Black Mesa Lobby HL1 Remake
HL
Black Mesa Lobby HL1 Remake
by
Ansith
Posted 16 years ago2008-01-24 00:30:36 UTC •
Completed •
Half-Life
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Map of the Month winner for January 2008!
This started as a simple Black Mesa (Source) lobby remake, but some people at the Black Mesa forums wanted me to add this to c1a0, so I remade the whole map.
Here's the Result.
Hope you all like it!
10/02/08 Updated
Here's the Result.
Hope you all like it!
10/02/08 Updated
25 Comments
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http://forums.gamernode.com/showthread.php?t=17736
Also, it looks nice.
But i don't believe you simply PM'd valve tho.
Downloading, will check it out later.
Played it. 'sgood.
It's great to see how much you're improving, so keep it up!
Texturing — 8
Ambience — 7
Lighting — 8
Gameplay — 3
Video Review
Bottom Line
A well-made remake of the Black Mesa Lobby. Too bad, that it's only the lobby, I'm curious, how the other maps from the original HL1 would look with such detail.Texturing — 9
Ambience — 9
Lighting — 9
Gameplay — 0
Video Review
Bottom Line
It's short and sweet, and while my personal opinion is that it's rather pointless, I can appreciate that Black Mesa: Source is awesome enough to warrant a tribute like this.Texturing — 8
Ambience — 7
Lighting — 6.5
Gameplay — 6
Video Review
Bottom Line
This map is beautiful in its own way. It is a translation of dedication and attention to detail in the form of a well made map and deserves recognition from both TWHL and the Black Mesa Source team. The only let down is that there isn't really much entertainment value besides the tiny Easter egg.Texturing — 8.2
Ambience — 9
Lighting — 8.8
Gameplay — 6
Review
"Hey, Mr.Freeman. I.. had a bunch of messages for you, but we had a system crash about 20 minutes ago and I'm still trying to.."Upon hearing Barney's famous greeting, you'll already have made your first steps into the first "real" part of Half-Life. Anomalous Materials, of all chapters in the game, was definitely the one I've re-played, explored and analyzed the most. Not exactly sure why, though I think mainly because it wasn't anything more than a large playground, much like an extension of the Hazard Course, where you could first admire HL's interactivity, detail and sheer beauty at point-blanc range, where you could jerk around endlessly pressing the wrong buttons, annoying your colleagues without getting lead chuffed in your face, a place where, unlike the rest of the game, nothing could go wrong.Ansith's map isn't simply the aforementioned c1a0 (the first map in Anomalous Materials) on steroids. Inspired by a screenshot of the same area in Black Mesa Source, a highly anticipated remake of the whole Half-Life 1 experience in the Source Engine, it's, like Hunter said, a remake of a screenshot of a remake. Long-winded introductions aside, let's get on with the actual review. Upon spawning in the map - you'll probably first notice the new added objects/rooms to the original lobby area. Most of them, like the nicely detailed benches, the large wall panel with monitors on it over the reception desk, more gadgets here and there, or just extra office stuff lying around really work right in the map and give it more depth/realism. However, there are some plain logic faults and other nitpicks amongst the new additions. Take both new security rooms (one with a scientist opening the doors for you in the room where you spawn, another with barney in it next to the security override switch), for instance: There's no entrances/passages leading to them in the area, despite both having exit doors. You could of course say there's no entrance in the lobby, though placing it somewhere far away from the room you need to access sounds pretty pointless and inefficient. Another small flaw, often overlooked by level designers, is adding extra-fine details in only some parts of the map, while leaving other areas much less detailed. For example, some of the new pipes or small wires could've been extended through walls/ceilings in the whole map to give them more credibility, as well as up the overall detail level.New things aside, most of the old stuff was also fairly pumped up. Nothing more than some extra curves on corners, bevels in walls and more detail in gadgets/furniture, yet it all looked the way it's supposed to be, added some nice detail and didn't deviate too far from the original.Texturing also hasn't changed much, in fact, it's pretty much the same as in the old c1a0. Nothing special, though overall well-fitting and without any bigger faults. Plus, I think texturing was probably the main thing tieing this remake with the original, so any bigger changes would've ruined that essential link. Another thing linking the remake to the original was ambience. Mostly adequate, it was all original HL sounds, placed near every sound source possible. The map also had ample env_sounds, which, if I recall correctly, were overlooked in the original lobby. A nice addition, commonly left out by other mappers.Much like other aspects, lighting was pretty decent. A bit dimmer and more atmospheric, it worked quite well in my opinion. Some extra lights pointing out the new additions, like the ones at the ceiling near the vents, worked very well. Overall - it, again, wasn't anything special, though it improved original lighting quite a lot. My only complaint for this department was adding too many random switched off lights. Now there's no problem in a bit of variation, though when every third light in your science facility is borked, no wonder serious problems like resonance cascades occur. Some of the switched off lights could be replaced by flickering ones, for e.g.The only real bigger problem (if you can call it that), however, occurred in gameplay. Even if the original wasn't an immense fragfest, it had all those nice scripted sequences you could trigger and play around with. In this map, though, apart from the Security Override button, none of the old ones were included. Enhancing the old sequences and adding them would've definitely made the map feel even fresher. Apart from those, the only other area with some action was the secret zombie room. A nice thing to add, though I'd prefer a secret button, which'd spawn zombies/monsters in the level, while instantly equipping you with the Egon. ^^Bottom Line
Now I know you'd probably never point out the flaws I picked on when reviewing a normal map, though since this is a fairly small winner, guess I can allow myself to pick it all to the bone. So, in conclusion, I'd say it's a decent attempt at bringing some life into the old-as-hell original Black Mesa Lobby. Black Mesa Lobby Remake is something fresh, yet nostalgic and even with some smallest flaws, it's really something you should try while waiting for BM:S to come outI swear, I've never given any remake a rating this high. D:Texturing — 7.5
Ambience — 8
Lighting — 7
Gameplay — 5
Review
The main area of the map, the lobby, is based of a screenshot from the lobby of the at time of writing yet to be released HL2 mod Black Mesa: Source. From a remake point of view, Ansiths lobby looks almost exactly the same like the lobby it is based on. Architecture, texturing and lightning look very similar. Even Ansiths brush-based prefabs (chairs, computers etc) are incredible similar to the models they need to resemble! The maps ambience, basicly your typical machinery sounds, might be a bit boring, but they work and never get annoying. Scripted sentences are carefully sorted out and do their part aswell. Counting this all up, the map (especially the lobby) has great atmosphere. But enough with the praising, because this map most certainly has its bad stuff. While the lobby is a awesome piece of work, it has its flaws. These flaws mostly regard bad texturing, but consider some architecture aswell. Leaving the lobby, I find myself walking in hallways and rooms with incredible bland lightning (and architecture), making the generic lab textures look awfull aswell. Another thing I must adress, is gameplay. This map just begs for more interactivity imho. The only thing I could press is the red security button! Where is the laptop and light switch which we could press in the original c1a0 for example! Cmon!Bottom Line
While Ansiths map isn't anything breathtaking, Black Mesa Lobby HL1 Remake is a nice map with a cosy deja-vu feeling. It's certainly worth your time.https://www.moddb.com/games/half-life/addons/c1a0-with-black-mesa-style
Texturing — 10
Ambience — 10
Lighting — 10
Gameplay — 10