Recent reviews by TokiZR

Call of the sea is an enjoyable and well polished experience, the puzzles are not trivial but not too difficult either.
The story is quite nice, if a bit straightforward.
The game is nice looking, has good sound design and really nice animations. Art direction and implementation is great all around.

I'd say it's well worth the investment.
I played it in a couple of seatings and I enjoyed my time with it.

In my heart this is portal 1.5.

Would pay for it.

TL;DR:
If you'll never play the original, play this without guilt. Otherwise, play them in order. Either way you should buy it.

---

I played the original Half Life with a clear understanding that it had to be taken in with context, especially because I was playing it over two decades after it released. It was amazing in 1998, but Black Mesa is amazing in 2020.

Gameplay is smooth, animations are fantastic and the story and environments have been enriched in every possible way. Having played the original a lot carries over. It's not an HD pack or a remaster, it's a fully re-imagined experience in the best of senses.

Here's some Pros and Cons:

Pros:
- Much better checkpoints, most of the times I found myself saving I was just being extra cautious, I was never infuriated.
- Much nicer flow, a lot of busywork and frankly not fun vent diving was streamlined in this version.
- Better graphics. (duh)
- Amazing music.
- Better character movement and AI.
- Xen, it's actually good. I'd say it's one of the best parts of the game.

Cons:
- Performance can sometimes be spotty, I had well over 100 FPS for most of the time, but some sections especially near the end of Xen the game stuttered and dipped well bellow 50.
- In a few occasions I did not recall the solution for a puzzle I would end up slightly stuck, but it never took me too long to figure it out.

I think the game is really worth it. Don't wait for a sale, tip your hat to Crowbar collective and enjoy one of the best remakes of all time.

Haven't played since I had a BSOD during the game (caused by motion joyu, not the game itself) which caused all my progress to vanish into the ether.

Outside form that this is probably one of my favorite games of all time. Art style is beautiful, characters are genuinely unique, and sometimes I would play it solely to listen to the soundtrack.

The idea of stacking passive buffs is amazingly compelling and there are so many items I have never ever had a run play like another. I'll definitelly see myself playing this for years to come.

Also, it is HARD!