If you’re tired of waiting for Half Life 3, your appetite for more Freeman might be sated by some new screenshots from the fan-made Half Life total conversion mod, Black Mesa. Yesterday, a Facebook challenge was issued by the Black Mesa team to reach 20,000 likes on their page, a feat that was accomplished earlier today. As a result, they released eight new screenshots from the game, along with a note reading:
With your help we have now kicked off our social-media campaign towards our first release! You can expect more updates from us in the near future. Today we are sharing this fantastic batch of screenshots that really gives you the first glimpse into the gameplay of Black Mesa. This is just the beginning. We have more in store for you in the near future!
On the game’s website, you can check out other images of the character designs, weapons, concept art, level designs, and music, including a side-to-side comparison of how the game has been converted. An overview of the game reads that their plan is to re-create the game using Source, “to its fullest potential in terms of art detail, level sizes and code features.” It is also quick to note that it’s not a port—things are being made from the ground up. “The idea is to remake the storyline used in Half Life into a new polished Source Engine version with new models, maps, soundtrack, voice acting and textures.”
The eight newly released screenshots is a breathe of life to a project that has slowly been going to the way of Half Life 3, with eight years in development a number and dwindling updates. A teaser trailer was released in 2005, a full-length trailer didn’t come out until 2008– at which time it was given a release date of “late 2009”. Since then, fans have joked that they would “eat their hat” if it got released before Half Life 3. Check out the official trailer and the new screenshots below.
