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Fan of Half-Life and love the awesome physics and graphics engine improvements of Half-Life 2? Black Mesa is a complete reimagining of Half-Life utilizing the full capabilities of Source. "The real Half-Life: Source" in short. Also available for download is a new 59-second teaser-trailer for the mod.

What is worth is a quick look at the challenges that dedicated and passionate teams have when creating these mods. Just a brief glimpse into their world reveals the following from Black Mesa Staff on their website “Unfortunately, not all went well for development. Over the course of the year the team had to endure an internal alpha leak, the hacking and subsequent deletion of the entire public forum database, multiple hackings of the public forums after that, and just recently, the deletion of the public website and the team’s FTP account (with over 2 gigabytes of source files on it). “

Having worked with teams on full-scale and plugin mods for games like UNREAL, QUAKE, and HALF-LIFE, I can tell you for a fact that these guys are spending 1000’s of hours on development and design. Architecture planning, documentation, graphic layout and story arcs. Its amazing that these teams come together and come out with a finished product at all. But its easy to forget, Half-Life Counter-Strike itself was the fruit of a similar labor and has dominated the FPS market for years. Of course, 99 out of 100 of these do NOT go to commercial market. I suspect these guys may.

We’ve included a bevy of screen-shots for your review click here to follow.

Check out this teaser trailer here

What will Black Mesa Mod include?

• Redesign and overhaul of all 18 chapters, the hazard course and deathmatch levels of the original Half-Life and Half-Life DeathMatch games.
• Models now take advantage of increased polycount limits and normal mapping technology making deadly opponents and friendly coworkers appear more real.
• A completely original soundtrack and music library bringing Half-Life's themes and feelings to life in the new sounds engine built into the Source Engine.
• Artifical Intelligence that will hunt you by sight and sound.
• Normal, bump and specular maps built into textures giving flat surfaces a new, more dynamic look.
• Co-operative mode, allowing you and your friends to play through Black Mesa together.
• The entire cast and characters that the world fell in love with more beauty than ever before, bringing truth to the saying, "if looks could kill..."
• A multiplayer mode allowing for deathmatch and team deathmatch experience with the complete Half-Life 1/Black Mesa Aresonal at your disposal.
• A priority on gameplay and immersion factors such as sounds, functionality and interaction.
• Built by developers who's passion is seen through the quality of their work.

The Environment
Black Mesa is set in and around the Black Mesa Research Facility as depicted in the original Half-Life game. The research facility is a former Cold War missile complex based in New Mexico, and features a diverse array of locations ranging from abandoned rocket testing silos to modern administrative offices, from underground physics laboratories to a full-scale hydroelectric dam. The game continues beyond, into an inter-dimensional border world known as Xen. What will set Black Mesa apart from other Source engine modifications in development is the attention to environment detail. Levels will be faithful to the original Half-Life concept and built from scratch, yet will feature higher-resolution textures, detailed world models, and a higher quality of audio ambience courtesy of the Source engines soundscape system. The end goal of such attention to detail is an immersive single-player environment, which will engross the player in a story that is yet to be matched by any other first-person shooter.

Features
Black Mesa has many features, several of which are still in planning or being tested. Below are a few of the larger and more distinctive features of Black Mesa:

• Detailed and interactive environments based on the original Half-Life game, including reconstructed multiplayer maps;
• Single-player, co-operative and deathmatch modes planned;
• Original music score by Joel Nielsen;
• Artificial intelligence that will dynamically think, react and interact with and about their environment;
• Normal, specular and parallax mapping utilized on world surfaces and models where applicable;
• A priority on gameplay and immersion factors such as ambience, logical functionality and interactivity.

Game Modes
Black Mesa will feature three game modes designed to provide a high replayability factor.

Single-player

• Assuming the role of Dr. Gordon Freeman you will experience an immersive, story-driven mode of play. A world where around every corner a new threat or situation presents itself, provoking thought and interaction between you and your world. Relying on more than just combat to survive, your wits and intelligence will become strong allies in your fight for survival. Environments will be interactive, rich with detail, fully ambient and NPC characters will react to these environments and your actions therein. A world driven by story, locations conquered by wit, enemies matched with firepower. Welcome to Black Mesa. Run, think, shoot, live, Source.

Co-operative

• Black Mesa co-op will allow players to not only recruit the assistance of security guards and scientists, but also that of your friends! Share the single-player experience by battling through Black Mesa together. Players will be able to wage battles, travel corridors and emerge victorious over the enemies and escape the confines of the Black Mesa Research Facility.

Deathmatch

• The adrenaline pumping, bullet dodging, rockets-flying, big-red-button riddled deathmatch is back in classic Half-Life style, featuring graphically enhanced multiplayer maps and the full lineup of weapons. You'll find yourself having more fun blowing away your friends than, well, anything.

Find out more information about Black Mesa Mod at http://www.blackmesasource.com/