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FEATURES While billed as a "digitally remastered" upgrade of the original ''Half-Life'', ''HL:S'' does not feature either the High Definition Pack that was introduced with '''' or any new models whatsoever apart from a few physics objects taken from ''Half-Life 2''. Instead, all of the original models, levels, and everything else from the game have been transported directly into the Source engine without much modification. Even models which are available in a graphically updated form in ''Half-Life 2'' (such as the Vortigaunt , the Headcrab , and the Ichthyosaur ) remain in the old forms from 1998. Therefore, it has been characterized as a 'rip-off' in the eyes of many. However, ''HL:S'' does make use of new Source engine technologies for lighting and water. Although Source includes a physics engine, most objects in ''HL:S'' cannot be manipulated in the same way as they can be in ''HL2''. The loading and menu screens have been redesigned to be similar to the ones in ''HL2'', with the backgrounds featuring several scenes from various portions of the game (namely, ''Anomalous Materials'', ''Xen'', ''Blast Pit'', and ''Surface Tension''). Indeed, the only difference between the ''HL:S'' menus and the ''HL2'' menus is that the title of the former doesn't have a "2" on the end of it. In this way, ''Half-Life: Source'' is only referred to as such through Steam; for all intents and purposes, and throughout the game, it is only ever called ''Half-Life''. DIFFERENCES In the ''Unforeseen Consequences'' chapter of the original game, it is possible to destroy a panel with the crowbar to get behind a security door and return to the incoming Black Mesa rail platform. Normally, the player can get back onto the main game's path after this, but in ''Half-Life: Source'' the door remains locked and the player must load a recent save to continue with the game. The crossbow has been redesigned so (like in ''Half-Life 2'') it pins enemies to walls if they are close enough. ''Half-Life 2'' AI differs from ''Half-Life'' AI and this is demonstrated in the behaviour of the NPCs in the game. In particular, they are more alert to the presence of the player and take cover when injured. This is particularly inappropriate for the zombies, which previously and as one would expect merely shambled onwards toward the player; indeed, the basic problem is that some monsters lack a ranged attack and so the only sensible tactic for them is to close to the player. Any behaviour which diverts from this makes no sense - and this unfortunately is exactly what happens for monsters such as the zombie, hound-eye and headcrab. AI scripting is noticeably less effective; some pre-scripted sequences don't behave as tightly, as well timed and co-ordinated, as they do in the original ''Half-Life''. Headcrab jumping appears less accurate; headcrabs will now jump when they cannot actually hit the player due to the very edge of an obstacle being in the way. The crowbar animates and behaves like the ''Half-Life 2'' crowbar (very fast movement) rather than the somewhat slower ''Half-Life'' crowbar. It may also be similar to the ''Half-Life 2'' crowbar is that it will fail to connect to monsters which are actually touching the player (rather than being very close by). The magnum is significantly weaker, requiring two or three shots to kill a Marine; in the original, the magnum was a one-shot kill weapon. In HL2, the magnum was originally a one-shot kill weapon by this proved very tiresome in deathmatch HL2. As a result, the magnum was nerfed. This weakening was however done improperly by being carried over not only to single player HL2, but also as we see here, into the HL1 port! BUGS Occasionally, when clicking "save", the game will in fact simply quit without saving. BLACK MESA MOD The mod for ''Half-Life 2'', Black Mesa (formerly ''Black Mesa: Source'', with the name being changed at the request of Valve) aims to recreate ''Half-Life'' in the Source engine with much more modification, with the use of updated models for everything and more graphically intensive sections. |
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