Black Mesa PC Game Review - Xen Incognito

[@catm4403]

In the Questionable Ethics chapter, Black Mesa gives place for the mood instead of being a blood-fest at every corner and I like it this way.

[@lemmys.kelton8183]

I really loved how they redid the NPCs so they have interesting conversations with each other or certain guards have special dialogue with you like in Questionable Ethics and the weapons cache guy in Forget Freeman

[@decapitator412]

i love the npc chatter it does wonders for the atmosphere

[@hristokaludov8149]

I love how they added female NPCs as well and not just a sausage party like the original. Makes it feel a bit more realistic for today’s society

[@wta1518]

@@hristokaludov8149 Valve originally wanted to have female NCPs, but there were memory limitations that necessitated their removal.

[@h4724-q6j]

Ravenholm _can_ be completed without any weapons, no argument about it. There's even an achievement for doing it without using any ammo.

[@aqshabagus4487]

Well... if you want to get the achievement, you can just use the grav gun

[@Angsc09]

@@aqshabagus4487 But expecting to lose more health to get through it.

[@oneblacksun]

@@Angsc09 Not really. If you know the layout and what to do, you can finish it pretty easily.

[@Ghost1170]

@@oneblacksun "if you knoe the layout" lul, this guy tryna expect new players to know the layout. Stop being a moron

[@oneblacksun]

@@Ghost1170 Like new players are gonna complete the gravity gun only achievement on their first try.

[@BeefJerky4104]

Personally when I played through Black Mesa, I felt as though it perfectly captured what made HL1 so special to me, but with the better graphics that I need these days.

[@flippedoutkyrii]

Have to disagree, Sonny Jim. I personally loved most of the changes they did with the levels and Questionable Ethics has quickly become a personal favorite of mine out of all the revamped chapters with it's slowed pace and World Building. I thought it really drove the "Questionable Ethics" name home with all the sick experiments on Xen Wildlife. I also personally felt the gunplay was very meaty. I agree that HL and HL2 did not really excel at shooting themselves, but Black Mesa delivered much more feedback with it's weapons and gore and is certainly an improvement in my eyes. The game isn't perfect and it certainly has it's faults, but I more or less enjoyed my time blasting my way through Black Mesa once more.

[@meicexl7776]

I love the guy's reviews, but honestly sometimes it just seems like he reacts to something different than the rest of the crowd just for the sake of being different. This holds true for basically most of his reviews, and the second you call him out on it, he turns to his dickish attitude.

[@Gggmanlives]

Dickish attitude? Is responding to criticism a dickish thing to do now?

[@peppermillers8361]

I don't know, I thought HL1 had better shooting.

[@meicexl7776]

Gggmanlives Your past replies haven't been just 'responding to criticism'. The DESYNC review was a good example of that.

[@mathesonwarshawski380]

+James Griffin It's not bad, but it's far from perfect. Like, how many times in Half-Life/Half-Life 2 did you find yourself peeking and shooting about 12 or so enemies from a distance? Now think back to Black Mesa, how often did you find yourself doing that in Black Mesa?

[@ebaender4206]

8:30 half-life has location based damage. it even has a different particle effect for headshots. you can actually set the multipliers for each body part in the skill config file.

[@peppermillers8361]

that's true. That's why the alien grunts are so hard to kill, it's because people don't bother to shoot at their weak spots like the stomach.

[@scayman4771]

Pepper Millers wait how different are the damage multipliers for the head compared to the stomach?

[@half-lifescientist1991]

Erik Bänder Ans actually, if you shoot a helmet someone is wearing, the person won't take damage. Try shooting Barney in the helmet. He'll shoot back, but he won't take damage. I think this only works in the goldsrc version though.

[@tadpolegaming4510]

Yeah, I remember that, if you shoot armor, you get that little gray particle effect

[@darthgiorgi4990]

@@half-lifescientist1991 Goldsource didn't allow to pierce metal Helmets in Half life if i remember correctly.

[@spiderjerusalem100]

I actually really like the shooting in Half life 2.....just sayin'.

[@Gggmanlives]

Nothing wrong with that, friend.

[@deadturret4049]

Yeah its not half bad tbh. Honestly sometimes simplicity is key. I hate when shooters try to implement a cover system when just crouching behind a barrier is just as effective and not nearly as confusing.

[@glueplay]

I find the sound design a major factor in enjoying it, also the animations - it feels so smooth.

[@jacksonelh]

for me what makes it enjoyable is the responsiveness, the consistency of the sound and animation, and the fact it runs at such a high framerate

[@cnlbenmc]

Well in comparison to Half-Life 1 then yeah.

[@ChiuaruStefan]

Firstly, Black Mesa started as a fanbase mod and is also free (limited edition), so there's that. Second, I don't know what you are talking about sluggish gameplay and not being responsive, the game is very well optimized and very fluid, yeah it has its problems in some places where you are swarmed by enemies but if you know how to play a proper shooter that is a cake walk. It actually stays very true to the original game, both sound and visual. Gameplay is exactly as Half life 2 with very small changes. Pretty much the same jump distance, same sprint speed, etc. Third, and I could go on and on, XEN is said to be significantly longer than the original (over 50% of Black Mesa), with a huge possibility of new additions, SO YEAH expect some or even BIG changes. As a reviewer, saying ''I don't give a fuck'' is pretty pathetic. You need to research that. This ''Mod'' has a far better quality than most triple A games today. As a fan base game, it tops them all. And I don't get why people bitch about not being EXACTLY as the original, if you want to play a game like the original, play the fucking original. Dumbasses. I would actually like to see these guys make Half Life 3, instead of Valve, which jerks off to micro transaction games. Game is a solid 9/10

[@84singularity]

I agreed 100% BM Rocks !

[@Gggmanlives]

I agree that the mod has a far better quality than most triple A games, no doubt there. I said in the video it's a huge accomplishment and it is. It just feels like a better looking, worse playing version of Halflife to me and seeing as I value gameplay over graphics, I took issue with it. If you're enjoying playing it then that's fine and dandy.

[@ToastyPCvidya]

ChiuaruStefan Saying that he doesn't care is his right though. Nothing pathetic about that. Want to know pathetic? Taking 9 years to remake a game with all the love and dedication in the world, only to slap a paywall to it BEFORE it's finished and still taking 2 damn years to finish the last stretch of the game. It's like Duke Nukem forever. Once you take so long, people kinda stop caring.

[@peppermillers8361]

you can still play the mod version for free.

[@snark567]

It actually tries to be HL2 way too hard and in moments forgets that it should be the first game. As said in the video, the game has no identity and the dev team probably don't know what they're doing .

[@willthereptilevlogger6090]

"As I've been telling my girlfriends for a while now, its not the size its how you use it." 😂😂😂 best quote 2017

[@jhonbidon]

Half-Life 2 has an achievement for finishing ravenholm without using guns..... So yeah.... You stated the obvious without realizing (@ 7:50)

[@Gggmanlives]

Oh the humanity.

[@DolanDuking]

Episode 1 also has an achievement like that...for the whole game

[@dragster1018aone]

when you diss the game for being a reimagining when it's just that seriously I love you but sometimes I wonder if you've gone off your rocker.

[@josephgarfield3363]

Fucking how?

[@clawzx1195]

@@dragster1018aone sure they've reimagined but some of them for me have been poorly remade

[@SabreXT]

My biggest issue with the mod was how fast and accurate the soldiers were. The instant you entered their line of sight they were peppering you with bullets with ridiculous accuracy.

[@snark567]

Lol good job on excusing bad gameplay, let's just make the enemies 1 hit kills and say that gordon isn't as strong to defend himself.

[@dragster1018aone]

blah blah okay shut up i don't wanna talk about you

[@SabreXT]

That doesn't justify how, in the original mod version, the marines had wall hacks and were 99% accurate full auto at long range while they were moving. I remember the devs saying that was going to be fixed in the paid version, so I guess they took the feedback to heart. It was bad from a gameplay point of view, as it made combat feel rushed, encouraged you to memorise enemy placement and exploit quick save and AI flaws. From a "realism" point of view, as already mentioned, I don't know of any military training allows you to shoot with 90% accuracy from the hip, while sprinting sideways, at long range (across a dam for example) at full auto.

[@snark567]

Leave it to people who don't know how something works in real life to tell you how something in a game is justified with "realism".

[@half-lifescientist1991]

dragster1018aone Not an excuse. Gameplay comes first, NEVER let realism take over the gameplay design. No one wants to play a game where they have to sleep for several hours every in-game day.

[@peepuschrist5670]

4:42 this man sacrificed his pride for this joke, let us have a moment of silence for this hero

[@blackoutninja]

"It can't decide whether it wants to be a remake or a reboot" This

[@wastingtime2380]

For me it's actually his strongest points. It decides to feel new and suggestive while keeping it very canonic

[@Da_ComputerMonster]

Also, speakin' of the Half Life series... *Slowly takes out some Bagpipes and starts playing Amazing Grace* Thank you for your services, Mr Freeman..:(

[@UberPanzerhund]

Half Life 3 is going to happen, it's just that we'll never see the story arc of Half Life 2 and the episodes get tied up.

[@Alexroberts666]

oh *brilliant*. a spoiler.

[@MegaKosan]

Uber Panzerhund Heey, what are you doing in Half-Life video comment sections? Make more discount Vaughy videos! :P

[@NSFSponsor]

Uber Panzerhund What do you mean it's going to happen? Won't believe it till its playable.

[@sgt.eclair]

We still have the backup.. *Turns around* It's time, Mr. Shephard..

[@DanMcLeodNeptuneUK]

Wow.. holy shit... I can't believe how much more polished and graphically beautiful the game has become in the space of two years..... They didn't take 2 years just to add Xen, they totally overhauled most of the game, weapons, enemies, sounds, lighting, post-processing, levels etc.... I mean the current version looks epic compared to this one. The attention to detail really brings this remake to life, even the little things you notice in the background and the way the Vortigaunt and HECU gasmask eyes light up in the dark.... Aaaaaand... Playing this on hard mode is really fucking challenging, it's brilliant... It really gives me the old school hardcore difficulty vibes that have been sorely missed.

[@liammontgomery1825]

I find myself disagreeing with a few aspects. Mostly, though, I disagree with the level design critiques. For example, you mention the outdoors setpiece of "We've Got Hostiles". You mentioned that you felt like it was a cat and mouse chase... But whenever I played it I thought I was meant to run past it all for the cover of the underground. I always felt that with the shelling, the helicopter, and the small squad of troops, you were meant to feel like you had to run, so I ran. I never spent more than a minute at that set piece. In Black Mesa, I actually had to fight my way out which I felt was a refreshing change. That's what's different, really. It's a reinterpretation of Half-Life. I think they both work very well. I didn't personally find that to be a negative thing. The main difference in this interpretation I think is the way that Black Mesa tries to focus on the tragedy of the disaster itself and what it meant for humanity (especially with the hindsight of the HL2 trilogy), as opposed to how the original focused more on your individual survival. That's why I think Black Mesa draws more parts out, like in Questionable Ethics. I think when approaching the game as a whole with this (what I believe to be a totally valid) reinterpretation of the game's theme in mind, it works excellently. Also, I disagree a tiny bit on the shooting mechanics. I agree that the original gunplay isn't all that amazing, but I felt Black Mesa improved on it. Go play HL1 and HL2 again, the SMG becomes useless beyond about 7 meters (part of why HL gunplay isn't great, you simply can't shoot straight with most weapons and it frustrates you.) In Black Mesa, it's certainly not a sniper rifle but I can reliably use the SMG for mid-to-long range combat, which I felt positively impacted the way I approached situations. Also let's be honest, enemies no-selling shotgun blasts happened in the original too. In the interest of keeping it short, I'll not go into more examples. So yeah, I can totally see how someone might disagree with Black Mesa's direction, but I enjoyed seeing a new interpretation immensely and felt that on the whole, Black Mesa improved way more things for me than it regressed. I'm not saying you're wrong, I just feel like I should share my thoughts. If it wasn't for the history of the game itself, and the huge library of excellent GldSrc mods, I'd seriously consider Black Mesa to be the definitive edition of the game. Even if this game was objectively better, though, I'd still recommend the original GldSrc version to newcomers.

[@Gggmanlives]

Opinions are like assholes.

[@liammontgomery1825]

Gggmanlives people like us, we got a lot of assholes.

[@peppermillers8361]

eh, I honestly disagree on the combat, I felt the original got the combat right. Sure, the SMG wasn't accurate, but the pistol sure as hell was (but then they changed that in HL2).

[@deadturret4049]

Oh yeah I totally get that with we've got hostiles. When I first got there in half life 1 I either had to run or take potshots from the hangar because of how much shit was going on. I dont think black mesa really improved that part for combat, but rather it seems to have emphasized that you should just run away.

[@antonio-onism9814]

Look, there are some things you need to put into consideration too. First of all Black Mesa already had a good ground to start on. They didn't have to reinvent the story and in some aspects it does creates a bit of a mess (for example in newly released Xen; all they added was basically just reskinned Earth with some cool floating rocks, while Valve made a completely new world.. and sure it wasn't as good as it could get but again, back then there were such story-driven games before Half Life). They added few cool features (that don't necessarily made sense in some areas btw) and improved graphics but that's as far as it really goes. Second, you can't really blame them (neither can you blame Valve). Half Life's prime focus was on the gameplay and storytelling so it would be impossible to make an improvement there AND keep it similar to the original, it's just not possible. They would have to either make a whole new story or change this one a lot, but that's not what they wanted to do. So really it's not their fault but most importantly we shouldn't really compare them to the original Half Life either. Neither is better or worse because Black Mesa and Half Life aren't the same thing. Half Life was a breakthrough in gaming history and it will forever stay part of every modern game. Without it we wouldn't have CS:GO and many other great FPS games that later on inspired even more games and are going to do so for a very long time. Black Mesa was a mod for Half Life that wanted to bring some cool visuals and add some nice features. They both succeeded in what they tried to do and we should stay at that.

[@bbenjoe]

4 years have passed, and the game has improved a lot since.

[@Moji55a]

Aside from the unfair AI of the soldier, yeah.

[@TechnologicallyTechnical]

It’s exactly the same, save for the addition of Xen

[@hustlened7494]

That girlfriend joke tho

[@bunkaaa8726]

really... not that original, in fact I've heard it so many times as soon as someone mentions 'size' I anticipate it..

[@help_there_is_a_fire4989]

It fit with the video

[@yuridavy]

No, you did not get the joke, the joke is that ggmanlives has a girlfriend.

[@help_there_is_a_fire4989]

Well that's like 1/4 of the joke I guess?

[@AutumnWind92]

u like benis ewww

[@disk9434]

As a guy who beat the original Half-Life countless time (Well, we all are). I think Black Mesa still make the game verry refreshing to play. Sure they bump up the hit scan enermy way over the top and some level is pack with too much unnecessary prop and pointless puzzle but the game is harmless. It not offence me and i think the biggest flaw is the studio din't have a strong and experience project leader to make a more well design game like the original.

[@felipecci]

People seems to forget that Black Mesa started as a fanmade mod.

[@Web720]

disk9434 It's funny how ppl defend BM and shit talk Cinematic Mod. Yeah the slutty models are crap but you can easily remove them. Both try to update the game and both do remove the original art style.

[@disk9434]

Tenzing Khedup I think the biggest reason why people didn't like the cinematic mod (including me) besides the stupid model is that the original Half-Life 2 still ages verry well. Once in awhile i reinstall the game and it still feel amazing and innovative to play. It not like the late 90' brick lego model and insane hitbox that Half-Life suffer. Also BM has a more sincere, respect and understanding of the original game aesthetic unlike just make the game more brown and bloomy like a COD game approach in cinematic mod.

[@alphasquadleaderb9859]

Yeah but I hate that in BM, the black ops bitches dont have the boob physics. I mean it was realy funny. Thank God the feminists didnt find out lel.

[@peppermillers8361]

rip Boob physics.

[@DudeSkinnyTall]

Geez, this is still in development!?

[@andrehernandez9857]

DudeSkinnyTall I know right? When are they to finally finish it and give us Xen?

[@vladdyboy2612]

Andre Hernandez Xen is coming in 4 months

[@arcticridge]

it's Half-Life related, so yes lol

[@DudeSkinnyTall]

It's not the size, Sonny Jim, it's how you use it...

[@PaulA-fp3vs]

How do you know its coming in 4 months?

[@samvimes9510]

1:52 "the _source_ material" Ayyyyyy

[@Da_ComputerMonster]

Hopefully, I hope Xen in a fun final level in BM. Xen in the original kind of felt like a "Lets wrap this up quick" situation instead of a Cherry ontop of a Sundae.

[@lemmys.kelton8183]

Yeah the gameplay was confusing and the only good part about it was the visuals

[@NSFSponsor]

Computer-Monster "lets wrap this up quick" You should really play System Shock 2. That game has a "fuck, it comes out tomorrow?" type of ending.

[@SWIFTrunmedia]

Computer-Monster have you seen the screenshots to the new xen, they look stunning!

[@deadturret4049]

For a lot of longer games, especially rpgs, developers typically have to half ass the ending due to release dates, budgets, etc. The excuse is that most people wont even finish the game, so they put all of the effort into giving the player a good first impression. It sucks, but a lot of the time its a nessecary evil. I mean look at Grandia on ps1, a lot of disc 2 kinda sucks compared to disc 1.

[@handznet]

The xen was a disappointment. And how the hell that ending connects to HL2?

[@Hart8]

-Hugh Mungus -Is that sexual harrasment?

[@clashmanthethird]

why does this have 19 likes

[@sgt.eclair]

Clashman The Third Why not?

[@TheForsakenEagle]

Disgusting! Disgusting!

[@BababooeyGooey]

Hugh Mungus wot m8?

[@dostwood5103]

I literally commented the same thing and then I found this comment lol

[@freddythepie]

Some of your review is pretty confusing. The pacing was kept in tact just fine. The only problem I see is how the marines are alerted to you immediately when coming out of the multiple tunnels.

[@half-lifescientist1991]

If I See Purpp Thats A Homi The pacing in the games is practically incomparable, what are you talking about? Did you ever play Half-Life 1 or are you basing that statement off of Half-Life 2's gameplay and assuming the pacing in that game was similar to the pacing in the first game?

[@freddythepie]

I've played half life one since I was 12 and have beat it numerous times on every difficulty. So yeah the pacing is the same as half-life one. Go play the two side by side every chapter and you'll see it for yourself.

[@half-lifescientist1991]

+If I See Purpp Thats A Homi Even though in Black Mesa you walk by default and the maps are much larger while in Half-Life you run by default in much smaller maps?

[@freddythepie]

First, you can toggle the run in the mesa settings tab. And second I mean play each chapter at a time and compare them. They keep the pacing in tact very well. I love half-life 1 but black mesa has made it almost unplayable for me because it's such a better polished version of half life.

[@half-lifescientist1991]

+If I See Purpp Thats A Homi Yeah, you can toggle running, but you should keep in mind that up until about a year ago that option was extremely faulty. And even now, if you hold down shift while using that option, you don't slow down like you did in the original. Still better much better than the way it was before though. Half-Life was a fast paced game in design. A lot of weapons, a lot of enemies thrown at you at once, a lot of running. It's clear that Black Mesa went with the somewhat slower pace of Half-Life 2 but with the same constant spawning of enemies/numerous weapons that Half-Life 1 had. Sometimes it mixes well, other times it doesn't. I have my problems with Half-Life 2, but it's consistent in pace. The devs seemed to be aware they were making a game with a slower pace than Half-Life 1. There's rarely a moment where you're overwhelmed with enemies, and if there is, there's usually some barrels or a train or some physics puzzle you use to take a bunch of them out at once. That and there's fewer weapons. The many massive areas and the default walking speed in Black Mesa suggest a slower pace, but it'll often throw more enemies into a map than there were in the original Half-Life. which just sends mixed signals. Most of the time I find myself peeking and shooting at a bunch of enemies from a distance in Black Mesa which is a stretch from the gameplay style of Half-Life 1 and 2. Both of those games encourage the player to take more a close quarters approach. You rarely find yourself peeking and shooting 12 enemies from 100 feet away in Half-Life 1 or 2. I think Black Mesa's main problem is it focuses too much on making its environments look realistic as opposed to making them combat-friendly. The annoying abundance of random physics objects lying around in Black Mesa also suggest that this was the case during the game's development.

[@cosmosofinfinity]

I disagree with HL1 and 2's gunplay being weak. I don't even know how you could say that. It is fast and snappy and dynamic and the exciting gunplay is reason number fucking ONE why I have replayed those games so many times.

[@alsenar2]

HL2 was only good because of the Source Engine and the gravity gun. Everything else was just ok. Half Life 2 was nowhere near Halo 2 or even Halo 1 in terms of gunplay.

[@randomthingz2showrandomthi208]

@@alsenar2 I have not seen anyone write about halo ever since...ever since halo 5 came out.

[@dalton2k538]

Half-Life's combat systems always felt like they lacked the punch that it's contemporaries of it's time, such as something like Quake 3 or even console games like Halo had. The atmosphere, design, and overall narrative make the original 2 half-life and it's corresponding episodes what they are. Even the shotgun, while powerful up close, never made me FEEL powerful.

[@skybluenerd219]

I wouldn't say the combat is bad, but it's definitely not as involved as other FPS games are. The lack of responses from your attacks just makes weapons feel weaker than they're supposed to. I'm not saying it's "bad", but it's gotten basic and outdated.

[@monkeyboy140]

This review did a better job on explaining why you didn't like it, since the other one came of more like "Its Different, so It Sucks!". I agree with you on pretty much everything, except that I think Black Mesa does a good job of making the game feel more alive, like how the BM employees feel more like humans than disposable pawns(It ain't perfect, but its still does an OK job).

[@peppermillers8361]

agreed, BM feels more alive than the original.

[@ardentfire3956]

7:48 Funny thing, there's actually an achievement for playing through the entirety of Ravenholm using only the gravity gun. I actually got all the achievements in the game, but I was putting off the Ravenholm one because of how difficult it seemed. In the end I just said screw it and did the whole thing in one sitting, but I ended up realizing that it isn't too difficult if you know what you're doing.

[@jjmerrow8062]

Yea it's arguably more fun to only use the gravity gun in ravenholm than normal guns. It's just that the part where you wait for grigoris elevator is a bitch to get through

[@indestructible247]

@@jjmerrow8062 you can actually skip that part and call the elevator without all the zombies

[@JackLiberty0]

Is Black Mesa a good game? Yes, it's pretty impressive considering it was originally a mod. Is Black Mesa groundbreaking? NO, but it's still worth playing. Even the original Half-Life had its flaws. No game is truly perfect, you take the good with the bad. But the bad in Black Mesa is not enough to make you want to quit. It's certainly better than Half-Life: Source.

[@dragster1018aone]

yeah seriously why the fuck did they say HL:S was in the source engine but barely improved the fucking graphics seriously

[@TheCirnobyl]

Half-Life: Source was a testing ground for porting GoldSrc content over to the Source engine and to iron out bugs; it was never meant to be a visual overhaul/upgrade to the original.

[@salt_97]

What's wrong with half-life source? They never said they'll completely change the game graphics, but what they ported in from source into the game made it more enjoyable. The explosions, blood splatter, reflections, bullet impacts and the lightning really made the game even more fun to play. The guns became satisfying to use and it ironed out all the bugs from the original game.

[@fabulousmetrocop6088]

I remember Half Life Source being buggy compared to Half Life.

[@carloRX78K2]

Well half life source was at the very least a good port though....i'd stick with the original though.

[@brawlmaster7]

"Likeuh bag a 'SHEEEIIT!" laughed for like a good 5 minutes at that, platinum review as always gravy man.

[@aurablur]

that was the best 'SHEEEIIT!" so far :P

[@mathesonwarshawski380]

+Gggmanlives There was location based damage in the original Half-Life as well. In fact, if you shoot the armored part of any NPC, they won't take any damage and instead of a blood sprite appearing, a spark sprite will appear.

[@IsmailofeRegime]

I'd imagine it's more noticeable in Black Mesa though. In the original I don't recall much difference between shooting an alien grunt in the face as opposed to the chest.

[@PaulA-fp3vs]

It seems that larger maps are not necessarily better. In FEAR 2 the larger maps just ruined the squad based combat and it is not necessarily more impressive to look at. Its not a worthwhile trade off.

[@jupitermonkey5687]

Imma be real with you, chief. You didn't fully understand what those people meant when they said you were upset black mesa isn't half life. You set yourself up for failure when you think black mesa can't deviate from half life. For example, the encounter at the end of we've got hostiles is meant to tell the story that gordon was forced to go back underground, and black mesa achieves this by overwhelming you with an arena fight you can't win. You're NOT meant to have a cool combat sequence here where you take out waves after waves of enemies, you're meant to RUN, find by luck the bunker, and flee inside. The fact that the combat arena is made so that you will be shot from everywhere and can't even fight properly if you don't go out in the open makes it so your gameplay ends up matching the narrative of "the surface was full of enemies and gordon was forced to retreat underground". To me, this is not "black mesa failed to recreate half life's combat design", it's "black mesa went a different route towards achieving the same narrative result".

[@EldritchAugur]

Black Mesa has pretty much made the original game obsolete in my opinion. I mean yeah, not all of the changes are for the better but the ones that do improve things improve things massively. Anomalous materials feels like a completely different game with all of the added conversations and it makes Black Mesa feel like so much more of a real place. On a Rail was always the worst chapter in the original game and I loved that they shortened it and made the rail not electrocute you with the terrible jumping physics. I also thought Questionable ethics was improved because the environmental details were more strongly explored and the combat paced better. And of course the new Surface Tension is just amazing. The only thing that I really hate is that they took the MP5 model from the original game instead of the M16 from the HD pack. Mp5 with a grenade launcher just looks and sounds so fucking stupid and I don't know why marines are using more of a police/SWAT weapon than a military rifle.

[@coffeetext]

Kolbe Howard You can't blame them for keeping the weapons true to the original game, when Gearbox's HD Content Pack hadn't been released.

[@EldritchAugur]

But it had by the time Black Mesa was in development right? Even even if it hadn't they've had plenty of time to change it. I know it's a petty complaint but it's the weapon I use probably the most in the game and it's a shame the model for it is so silly and unsatisfying to use.

[@ahandsomefridge]

Nah the original still feels very much like the real thing, (although yes, On A Rail specifically remains a bit of a pointless pain in the butt) and Opposing Force still kicks ass imho. But I like Black Mesa on its own, quirky flaws and pretty improvements included.

[@EldritchAugur]

+hazzmati Have you played HL1 recently? Because I don't understand how the shooting is any better in the original. The shooting isn't great in either of them but that's not really the point. It's everything surrounding the shooting the makes these games great.

[@coffeetext]

Kolbe Howard If you consider the current MP5 model to be silly, you should see the 2012 mod version of it.

[@pistool1]

I enjoyed Black Mesa very much when it was just a mod and not 100% ready some years ago. There was absolutely nothing wrong about it in my opinion. I haven't tried HL Source. Excellent review though, I want to understand your comments & critique towards Black Mesa. It's maybe a bit frivolous to directly compare HL from the late 1990s and its mods from 2010s; of course there are differences because HL is always HL and its mods are just mods to the game. But the main thing is that people are still playing these pieces of fps art in the year 2018 :)

[@deadturret4049]

Most people will justifiably tell you not to play half life source. Its literally the original game but with source engine water, ragdoll physics, and apparently a ton of bugs. The new water also doesnt fit well with the old environments. Its not like counter-strike source where they remade the maps. Its just a mediocre port. Im pretty sure the disapointment that was half life source is actually what made black mesa so popular.

[@orinokonx01]

I *loved* Black Mesa when it came out originally as a mod back in 2012. I ran it on my 2009 macbook (in Windows 7...) and it ran beautifully. It was, and is, a great improvement over the original HL in my humble opinion, and I absolutely enjoy every moment of it. Naturally, I bought the game when it was greenlit on Steam, and I look forward to the eventual release of the Xen chapter. I'm glad they are taking their time with it!

[@wta1518]

8:32 what do you mean "now"? In the original Half-Life headshots dealt more damage and armor blocked damage. For example: on hard it normally takes two shots from the magnum to kill an HECU marine, but a headshot will instantly kill them.

[@blimblam7]

I completely disagree with this review I feel like Half Life 1 is a great game but aged horribly and has some archaic choices that just don't work, such as these soldiers that hide inside bunkers that are impossible to kill without getting close and they always drain your health. Black Mesa just makes the game feel more alive, and fixes everything that half life messed up on. Questionable ethics always looked really barren and just an endless amount of hallways, but now in black mesa you have that amazing atrium fight at the end of the chapter. I dont know if its just me but to me black mesa is a better game

[@dr.strangeglove1734]

You are very right but if you are going for a first time run, half life is better

[@kfirlevy7635]

@@dr.strangeglove1734 Why is that?

[@dr.strangeglove1734]

@kfir levy so you can get the original feel and experience

[@kfirlevy7635]

@@dr.strangeglove1734 Guess I did an oopsie when I started with Black Mesa then. Anyways I'm enjoying the hell out of that game.

[@DoctorDalek]

Anyone visiting this review in 2021 should take some things in this video with a grain of salt. There are certainly valid arguments that applied at the time, but the game has been updated pretty heavily since this video came out.

[@6abial]

I don't know man, I fucking LOVE Black Mesa's gunplay. Like it's some of the best shooting I've ever played

[@aGrafimir]

5:15 Remember, they are not trying to just do Half-Life: Source with updated graphics. If it was just that, the mod would be done and released, at least, 2 years later it was announced. They are literally "remaking" the whole game. I think they are trying to aproach the "mysterious" feel of the game. In that part, for example. The chapter is named "Questionable Ethics". It sounds like you will be going at a slower pace and "questioning" what you are seeing but nope, you instead just fight soldiers every corner in an action packed chapter. Now that's fine, nothing wrong with that but the developers of the remake are trying to aproach the actual "questioning the ethics" part of the chapter. You can activate what experiment that the scientists where doing before the accident and kill the Alien Grunt at the begining, instead of having to fight it. There is an achievement for completing all the left experiments. They are taking a different aproach of every chapter in the game. Trying to make it more modern, like most other modern shooters but without the "CoD shooting" type modern aspect and still keeping close to the original (and more likely close to HL2). XEN chapter, "when it's done", will not be like how everyone visions it as. As they are saying, they are literally remaking the chapter on how they see it would fit the rest of the game. They are making their own levels. I think their version of XEN will be longer and more different than the original (which is probably why it's taking too long).

[@hosomi1833]

I still think it's kinda silly that Gordon Freeman a guy in an hev suit(he still is badass though) was able to fight a highly trained military force and a highly aggressive alien invasion force

[@dquakist]

But you forgot about da suit boi

[@pentalway]

I'm glad someone's finally admitting that the shooting in the Half Life series has always been subpar. Compare that to a game released around the same time, like Quake 2, which had phenomenal gameplay, and the enemies had a much better reaction and feel when you shot them, where in Half Life, it felt like you were shooting a sponge until it would finally react when it was dead.

[@pRopaaNS]

"it felt like you were shooting a sponge until it would finally react when it was dead." Enemies in original Half-Life series have flinch animations and sounds. Along with blood splatters. What you're describing with that quote is problem with Black Mesa exclusively. Also there are more problems with BM gunplay than just that. edit: I went to play HL1 to refresh my memory and I was wrong, enemies don't have flich animations or I didn't notice them. But other thing I recalled about combat is how quick my movement is. Having such mobility means I'm not standing in one place shooting enemy when I can "fly around" to quickly reposition.

[@Gggmanlives]

They don't flinch much though.

[@peppermillers8361]

they flinch enough for me! :- D

[@SWIFTrunmedia]

Halo has sponges that you shoot until its dead

[@pentalway]

Yeah, they flinched as if someone just sucker punched them, it looked nothing like taking an actual bullet, not that I would know what that would feel like.

[@mountainpepsi9991]

After I've got to play the steam version I played the Mod version again to see the changes. It felt to me like the the shooting in the mod version feels a lot better than in the steam version. Not only in the way the wepaons handle but also how the enemies respond to it. Good review. Greetings from Germany :)

[@EbonyPope]

What are your thoughts on the shooting mechanics? Do you agree with him that half life was just okay? Which games would you say had perfect shooting? What aspects played a role?

[@InMaTeofDeath]

I agree that the shooting in the HL games have never been that great, but I absolutely disagree that that's the fault of the source engine. The counterstrike games have had some of the best shooting in any fps and that was just a mod of HL. I think it's probably the devs fault on that one.

[@EbonyPope]

Isn't the shooting in counter strike exactly the same? They also have spray patterns but no real recoil in a sense that the cross hair moves. What exactly do you think would have to be improved to make the shooting in the Half Life games perfect?

[@Markodds]

It still sounds like you just wants a 1 to 1 recreation of the complete same original Half-Life. The developers repeatedly stated that their game was a 'reimagining'. But this review continues to talk about a 'remastering' or a 'reboot'. This game is a complete tribute to the original Half-Life - made by fans, to be played by fans. The only issue you pointed out which I completely agrees with WAS the horrible combat mechanics, which since has been patched and tweaked to the point that I really enjoy the shooting in this game. Calling this tribute to the original game "falled apart", is such an exaggeration and made me question myself if we have even played the same game. The game is made by fans and therefore the development is a slower process than other full time game developers. If you had just read the News on Steam regarding the development of Black Mesa, you would also have know that the last portion of the game will come out in December. But you chose to make another review of the same Early Access game, pointing out issues like it's god damn Mass Effect Andromeda you are talking about. Buuut I must admit that it is always healthy to hear others opinion even though it is not like one's own. I really look forward to watch a third review from you, when the game is coming out of Early Access :-)

[@Techhunter_Talon]

With the first portion of your post, I agree that is what it felt like he was wanting. Which, if it was a 1 to 1 then it might as well just be the original game with updated graphics. So... essentially another Half-Life Source.

[@HeliosDrive]

The problem that he was stating to have with Black Mesa was that the game was unsure whether it wanted to be a warts-and-all remake with updated graphics/sounds (Halo CEA/2A), or a complete reboot/reimagining that makes multiple, large-scale changes in an effort to address the original's shortcomings, expand upon what worked and/or add several original features to keep the game feeling fresh.

[@pearceboit7593]

Notice how gggmanlives didn't respond at all. He truly has been defeated

[@BEkov-kd8cf]

Pearce Boit or he's moved on to making other videos instead of bothering with butthurt people in the comments?

[@btfo420]

I don't think calling people "nostalgiafag" will get their attentions.

[@leiflala]

Being way too harsh on this. What they achieved is amazing and we're all lucky to have such a thing even exist

[@RomanImperialXII]

They still haven't improved the exaggerated aimbot that made the hitscan combat so shit? That was literally the only flaw I wanted them to fix from the free version... I mean wtf, you try peeking at the enemy and before you made eye contact you already lost an ear to an ultra-fast-precise bullet.... Half-Life wasn't made with attrition pot-shot combat in mind -_-

[@monkeyboy140]

They fixed it, or at least toned it down since they are much easier to deal with in the Steam version

[@Gggmanlives]

It's definitely been toned down.

[@RomanImperialXII]

Thanks, that's good to know. It wasn't the impression I got from your video but I guess I can only tell if I play it.

[@drrisen-9442]

To be fair those ARE supposed to be special forces.

[@m.tammekivi]

@DrRisen - Yep, and this is where realism and gameplay contradict. Every game needs some balance of the two.

[@Blue-ih7ol]

I like that Gordon uses two hands to shoot a 9mm but one hand to shoot a .357 magnum

[@babysaleem1]

I love this mod, It's such a breath of fresh air for someone who has completed Half-Life and all of it's expansions multiple times over, the only thing I wish is that the Marines and Black Ops weren't 100% accurate all the time and get alerted almost instantly.

[@Kagemusha08]

I barely even play games anymore but I still watch you religiously. You're that damn good my friend.

[@cdfv_bds]

Dis shit aged like milk

[@decx0326]

The thing you said about the shooting being not that good in the Half-Life games I completely agree with. Just that whenever I say it I get yelled at by people that don't want to hear anything negative about the game.

[@MrFreesearcher]

The reason why some of the area's were changed, is because of the players expectation of harder combat areas. Also some of the original areas in Half Life either made no sense, or it was intentionally laid out for player combat, which goes against aesthetic and realistic aspects. As part of the fan base, I even gave input as to changes. It was down to the modders ultimately how they built it. I personally am glad they made the changes, since Half Life is just as much about Story as it is shooting. Anyway, enough ranting - the Xen trailer just launched a couple of days ago, and it looks awesome.

[@hideshisface1886]

I must admit... now that I played it, I can agree with pretty much every point of this review and add a couple of extra. I'm not exactly a fan of certain redesigned aspects of Black Mesa, to be honest. The part where you play whack-a-mole with soldiers and a tank for example is completely ruined by several things - you move like a slug in a septic tank while crouching, and sewer parts require you to stay crouched for way too long. Tank itself also apparently has some precognition powers because it will keep tracking you even if you lose line of sight completely. On top of that, the bloody thing can kill itself with own splash damage. There are some dubious design choices as well. There is this moment in the very beginning of surface tension - you go on the ladder and you are supposed to drop down on a small pipe. This is the place where visual design fails. When you drop from the ladder and go on a catwalk, the first thing you see is a climbing rope, so of course you try to use it, but you can't. NOTHING draws your eyes to the pipe to your right - no light, no broken railing to guide you, nothing. AND the pipe is close to the rock which has busted collision box. If you walk too close to the wall, it will bounce you off. I was convinced it was an invisible wall and spent next 10 minutes fruitlessly jumping on a bloody rope that was impossible to climb. Similar blunders with visual guidance are visible in other areas of the game as well. I also don't quire appreciate the way they butchered "On the rail" and changed "Questionable ethics" into this quasi-horror level with a god-awful fight in the end - the arena has all the supplies in the middle, but you have no way of getting there before the fight starts, meaning you can potentially mess yourself up, if you are low on health and start this fight. Bad design here. AI also seems to be worse, especially for human enemies, which I find baffling. On surface, they act like combine soldiers, but dumber... I have never seen combine soldiers throw grenades at their own feet, but I was able to trick Black Mesa's AI to do it multiple times. Guys throwing grenades will try to lead, and they will potentially throw nades on their own positions if they thing you are going there. Couple of times the game also autosaved at the same time I died. Good job. Shooting itself was never really good in Half-Life, but it feels really janky here. Shotgun is stupidly inaccurate at range, and yet requires stupid amount of precision up close. Pistol is no longer super accurate, and MP-5 is too innacurate to serve beyond relatively close ranges - this means you have no real long range weapon in your arsenal until later in the game, which is a problem. Grenades were always weird in Half-Life - always felt like balloons thrown on the moon to me in the original. In Black Mesa it feels like crosshair is just for show - and they have insanely weird, very high arc. Basically, to hit anything on level ground, you have to aim on enemy's feet or even lower. Some changes... I appreciate though. That god damn minefield section - you can see the mines, thank god. Though, there is a hilarious quirk. Remember how you could detonate mines with explosives and grenades? You still can, but grenade hitting the mine will detonate the mine... but mine's explosion won't detonate the grenade. Same goes for satchel charges. Hive Hand also seems vastly improved - it was a pointless novelty in original, and this time around, it is actually kinda useful. There is also the sound design question. In current version many sounds are changed from the original - the gun sounds specifically... Not for the better in my opinion. The sound levels also feel off at times, with plenty of sounds being either too loud or too quiet. The game sometimes forgets to play various sounds as well - shooting, explosions, reload sounds, you name it. Some cool effects from the original are also gone or butchered - echoing sounds when traversing metal pipes, for example. No longer there. Another thing that annoys me is optimisation - it is piss poor at times. My rig runs Doom Eternal on 1440p, max details, perfectly smoothly without even breaking a sweat, yet this game on an antiquated engine sometimes causes it to drop frames and makes the fans go loud. What the actual fuck... Still though - the whole thing is massively impressive and worth a shot. It is a janky mess, but also feels like a labour of love. It sure feels like a love-letter to original Half-Life, despite own shortcomings.

[@TheHoagie13]

Thank you for stating that Gordon is a "THEORETICAL physicist" 💗

[@KrabKing48]

It's not the size its how you use it.-Gggmanlives 2017 best damn of the year.

[@hl356]

On the subject of shitty shooting... I've been playing through half life 2 again recently, and the ungodly accuracy of the weapons is infuriating. It involves very little skill, since enemies take a boatload of damage and everything except the crossbow and revolver have TERRIBLE accuracy, any engagement over like, 10 meters is going to take more ammo than it should.

[@pRopaaNS]

Beginner pistol is accurate too. Prefer using it over the crap submach, em, automatic bullet dispenser.

[@peppermillers8361]

the SMG is not that bad if you shoot it in short bursts.

[@sgt.eclair]

The pulse rifle has decent tapfire accuracy. Try not spraying.

[@dragster1018aone]

the guns are amazing don't you diss 'em

[@peppermillers8361]

They're not really amazing, but they do the job.

[@EbonyPope]

So which game would you consider perfect concerning the shooting? What exactly do you mean by floaty? Do you want realistic recoil?

[@kiwi7034]

Now I just want a remake or reboot of Opposing Force

[@blockboygames5956]

I was thinking exactly this as I was watching this vid

[@Cephalopod51]

(in G-Man's voice) Quite a nasty piece of work you managed over there. I am impressed. That's why I'm here, Mr. Gggmanlivvesss. I have recommended your services to my eh-eh-eh-eh-employers, and they have authorized me to offer you a job. They agree with me that you have limitlesssss potential.

[@zesty2023]

I totally agree with this review, and the first review. The reason Surface Tension is the best is because more levels to that chapter were just added recently. SO at this point they might as well just go back and remake all the levels better. I don't agree with you on the shooting though, I liked the shooting in HL and HL2, the problem with BM is two fold. One, the sound effects for the guns are weak and unexciting, and two the animations and gun models are shitty. There's a high-def model pack that works for the non-steam version that are MUCH better and just having them makes the shooting feel better. Unfortunately those gun models are broken for the steam version. I also really dislike the voices for the scientist, the actor hams it up so much you can't even take them seriously and hurts the immersion. The guy that does Barney's voice though is spot on!

[@peppermillers8361]

I disagree about the models. I honestly feel the BM models are a lot more true to the HL1 aesthetic. The non-steam models feel like the HD pack: BM Edition (not to mention that MP4).

[@MyScorpion42]

Best of all, those new levels were practically made by *one guy*, Text_FAMGUY1. They hired him pretty quickly.

[@peppermillers8361]

www.moddb.com/mods/black-mesa/downloads I think this is it.

[@breakthrough248]

You should try the On A Rail Uncut mod. It was made by one of the BM devs, the same that expanded Surface Tension in the retail Steam version like you mentioned of Black Mesa (the mod version is called Surface Tension Uncut).

[@peppermillers8361]

Brandon Castellano OAR is a bit unstable, though. I has glitches here and there.

[@pergproductions]

I completely agree about this game (and the truth bomb about the shooting). I would add that in the original there were some areas where walls and computers looked a bit blank with just one button but that was because you needed to hit the button to progress whereas in Black Mesa you can never find what you're supposed to do because of all the unnecessary detail. I've also lost count of the number of times I would get stuck because the environments were too bloody dark for me to see a specific ladder. (With max gamma)

[@HyphyJuice916]

If you played the now finished Xen it makes it 100% worth it. Black Mesa's Xen is such a step beyond the original. It really makes it overall a better game in my opinion.

[@aGrafimir]

11:14 While XEN was the weakest part with not as much depth like the other's, it featured the only real type boss that you got to kill by actually shooting at it to kill it and dodging it's attacks, not just dodging it and doing some puzzle to end the chapter. (I'm not saying that Gargantua and the tentacle monster parts were bad, in fact they are one of the highlights. It's just that they weren't actual "bosses".)

[@macerobertson4901]

NOW THAT THE ZEN LEVELS HAVE BEEN SHOWN... THIS SHIT IS GONNA BE ONE FIERY HOT BOI

[@evanfont913]

I like how he says, "like I've been telling my girlfriend for the last six years." He hasn't just told her, he's felt the need to reinforce regularly.

[@cheshirekershaw]

It needs an option of preserving the original gameplay with new visuals.

[@cheshirekershaw]

hazzmati you can change sprinting to always run in the menu, but it still feels off.

[@lemmys.kelton8183]

There are some mods that do that in the workshop

[@Randoman590]

You don't need to remove sprinting. There's a button in the options menu to enable "Always Run". I have no idea why people don't turn it on.

[@peppermillers8361]

and yet there are no mods for making the marines run really fast....yet.

[@m.tammekivi]

+Hijynks They don't do it, because they may want a more modern/realistic experience or they just don't know it's there.

[@threecats8219]

I am surprised when folk say that they were not really bothered about the Zen levels. To me Half-Life was a pretty much a very good, but regular shooter until Zen. Zen was the unexpected climax to me. (It was like the big-finish and the encore all in one.) Without Zen, Half-Life would not have stayed firmly as one of my favourite games. … I don't know, maybe I remember it wrong. However it sealed Half-Life as sci-fi mystery adventure shooter, with that twist of golden magic dust. ….. E.g. Nihilanth was like something clean out of our most abstract weird ideas book: it was genius. The healing pools in Zen were ace and I loved the noise they made. I used to hang around in them, and go back for more listens. Being in Zen made the game make sense, as it showed us what it was all about. I'll never understand the lack of interest in Zen.

[@snnnaaaaaakeeeee4470]

100K SUBSCRIBERS SONNY JIM!!!

[@Gggmanlives]

Woot.

[@snnnaaaaaakeeeee4470]

Gggmanlives I absolutely love your videos mate! Even the old ones are always fun to come back to!

[@sebs-shenanigans]

11:40, wait, do you see that rod on the soldier's leg, which dissapeares after his death.

[@oldundead]

He let his MP5 drop, I guess

[@DimitriosChannel]

Usually I agree with you but wow, nothing but negativity on this video most of the time. Time will tell but I think this will be a classic while COD series will be forgotten. This game runs very well even on a potato. The people that made this game did it out of passion and spare time which was done pretty fast to be honest. I like your videos but it's either you were expecting another Half-Life or some sort of perfection that just couldn't be possible or you were having a bad day. Anyway I respect your reviews but this video review leaked a bad vibe or you had something against the people who made this game.

[@Gggmanlives]

I'm being constructive in the video though.

[@TranceVocals]

Congrats on 100k+ subs Sonny Jim.

[@Gggmanlives]

Thanks!

[@hyper847]

there are soome points that are dumb to me, like the creators knowing about level design but all in all i agree with most of the points made. i believe it is a good investment.

[@AnInsaneOstrich]

You can argue that Ravenholm can be cleared using physics items alone, or you could look at the "Zombie Chopper" achievement to prove yourself right immediately, it is (arguably) the hardest achievement in the game (EDIT: NOT including the episodes) , you get it by only using the traps and the gravity gun. I only found out about it, and got it, recently.

[@wta1518]

I'd argue that Lambda Locator is harder.

[@AnInsaneOstrich]

@@wta1518 Lambda Locator takes a while, but is not necessarily hard.

[@wta1518]

@@AnInsaneOstrich If you miss one you have to start over from the beginning.

[@AnInsaneOstrich]

At worst you have to restart the chapter, not the entire game and if you have an online guide you can find exactly where they are with ease, the Zombie Chopper achievement relies a lot more on individual skill than observation.

[@wta1518]

@@AnInsaneOstrich No, you have to restart the entire game because it doesn't save progress between saves.

[@yush7221]

It's painful to watch him use HL:Source footage instead of the original ngl

[@cirava]

It’s easier to get footage for since you could load any chapter you want.

[@yush7221]

@@cirava but you can do it in GoldSrc HL too tho eg: ’map c3a2’ in console

[@IGaveUpSecondsAgo]

I usually agree with you buy in this case you were a bit harsh. I think the reimagined areas were great. Made it a little less stale

[@ddqwf]

Whenever ive seen this guy review half life mods he always gets into it about how mediocre Half-Life 1/2 combat is. Honestly enjoy it just fine and i enjoy the AI's reaction to certain obstacles/cover as well as the slight bullet sponginess means that encounters wont end in just 5 seconds. I think it comes down a matter of opinion here not fact... other than that the review was unbiased and informative.

[@allhailthecartlord7256]

Frankly, I think HL2's combat was ass, because while I'm OK with enemies taking a bit of time to kill, the Combine didn't REACT to being shot, beyond a mere flick of the head when you fired a 9mm bullet into their skull - Made me feel like I wasn't doing shit.

[@coltforceplayz5285]

“It’s not the size, it’s how u use it” -Gmanlives

[@shamaboy11]

Planning to review destiny 2 or no man's sky atlas rises update?

[@shamaboy11]

WarmSoftKitty dude, destiny 2 isn't even out yet

[@balderknight7132]

Shamaboy S I cant wait for Destiny 2

[@cloudwaves1648]

WarmSoftKitty Destiny 1 still has a very active player base

[@balderknight7132]

cloud waves i still play it weekly

[@MrFlunkorg]

NMS isn't an FPS, I don't really see the point.

[@pewdiepie440]

"It's not the size, but how you use it." wise, wise words

[@SophieBaybey_VODS]

Couldn't disagree more when you said Half-Life 1's shooting was barebones. While yes, it ends up being putting your crosshair on something and shooting, it's so much more than that. Half-Life 1 has extreme variety in the way different enemies interact, with soldiers being incredibly fast at running around, to vortigaunts doing high damage telegraphed attacks, to bullsquids pinning you down from a distance, that what ends up being important in that game is not the actual shooting, but the movement. It's like saying that DOOM 2016 has very simple shooting, because you just put your mouse on an enemy, click, and then hit the melee button. It simply isn't true. What else would you have for the shooting in Half-Life? Aim down sights? I really don't know what else there is to have. While I do agree that the shooting in Half-Life 2 feels much less enjoyable, I personally think that has entirely to do with Source engine AI and sound design, and it's the exact same reason I don't like the combat in Black Mesa. I think the AI in Black Mesa is better than HL2, but in general, source engine enemies just sort of run at you, and while sometimes they do something different, it's overall very simple, slow-moving enemies. Goldsrc soldiers are very quick, and never run towards you. On the contrary, they're usually running AWAY from you, and sprinting around to flank you or chuck grenades from a distance. It's very dynamic. As for sound design that I mentioned before, I can't put my finger on what it is, but I find most source game gun sounds to be very weak or tinny. In HL2, the pistol sounds like a clap of the hands. In Black Mesa, the shotgun sounds like you're firing glass buckshot or something. HL1 has iconic sound effects with deep feedback that don't focus on "realism," but rather on weapons that sound powerful. I find that most games that focus on realism with their sound design have very weak sounding guns, because in reality, guns don't sound like the Die Hard, Matrix-style powerhouses in your hand that they're meant to be in games. I've gotten a bit off track, but what I'm trying to say is that I find Half-Life 1's combat to be extremely deep, and to date is one of my favorite shooters for that reason alone. It's the same reason why I prefer Opposing Force, because OpFor strips the story down and focuses more on interesting combat scenarios with new, unique weapons and enemies.

[@EbonyPope]

To the contrary my friend. Real guns sound brutal there problem is to capture it and use it for a game. Listen to the gun sounds in the movie Heat after they run away from the bank robbery. I almost had an eargasm.

[@WonderlandWarGaming]

Here's what you said in the beginning of the video: I am not unhappy that it's not half-life. Here is what you proceed to say in the video: This is different from Half-Life and Black Mesa did something different. Come on man, it doesn't have to be all the same as half-life. That is the point of a mod, to have a new experience and have something new. So it can be a half-life remake with it's own things and you shouldn't have a problem with that.

[@GENIUSGT]

6:56 FUCKING THANK YOU. I just hope Half-Life fanboys won't flag the video for pointing out the obvious.

[@Nabekukka]

dragster1018aone Your tears are delicious.

[@GENIUSGT]

Cry some more.

[@kamelsaidi01]

As a Half-Life fan, I must agree with you.

[@edneragnarok]

Keep making awesome videos, muh man!

[@ho4261]

Day of Defeat original would be a nice review 😁

[@tachanqua1328]

Nice job on 100k my fellow human

[@Gggmanlives]

Thanks, bro.

[@redaabakhti768]

This video didn't age well

[@joelgirard7369]

Why

[@Crisspy1000]

The video aged fine, it was his opinion and he recommended the game in the end anyways

[@Vexonia_Music]

7:48 I think doing this is actually one of the achievements in the game

[@m3rl1on]

its a hugh mungus task indeed

[@prim34ev]

GGGMANLIVES please make a top 10 pc games of every passing year. I trust your opinion so much

[@Hsaelt]

How can you find shooting in half life unsatisfying while crediting doom shooting for example when they're basically all the same? "point your cross on an enemy and mouse 1 it to death" Well, duh, that describes 100% of shooters.

[@Gggmanlives]

No, you're an idiot if you think that. Doom shooting is almost entirely projectile based, not line of sight making it way more skill based.

[@Hsaelt]

Gggmanlives thx for an instant (and then you wonder why people call you a dick) ad hominem but out of all its arsenal there are only three non hitscan weapons in doom.

[@MrNuclearturtle]

@@Hsaelt Im copy and pasting this from another comment I replied that asked the same thing, but it explains some things. "I think truthfully from I've heard of a lot people and what I think as well is that enemies dont really flinch or react to getting shot, which makes it feel like your shooting a punching bag before they go into their death animation. Whilst soldier enemies may limp away if they lose some health, the actual feedback you receive when shooting an enemy feels weak as it doesnt seem like your hurting them, espicially with the smg, you feel like you hold the trigger button and then they're dead. Which is why in HL2 the best "feeling" gun to use was the shotgun, as the enemy slumping hard to the floor or flying back from a well place buckshot feels great. I think it comes down to the general feedback of the shooting and not a fault with the guns, as all the weapons in HL, whilst utilitarian, have great sound effects and good animations, and there isnt one gun that isnt redundent. Its just enemies dont twitch or stutter when hit, and its just a manner of dwindling their invisible HP bar to zero." Its the visual feedback you get from killing something. If an enemy is flinching when shooting them or they keel back with a loud groan and blood effects spurting out from the chest like in doom, you know you're doing damage and you get this feedback from the gunplay. Where as in the original HL and even HL2 and all its mods ect, enemies just stand there till they fall down in an animation or go into a ragdoll physic. Its a subjective feeling that you cant really describe but instead feel whislt playing. You play a game like Halo combat evolved and the enemies flinch when hit. Hope that explains something.

[@Hsaelt]

But wasn't gggmanlives speaking of "skill" (lmao skill in video games)? When enemies flinch from every shot you deliver it only encourages you to spam said enemies until they lie dead on the ground. Shooting in half-life on the other hand encourages you to utilize environment, tricks and most importantly it encourages you to headshot enemies and to react faster than the artificial idiots valve programmed to fight you. And that is skill. Hands down smg/semi auto pistols/assault rifles are usually uninspired and boring. The most juicy guns are usually the exotic ones or slow but powerfull types and half-life games have that (especially 1 and Black mesa). Take rage for example. What was the most satisfying gun for you to use? For it it was the nailgun in rebar launching mode. A direct tribute to Half-Life 2 Crossbow.

[@MrNuclearturtle]

@@Hsaelt I agree that the situations presented in HL do require skill, requiring you to break line of sight, quickly switching from a revolver to a shotty or the smgs grenade when the situation dictates it. It does feel great when you avoid an enemies grenade and pop them off with a shotgun blast and doing all the rest, HL feels great to play when your able to quickly adapt to each enemy you face, as you systemmatically take down each enemy scenario to the next. So I do agree that the gunplay is great in this regard, as killing soldiers with a well placed revolver headshot is great. The problem for me is when the momentum is ruined because it takes two shots from a shotgun or a second a half longer to put an enemy down with an smg. Its that little tick in your brain and annoyance you feel since it feels like your not hurting an enemy, espcially when they just stand there eating a faceload of smg bullets then just fall. My whole argument tbh is wishy washy "feeling" bollocks but for me it builds up that annoyance or disatisfaction with the gunplay because its seems like you dont hurt anything, so I dont know if thats something you personally feel. So whilst HL does take skill, the underlying point of the argument is that fast pace gunplay can only do so much if shooting the enemies doesnt get some sort of positive response from you. Thats why I always used the glu cannon, satchel charge and revolver since they were great. I actually never played Rages DLC, I always meant to get round to it back in the day since the dlc looked pretty cool. I do like how the gunplay felt in that game, hitting an enemy with a wingstick in the head was great as enemies would slow down their charge before hitting the ground.

[@jump3633]

Xen looks amazing right now, you should review it when the full version comes out

[@pRopaaNS]

Gameplay is what matters, so original is still far superior to me. The only problem is having played it too many times.

[@ionbing2884]

The enemy AI in the original is just bad.

[@nicka.7910]

ion bing I actually thought the AI was pretty good. Especially with the marines.

[@ionbing2884]

It's not. Even the creators admitted that the enemy AI is just smoke and mirrors designed to make the player feel amazing. The marines are stupid. They run around pointless instead of shooting, they grenade eachother, etc.

[@nicka.7910]

ion bing I guess ur right

[@seltjk]

The Ai was good for the time

[@kristoferkoessel4354]

Hl2’s combat felt pretty smooth even though it was still simple

[@pusdicles9869]

Gggmanlives on crack-life: "The mod is stupid, but it isn't all that bad." Gggmanlives on Black mesa: "BLACK MES;A SUCKKKKK NO BLACK MEMSAA BAD GA,ME BADA GAMME!!!!111!!!!"

[@Gggmanlives]

Are you feeling alright?

[@pusdicles9869]

no

[@rosfell00]

The original script for episode 3 was released, it's as good of an ending as we're probably ever gonna get, and the fact that there's still no zen chapter for this game hurts even more...

[@nietzscheshorse7713]

Humongous, what?

[@Gggmanlives]

Hugh...Mungus...

[@Nabekukka]

Gggmanlives Disgusting! Disgusting!

[@nietzscheshorse7713]

HOW DARE YOU?!

[@tweakych33se58]

Gggmanlives You have triggered me Im going to write a strongly worded tumblr post calling you out but doing no research what so ever and making things up. Love you

[@the_dook2145]

Can you go into detail of what you think the gun play of Half-Life is missing? I always loved how the weapons felt in the Half-Life series, and don't see what you mean by them being lackluster. All the weapons serve their own specific purpose and there's very few if any redundant weapons in the series. What more do they need to do to be good in your mind?

[@MrNuclearturtle]

I think truthfully from I've heard of a lot people and what I think as well is that enemies dont really flinch or react to getting shot, which makes it feel like your shooting a punching bag before they go into their death animation. Whilst soldier enemies may limp away if they lose some health, the actual feedback you receive when shooting an enemy feels weak as it doesnt seem like your hurting them, espicially with the smg, you feel like you hold the trigger button and then they're dead. Which is why in HL2 the best "feeling" gun to use was the shotgun, as the enemy slumping hard to the floor or flying back from a well place buckshot feels great. I think it comes down to the general feedback of the shooting and not a fault with the guns, as all the weapons in HL, whilst utilitarian, have great sound effects and good animations, and there isnt one gun that isnt redundent. Its just enemies dont twitch or stutter when hit, and its just a manner of dwindling their invisible HP bar to zero. Hope that answers something

[@the_dook2145]

Nuclearpoweredturtle thanks. I understand what you mean.

[@gz7006]

Still no Xen? Jesus.

[@simpletiger4942]

It's coming this december.

[@jericosha2842]

Supposed to arrive in December. Some of the screenshots they released are really nice.

[@alphasquadleaderb9859]

Jeez I hope the oposing force remake will be relased soon too...

[@peppermillers8361]

While I like the screenshots, I don't like how they changed it from Blue to Green.

[@anunnacy]

A trailer for Xen just got released. FINALLY! (i was really surprised as well..) Xen will be available Q2 2019.

[@gurriato]

I don't find the shooting in HL1 that lacking. It had a rifle with a grenade launcher attached which is always fun, enemies aren't bullet sponges and their reactions are ok for the technology at the time. HL2 is a different story though; I liked it so little that when episode 1 came out I played through it using cheats to give me ammo for the few weapons I could tolerate.