Black Mesa: Source

Black Mesa (original known as Black Mesa: Source) is a third-party mod (and standalone game ) created by Crowbar Collective on an experimental, hybrid version of the Source Engine.

The developer's intention for the game was for it to be a total remake of Valve's award-winning Half-Life. The game was in development for over eight years, and finally saw the light of day on September 12, 2012. After being released as a mod, it was then released on Steam Greenlight where it was quickly accepted onto Steam, a third party game distribution software.

Plot
The player steps in to the role of Gordon Freeman, a theoretical physicist working in a mundane position in the Anomalous Materials Department of the Black Mesa Research Facility. On what would otherwise be an uneventful day, your standard-issue Hazard Suit saves your life as routine experiment triggers a Resonance Cascade and rips a hole in the fabric of reality. A multitude of hostile alien species flood through from the Borderworld of Xen as this average day turns in to Hell on Earth throughout the Black Mesa Research Facility. On-site military is dispatched in the form of the murderous Marine Corps. Hazardous Environment Combat Unit; a cleanup team sent to silence the facility. Freeman slips through their grasp time and time again, battling alien forces and using the older industrial sectors of Black Mesa to evade detection and fight his way to the Lambda Complex on the opposite side of the facility in hopes of solving the catastrophe he played a part in creating.

The original Half-Life story is split into 19 chapters. Now, the game is finally finished after 16 years, all of the chapters are now finished and polished:


 * Black Mesa Inbound
 * Anomalous Materials
 * Unforeseen Consequences
 * Office Complex
 * We've Got Hostiles
 * Blast Pit
 * Power Up
 * On a Rail
 * Apprehension
 * Residue Processing
 * Questionable Ethics
 * Surface Tension
 * Forget About Freeman!
 * Lambda Core
 * Xen
 * Gonarch's Lair
 * Interloper
 * Nihilanth
 * End Game

Production
Development of Black Mesa began in 2004 where Carlos Montero, also known as cman2k, had the idea of completely rebuilding Half-Life with updated voice acting, graphics, and gameplay. Gathering up a team of developers now known as Crowbar Collective, Montero released a trailer teasing the game in 2005, and a longer more updated on in 2008 where it was said to be released a year later. The date was eventually moved to September 12, 2012, where it was finally released on Moddb and won mod of the year. While it was successfully greenlit on Steam, it has yet to be officially released by Valve due to the fact Crowbar Collective hasn't finished a few remaining missions.

Differences between the original
See: Comparisons

Characters

 * Gordon Freeman
 * The G-Man
 * Barney Calhoun
 * Eli Vance
 * Wallace Breen
 * Isaac Kleiner

Allies (Human)

 * Black Mesa Scientists
 * Black Mesa Security Guards

Enemies (Human)

 * Black Operative Combat Unit
 * Hazardous Environment Combat Unit

Enemies (Alien)

 * Headcrab
 * Headcrab Zombie
 * Vortigaunts
 * Alien Grunt
 * Alien Controller
 * Barnacle
 * Houndeye
 * Bullsquid
 * Gargantua
 * Gonarch
 * Ichthyosaur
 * Snark
 * Xenian Tentacle
 * Xenian Ceiling Turret
 * Xenian Tree

Weapons

 * Crowbar
 * Glock-17
 * .357 Magnum
 * H&K MP5
 * Franchi SPAS-12
 * Black Mesa Crossbow
 * Rocket Propelled Grenade
 * Tau Cannon
 * Gluon Gun
 * Hivehand
 * Grenade
 * Satchel Charge
 * Tripmine
 * Snark
 * M2 Browning
 * BGM-71 TOW
 * Mortars