No need to kill Vortigaunts if they are not being mind-controlled, though. There are significantly more Alien Controllers and Vortigaunts in Xen world in Black Mesa, then there are in Half-Life and when together, they are a deadly combination.

The difference with their long-range attacks is that Bullsquids no longer spit a single projectile but a spray of acid projectiles, making it difficult to evade.Īlien Grunts sometimes appear without their armour and weapon in Xen and they rely on close range attack, but are easier to kill than fully-equipped Alien Grunts. Differences we noticed that stand out the most are with Bullsquids, Alien Grunts, Vortigaunts and Alien Controllers.īullsquids in Black Mesa use same attacks as in Half-Life – they will charge at player from close and mid-range. NPCs behave more or less same in both titles, though a bit smarter in Black Mesa – which is to be expected. This does not happen in Black Mesa, though. Depends on how well you remember Half-Life – I know it drove us nuts - but sometimes a projectile would stop mid-air if aimed too close to an object.

For example, enemies are much easier to spot in Half-Life, as the old engine has higher contrast in colours and simpler polygons.Īlso, sneaking around corners to partially spot and hit an enemy might have worked in Half-Life, but will not work in Black Mesa. Yes, we know we said this isn’t a graphics comparison, but if it affects gameplay, it should be mentioned. Obviously there are differences in physics and graphics. Black Mesa came out in March, and five months later in the spirit of ‘better late than never’, we would like to share what we think are the most prominent gameplay differences, and what to expect from Black Mesa when comparing to Half-Life.Īctually, there’s quite a number of differences, so we'll just go over the most significant ones related to gameplay that we noticed straight out.

Black mesa gluon gun