I think this game is worth playing.
In hearing that, you may be confused as to why I would then deem the game "not recommended." Really, it's for attention.
Obviously, if it was really between playing it and not playing it, you should play the game. Black Mesa is very cool, and at times it is definitely very fun. The developers clearly loved the original Half Life and you can feel their passion oozing from every corner. However, there are so many things holding this game back, that while my overall experience was still positive, I can't help but think about what this game could have been instead of what it is.

Let's start with my first gripe, which is the smallest. The game is generally very dense with content, and different things that you will encounter and have to deal with. However, once you get to Xen, the game suddenly becomes a walking simulator which spans several hours. I found myself becoming bored with all the walking and platforming that you must do, and especially sections like the incredibly long conveyor belt section went on way too long and more than overstayed their welcome. But thankfully, movement suddenly becomes a lot more fun once you get to Xen, which helps this "walking simulator" section a little, though it still tends to be tedious.

Secondly, some of the puzzles are too vague. There were several instances where I got stuck on a puzzle, wandering aimlessly for several minutes until I stumbled upon the solution. Granted, I never had to look up a guide, but there was a lot of the aforementioned aimless wandering until I figured out what the game wanted me to do. Some mechanics were very poorly explained to the player, if at all. Some more clarity would do the game wonders.

Thirdly, the crashing. I lost count of how many times the game would randomly crash for no reason, and near the beginning of the playthrough, it would wipe all my settings to default and force me to set them all over again. This is borderline unacceptable, especially for this game being nearly 4 years old with these issues not being fixed. It may mean having to fight Source Spaghetti, but again, no game should EVER have to deal with crashing during completely normal gameplay.

Now, fourthly, and most egregiously, the combat. Now, this game has lots of different weapons, and definitely encourages being creative when it comes to encounters what with the limited ammo. However, the enemy AI in this game is some of the worst I've ever seen. The soldiers are the worst offenders by far - their reaction times are quite literally instant, they can see you through walls, and they have nigh perfect aim. Most other enemies also have pseudo-aimbot or are heavily affected by RNG, making it essentially impossible to not get hit. Certain enemy AIs are also incredibly sporadic in how they move; particularly the dogs and female soldiers. They lack any sense of momentum and change speed / direction on a dime, making it impossible to predict them and completely breaking immersion. It's perfectly okay to have fast enemies, but again, they need to have believable momentum. Certain sections of the game make it feel like getting hit is the intention, or that it being impossible to not get hit is okay because there are health pickups scattered about. But a player should never be encouraged to take damage, and it should always be realistically possible to use skill to avoid damage, because otherwise it is quite literally unfair. Designing a combat system where the player is expected to become complacent with taking damage is incredibly silly. And keep in mind, these complaints aren't coming from either of the harder modes. These are things I gathered from playing on normal mode. If normal mode combat is unfair and undodgeable as is, how can I be expected to realistically complete - and especially have fun playing - the harder difficulties? The abundance of health pickups will only work as a band-aid fix up to a certain point.

And that's everything I've got to say, for now. Again, this game is definitely cool and worth playing, and the developers clearly cared about the product they were crafting. But there were so many things that I found wrong with the game, it was very frustrating at times. This game is almost 4 years old; with it being so flawed after so long, I would hate to have experienced it at launch. But I really hope this project isn't dead in the water; I would be over the moon if the developers could create more patches and continue to fix issues, and possibly even address some of my points. Because really, at the end of the day, video games are meant to be fun, and I simply didn't have fun with some elements of the game, and I'm probably not alone on that. There will still be people like me, who will experience this game for the first time after all these years; I don't see the harm in making it the best experience for them.

I think this game is worth playing. In hearing that, you may be confused as to why I would then deem the game "not recommended." Really, it's for attention. Obviously, if it was really between playing it and not playing it, you should play the game. Black Mesa is very cool, and at times it is definitely very fun. The developers clearly loved the original Half Life and you can feel their passion oozing from every corner. However, there are so many things holding this game back, that while my overall experience was still positive, I can't help but think about what this game could have been instead of what it is. Let's start with my first gripe, which is the smallest. The game is generally very dense with content, and different things that you will encounter and have to deal with. However, once you get to Xen, the game suddenly becomes a walking simulator which spans several hours. I found myself becoming bored with all the walking and platforming that you must do, and especially sections like the incredibly long conveyor belt section went on way too long and more than overstayed their welcome. But thankfully, movement suddenly becomes a lot more fun once you get to Xen, which helps this "walking simulator" section a little, though it still tends to be tedious. Secondly, some of the puzzles are too vague. There were [i] several [/i] instances where I got stuck on a puzzle, wandering aimlessly for several minutes until I stumbled upon the solution. Granted, I never had to look up a guide, but there was a lot of the aforementioned aimless wandering until I figured out what the game wanted me to do. Some mechanics were very poorly explained to the player, if at all. Some more clarity would do the game wonders. Thirdly, the crashing. I lost count of how many times the game would randomly crash for no reason, and near the beginning of the playthrough, it would wipe all my settings to default and force me to set them all over again. This is borderline unacceptable, especially for this game being nearly 4 years old with these issues not being fixed. It may mean having to fight Source Spaghetti, but again, no game should EVER have to deal with crashing during [i] completely normal gameplay. [/i] Now, fourthly, and most egregiously, the combat. Now, this game has lots of different weapons, and definitely encourages being creative when it comes to encounters what with the limited ammo. However, the enemy AI in this game is some of the worst I've ever seen. The soldiers are the worst offenders by far - their reaction times are quite literally instant, they can see you through walls, and they have nigh perfect aim. Most other enemies also have pseudo-aimbot or are heavily affected by RNG, making it essentially impossible to not get hit. Certain enemy AIs are also incredibly sporadic in how they move; particularly the dogs and female soldiers. They lack any sense of momentum and change speed / direction on a dime, making it impossible to predict them and completely breaking immersion. It's perfectly okay to have fast enemies, but again, they need to have believable momentum. Certain sections of the game make it feel like getting hit is the intention, or that it being impossible to not get hit is okay because there are health pickups scattered about. But a player should never be encouraged to take damage, and it should always be realistically possible to use skill to avoid damage, because otherwise it is quite literally unfair. Designing a combat system where the player is expected to become complacent with taking damage is incredibly silly. And keep in mind, these complaints aren't coming from either of the harder modes. These are things I gathered from playing on normal mode. If normal mode combat is unfair and undodgeable as is, how can I be expected to realistically complete - and especially have fun playing - the harder difficulties? The abundance of health pickups will only work as a band-aid fix up to a certain point. And that's everything I've got to say, for now. Again, this game is definitely cool and worth playing, and the developers clearly cared about the product they were crafting. But there were so many things that I found wrong with the game, it was very frustrating at times. This game is almost 4 years old; with it being so flawed after so long, I would hate to have experienced it at launch. But I really hope this project isn't dead in the water; I would be over the moon if the developers could create more patches and continue to fix issues, and possibly even address some of my points. Because really, at the end of the day, video games are meant to be fun, and I simply didn't have fun with some elements of the game, and I'm probably not alone on that. There will still be people like me, who will experience this game for the first time after all these years; I don't see the harm in making it the best experience for them.