Like most kids, I didn’t have a lot of cash to spend on games. Probably because I hid all of my game shortcuts in a folder called “homework.” The concept of renaming files was akin to witchcraft in their boomer brains. My only outlet for gaming was the family computer, which they foolishly assumed I was using to do homework. My parents didn’t like that I’d rather play with the Nintendo Boxes than kick a ball (I might be doing this gaming thing as a form of rebellion because I’m too cowardly to get a mohawk). It’s worth mentioning that Half-Life is one of the few games I have nostalgia for. How could any game created in this manner possibly be good? For possibly the first time in history, Black Mesa proves that there is a way. Your personnel change, the team loses focus, and you’re often left with a game where no one that started it is there at the finish line.
Every workaround has to be rediscovered and reimplemented. Every mechanic has to be reworked to fit the new systems. You basically have to start the game from scratch.
BLACK MESA REVIEW UPDATE
If you update engines and rebuild the game, that comes with a whole new slew of problems. The Source engine of today is not the same Source engine of 2004. For some perspective, Black Mesa started development before the PS3 launched. The technology has just changed too much for you to stay relevant. With such a long development time, it’s almost impossible to meet your audience’s expectations. That is a year longer than Duke Nukem: Forever. When it started, no one (Crowbar Collective included) thought it would take 16 years to complete.
Fun Fact: It took me about as long to buy toilet paper today as it did for Black Mesa to come out. To say that progress on Black Mesa was slow is like saying people are a little worried about the Coronavirus right now. That’s 15 years ago for those of you not currently stalking me. When I first heard they were remaking the original Half-Life in the source engine, I was pretty pumped. Black Mesa Review – Raising The (Crow)Bar For Remakes