Favorite and Least Favorite Chapter, Weapon in Black Mesa

Black Mesa Archive The Cafeteria
#1

Hello everyone , I love Black Mesa even more than Half Life, I have sunk like a 126 hours of gameplay. Anyway I wanna know what are your personal favorites and least favorites in Black Mesa.
Chapters:
Favorite : Apprehension It is my favorite chapter because of the Crossbow , it is my favorite weapon , 1 shot 1 kill, and I like the conversation between the two grunts that capture Gordon,
Honorable Mention : Blast Pit , I love the soundtracks they are emotional and add ambiance that the situation is tragic.
Least Favorite : Surface Tension it was a disappointment, I expected that you guys have finished ST with all that time.
Weapons:
Favorite: Crossbow as I stated above.
Honorable Mention #1: Tau Cannon I love the animation how when Gordon picks it up , turns it on and the music kicks in feeling like a complete bad a**.
Honorable Mention #2:MP5 I love how that thing is accurate , I used it a lot when fighting HECU marines, Alien Grunts , Vortiguants.But I prefer the older look more.
Least Favorite: Glock , I like how it looks and the reloading animation but I feel like the mod version is stronger, more accurate, and faster.
Dishonorable Mention: Revolver , I feel like it should have stayed 18 rounds instead of 12.

Thanks in advance. :smiley:

Note: Excuse my English errors, because it isn’t my first language.

#2

Favourite level - Questionable Ethics … because of…

  • the design,
  • puzzles,
  • (un)ethical achievements,
  • unexpected (when played BM mod the first time) final shooting scene with marines (with great soundtrack),
  • small peek to your view of Xen,
  • first look at recreated alien grunts
  • Burned pair of shoes near Tau Canon

Least favourite level - On a Rail …

  • too short (waiting for OaRU to be released to the workshop)
  • claustrophobic areas
  • (for me) not much entertaining as the other levels (except for the rocket launching part)

Favourite weapon - shotgun
Least favourite weapon - (probably) rocket launcher

#3

Favorite Chapter: Questionable Ethics

  • Awesome atmosphere.
  • Awesome little secrets and experiments.
  • Awesome (tough, but awesome) end battle.

Least Favorite Chapter: Lambda Core

  • The coolant pump puzzles make no sense. I got incredibly confused the first couple of times I played it. :frowning:

Favorite Weapon: MP5

  • Yeah I like it. Sue me.

Least Favorite Weapon: Snark

  • They’re awesome little guys, but there just aren’t enough situations in Black Mesa where I find that they’re useful. :frowning:
#4

All hard choices for this one!

Favorite Area: Questionable Ethics - I feel like this area received one of the best revisions yet in all of the facility, everything ties together beautifully while still being very faithful to the original. Also helps it’s where you pick up my
Favorite Weapon: Snarks - Adorable little buggers, and effective both for the hurtings and for playing Minesweeper. Black Mesa’s models for the snarks themselves and the nests are lovely recreations of the originals, the view model animations for them especially.

Least Favorite Area: Residue Processing - Not the fault of Crowbar Collective, but, this one does not enjoy trudging through sewage attempting to dodge more fire, ooze, and spinning blades of death than Rasputin had to deal with.

Least Favorite Weapon: Tripmine - Have yet to successfully lure one enemy into one, they just do not wish to follow. Also the bane of my existence in HL1DM (have yet to have a problem with them in BMDM. Yet.)

Honorable Mentions:
Hivehand - Another lovely recreation, love the effects with shooting. Also, its pickup has to be one of the iconic moments of Black Mesa. However, it’s currently pulling a Gordon on the devs and not showing up for work, and only sees limited use in these hands.
Anomalous Materials - So many memorable lines and references, so little time. Sets up caring for your co-workers fairly well, but missed out on the chance to pass by a retirement party.
Tau Cannon - My pretty baby, why must you have so little ammunition? Game balance is a fickle maiden.
Office Complex - Classic Half-Life here, redone beautifully. Don’t really have a negative, just love Questionable Ethics more.

#5

Favorite Chapter - Questionable Ethics. I had the same opinion about the original HL, but the devs did an outstanding job reimagining it, adding small details everywhere and providing something of their own backstory for it. (HM - Office Complex)
Favorite Weapon - Tau Cannon. The new model added in the steam release, along with the animations, really make it feel… Unique. And it packs the same punch that it did in the original DM (HM - Hivehand)

Least Favorite Chapter - On a Rail. I loved the original’s, and Text’s additions in Oar Uncut made it fall among my favorites, but in stock BM it just feels too short with a lot of missed opportunities (HM - Residue Processing)
Least Favorite Weapon - Tripmine. Never found it to be useful in many circumstances in SP (Don’t really have an HM)

#6

Favorite Chapter: Surface Tension; one of my favorite moments in Black Mesa was seeing the dam and that damn amazing skybox. The same can be said for ‘Forget About Freeman’s’ 'Jets versus Mantas". The option to play the uncut version also pushes it up my list.
Favorite Weapon: Revolver, packs a punch! The sweet running animation makes me wanna equip it all the time, and scoring headshots with it are one of the biggest rewards you can get using Half-Life’s weapons.

Least Favorite Chapter: Blast Pit, personally I’m not the biggest fan of backtracking, and never found killing the tentacle that satisfying of a reward.
Least Favorite Weapon: Tripmine, While it isn’t a bad weapon, it’s impractical to use and you’re the one charging at enemies, not vice-versa. There is however, something extremely satisfying about that that ‘thumb on glass’ sound…

#7

Favorite Level- QE

Least Favorite level- Some of the fights in ST were pretty tedious and LC is just plain annoying

Favorite Weapon- Mp5

Least favorite weapon- Snark/Tripmine, useful for Multiplay, but useless in Single, no wonder VALVe removed them from HL2

#8

Favourite Level: Questionable Ethics, the aesthetic, the monsters, the glimpses of experiments, and the general pacing of the level are just… Well, they’re a thing of beauty.

Favourite Weapon: The Hivehand.

Least Favourite Level: Blast Chamber (specifically the area with the rocket and the tentacles).

Least Favourite Weapon: Caveated as the Gluon Gun, but that’s entirely because I love using it and hate that it eats ammunition so fast it causes me pain.

#9

Least Favorite Weapon- The tripmines. I dunno, I’m more of an environments guy than combat so I don’t really have strong feelings about any of the weapons, but I just find them somewhat clunky and difficult to use.
Most Favorite Weapon- The hivehand, maybe?

Most Favorite Chapter- Anomalous Materials. To nobody’s surprise, I am a huge sucker for pre-disaster maps.
Least Favorite Chapter- On A Rail. It’s not the one I spend the least amount of time in (Apprehension is), but it’s the only map that I think the BM devs didn’t actually improve. Half-Life’s On A Rail always looked to me like a working industrial area where the Black Mesa scientists worked on satellites and rockets, and I just don’t like the more basementy approach the current version has.

#10

Enjoying the love for the MP5 here. Since we overhauled practically everything about it since the mod release, it’s become one of our favourite weapons too. Figure I might as well chip in too.

Favourite Chapter: Questionable Ethics - Come on, I don’t think anyone can argue that this chapter didn’t nail everything. Atmosphere, design, detail, gameplay, puzzles, experiments, science, the chapter long build up from having no weapons (again) to being fully equipped again? Awesome. (Uncle Horn-sama, do you love me now?). It may change to Surface Tension soon, once we’re finished with it…
Least Favourite Chapter: Lambda Core - But only because I’ve played it the least during my time at Black Mesa, especially while testing. It’s a gorgeous, beautifully designed, detailed monster of a chapter, but it just doesn’t do a huge amount for me.

Favourite Weapon: MP5 or Tau. The current MP5 is just leagues ahead of the mod release in every conceivable way, and I find it incredibly fun to shoot; while also being incredibly powerful. Whoever did the balancing for it is clearly some kind of game design genius. And the Tau too, because the new model is just drop dead gorgeous and the gun itself is just generally very fun to use. Will be even moreso when we eventually bring back the fizzy gibs™!
Least Favourite Weapon: Snarks. Don’t get me wrong, I actually adore the Snarks, the whole idea and everything about them is awesome, ESPECIALLY in MP. It’s just in SP, they never feel too useful to me.

#11

W00t total agreement! :smiley:

#12

QE is my most favorite part of the game…

The dark science they use, even the first part is great already with the grunt in the tank, the dark room, the sound and of course the experiments u can do, a little bit sadistic, but everything FOR SCIENCE!

Blast Pit is my least favorite one, especially the part with the giant tentacles sticking out of the bottom trying to smash u, I Always hated this part and I still do

Favorite weapon: Magnum, not alot of ammo, but alot of power and the MP5

Least favorite weapon: Tripmines I don’t use them at all, no real purpose

#13

Questionable Ethics makes more sense in Black Mesa to the Half Life incident , I love how you get rewarded for the unethical experiments , and the Lobby battle it is actually challenging and it forces you to adopt a strategy, you cannot fight like in Half life 1.
I have never used snarks even in the original, I only use in MP even though the original snarks are better.
But why did you under power the snarks?
And what about Surface Tension Uncut? When will it be released?

#14

The Snarks are more powerful than they were in the original, I believe. It’s just that the first game had a few encounters specifically designed for the Snarks to be useful (mostly in the 2 cut ST maps), which made them feel more useful. I never really used them in the original Half-Life SP, either.

And if someone asks me about Surface Tension Uncut one more time, in an unrelated thread, I swear I’m just gonna can the whole thing. The port is done (if not ideal as I did not adapt any of the AI to match the our new design and values), I am awaiting the update from our programmers which fixes the workshop upload size issue. That will arrive at an unspecified date because it is an extremely complex overhaul, from what I’m told - our entire workshop upload tool is being rewritten not just to use the new, unlimited file protocol, but also to be significantly easier to use and more powerful.

I have also hinted at something more regarding Surface Tension quite a few times around here, once in this thread also. Make of that what you will, but it will probably render the hubub about ST Uncut unnecessary in the long run, assuming it works out.

#15

Okay, here we go:

Favorite level: Questionable Ethics, mainly due to the design, experiments, and combat. Pretty much the most interesting chapter found in BM. As for HL1, I’d actually say that Xen is my fav. chapter there. The whole world is just very intriguing to me, and, unlike some people, who complain about the platforming parts, they’re not a problem for me, and I didn’t dislike them either at all, nor found them to be out of place or anything like that.

Favorite weapon: Oh boy, this one is pretty hard for me.

I’d choose either the .357 or the shotgun. I’ve never been a fan of SMGs, otherwise I would’ve chosen the MP5. It does indeed feel much better and fun to use in the actual game than the mod, although I, personally, liked the design of the MP5 from the 2012 release much more than the current one. Sadly, the reload animations in the mod were hilariously bad from my point of view, which screwed it in the end. Also I love the iron sights on the .357, I think it’s a welcomed feature.

Least favorite level: Another hard choice, basically because I just love both BM and HL and think that they’re pretty well polished. I think I’ll go for On a Rail. I prefer the original chapter from HL than the one in BM, and not because it’s bad per see, but it’s just much, much shorter. That’s why I liked the one from the original game a lot more than the current one, because I like to explore all areas in a game, which sadly, can’t really happen in BM.

Least favorite weapon: Both the Snarks and the Tripmines. The Snarks are not so useful in both BM and HL SP, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say that they’re useless. They’re just… not very well implemented in neither BM nor HL, I think their design was rushed or not well thought in HL. They can sometimes be useful to distract the enemies. As or the Tripmines, the player has literally no point to use them, in their case I’d say that yes, they’re actually useless for the SP. But, despite this, they can be very, very useful in MP if you know where to place them, but in SP, they’re worthless. Never used them in any of my playthroughs.

#16

I guess you made a hint on a reply to me about it!

#17

What about npcs?
Favorite alien npc: Houndeye , these monsters can tear you apart easily , you have to strategise . In HL they are too weak and too cute and I usually felt bad after killing them.
Favorite Boss : gargantua or apache. This is hard because both bosses are tough to fight. and I like the soundtrack during the helicopter boss fight I use the tau cannon on it instead of the rocket launcher. I also like how you run from gargantua in ST and the soundtrack is my favorite it also reminds me the giant monsters from the powerpuff girls megas xlr , and godzilla itself.
Favorite Human NPC: HECU grunts , I love the new voice overs they sound like veterans and professional instead of teenaged boys in the mod , they make the combine look untrained , they are very hard to fight , they use team work and if one grunt sees you he will call all his teamates.
Least Favorites:
Boss: Tentacle , the monster is unintelligent.
Alien : Headcrabs or snarks both are weak , underpowered and annoying.
Human: Assassins one 357 or crossbow hit will destroy , and they are frustrating.

#18

Ok, my thoughts on the NPCs:

Favorite NPC(s): Vortigaunts, Gangantua, Alien Controller, Alien Grunt. Their behavior remained pretty much unchanged from HL, and it’s exactly how it should be. I’m a bit disappointed though about the vorts, I’ve been hoping for new sounds, but, they’re the same from HL2. They’re not bad as enemies et all, but could’ve been slightly better.

Also the Houndeyes seem to have a faster sound attack, compared to the HL one, which is great because it took them so long in the original game to use their attack that they rarely ever hit me, with the exception of group attacks, but even then, they wouldn’t hit me more than once. They’re much better in BM.

Favorite boss: Gargantua. Again, its behavior remained the same from HL, and it’s also looking much better. The Apache fights can also take this place (as fav.) since they’re (at least from my experience) much more challenging than in the original HL. And the assassins, they’re just as tough as in HL, or maybe even tougher, it’s somewhat hard for me to compare the BM ones with the HL ones. Some may find them very annoying due to their skill, but that’s exactly what I want. A challenge, so I have a much bigger satisfaction when I defeat them. An easy boss is not a boss after all.

Favorite Human NPC(s): Barney. Can’t really say anything here.

Least Favorite Boss: Actually I don’t have such a thing, I like all the bosses in BM, some more than others, but there aren’t any bosses that I don’t like, or at least I’m not inclined in that direction. Yes, there may be some ,ok, bosses, but I don’t dislike any of them.

Least Favorite Alien: Snarks. They’re weak and pretty much useless against enemies. Yes, you can distract the enemies with them, but they’re killed very fast, and the player needs to throw quite a lot of snarks at the enemies to actually kill someone, which from my experience, rarely occurred.

Least Favorite Human: The Marines. I honestly don’t understand why so many people complained about the voice acting in the mod version. It’s simply incomprehensible for my mind. They sounded like professionals with voice filters on, but they were just perfect imo. Now they sound like a bunch of under 20yrs old idiots. They’re by far the worst human enemies I’ve ever encountered from my point of view. Don’t misunderstand, the AI seems to be pretty good, but the sounds… are just terrible.

#19

If you want to make the marines sound more bad ass mod it through the steam workshop radio voice filter right here https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=452494566

#20

Favorite NPC: Oddly, the autoturrets. I work with robotics and AI IRL, so I can sort of appreciate what would go into making something like that actually work. That, and they’re just immensely cute with those little miniguns spinning around.

Least Favorite NPC: The assassins. I just don’t get what these guys are even supposed to be. Why do they have such weird equipment? What, if any government branch actually produced them? What’s their relationship with the military? Why are they in the hangars and Lambda Complex and nowhere else? Why are they all female? Even in a game where the government runs secret teleportation labs, they just don’t make sense to me.

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.