Black Mesa - Chapter 16: Gonarch's Lair
794Black Mesa - Playthrough: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRyUlBzVoKxUfSf885Rfwg8GpMZ6ABxIJ
Black Mesa is a first-person shooter video game, developed and published by Crowbar Collective. It is a third-party remake of Half-Life (1998), and was originally released as a free modification for Half-Life 2 on September 14, 2012. It received a standalone commercial release through Steam Early Access on May 5, 2015.
The gameplay of Black Mesa is reminiscent to that of the original game: the player controls Gordon Freeman, a scientist at the titular research facility in New Mexico, as he navigates through the complex after a botched experiment, with nearly uninterrupted control of the character. The main differences include: an entirely reskinned collection of textures, models, and NPCs; a noticeably longer runtime; and additional dialogue and story elements. The initial release excluded the "Xen" chapters from the original game. A staggered release is used for the Xen chapters, with the public beta release of the final chapters being planned for Q3 2019.
The project was initially announced in 2005, shortly after the release of the Source engine port of the original game. Over the course of its nearly decade long development cycle, the game has been overhauled several times, including redesigns of several components and effects, as well as an added multiplayer mode. It has been featured in several video game publications, including direct attention from Valve Corporation themselves. Due to its long development time, the modification became notable for its delays and dwindling updates on the status of its completion.
Black Mesa received highly positive reviews from critics upon its initial release, despite not being in a complete state. Praise was directed towards the gameplay and attention to detail, comparing it to that of an official Valve release. Due to its several delays, Wired included the game on their "Vaporware of the Year" lists in 2009 and 2010.
Black Mesa is a first-person shooter that requires the player to perform combat tasks and solve various puzzles to advance through the game. From a design standpoint, the core gameplay remains largely unchanged from the original Half-Life; the player can carry a number of weapons that they find through the course of the game, though they must also locate and monitor ammunition for most weapons. The player's character is protected by a hazard suit that monitors the player's health and can be charged as a shield, absorbing a limited amount of damage. Health and battery packs can be found scattered through the game, as well as stations that can recharge either health or suit charge.
However, unlike Half-Life: Source, which merely featured the original game's assets and geometry ported to the Source engine, Black Mesa has been purpose-built from the ground up to take full advantage of the newest versions of Source, not just for its graphical capabilities, but for its myriad updates to the game's physics engine, puzzle complexity, and platforming capability. In addition, several narrative and design changes have been made to account for the numerous story threads presented via Retcon in Half-Life 2.
With the release of Half-Life 2 in 2004, Valve re-released several of its previous titles, ported to their new Source game engine, including the critically acclaimed 1998 game Half-Life as Half-Life: Source. The Source engine is graphically more advanced than the GoldSrc engine used for the original games. Half-Life: Source features the Havok physics engine and improved effects for water and lighting. The level architecture, textures, and models of the game, however, remained unchanged.
Half-Life: Source was met with mixed reviews. IGN liked the new user interface and other technical features, but noted that it did not receive as many improvements as Valve's other Source engine ports. GameSpy said that while it was a "fun little bonus", it was "certainly not the major graphical upgrade some people thought it might be". Valve's managing director Gabe Newell is quoted as saying that a complete Source remake of Half-Life by its fans was "not only possible…but inevitable".
Black Mesa began as the combination of two independent volunteer projects, each aiming to completely recreate Half-Life using Source. The Leakfree modification was announced in September 2004. The Half-Life: Source Overhaul Project was announced one month later. After realizing their similar goals, project leaders for both teams decided to combine their efforts; they formed a new 13-person team under the name Black Mesa: Source. The "Source" in the project's title was later dropped when Valve asked the team to remove it in order to "stem confusion over whether or not [it was] an endorsed or official product", which at the time it was not.
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