An official trailer for the long-promised Black Mesa total conversion is available above and on their website. Like all really ambitious fan mods, this attempt to completely recreate the original Half Life using the Source engine threatens to be more than its unpaid, indie dev team can chew… though I must say the trailer looks pretty darn impressive. It’s certainly a sight better than the waste-of-a-download Half Life Source that Valve itself provided with Steam purchases of Half Life 2.
I’ll be interested to see if the conversion of this game, once so revered, holds up well against a generation of shooters it essentially begat.
Personally I don’t think the developers for this mod bit off more than they could chew. Was it a lot? Yes, yes it was, but the developers knew that going in and found out exactly how big a little later on. The mod has been in development forever yet they still persist in their efforts towards a final release. Think of all the mods for all the games released in the past however many years that have been announced and abandoned in the time this team has been slowly chewing away, re-creating the original Half Life level by level. Looking through the screenshots also displays a professionalism rarely seen in any mod that I’m aware of.
I’m also of the belief that the game will hold up just fine when compared to todays games, as it was the gameplay that always sold Half Life for me. Add on top of that now the shiny new graphics and this game is a winner. I know for myself once HL2:Ep3 is released I will be starting my play through with this mod and on through the entirety of the Half Life saga.
Totally impressed by Black Mesa and frankly a bit frightened. Someday, when I grow up I am going to buy me a computer with the muscle to play a game like that. Love the sight, a real step up and hope you have great success.