Recent reviews by Starfish

8.5/10
Its a gritty and dark linear shooter with some of the best combats and environments I've ever seen in a video game.

I'm a fan of the metro series as a whole, and after replaying this one on ranger hardcore difficulty, I remember what makes the best parts of the series are. Combat is truly where the series shines, and this game does it very well. Quick time to kill (at least on the harder difficulties) makes combat tense and strategic. Enemies will go down in 2 to 3 well placed shots, but so will you if you stray too far from cover. The monsters add an edge of panic to fights as hordes of them actively close in, and limited supplies of ammo (especially towards the end of the game) adds uncertainty to every encounter. If a fight gets too overwhelming, or you run out of ammo, you can switch to military ammo which is more powerful, but also the currency of the game. By using your military ammo you can survive another fight, but you limit your potential supplies and upgrades in the future. Overall, the combat is some of the best combat I have seen in any game and I highly recommend playing without a HUD to add more realism, as you have no idea how much ammo or how many filters you have left.

The next big part of this game is the atmosphere. The game takes place in claustrophobic metro tunnels, unsettlingly open ruins, and anxious stealth sections (like the frontline or the library) all help to show just how small you are in the metro. The disgusting monster design works well with the environment to keep you on edge whenever you are by yourself, and the safety of traveling in a group distracts you from the threat of danger around every corner. A limited supply of filters (which you use to breath in irradiated zones) adds a sense of urgency and purpose to your actions when you are in irradiated zones, and the threat of low ammo supplies sticks on your mind and adds to the environment. Overall, I really like dark, anxious atmosphere of the metro games as a whole, and this one is no exception.

I think the main place where this game lacks is the story. Since it is a linear shooter, you are sort of dragged along. For the most part I felt like I knew what I needed to do and where I needed to go, but there are some sections where the directions are spoken during firefights and it is very easy to lose track of what you need to do. There is always the journal to refer back to, but it is easy to forget about. The story feels forced from the start, combined with rapid changes in who you are following and the fact that Artyom does not speak (except for the loading screens) is jarring. It feels like the game is creating excusing to keep the story progressing, and it isn't until the end of the game that you feel like you have some control of what happens. Overall, the story is not terrible but it is definitely the weakest part of this game.

This game is a good introduction into the series, and if you enjoy it I highly recommend last light and exodus. I feel that the combat and the atmosphere easily make up for the shortcomings of this game, and as such I highly recommend it to fans of fps games as a whole, especially dark and gritty ones. I think that the best way to experience the game is through maximum immersion, on the hardest difficulty without any UI, but the easier difficulties are very forgiving for new gamers or those looking for an easy time. If this game goes on sale, I absolutely recommend to pick it up because you will get it for a steal.

8.5/10
Its a fun linear shooter with some solid puzzle solving and very fun combat. I would recommend this game to pretty much anyone (even first time gamers); its simple and easy to understand but extremely fun to play.

Full disclosure, I did not play the original Half-Life 1 so I cannot comment on how faithful Black Mesa is to the original and I have absolutely no nostalgia for this game whatsoever. That being said, after playing this game, I can easily see how hl1 became as popular as it was (is?).

Overall, I thought this game was very enjoyable. The story is simple and straightforward, there are no real choices to stress the player out. You are just a scientist shooting everything that moves in the face, which is super fun. The game starts off really strong as you slowly walk through a lab facility and then fight your way out of it. It was really cool to see the lab I had just cinematically walked through become overrun, changing the environment from a bright and sterile lab to a dark and suffocating prison.

The whole game takes place as you try to travel from one end of the facility to the other, picking up new weapons and discovering new mechanics along the way. The weapons for the most part all felt useful, with some notable exceptions that I literally never used. I never needed to use them however, because my reliable shotgun usually took care of the job. As the game progresses, there is no hope of it becoming stale because there are always new mechanics being added or interesting new environments to shotgun through. The game has really good pacing and a lot of variety: you can run through a huge and awesome battle into a hectic chase scene and then crawl through vents and stealthily sneak around to avoid detection. While the game is extremely linear and the player has very little control over what happens next and how a situation will play out, the game was clearly made with thought and care for all the details and every situation, bad or good, was created with clear and visible attention to detail that makes every moment of this game a blast.

My favorite thing about this game is how cinematic and well thought the experience is. Several times I remember walking out of a tight hallway and at the end opening up to this massive view of an all out battle. The music would swell, and then you could jump down and blast both sides to pieces. The music is fantastic in this game, and it perfectly accentuates the fun and exciting moments throughout the game. I know I've been saying it throughout this entire review, but the game is really well thought out. Trying to jump between narrow ledges, the game throws enemies that knock you back all over the place. Trying to carefully walk through a freaking explosives depot layered with landmines, and the game absolutely terrifies you with leaping head crabs that have no right to be as terrifying as they were. Another thing that shows how well thought out this game is is how good the AI is. I immediately noticed and was surprised at how intelligent the AI fought back. If I tried to take cover for a second to get a breather, the enemy would surround me and flush me out with grenades. All of this made the game an extremely fun and rewarding experience, and one that did not require much thought, stress, or challenge. There were a few sections I had to look up what to do for because I was lost because there are no markers or directions really given to the player. The whole game is very linear, so there are not many opportunities to get lost, but there were a couple sections where I was confused. Looking these up was no big deal though, and it did not really impact the game at all for me.

The graphics are alright. They are dated, not nearly as much as the original half life of course, but still dated. They are absolutely not a problem, and I feel like they add to the charm a little bit, but I could see how someone could be turned off because of it. Honestly, I hardly notices it at all. The graphics feel more like back drop to the combat and the game itself.

Overall, I would recommend this game to any and everyone because of how simply and purely fun it is. Watching scientists try to survive in the labs and exploring little nooks and crannies for resources added some humor and extra rewards into the game to reward the player, which I enjoyed. Black Mesa is a simple and straightforward linear shooter with some enjoyable puzzle solving and extremely fun and interactive combat.

This game is refined and purified fun which can be injected directly into your brain. Go for it.

7/10
Its gruesome, its gory, its morally ambiguous, and its fun. If you know you like this genre, you can't go wrong with this game; however I would not try to introduce a new player to this genre with this game.

Overall, I thought this game was enjoyable. The story provides the player with difficult moral choices and clear immediate consequences to their actions. You begin the game as a squad of Arizona Rangers travelling to Colorado to help The Patriarch, its ruler, secure his territory in exchange for vital supplies for the rangers back home. Immediately the game starts off really strong with the combat and the story, even featuring original music for a very cinematic fight, and subtly introduces you to the idea that your choices have immediate and devastating consequences. It quickly becomes apparent however, that a lot of these choices are locked behind persuasion and intimidation skill levels. This means that if you are not leveling your characters a specific way, you are funneled into the more undesirable choices and forced into combat. I understand that this is used to add value to these skills, but tying major plot points into your characters skills without the option to respec your characters punishes sub-optimal builds by forcing the player into a set story path. Another issue with being locked into your character choices is that you are required to use a majority (4 out of 6) non-player created characters in your party. Because of this, you have to gather new companions as you travel. These companions however have their own preset skills which can seriously mess up you party's skill levels if you do not build specifically for these characters. All in all, the story is interesting and does allow for moral considerations, however being railroaded into optimal skill distribution really hampers the players freedom. A quick note on side missions: except for a few noteworthy exceptions, a majority of the side missions are fetch quests. These noteworthy missions however do allow for some interesting changes to the game world, and really add to the overall experience.

To balance out the negatives, I have to say that overall I enjoyed the story and struggled to decide which path to take. This game truly shines in its factions and its locations. From cannibalistic clowns to a faction worshiping god president Reagan, this game takes its fallout style apocalypse and brings its craziness up to 11. There is really nothing else like it.

As for combat, there are aspects which are far from perfect. Combat is where 90% of the bugs happen. For example, multiple times throughout the game the enemies turn would not end and I would have to restart my game which cost me all of my progress in that fight if not more, because you cannot save mid fight. Another combat issue is that the terrain hazards, for example burning oil or the radiation cloud from a nuke, did not show which squares it covered, so it was extremely easy to move your units into unnecessary harm. This issue combined with the terrible pathing led to serious issues within the combat. Another issue with the combat is that every character preforms actions at the same time. If you accidentally start combat (because the sneaking is straight up impossible) the entire enemy force gets to take free shots at your team. This usually results in a unwinnable fight, and I had to reload saves many times because my squad got nearly wiped in the first turn because of a misstep with the god awful pathing.

As for the positives of combat, it did have its moments. There are lots of weapon choices and some interesting perks characters can take to specialize their weapon options, and there is usually a way around combat (or at least to give yourself an advantage) if you have the necessary skills. This allows the player to customize their party to use specific types of weapons (for example level up automatic weapons and take perks for submachine guns) and lets each character have a niche. There are lots of difficult combat scenarios that require strategy, and near impossible fights if you decide to wage war on a faction. Loot is also picked up all at once, so there is no need to scour the battlefield for each body. If you can make it past the bugs, this combat is engaging, challenging, and seriously fun.

The graphics are good, especially for an isometric game. There were a couple minor issues for me, such as status effects (like burning ground) not showing up properly and the camera being a little bit difficult to work with in smaller rooms. Overall, the graphics were good and helped to bring the crazy wasteland atmosphere to life

Overall, I think this is a good game for fans isometric RPGS or turn based combat games. Its not the best, this game does not hold a candle to Divinity Original Sin 2, but it is still good in its own right. It also features 2 player co-op, which is a nice addition to this kind of game. I did not try it, so I cannot comment on how well it works, but I have a sneaking suspicion that is has its fair share of bugs. If you are looking for a coop game like this to introduce someone to turn based combat or isometric RPGS I would highly recomend DOS 2 instead of this game, however if you know this is your thing then I say go for it.