Least Favourite Chapter?

Black Mesa Archive The Cafeteria
#41

IMO, residue processing is one of the chapters where BM shows the biggest improvement over HL. Why? Because in HL, you were navigating through one grey room after another. Everything just had brown and grey textures with horrible resolution and in between that and the murky water, when I did it the first time in HL (and even when I repeated it), I had no idea where I was going. In BM, it captures the feel and the level architecture but there are more individual visual clues to distinguish the different areas and rooms and dagers are much more apparent.

As for Lambda core, the same thing is the case IMO. I had no problem with the elevators, etc. it took me a while to figure it all out as well but it was pure fun all the way. Besides, the coolent water looks amazing :slight_smile: . As for the pool in the middle, I was really glad it was there because when I first entered the level, and I got rushed by what felt like about 20 Houndeyes, I got one to charge up right next to the explosive barrels on the upper floor and then jumped over the railing into the pool, escaping the explosion and killing about 10 of them in one stroke. Brilliant moment.

The morter screen: Is the flickering a bug? I thought it was supposed to be some sort of transmission error, static or something. While I agree it’s pretty bad to handle (especially with the garg shaking things up), I thought it was meant to do that.

I don’t really have a least favorite level, I really had a blast all the way through. while I was sad about some of the cuts, what was still there ist still awesome.

My greatest moment of dissapointment though: The scientist in the power section of Blast Pit no longer sits on top of the generator (“this is my hiding spot”) and then gets the shits when Gordon turns the thing on. I always loved that guy. BM makes up for it though with his further comments (“I had to ditch the others”) and the remarks of the second scientist at the beginning of that section who waits for his “friend” :slight_smile: .

EDIT: @Bunnykicker: I think you are right. Somehow I remembered the original HL to be much more challanging in that section. Weren’t there quite a few grunts around in the pump sections originally? Maybe I am misremembering here but yea, to me it felt easier as well.

#42

A bit off topic, but Lamda felt short and thus not very pleasant chapter. when I first gazed upon Lambda labs, after turning on the pumps… I went for the giant machine with circling platforms. After going through several teleports with almost every guess right, I found myself in last stage a bit quicker than I would’ve liked. I remember going through all the levels of Lambda in HL1. As for most annoying, Residue Processing was the one.

#43

I was kinda disappointed not to see any bullsquids in the resonance-cascade teleports… :frowning:

My framerate was atrocious enough in that section as-is. It was very poorly optimized. Normally I am able to get through such slideshows by facing toward the wall, but that section of the game forces you to stand in the middle of a complex arena.

I don’t think running FRAPS with the flickering targeting-cursor and slideshow garg-shaking tower would be wise. Plus the level design there sucked-- I ran straight for the far tower and waited as I watched the garg started shaking the first tower. Like wtf?

And when it came to operating the interactive screen with its flickering cursor, I tried clicking several times but it had no effect, and I was spamming the Use key with no effect, and that section of the game sucked vortigaunt ass. I tried clicking where I wanted the target to be with no effect, and tried clicking the fire button with no effect, and tried hitting spacebar with no effect (as the fire button was displayed like a space bar).

Give me a god-damn coordinate entry system, with a fire button which I don’t need to click on a dozen times, and I’ll have that garg for dessert. It’s from shit like that why I don’t have a smartphone.

…

But let me talk about parts I liked.

I loved that track-lowering section of On A Rail. I abandoned the train to explore on foot, and ended up finding the control room through its back-door. The multiple stages required for advancing were pleasantly hinted at by the sign in the control room. That section of OAR felt nonlinear but not large enough to get lost in.

I loved entering Questionable Ethics to find the swarm of houndeyes asleep. I had lost track of where I was in the previous chapter, so entering QE was a warm and sudden surprise. Exploring QE was fun, with the various rooms… snark-cannon… xen observation…
but I never got the opportunity to lure human grunts into a tesla-containment trap. And once I gassed the headcrabs, in the xen observation area, I was unable to enter the room. I thought for sure the lockdown effect would be temporary, but it never seemed to expire. Fortunately I was not in need of its health|armor chargers, so it was only a small loss.

I loved the huge tangle of machinery in Residue Processing. I had to manage my ammo very carefully in there; I work well under pressure, so that was fun. And unlocking all the doors to previous rooms?.. made me think about playing BM co-op. The mod has co-op potential.

And the last sentry guns I found, I was able to kidnap. I carried them along, down the big truck-elevator (after clearing out the alien fodder ahead), until I reached the second set of assassins. It was epic having two sentries on my side when dealing with those fast ladies… I only wish the guns didn’t run out of ammo so quickly.

#44

I liked all the chapters more or less, and I can’t really say that there were some chapters that I didn’t like at all. Each of them had something interesting that made me like them.

#45

Surface tension. Every little quirk left over from the combine AI showed up in the Hgrunts and reared their ugly heads.

My least favorite missions in the original HL ended up being my favorite in BM. So, yeah. That’s pretty cool.

#46

they need to remove some crates and boxes from the tripmine trap in surface Tension

I feel like I have no movement options

actually, most of the levels were fine, but cluttered with unnecessary debris and boxes, crates, etc that, for me, seemed out of place

#47

Completely agreed. I used to hate On A Rail with a passion. Now I’ll look forward to it on any BM replays.

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.