Black Mesa: Blue Shift – Impressions

I decided to try the Black Mesa: Blue Shift mod for Black Mesa to sate my current Half-life addiction. While it’s more of the fantastic Half-life universe and does satisfy some of the cravings, it has a couple of issues. Blue Shift is a remake of the expansion Blue Shift made by Gearbox for Half-life. I never played the expansion back in the day, so I don’t know much about it, but from what I have read, the mod is supposed to be a pretty faithful recreation. Otherwise, you might think; what would be the point? Anyway, much like Black Mesa, which itself is a remake of Half-life, the quality of the work here is substantial, and matches the same level of dedication. However, while the work by itself is impressive, I can’t say I enjoyed the gameplay all the way through. I should also mention that the mod is not finished. Only the four first chapters are complete, while missing the final four.

Barney “Supercop” Calhoun
Blue Shift runs parallel with Black Mesa (Half-life), but with you playing as Barney, one of the security guards of the facility, instead of a fancy scientist in theoretical physics. The game starts very similarly, with you hitching a tram ride like your pal Gordon Freeman (who you actually can spot in the beginning). Shortly after reaching your place of work, the resonance cascade happens which turns the whole installation upside down, quite literally in some places.

From here on out, it’s a quest for survival, and finding a way out of this headcrab infested dimensional hellhole. It won’t be easy, as the road to chapter 4 will be full of numerous zombies, aliens and special-ops units bent on popping your skull (and in some cases eating it). There are segments of pause, where you have scripted moments with other lucky survivors. These sections expand on the story, and are a welcomed break. However, it does fall short compared to Black Mesa. The reason for this is that these characters must survive for the story (scripting) to work. It seems to mean they have been made immortal. This was not the case in Black Mesa, as you could even kill the other survivors yourself. I find this loss of dynamic randomness sad, since it was fun to find other people to try to keep them alive. It also felt more like a sandbox, as anything that could happen to you, could happen to them.

Otherwise, I found the narration adequate, because Black Mesa (the facility) is very interesting to explore. Especially doing so outside of Gordon, as something more common as a guard. Beyond that, it’s very similar in style (so far, at least), and it paints Barney Calhoun just as capable as Freeman. Which leads me to gameplay, and a smaller lore inconsistency.

Shotgunning to victory
Unexpectedly, the gameplay is identical to Black Mesa, which is not a bad thing per se. If you expect an evolution of the gameplay, it’s a bit of a dud, though. This does not bother me, since it plays how I was expecting it to play. There is of course the minor lore clash with having Barney being just as badass as our favorite scientist, considering Gordon’s messiah status in the legends. I excuse this by telling myself that Half-life is a shooter after all, but the inconsistency is there, and hard not to take notice of.

What made the gameplay somewhat less to me and showed me some issues with Blue Shift, compared to Black Mesa, is the map design. The first area that had me running around the labs was great, but soon thereafter, you are forced deep down into the sewers and some kind of factory area – where everything is chronically brown, and the puzzles eternal. When you finally make it out, you get to explore cool emergency tunnels, and I think the gameplay here is the best. Creepy, darkly lit passages, filled with terrifying sounds of monsters and whatever else kind of horror that lurks in the shadows. This part also has you going up to the surface for a quick visit to fight your first special-ops soldiers. A good time indeed!

Sadly, it’s not something that lasts for long. Next, you get to meet the immortal companions, and the location shifts to a top-surface area in the form of a gigantic train yard. Here it’s all out war against the clean-up soldiers, in large open spaces with endless flanking, compared to the atmospheric and claustrophobic areas of the underground tunnels. I just didn’t enjoy this kind of combat to the same extent, mostly because of the ranges – where the revolver is the only viable weapon on these vast distances. You also have to fight a vehicle and assault a machine gun nest. It’s also here where it ends, as the train yard is the final chapter of the mod.

Conclusion
Seeing as the mod is free if you own Black Mesa, I can’t complain too much. Also, it feels wrong blaming the remake devs for something Gearbox initially designed, with that meaning the locations and scripting. I had some fun with Blue Shift, and I will probably give it a go again when the final chapters are out. However, I didn’t enjoy myself as I did with Black Mesa, if you don’t count the Xen segment *yeesh*.

Do I recommend it? Sure, if you are looking for more Black Mesa style combat, in a more “official” capacity. There is another remake in the making, too. It’s called Operation: Black Mesa, which supposedly will remake both Blue Shift and Opposing Force in the Half-life 2 engine. However, if you check out their forums, it looks like the project have regrettably stagnated. So, who knows if that will ever come out – much like Half-life 3.

Thanks for reading.

/Thomas