First Time Playing Black Mesa (or Half Life For That Matter)

Show Off
#1

Hey,

I’m new to Half Life (I know how ridiculous that sounds) and I have been playing through Black Mesa for my first Half Life experience.

If you’d like to see what a new player thinks of Half Life and Black Mesa you can check out the video below of me experiencing the train sequence for the first time. More video’s to come showing me and my brother playing the game for the first time.

Thanks

[COLOR=‘SeaGreen’]LINK TO VIDEO:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-006CN3v-w

#2

Play the original game first.

#3

there was no gameplay in that video, you just played through chapter Inbound

to complete this game as a noob you only have to know one thing: crouch + jump

#4

This is only the first part of a handful of video’s that will be our first impressions. The idea behind this is to play Black Mesa without having played Half Life to see how it handles on it’s own as a game.

#5

It handles like Half-Life 2 stuck it’s dick in Half-Life 1.

And the condom was longer load times, I guess. I guess that would imply that it needed to fail, though. And I suppose the devs succeeded in having longer load times.

#6

It might be a good idea to explain beforehand what you know about the Half Life games from either your own knowledge or hearsay, that way you can differentiate yourself from the other let’s plays out there. I know that a lot of what you are saying is unscripted, but that isn’t an excuse for lack of relevant dialogue. If this is your first time, don’t just tell us, show us by commenting on the details in the map, the props, the dialogue, the atmosphere, your limited understanding of the plot. You talked more about Portal than you did about the the game people are watching you play.

Watch the first 5 minutes of this let’s play and compare the amount of time the person went off topic as compared to yours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg_1NFkicNY&index=29&list=PL5IcQWb98BbF7AJPFlWWSCOvM9bRzJCK5

Sorry if this sounds a little harsh, but that’s my primary reaction to this.

#7

Here’s the next part.

Part 2:
youtu.be/NoA9IXlVrS8?list=PLoA8R … QdYKs1ypDr

Also, I think it might be a good idea for me to clarify what these video’s are. They are primarily us playing through the first couple hours of the game to get a first impression. We are simply playing the game and having a good time. We often go off topic and don’t really talk about the game’s finer details as that’s not what we’re interested in. If you want just two guys playing video game’s, great! We’re perfect for you. If your looking for a more in-depth informational video, then I recommend another channel, we’re not really qualified for that. Hope this clears the water, sorry.

#8

Good video.

But I noticed you kept breaking your legs at the ladder part. I believe you can get on and off of ladders by pressing the use key.

#9

Watch out for my complete awfulness at games…

Part 3:
youtu.be/gPdkRCaTp8c

#10

I like the way you handled combat, but I noticed you don’t save when you’re stuck.
I think quicksave is F6.

#11

I got stuck in Office Complex and couldn’t figure out how to proceed from there. I’m ashamed but not surprised at my lack of progress.

#12

We finally figure out ladders in this part (shout out to MichaelTannock)…

Part 4:
youtu.be/sXhkFU04fzA

#13

I forgot to do a post about how this is our last Black Mesa video. This was always meant to be a first impressions series and Part 4 seemed like a good place to end it.

Now I know that we barely scratched the surface of this awesome game, but our impressions can be summed up in the following:

-The first point to make is that Black Mesa stands up on it’s own. Having never played Half Life before, I can tell you that I felt I was missing nothing. The atmosphere was great, the controls solid, and we really did get immersed in the world, without having any sort of nostalgia crutch to help it out.

-Point two is that more games need to take the risks this game does. Nowhere else will you see a game that spends it’s first ten minutes making you wait on a train. Games today don’t have that kind of courage. But the truly remarkable thing is that the train ride has been my favorite part of the game. The impact it had on me as a world building device was astounding. Never before has just standing there and looking been so rewarding.

-Point Three is that this game is, simply put, awesome. And I mean that in the literal sense. It inspires awe at how it does so many things that shouldn’t work but do. For example, the already mentioned train ride, or even the platforming sections, like in Part 4 of our series. I just goes to show what solid writing can do for a game, more games need to put less money towards graphics and “next gen” physics, and more money towards hiring writers and creative teams who know how to tell a story through this medium called video games.

All in all, a great game that can teach a lot of people about how good games are made, and what newer games could do to improve them beyong the latest FPS testosterone fest.

Thanks for watch guys,
the Gargantuan Gaming Galaxy Guys

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.