Ok where to start. Black Mesa is a complete remake of Half-life. Now to sum it up would be "a masterpiece".The graphics have been totally revamped, characters (scientists, guards, etc.) have totally remade models and are now different from one another not the same guard over and over, the textures and other props have been replaced with higher quality ones. Some levels are slightly different but I found them very fluid and I believe they were worked to make the story more cohesive. Enemies are more intelligent and look amazing. Guns totally remade. This game is certainly on par with the original quality of story wise. The quality of work is of the highest I have seen in a mod and it is a "Valve" level of quality product. I find little else to say as this mod is so amazing I am lost for words trying to explain how highly I respect this remake and the dev team behind it was done such an amazing job.… Expand

A perfect remake. Action packed survival, and I really enjoyed how the secrets of black mesa are brought to life with voice acting and in-game whiteboards. Playing this game after so many years, some of the levels seem small, especially if you know what's coming. Other than that, a fantastic remake, and it's free!

The quality of the game is so great, it looks like it was actually made by Valve. However, it's actually a stand-alone mod of Half-Life 2 made by a group of fans. And boy they did wonderful. Anyway, this is a remake of the original Half-Life from 1998. I, however, haven't played it, but just by looking at levels from the original on YouTube and then comparing them to those of Black Mesa, you can see how much is changed. There is so much to be seen and done that there's no way I can find the words to express it let alone state it. So, why don't you download the game and see for yourself? I mean, there's nothing to lose, it's free! All you just need is Steam (which is, of course, free as well).… Expand

When I first heard about Black Mesa, I was excited. When it came out, I was not disappointed at all. A few moments of the game have been changed from the original. And almost all the time, it has improved on the original. In Half Life, I found On A Rail really annoying. Black Mesa completely redid the chapter and it was a major improvement. That's basically how I would sum up Black Mesa, a major improvement on Half Life. It brings Half Life up to, and possibly beyond, the quality levels of Half Life 2. Definitely worth the long wait. Can't wait to see the Xen chapters… Expand

Waited a long time for this mod, and it exceeded all my expectations.

I feel like many of the people who give this mod bad ratings don't know anything about the Half-Life series. And that is fine, same as the people throwing tens around (Guilty) are neck deep in nostalgia.

The movement (saw some complaints) is true to the Original Half-Life. Fast paced and really good for the style of play. Takes a second to get used to, if you never have played Half-Life or quake or anything before. Trust me, that movement is the reason the Multiplayer is going to be so good.

As for FPS dips, it happens only on AMD based systems. My upgrade from an AMD 1090t to an Intel 3570k stopped all of those issues. Just something you'll have to wait for a patch to be fixed.

Overall, this mod is FREE, looks amazing, and brings back that good old Half-Life nostalgia. What isn't to love?… Expand

An amazing game that gives half-life fans more to get excited over it's funny how it's been over ten years since the original has been released yet the gameplay still remains nearly completely unchanged and it still manages to be fun and fluid, there are some aspects of the game that could have been improved, but as a fan project it's a solid ten, I doubt i'd ever be able to make anything like this even with my passion in gaming… Expand

Incredible Remake! Can't believe this is for free, i'd even pay a Full Price for this Masterpiece. There is absolutely nothing they could have done better. By far the best fps i've played in a dam' long time.

If a mod actually receives reviews from critics then you know its going to be good. This mod truly brings Half life 1 back in the best way possible.
Best mod ever!
Period.

black mesa is probably the best halflife 1 remake possible. there's clearly been a lot of attention to details, and the atmosphere is very similar to the original - in my eyes an important trait for a remake of any game. i was expecting much from black mesa, after all these years of waiting, but it delivered, at least for me!

I waited 5 years for this and it was worth the wait. An almost perfect recreation of one of my favourite games and a perfect oppertunity for people to explore Black Mesa if they missed out the first time.

It is the same game that it was when it was released a hundred years ago, but this time with shiny new graphics and better audio. It was a fun game in the original and while my memories of the original were very fond, it is like watching a movie you originally watched on VHS, on BlueRay. Looks better but feels the same. Good work on the mod, but it is essentially the same as it always was.

Truly amazing re-work. It turned out to be a lot better than I expected to. I'm also glad that Valve approved Greenlight for this mod, we need more worthy mods on Steam than crap like Revelations 2012 which is an Alpha stage non-free mod...

Good god what an incredible game. It was also VERY time consuming spanning about 10 hours long it felt endless yet still enjoyable. It was bland and boring at the start with an extremely creepy atmosphere and gradually switches genres completely becoming something else. Yes that may be describing Half Life, but this redo of the game was incredible. I was stunned at the graphics comparison to the previous and it blows it out of the water. I usually have trouble playing dated games, and this really helped out.… Expand

The only problem for me, was the frame rate issues at moments.

The game is wonderful and traveled me back in time when I was first playing half life 1 in an ancient celeron 300 and a diamond stealth 3... It also had a lot of changes here and there to make it more modern than the original, without destroying the felling.

Best mod ever made. It's not just a mod. It's a different game. I recommend playing HL1 first because this one does not tell the story as good as the first one did. Nostalgia is so big part of this game.

There really isn't much more you could have asked for when it came to bringing Half-Life into modern times. It's not a direct carbon copy, but what is different is definitely not detracting from anything at all. For a group of modders doing this in their spare time with no real funding, you have to sit back and appreciate just what has actually become of their hard work. I could so easily have dropped $30 on this game.… Expand

the one of the greatest remakes of one of the greatest games of all time. This is Half-Life, but better. If you have never played Half-Life and wonder what all the fuss was all about, this is a great opportunity to try it out.... for free!

I can't tell fairly enough how awesome is this game, and I say game not mod, because this game surpass its original by lightyears. Perfect. .

So much waiting, and now after 8 long years im completly overwhelmed by Black Mesa. It's really stupid to call this masterpiece a "modification" for HL2. It's f***** more than that! Its deserves to be an absolutely great remake of legendary Half Life. Many thanks for creators of this new,fine version, whoever u are!

This game leaves me with mixed feelings. On the one hand its quite polished and is well defined and faithful to Half-life. It free and easy to install so that is nice. The voice acting is really great and gives NPCs far more to say and feels more human.

However it has too many annoying quirks. Such as the annoying "jump-crouch" being the solution to everything and the assumption that the player has played the original and remembers all the old solutions to events.

If you haven't played the original game you will find this a frustrating affair. Movement is another issue as it feels blocky and old fashioned.… Expand

An almost perfect remake of an almost perfect game. It was great to play the good old Half Life again with some sweet new HD graphics and some awesome new music. I'd recommend this game not only to the ones that played the old Half Life, but also to other gamers that enjoy a good story and some awesome first-person shooter action.

I own the complete Half-Life series and I am a huge fan and I must say that I am impressed with what the team did with this re-make. Awesome Mod !! I would recommend this Mod to anyone. This Mod has my 10 out of 10.

There are some things in life that are not really recognised for how important they really are until perhaps years after they actually happen. Black Mesa fits in to that category. For a group of fans to create something so professional, so polished, and so good is truly an extraordinary thing in itself. But the sheer scale, scope and length of time devoted to Black Mesa demonstrates what fans can actually achieve when they work together. The developers managed to create a game that can easily stand shoulder to shoulder with the titles you go out and buy, but they did it for free, which i think is a beautiful and quite remarkable thing. Black mesa, like half life itself, is the new yard stick to compare fan created games, and will be for years to come.… Expand

This game could be better, is always lagging, bad frame rate and most important the game is boring, gameplay is repetitive, the story is really uninteresting and uninspired. I was told thi was a great game, it is a great disappointment. Horrible game.

the black mesa production team has done a wonderful job of revisiting Half-Life into the Half Life 2 engine in not only the source engine but also of the time and effort they took to remodeling all the NPCs, improving the dialogue quality while providing new voice actors, and providing much more attention to detail with the environment of the black mesa research facility. I was glad that they did get rid of parts of the game that seemed to go on for decades (going through ventilation shafts for an eternity, that is), and they also put more complexity and more realism to the facility area, like the crate smashing room (in Half Life it almost seemed like they deliberately made it for you to jump that way). Also, I was quite surprised at how they added a new feature to the game: gore on your weapons. It's a nice emphatic touch to the ventures that Freeman must go through to reach to the Lambda core. The AI also has been improved as well, especially with the soldiers (although, sometimes the enemies will just stand there if they can't reach you from range, and this is frequent with the Slaves, e.g. vortigaunts). Also, there are some subtly hilarious parts in the game that you will encounter (like when you acquire the hive-hand, and Freeman reluctantly sticks his hand into what appears to be it's ass, or when the scientists foolishly go inside a ventilation shaft filled with monsters and the scientist who tries to get him out brakes his neck from falling from under the ladder). Everything that made the first half-life great can still be found in the effortless commitment that the black mesa production team had put into revamping the game, and seriously, all of this for free? You can't get a better deal than that! If you've been painfully impatient about the release of half life 3 (or episode 3), this game will give you the same feeling of nostalgia from both Half Life releases for a very long time!… Expand

I have to say right out that this is the best mod ever created. Really smooth gameplay with the Source engine, level design is really complex, enemies in the game are worth the challenge, great AI with humans, HECU soldiers and aliens. Again, there's lots of freedom you can have in the maps, even though some of them may be linear, it leaves a great space of open field, so we won't care about linearity at all. Amazing re-recorded monologues and dialogues and even the new ones. Everything else is also very awesome. The graphics at high and very high levels are stunningly beautiful in everything. At that preset when I turned around after fleeing from the Tentacles when I watched them, the framerate dropped down to 40 on my GTX660Ti. The soundtrack is also really good and it's a mix of atmospheric and action tracks. As i played it in almost 5-6 days and completed the game I feel satisfied and amazed about the game. It's free, it's a mod, you do need Source SDK Base 2007 to run it, but by all words, this is an immersion.… Expand

Wow. The amount of memories that come flooding back to me was incredible. This project puts a lot of professional projects to shame. From a technical perspective the voice acting is a bit strange but the atmosphere that's obviously been a labor of love for the devs - smashes any negativity. Surprising, tense and thrilling are some of the feelings you will get if you play this for the first time. A sincere feeling of nostalgia is what you will get if you played the original like me. For free this is 100% worth your time.… Expand

I've been waiting for this mod since the very beginning. Half Life is just one of the greatest PC Games ever made and walking Black Mesa again with these all new graphics it feels like coming home...well...home is nicer though :-)
I have found no bugs so far. Everything has been rebuilt very accurately. No wonder this mod took about 8 years and it was worth every second. Hope the mod team will come up with the last part of the Half Life on Zen very soon!!… Expand

This is a great addition to the HL community, HOWEVER, I did not read into how far the game had been converted and was thoroughly disappointed where it ended. For those who have played the original, be prepared for it to end "a bit short." For those who have never played the original HL have fun!

Black Mesa has the polish synonymous with a Valve property, and has surpassed all expectations in light of the sheer difficulty of the project. The amount of dedication, passion, and love the developers put into this game is immediately apparent as you explore the depths of Black Mesa, and uncover the secrets of this research facility.

Black Mesa transcends the level of 'modification' - they didn't modify anything. They created this game (save for a few sound bites, etc) from the ground up - in an impressive feat not many could accomplish. Having played Half-Life 1, this game left me without a single gripe or complaint regarding it's faithfulness to the original. The additions (of which there are a few) utilize the source engine's physics and graphics in ways that remind you of Half-Life 2. These are not modders, they're developers - and have made a shining masterpiece which raises the bar on third-party game development in the source engine. It's faithful to the original, and yet creates this bizarre sense of deja vu with Half-Life 2 - making them feel like one contiguous game, no longer separated by 6 years or different engines. They have truly done the impossible. This is a must-play.… Expand

When I first played the Half Life games, I thought to myself, these games can't get any better than they already are. Shows you what I know. This game is perfect. No doubt about it. A ten all the way. In every aspect that Half Life was perfect in, Black Mesa perfected the perfection. The graphics are great for this game are much better than the first Half Life, (it did come out in 1998, great graphics for then) the plot is almost the same so far, (some levels are different) and it is easy to tell how much these developers really love the game. They put all there passion into it. I am glad that now not every scientist is identical. I would say this game gets 98 out of 100 or above. Now, about Half Life 3...… Expand

I've been looking forward to this for the whole of this year. Half life introduced me to awesome first person shooters by Valve. Then once I heard of Black Mesa I expected the best thing ever. It did not fail my expectations. Flawless design. Everything has been rebuilt very accurately with extra additions of perfection to top it off. There's been no bugs at all and I just can't seem to point out anything wrong. This is a mod of Gods!… Expand

This is one of the best re texturing and full modding of any pc game I have ever played. The sound is awesome and plays well with most modern gpus. The game has a few glitches here and there but the fact that it is free I can look past it. With the game set to hard you will have a great experience. This game is one of the holy trinity of first person shooters that set the game industry standards. Wolfenstien, Doom, Half Life.… Expand

Probably the best mod out there. Free to play and entirely worth your time. Half life fans new and old should thoroughly enjoy this game, as well as folks who haven't tried the series before.

If you enjoy first person shooters and games with a gripping plot; you won't want to miss this game

Just finished this game, very good, like the original game. I'm very happy that it's free for people that has Source games, because Source games are my life, i almost play nothing else. I am taking off 10% for minor things, it was a pain in the ass to get the mod, and the second, the clothes of the figures should be improved more. Very good game, especially that only 40 volunteers made it, that is the best thing.… Expand

It's quite good, especially for a fan made mod. Seeing the whole BM facility rebuilt really presses the right buttons. Now it looks a lot less like a game level and more like an actual place where people work. I only found 3 things I didn't like about this mod: they changed the ammo carrying capacity to HL2 standards (ie: too low), the enemy soldiers have godly accuracy and perfect reflexes, and they changed the sound and firemode of the SMG. Other than that I loved every second of it.… Expand

Fantastic remake of one of the greatest games of all time. It's not perfect; graphics look like 2007/2008 vintage, the crouch jumping is annoying, and the framerate takes some hits here and there. But the polish and attention to detail, and the classic nostalgic gameplay, make this one of my favorite games of 2012. Must play.

Black Mesa is one of the best and most polished mods i have ever played in my life. The mod is a perfect replica of half-life while still adding some new and interesting things such as the npc interaction and the improved ai. This game is DEFINITELY worth playing seeing as the original is still and always will be my favorite single player game of all time. If you haven't played this i would be hesitant to call you a gamer, especially if you're my age...… Expand

Like most people, I too have been waiting a long time for this mod and its amazing, enjoyable to both people who have and haven't played Half Life, the level design is fantastic, all the areas are essentially the same with some minor differences and some areas changed almost completely, its playable so far up to Lambda Core and Xen hasn't been released yet, they are working on it. The soundtrack is amazing and voice acting is brilliant, some nice subtle references to half life and their own mod in the game which I found amusing, the only flaw I found was jumping which felt a little clunky but it didn't affect much, its on Source engine not GoldSrc so your gonna expect a different feel to the motion, it was the same with CS 1.6 and CS:S. The game is still as hardcore as Half Life, the marines are hard which I find good, there is a bug however with the helicopter on Surface Tension but that seems to be the only one I've found. I would recommend this mod to anyone, it feels like a commercial Valve game and plays like one and I enjoyed every single moment of it. So much work has gone into this and you can tell 10/10… Expand

Surprisingly this project did not turn into Vaporware. This is by far the best remake of a game I've ever played, down to the very last detail of that lonely vulnerable feel you got when you first fired up Half Life years ago. I loved every minute of this FREE game that puts this year's triple A titles to shame.

Really fun playing an old classic. It is nice to have something half-life related since HL3 or HL2 ep3 is no ware to be seen. Good job at an amazing remake.

I always wished for another Half-life installment. Half-life is one of the most legendary games I have ever played. I confess that was disappointed that this game didn't continue the story, but I was incredibly happy when I found out that this game hadn't altered any Half-life gameplay. Thank you, Valve. You have made yet another masterpiece.

I have so many nice memories about the good old Half-Life time. Its so many yeats ago, that i have played Half Life and i love this mod with improved Graphics. Black Mesa makes fun and is for free! What else should i say?

What to say, its simply a free verion of half life source with changed name. Outdated graphics, and the story is the same as hl1. The reason i gave it a 5 was that the game was actually fun.

This is one of the only games that I have ever been truly excited for. This game is a truly fantastic revamp of a truly fantastic game. With just about everything redesigned from its original counterpart, it looks great and also feels great. This game also exhibits amazing things that can be done in the Source Engine. Gameplay is fun, but there really isn't much of a storyline. Oh well. Good job, Black Mesa developers!… Expand

This is a masterpiece of work for 40 volunteers. They have not really created a mod, but a full game that does a very good job recreating the good moments of the long timed Half Life, released in 1998. And obviously, it rocks HL Source very easily, both on graphics and gameplay. Unlike some say: It is not required a top GPU to run the game. It runs well on a GT 240 128 bit DDR3, but except some lag in graphically intensive moments. Summarizing: It does a fantastic job to recreate HL, and I think this is not really a mod, but a new game with a very similar story to the original HL, with some ambients completely recreated. It brings back to life the long forgotten HL, now replaced by some mods, being only a shadow of the original HL, namely: Counter Strike, Day of Defeat or Team Fortress(the former i liked it pretty much). But it also haves it some con aspects. While it does not require a top Graphics Card to run, do not except to run this game, even on medium details, with a 8400GS or a 8500GT. And also, there are some FPS issues on some parts, namely after the first chapter of the game, on the exploded power reactor. Other than that, i would give it 9.7/10 easily.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game is remake is more amazing than the original Half-Life, with enhanced levels, better AI, more challenging gameplay, Half-Life 2 styled puzzles, but be warned, but it's not for people who want a 1-1 remake with only the textures and models changed like Halo Anniversary, EVERYTHING is changed and improved. Although some areas in the game were cut, such as a portion of On a Rail and a portion of Surface Tension, I still think it is amazing and takes on a "Valve quality" design. Black Mesa also has some new areas as well, such as more test labs and experiments in Questionable Ethics, and an amazing ambush from the HECU at the end of the chapter. Overall it was amazing and I give it a 10/10… Expand

Firstly it's free! Anyone caught whining needs to be shot in the face. It is a update to a classic from passionate and dedicated fans, who happily gave up their time to give a facelift to one of histories best FPS games. It feels as good as it did all those years ago, the improved graphics help it feel modern. If you haven't already played the original (or wanna get back into the boots of Gordon) do yourself a favour and download it now. It's not trying to be a totally original game so expect it to be, don't be an idiot complaining that it's the same story etc.… Expand

just play it- you'll love it. And it is free, so yay! I played the original HL1 back in the days and revisiting it with Black Mesa was a great experience.

How to make a better game out of a game that was already great. Well, just play Black Mesa an see for yourself how that can be possible. It's an improvment in every way.

Anyone who just 'doesn't get it' is from the new generation of gamers and wasn't there in the beginning (1998) when Half Life changed the industry. This MOD is a gem a love letter to the Half Life series and it's free!! CrazyGoat's review is spot-on that the amount of dedication by the MOD's creators is unsurpassed.