Recent reviews by DylanTheHun

I am a huge fan of the entire Half-Life series and have to say without a doubt this is a dream come true. I personally preferred playing this over the original/source version of Half-Life.

If you have never played the original Half-Life then I would highly recommend playing this over the original or source versions. The slight differences between Black Mesa and the original are for the most part improvements.

As its own game it is a great linear first person shooter. There is a good variety of enemies, a wide selection of weaponry and although linear; the level design can be quite open in places. There is a good amount of puzzles and even some platforming sprinkled through out too; which are balanced perfectly to not detract from the main focus of action based game play.

The Xen section does not only far surpass the original but is perhaps one of the most beautifully designed sections of a video game I have witnessed for a while. The skybox, alien fauna, flora and music here are just fantastic. This part of the game appears to be expanded on the most in comparison to the original and personally I think it is a great addition.

I only really have two gripes with the game. Firstly; I found the grunts/assassins to be far too accurate which was only irritating. Several times I would seem to get hit by one that was shooting through a small gap next to a box and also through grated flooring on a catwalk. I also never felt like sprinting to cover, even sliding, was ever any use; they never seem to miss.
Secondly, and finally, I felt like the game was too generous with ammo, health and armour. I would often come across drops whilst being completely full of everything and I'm not the type to spend ages looking for every possible item.

Overall I believe this to be a master piece of a first person shooter and highly recommend to anyone interested in this genre or in this series. I completed the game within 15 hours, going at what I felt a normal pace, which I think is well worth the price. I have seen it discounted several times in sales too.

Might be old but pulls me back at least once a year.
They don't make shooters like this anymore; just good classic arcade fun.
Find weapons in map, jump around and frag like mad.
Great iteration from original UT and tasteful introduction of vehicles.
Not sure who would come to this present day without any knowledge of the series; but if you somehow missed this then highly recommended.