High-definition remakes have been done before, but this is a creative recreation of a game. Half-Life was about twelve hours long while Black Mesa is easily over fifteen, and Black Mesa doesn’t even yet include the original’s final four levels. While the core ideas of the levels are still here, each one has been completely recreated, resulting in an overall larger game. It’s an ambitious game that was created by a group of modders and fans over the course of seven years. It’s a complete re-imaging of the core game with new level design, character models, textures, voice acting, and gameplay. Black Mesa is more than a simple remake of the original game. The textures, level design, and models remained the same.
Valve has already created an HD remake of Half-Life called Half-Life Source, but that was a simple port over to the new engine.
What if Half-Life were made in 2007 instead of 1999? Black Mesa is a re-imaging of Half-Life using Source, the engine powering Half-Life 2. Half-Life is a great game, but it’s been over ten years since its release.
