Black Mesa

A faithful and extremely professional remake of one of the great classics of the FPS genre. Despite slight niggles, like the marines' aimbot-like behavior, it actually manages to achieve the impossible: Black Mesa is Half-Life, only better. [Oct 2012]

This Half Life remake not only gives a more modern and pleasant look to a timeless masterpiece, but makes it even more magnificent without ruining its magic. If you don't know who Gordon Freeman is or if you want to relive once again one of the most incredible single player experiences in the history of video games, you simply cannot miss it.

Black Mesa will probably go down in history as one of the most ambitious, successful, eye-catching and exciting fan-made projects. Its value as a remake is very high: it elevates in every respect the original Half-Life by Valve and even adds a lot of content. It is definitely the best way to enjoy this story.

An incredible journey for a group of amateurs, a proper celebration of a master piece and a remake that manages to improve over the weakest aspects of the Valve classic. It took a long time, but you won't see us complaining.

Black Mesa may show its age in some areas, but that doesn't detract from what is an otherwise stunning achievement. It's not only Half Life at its best - it's one of the finest shooters available today.

We should applaud an excellent work made for free by fans of the original game.

And the reason it's so easy to ignore the faults – so easy to shrug off falling off a ladder again – is because there's joy in taking on an entire platoon of troops as a goatee-sporting nerd. There's joy in taking on situations and knowing they aren't scripted half to death. There's joy in scamming your way through a puzzle by pretty much breaking the game.

Black Mesa is the perfect way to enter in the Half-Life saga and it's one of the best remakes ever made.

Reasonable innovations and a completely new Xen complement the authentic Half-Life atmosphere: This is what a remake should look like.

What started as a mod, ended up being the best way to enjoy Half-Life, not only with its visual upgrades, but also with new features and tweaks to make it better than ever.

A free game that lets you relive Half-Life without having to stomach outdated visuals. Essential to every gamer. [12/2012, p.69]

Black Mesa is a lot of things. It's one of the best mods ever made and a package that offers every Half-Life fan what they want. It's also a chance for newcomers to get to know a game that has been put on a pedestal over the years, in a relatively modern way. But more importantly, it's a very special and entertaining look into the history of shooters.

The result, though still a bit 'sour for some graphic glitch and not bug-free, fully convinces and the new features do nothing but add prestige and longevity to a project worthy of praise from all points of view.

A quality remake that broadens the scope of the original and massively improves its final chapters.

Those with a taste for retro-gaming or lighthearted sci-fi shooters, take note: few games with a foot in the nineties hold up this well.

From our point of view, we do not believe that Black Mesa can be an integral substitute of the original Half-Life (still very enjoyable), as much as an adventure that accompanies it with respect and dignity. And walking tall with a legend can be considered a success in itself.

It started as an homage, and it became the best version of the game. Black Mesa is fantastic remake of Half-Life, that never betrays the source material and gives it what is needed to be appreciated by a modern player on a modern PC - even if Source Engine is definitely very old. Just keep in mind it's a well refined but not triple A game, and you'll be just fine with it.

Black Mesa is the best way to play the classic original 1998 Half-Life today, but it's a remake that already feels old enough that it would benefit from a remake itself.

This is no excellent shooter – by a long run. But regardless this is a decently modernised classic and a well executed journey through time.

Black Mesa is more than a plain remake, is the passionate love letter from a team of amateur developers that grew to become the licensed creators of a great game, that actually lives up to the legend that is Half-Life.

Black Mesa is dated in several ways and the new Xen levels have some issues, but this is an excellent experience that old fans of Half-Life and people who may have never played it before should absolutely check out.

It's a brilliant tribute to one of the greatest videogames ever made, and it's also a good game in its own right.

One of the best remakes ever, not because of its loving recreation of the original Half-Life but because it dares to change and improve it.

Black Mesa remains true to the original Half-Life with updated graphics, improved sounds and redesigned levels. However, the graphics still look old for a “modern” game and loading screens are still a pain as it freezes the game for a few seconds.