Black Mesa Valvetime review

Black Mesa Archive The Cafeteria
#161

@James Rossi
well, the main problem with the review is with the attiude. For a mod that has so many work hours in it, you cant just disrespect it this much, even if it took very long (devs have lifes, jobs, etc.) to make.

I could accept that you didnt like the game (90% of the video was about the bad things), but if you want to be objective about it, you should have included the obviosly AMAZING parts and aspects of the mod. This way the video is just a hate video, where you list everything thats bad about BM.

and huge amount of work doesnt make a game automatically good, but in my opinion even if BM has some minor flaws, it is one well made game, in every possible territory (including presentation, graphics art, programming, music and sounds).

#162

If I did is because I can’t stand fanboys who cannot take an opinion for what it is: an opinion.
This kind of people upset my stomach everytime I go through them; it does twice because I know how painful is to spend your time to review something for free, to give an honest opinion and don’t tell just “what they expect to be said” and then seeing that the only result it had was to make myself hated.
It really hurts me to see all these sarcastic, vicious and angry comments, even more because he’s here to discuss with you the points on which you disagree!

There is not problem with the review. Glad there are still reviewers who say what they think, and not necessarily what pays. A review with a negative score tells you “Hey! You might like this but know that there are these dark sides, so don’t get too much hyped before to have played it!”, a review with a triple A… Has not mean to exist: would be better just to tell you “Play this, it’s the best game ever.”. Would be faster, would take less effort to pull out a constructive criticism, and would be funnier (because when a reviewer plays a game he has to stay real and see what he got his/her hands on, not just going through the thing and saying “I liked it”. That’s what Machinima, TGN, Gamespot and many other do. I prefer honest reviewers as Gamesweasel, with the heart of criticize something risking their own reputation because of this huge market where everything is turning like in the television: Buy What We Tell You To Buy.)

But I let myself be overtaken by the feelings. The only reason because I quoted you, since I already said what I could have had to say in my previous posts, is that I remark how I’m not defending anyone, but just giving you my personal opinion, which is, by circumstances, similar to this sadly hated review. But what Katana said:

… and I’m without words, because I didn’t mean to stroke up the derailing but only to say “Hey! I stick with VT! I appreciate their opinion because it’s different and lights up things which I didn’t notice, all taken by the hype as I was!”. But doing so I crushed on many people (you’re not the only one) who decided I came here to defend them, which is totally untrue despite the fact I liked their review; and so here to remark this.
It’s very unpleasant: on a side I must shut up and do not derail the topic, on the other I can’t accept and I don’t want that anyone even suppose that I’m anyhow taking their defense.
I’m here because I’m loving this mod, and I want to feed the devs with best criticism to improve their job, and if VT has an opinion similar to mine, and the majority of you think that it’s worthless, I want to state out how much it isn’t on my point of view. I am very disappointed with the MP5, but this is all another deal and I’ll list it in my bugfix+suggestion post or thread once I’ll have completed the route to the lambda core.

#163

Yeah well, then I wish you all the best of luck in the future with handing out better reviews, seriously. I have to say though, this time, you didnt quite get it right. Like I said, there are good points in there, but it just doesnt add up well to what you want to say about the game. And I don’t think Im alone in thinking this way. I look forward to see your progress with longer reviews and better reviews, may it be at various mods or for the later Xen part of Black Mesa.

Cheers.

#164

The review was quite mean-spirited but many of his complaints were valid. It’s foolish to expect the game to be triple-A quality, especially before even the first patch, but if the developers are looking for ways to improve their game, some of the comments in this video would be a good place to start.

#165

@Disturbulator
I’m not trying to call you out on this point, but it made me think of something. People keep saying that things like the music being too loud is a pointless complaint because of how easy it is to fix. A single slider in the menu. If it was so easy to fix, why was it not fixed by the development team? Testers should have caught that right away and with about as much effort it could have been adjusted. The fact that such a simple oversight was made I find to be the problem. It’s not that I can so easily have fixed it, it’s that they could have so easily fixed it. Proper testing methods would have prevented this. The music has existed since at the latest February (or it may have been March) of this year. There was plenty of time to address it, instead of making every player use a slider.

@Bloodshot
Current review culture is a negative thing for players, developers, and publishers. Games can be made or broken by reviews by prominant publishers. So money is spent by Publishers to secure their good standing in the eyes of Reviewers. Press kits are often as close to bribes as you can get. I’m not sure what the answer is, but I do know a problem is that people wind up listening too much to reviews, instead of forming their own opinions. Ideally, we’d all get away from this and reviewers get known for their assessments, reliability, and integrity.

In the review we do mention that some of the guns are ok with the kickback. Weapons was not as much my opinion as Nick’s. I did not have much opinion on them good or bad. Other than the sound. I personally felt that the sound design overall was lacking in many areas. The shotgun felt a bit odd too when firing, and needing to complete a reload animation was I suppose the realistic choice but made using the gun less punchy.

As for Xen. Well the Black Mesa has their work cut out for them. I feel that Xen is an area that could stand to improve the most. It’s certainly the least loved potion of the original Half-Life. There’s a lot of oppourtunities there for the team to really do something special. Here I hope that the team settles in and decides their plan of action. If they are to actually reimagine this portion of the game (I’d not call the Earth segments a reimagining), then they could create something really special. It’s going to need a level of coordination and planning that I simply have no seen in the released content, but I’m holding out hope that they will learn from this release and pull together to make a much tighter experience in Xen.

Oh and I guess I didn’t fully answer, but I find Xen to have at the time been a really interesting and unique experience that was ruined by frustrating gameplay and what seemed to be a rushed development. It was perhaps my person first experience with an attempt at a truly alien environment. Even gravity was different! That said my memories are not as fond. Once I got used to it all I just wanted it to end. It wasn’t sufficently unique to me, and the fighting arenas and teleporting that disjointed the game play left much to be desired. I’m not a pioneer by saying Xen was perhaps the weakest part of the game.

@trenmost
I had no desire to disrespect the mod makers, but I will not lessen my opinion just because someone worked really hard on it. I don’t mean to be rude, but I have to put my foot down on that. When I was little I spent hours on writing little sci-fi stories. Certainly a lot of effort was poured into them, but were they good? well, I’m sure you can imagine. With Black Mesa I find that while lots and lots of work was put into this, that something about the work feels unrestrained. More guidance and review would have greatly benefited. Where Half-Life had lots of small touches that greatly improved the experience, Black Mesa has lots of small problems that are detrimental to the project as a whole.

@lucifer579
Much appreciated =] I guess we’ll see if I wind up coming back for the Xen release to talk Review shop then as well.

#166

Story of my life.

So assuming you really do review Xen, would that (as far as you know) be based upon Half-Life’s Xen as this review was? If they make changes as heavy as they imply I think that’d be pretty unfair.

#167

It depends on their intent. If they take Xen and make it their own, we’ll review it on it’s own merits more heavily. If they try to replicate it to the degree that they have the original Half-Life then the comparison between the two will play a more important role. So, only time will tell.

#168

What was the thing you liked the most about Black Mesa, James?
you basically made a review about all the bad things about it, but there was anything you liked about it or someone forced you to it give B-?

#169

Watched the review in question; a bunch of pseudo-intellectuals pick holes in an exemplary body of work in order to appear discerning. Mr Rossi, you and your contemporaries have just shit your pants in front of the internet.

Conglaturation!

#170

Ben Affleck, being a dick to someone who’s trying to be civil, “conglaturations”…
Well hi, there.

#171

The thing I liked most about Black Mesa were the visuals. I know I’ve mentioned it before though. That really is what stood out. Visuals are something that you inherently get more freedom with. You can have more polygons, plain and simple, and it was taken advantage of. I still take issue with some aspects of the visual upgrade process, but by and large those who worked on the models, textures, and maps made a very beautiful product.

No one forced us to do the grading, I just personally don’t influence it. That is up to Nick and often includes Glenn’s input. Typically it is in line with the language of the review, so I don’t worry about it. The B- was chosen because it’s not a failure of a mod. It just fell short of the marks it set for itself. That’s the risky part of recreation, you will inherently be compared to your sources. Even beyond those comparison’s though we found issue with some parts of the mod. My personal peeve was the sound all around.

#172

@Crypt19

  1. I wasn’t talking to you
  2. I was giving my review of their review. With a little added hyperbole.

If I wanted to offend I could have said so much more and said it far more verbosely, with colourful language and illustrative symbolism, but I opted to be concise and just chime in with my tuppence. Which was that the review was bad, and those involved should consider what their motives were in conducting it.

So don’t call me a dick, unless you want me to call you a cuntmuffin.

EDIT: Also, its ‘Conglaturation’, not ‘Conglaturations’. Get it right.

#173

Rossi, I believe the Music was a simple case of the DEVs thinking that many of the Players would hardly give a second thought to other sounds as soon as the soundtrack began. In the Questionable Ethics Finale, for instance, after the Soundtrack kicks in as the Military Drop in, the Scientist screaming behind you is utterly drowned out by the sound. I’ve Never figured out what he said, but honestly, it is something I could care less about, because at that current state, my goal and intent was clear: Kill the Soldiers

#174

It’s kinda funny, when you google, say ‘Black Mesa review’ (last 24h) and read them all you will literally find an endless list of love, praise and recommendation, from major league gaming sites to simple little blogs.

All of them are united in celebrating a colosal achievement in PC gaming, sure they mention the flaws, the bugs and the pesky crouch/jump. Yet all are humbled by a mod that’s achieved more than most Shooters out today. All of them are in agreement.

Best ignore the ignorance and blinding negativity of VT and read them instead.

#175

I’ve just seen this review… and I really cba to look over 9 pages of text. imo this review was ridiculously terrible to any standard I’ve viewed before, almost completely negative, dint express the feel of the mod at all (imo). I have alot more respect for other reviewers after seeing this. is this a professional company? do they get paid… they really shouldn’t!

I wont bother saying my opinion of the game as I’m probably biased anyway, although i will say I’ve given the mod to many friends who don’t even know what half life was, and each one was really impressed and thought I’d pirated the game lol.

edit - just seen the like:dislike ratio… ouch(imo)… quite obviously the viewers of the review dont agree with the opinions expressed :S

#176

Honestly, while I loved the visuals, that wasn’t why I liked the mod so much. I just had so much fun playing the mod itself, the really nice details and good visuals were just a bonus for me.

I’ve played HL1 so many times, but honestly I haven’t really gone back to it and played it through recently like I still do with Doom or Quake, I just played it through so many times that I probably exhausted it, and it shows. I was going to play through it in preparation for Black Mesa so I played it for a while, but I didn’t even feel like continuing past we’ve got hostiles for some reason.

#177

I don’t know if I would agree with that. Fact is that neither you nor I can really say what the devs intended, although perhaps the people who made those choices could let us know. What I can say is that from my playthrough the music did not do a great job putting me into the mood or atmosphere of the mod. From intense elevator sequences, to music not trigger quite correctly as to set the events in motion along with it, much more could have been done to use the music better.

In the situation you described that music began playing, the scientist shouted “They set up an ambush!” and then if I recall correctly no one spawned until I moved farther into the room. I tried to play it safe and it resulted in the mod not progressing. I may be confusing it with a similar scene however.

#178

Ich fühl mich geschmeichelt, und die Begrüßungsformel war gut :wink: I have to add that my listening comprehension has never been the best compared to many of my (German) friends, so it might be something special for me, but on the other hand, I got the impression from European scientific conferences (where you speak in English), there are other European countries where the English language might still be a problem. So yeah, you just have to rely on the sound of the voice, and to be honest, apart from the commander voice, the marines SOUNDED over the top to me. Nowadays, I can of course understand what they’re saying, but you know the thing about the first impression, don’t you? :wink:

#179

In the end, it’s just someone’s opinion, but it’s hard to take seriously since a game of this calibur is free. I’ve paid for games that don’t even come close to BM quality.

#180

sigh Just watched the review.
Yeah, you guys have lost a lot of credibility giving it such bad scores.

Voicing was a tad weak, but only just a tad. and I mean a tad as in a tiny thing that I can easily get used to and still easily enjoy. I quite liked the extensive dialogue, it really added more depth and character to the game.

The added offices and rooms fleshed out the original pipeline-like maps. I can remember standing outside and seeing the buildings on cliffs and around me, Black Mesa actually felt like a real facility, far bigger than just the areas I got to walk around. I can’t wait for my second play through where I’ll shamelessly no clip everywhere to examine every last detail of the map.

The pre-crowbar portion of the game I enjoyed, I love being surprised by the changes to puzzles and weapon placements. It means I get to enjoy Black Mesa again as it should be, as a fresh experience. If it mimicked the original too much then I’d cruise through the game on autopilot enjoying only the visuals. I didn’t care too much about having to get the guard to shoot the zombies. Once I got tired of it I just kited the zombies into him, got him killed and took his gun.

The soundtrack issue was easily fixed with the slider. Was it really too hard to change the volume? Your complaints were pathetic. And what if you don’t like the music? Turn it off and/or play your own. I quite liked the music, much more than the original.

As for weapons, I like each and every one. They all have their strengths, I made good use of each and every weapon. I saw in the video the range they tried to use the shotgun from. Bad. Slow down, pick your weapon and take your shots. If you want to run and gun you must first learn how to do so. You seriously can’t expect to just run with whatever weapon and expect all to go well. The only animation that I wasn’t a huge fan of was the crowbar animation. It is much more realistic though, as the original animations for HL1 wouldn’t be physically possible IRL (Too fast, considering the crowbar is swung with lethal force).

Sound effects were fine, the ambient sounds were top notch.

I’ve had only one crash and a couple bugs. Didn’t bother me.

I had one performance drop, I’m guessing that was related to certain data not being cleared upon loading saves in the same area. Meh.

Overall BM is a brilliant game, a brilliant recreation, enjoyed by Half-Life vets and noobs alike (unless the noobs don’t know how to shoot properly). I’m giving it a 9.5/10. I had to take of a tad due to stated issues, with those fixed the only thing I could ask for is more. The game is quite long and large (bowchickawowwow) and I can’t get enough of it (NOT bowchickawowwow).

Oh, did I forget to mention the ARG? ARGs are cool. Very, very cool. More incentive to explore!

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.