Doom 3 is the only game that is able to give me an instant heart attack! Jeez guys, how can you not be scared by this masterpiece of horror…you have to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the game, let your imagination run wild. I think some areas in Black Mesa reminded me of the dark corridors of the UAC’s Mars base from Doom 3, and i really liked that.
I agree about Doom 3 - the slow pace and general dark atmosphere made it genuinely ‘scary’ (inasmuch as any imaginary scenario can really be). I suspect that most run and gun types found it frustrating, but most go-slow types liked it. Different strokes and all that, but please don’t declare universal suckage based on an individual play style or opinion.
Incidentally I don’t think HL1, Black Mesa, or HL2 were really like Doom 3. None of the HL/BM stuff was really horror-themed in my opinion, though there were elements of suspense and shocks and whatnot. Doom 3 felt scary; HL/BMS/HL2 felt dangerous. (I suppose the BMRF, in both incarnations, was similar in a way to the UAC Mars base - at least moreso than anything in HL2 - but they were still essentially closer thematically to the HL2 adventure style than Doom 3’s horror, IMO.)
Game doesn`t need to be scary to be good. HL was meant to create its own specific atmosphere and spirit, not just to be as scary as possible like DOOMIII was.
You can replace the music with the original Half-Life music. I don’t know how to do it. But I would like a music pack of the original Half-Life soundtrack for Black Mesa.
Also, I have the classic sound pack from our buddy xalener.
Which reminds me, I also have an gray MP5 with arby26’s simple HL1-styled animation. I reskinned the Glock. I painted the white dots on the Glock black to look like the original Glock. And I have classic-style clothing for security guards, scientists, and HECU Marines.
Which reminds me…
Will somebody do a classic-style pack for the monsters/aliens in Black Mesa??!!
And somebody really needs to fix Questionable Ethics…
QE wasn’t as scary as it used to be…
If anything it feels more like one of those scenes out of Indepedence Day…
while ID was a good movie I really wish they would make the first appearance of the Alien Grunt much more scary. I also wish the Alien Grunts would appear more in Black Mesa!!!
Personally I didn’t enjoy QE in Half Life compared to BM. It’s probably one if, if not the most improved level.
In Black Mesa, the HECU are going full out to try and stop Freeman and use their last desperate attemps to try wrap up the situation (further displayed in Surface Tension).
It also gives us an insight onto what the scientists have really been doing and experimenting on. It reveals that they’re not exactly new to these aliens and Xen (eg Headcrab enclosure).
It’s also the beginning process of the aliens starting to fight back before they start dominating in Surface Tension (or they would but those pre-scripted scenes were cut). Shown by the 2 bullsquids fighting the HECU in one corridor, and the 2 aliens grunt which you ‘accidentally’ release and start fighting the HECU.
This is just my take on it though, but all it felt like in Half Life was a really white alien petting zoo.
^ pretty much
The only ‘scary’ parts of HL were the Icthyosaur bits. So seeing as all the Icthyosaurs in BM were weakened severely (not to mention taking away the gurgling sound), no. BM is not as scary as HL.
My problem with QE in Black Mesa and Half-Life is this…
There’s cryotubes and stuff… can’t there be more surprise moments and maybe make you feel abandoned ala DOOM 1 for PS1 or DOOM 64 or Halo 1 343 Guilty Spark?!
QE in Black Mesa has ways to kill the Alien Grunt in the cryotube… I don’t like that. I’d rather have the alien grunt bang on the glass and roar and then as soon as I break a button it comes charging at me and comes to kill me. I feel as though the Alien Grunt doesn’t really have a role anymore.
Also, devs… I had to download a Surface Tension map-pack because you guys cut out a lot…
Really?! Was it really necessary to cut out maps?! They were essential to the plot, atmosphere, and story of Black Mesa.
Also, I had to re-edit the Black Mesa skill.cfg and weapon.cfgs back to their old Half-Life 1 values via a small mod based off Half-Life 1 values.
I’m not sure why they cut parts out of ST.
Cutting most of OAR was fine (for me), it was long, frustrating and overall confusing. That’s fair enough. But cutting ST also cut some of the storyline down.
We don’t truly get to see the whole aliens vs humans war, where the aliens start to win and push back the human forces (leading into FAF).
Not to mention the satchel in the pipe thing, that was the best thing ever. Quickly crawling back in a panic and hiding in the water just as the blast goes through the tunnel and over the water.
The only 2 fights I can remember in ST is the small fight with the OSPREY, and the. That was kind of depressing because you were too busy trying to destroy the osprey and survive at the same time. Also maybe this is just me, but the hecu annoyingly just ditched fighting the a-grunts and always came to kill me, even if I wasn’t in view.
Second is the small fight where the manta goes over and 2 grunts spawn, then the human tank comes out behind them. That was also a poor fight.
I miss the full out “war” you see. The only one I witnessed probably in the entire game was near the end of FAF, and even then the hecu once again just ran for me the second they saw me and abandoned fighting the aliens.
Half Life never was scary
of course it wasn’t a surprise… you knew what was going to happen already. :facepalm: Anyone who’s played the first game knows what’s coming.
I didn’t mean it was expected in the sense that I knew it was coming. I knew it was coming when I played Half-Life for the first time; I was spoiled. I meant it was expected in the sense that the game went out of its way to tell you what was going to happen before it was going to happen, with moments like the one I already pointed out (“the military coverup is just a rumor - right?”)
imo the cut out parts of ST were mostly filler but they should have still added the satchel pipe scene and some scenes of aliens fighting (and winning) against
the HECU.
Also i don’t get all this “not lonely enough” stuff. Blast Pit and On a Rail felt really lonely to me
The creepiest HL series level for me was Ravenholm in HL2. That level just really made my hair stand on end.
^x100000
The atmosphere of being alone and isolated (I mean in HL you’re nearly always alone, but for short bursts in HL2 you’re not abandoned for once), seeing all the death and destruction, and then being stuck with all these crazy zombies that not only make generally scary sounds, but their screaming when you set them on fire, oh god.
Don’t even get me started on the fast zombies. -shudder-
In Half Life it kinda felt creepy at the first when we were almost completely lonely but we got used to it by time, In Half-Life 2 we don’t feel alone for most of the time but when that happens…
I don’t think scary was ever a term I would for Half Life. Although, my first several trips through Ravenholm scared the bejesus out of me.
I have always been a science fiction nut, and the original Half Life filled me with wonder.
In my opinion, the Dead Space series is one of the scariest of all games. Especially the Church level in DS2! Those church acolyte necromorphs were the bomb 
People have widely varying sensibilities about what it means to be frightened. I’m not surprised in the least about all the differences of opinion. For some people, the concept of supernatural involvement may be necessary for fear, thus the Ravenholm group. For others, danger itself is scary, so BM/HL1 may be quite frightening. Some people find science fiction elements frightening, etc., etc. Point is most of it is rather subjective, and thus so are our perceptions of all these games, Black Mesa included.
It was scary in how depressing it was. There weren’t really any jumpscare moments, but the music combined with the frantic, panicked voice acting of scientists trapped in elevators among other things, really contributed to the feel during those first few chapters.
I’m not going to bother quoting all the people posting before me, but I’ll just chip in my two cents anyway.
- To the lad/ladette who said that BM devs were trying to make Black Mesa “like HL2” in the comparison and transitions of Lovecraftian/B-Movie Sci-Fi and Cyberpunk, I don’t think that’s the case. The devs are trying to make Half-Life as Valve would with HL2’s technology.
- ST was cut severely because the main mapper behind ST quit unexpectedly and no-one could really take over for him. (At least, that’s the story I heard)
- The first encounter with the Marines was perfect, IMO. To say that now it’s “cheesy” and “predictable” is completely ridiculous, as if it was better in Half-Life. For me, it’s a perfect transition from old to new. And your main proof of the line “The military cleanup is just a paranoid rumor, isn’t it?” was in Half-Life 1, as a piece of random scientist chatter. I think that BM actually improved upon introducing the Marines and their threat with certain other events such as the VOX takeover (“Attention, this-[static]-ystem now under military command”) and the first few staff executions (Particularly the panicked and confused scientists, “If you’ll wait just a moment, I-I can show you my ID card!” Cue MP5)