So there's a brilliant mix of amused high-res nostalgia, frustrated "why can't I remember this puzzle" and "man this is a great game" moments.īy far the worst for me was seeing in the opening credits that I am now exactly as much older than Gordon Freeman as I was younger than him the first time I played. There are parts and areas I don't remember in the slightest. Before I started, I'd have said I remembered almost all of it. I am amazed how much I'd forgotten in this game. This game is a gift of the greatest kind to gamers everywhere.Ī few last notes.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Black Mesa team. I mean seriously, could that opening tram ride be the gaming moment of the year? Again? Or the first time you see a headcrab? Or that helicopter. With Guild Wars 2, the Planetside 2 beta, and Battlefield 3 all ready on my desktop, every night I chose Black Mesa over all of them. It's easy to see how any why it was so groundbreaking, and easy to see how modern games smooth some of its more "quirky" edges, but yet it's still a fantastically fun game. I'm saying it's clear how much the game influenced nearly every game that came after it. Now I'm not saying if Half-Life was released as-is today it would stand up to some of the better competition. It is every bit as amazing as it was back then. After all, with nearly a decade and a half to build something up in your mind, how could it possibly live up to that standard? I played the remake on a 102-inch projection screen with a full 5.1 system (in my house 3,000 miles further west, but I digress).Ī tiny part of me was a little worried. When the screen faded in, and I saw the new high-res tram, I was giddily transported back to the moment I first saw that screen 14 years ago.īut how much has changed: I played the original Half-Life on a 14-inch (was it 12?) CRT (CRT!) monitor with a JVC mini-system for speakers. Think of that for a second: Just a handful of people rebuilding something it took Valve itself years to make.
This is the work of a bunch of dedicated fans of the game, who have painstakingly rebuilt Half-Life from the ground up. It's not just trying to get programs from earlier versions of Windows to run on the latest Microsoft offal, but older games lack the high-res textures, high polygon counts, and fancy lighting techniques of modern games. Or to quote one of the best lines from one of my favorite movies: "You can never go home again, Oatman, but I guess you can shop there." Even if it's "just" on DVD, the picture quality is still pretty good. Any time they want, they can re-watch old favorites. Not because of any technological limitations (it was ported to Steam), but because the 14-year-old graphics make you want to weep. Playing now, though, is nearly impossible. That is what I, and most gamers, feel towards Half-Life.
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