Black Mesa Never Looked So Good

Valve, the masterminds behind the Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress, and many other amazing series, have dazzled us since they first tossed us into the body of Dr. Gordon Freeman. However, the people developing Black Mesa thought that the original Half-Life needed to be re-done. Now don’t go getting offended just yet, not until you’ve seen exactly what they’ve accomplished.

Using the Source engine to their advantage, these people have made what looks to be the best version of Half-Life there will ever be. Starting in 2004, the project was based on the disappointment felt when going back to play the original Half-Life after experiencing the wonder that was Half-Life 2, and things have grown from there. “Black Mesa was built and founded on the basis that Half-Life: Source was inadequate as the Source engine port of Half-Life, regardless of the intentions of VALVe Software. As such, Black Mesa was founded to fully reconstruct the Half-Life universe utilizing Source to its fullest potential in terms of art detail, level sizes and code features.”

Complete with new features that have been brought from Half-Life 2 and also some brand new ones, Black Mesa is shaping up to rival just about any other game out there. The environments will be interactive and made in greater detail, and this includes multiplayer maps too, of course. Along with the usual single-player campaign, there will also be the beloved death match included as well, but that is not all; a co-op multiplayer function is said to be added, as well. Recruiting AI partners, doctors, and guards that will dynamically think and react with what is going on, as well as bringing friends along for the ride, are said to be the features of the co-op campaign. Using the new engine to their advantage, they have created a completely immersive surrounding, which goes well with the original musical score created by Joel Nielsen.

Needless to say, if you love the Half-Life series, love FPS games, or just love the charm of Valve-made games, then there is no reason you won’t be playing Black Mesa come its release in 2009. To clarify, Black Mesa is a total conversion mod and you will only a need a copy of any Source Engine-based game installed on Steam to play. So the question is, are you ready to go back to Black Mesa, Dr. Freeman?