling style, environment design and plot-orientation, to little things like icons for selectable weapons and ammunition, which later migrated, for example, to the third doom, (which is actually not an empty phrase, given the greatness of the doom series) everything here reveals the exceptional genius of the game.

For example, the variety and number of weapons (especially towards the end of the game) – led me to two conclusions at once. Firstly, Half Life supported the tradition set by Doom and Quake, and secondly, it continued it, providing tools for destroying the enemy in the form of the most inventive guns. Starting with the same mount and ending with a manual hive. In total, the game has 14 types of weapons, not counting grenades, mines, etc. d. FOURTEEN, each of which has alternative shooting. And I’ll probably go through them briefly in the comments under the photo.

The crowbar is a timeless classic and a tool for destroying boxes, barricades and more.

Glock 17 – the protagonist’s https://privecasinouk.net/login/ first weapon. Can shoot underwater.

The revolver is a powerful weapon that instantly calms human opponents in one headshot.

MP 5 – 50 rounds in a magazine of the same caliber as a Glock, and also a grenade launcher to boot. As a weapon for suppressing enemy groups – an excellent option.

SPAS 12… SPAS 12, your weapon for the whole game: ‘D

Crossbow – local sniper in harness. 5 arrows. Can shoot underwater.

Tau gun – developed by Black Sword scientists. Powerful thing. Shoots a particle beam that can be charged and deal more damage. The main thing is not to fully charge, because there is a possibility of dying from an explosion.

RPG – has little ammunition, which, unfortunately, lies dead weight, because you never know where the boss helicopter will be. Has a guidance system through alternative fire.

Hand hive. This is already a weapon from the world of Zen. Releases a swarm of 8 homing flies that also ricochet off surfaces. Effective indoors and when there are many targets.

The gluon gun is a death ray, enemies literally fall apart, but the gun uses up Tau ammo, and quickly.

Naturally, having such a toolkit, you need it somewhere, or better yet, use it on someone. And believe me – there will be someone. Not only is the local fauna not inferior to the arsenal of weapons in its diversity, but it is also supported by competent artificial intelligence. Different types of enemy (humans/aliens) pursue different algorithms for confronting the player. This is clearly not Call of Duty with its own shooting gallery. The opponents here work at a distance, throw grenades, know how to bypass or, on the contrary, go head-on if we are talking about human bots. If we speak for alien opponents, then I don’t have enough epithets to describe their appearance, however, we will keep in mind that there are many of them and they sometimes act in non-trivial ways, especially when there are a lot of them. For example, in a fight with Vortigaunts and Houndeyes you will have to work hard.

Let me also remind you about one of the main features of the game, which subsequently turned the then game development upside down. Narration. Half Life was primarily based not so much on its shooter component, but rather on its story. Told without cutscene with dumb main character. It’s all about the locations, each of which tells its own story, and the character Always is under the player’s control. Such narrative design was an incomprehensible level for those times. And even now, when a full-fledged remake of HL has been released, which holds this bar, because in addition to the graphic component, the team also included a screenwriter. It would seem. Why is it needed?? The story is written, the characters are written, the scenes are staged, everything is ready. No matter how it is. The local screenwriter made each location and the events that occur within it even deeper.

By the way, game design decisions personally sometimes made me shit myself. Despite the seemingly clear shooter “corridors” where you know where to go – levels Here not intestinal at all, but more intricate, with a double bottom, as if it were a location within a location. And the level at the nuclear power plant with teleports in this regard is absolutely mind-boggling. And no one will lead you by the hand. No arrows. Narrative only. Only hardcore.

In general, if you build an associative series, it seems to me that for me Mesa Now looks and feels, Also, like HL for people who passed it 23 years ago. In essence, nothing changes in sensations, even despite the processing of some aspects. And if they had shown me all this in 1998, I would have gone crazy just like I do now. Because you literally play and feel how the gaming industry is turning upside down before your eyes, only 23 years ago.

Speaking specifically about the graphics, the mesa looks really cool. It can be seen that the engine has been cranked to 100 percent. Lighting from different sources and light in general looks especially good. The picture looks juicy, colorful and contrasting. And when you first get into the world of Xen… Mmm, your jaw drops. But we’ll talk about this a little later.