I may revisit it in the near future with everything else covered since I don't own Separate Ways dlc. In my defense, I went full blown insanity with Capcom this year. So I really got my hands full, I'm already preparing some future Capcom reviews. Some of these will be quite interesting to discuss. For the present, here are the actual reviews to two great video games.
Black Mesa (2020)
Black Mesa is a remake of the original Half-Life. The team behind what started as a mod turned into an actual video game may surprise some people. Valve released Half-Life: Source, which deeply disappointed the team. They ended up putting a little more than a decade's work in fully recreating the game.
It did take some notable time for the ending portions in Xen to get added. I can tell you those were worth the wait. This is incredibly faithful to the original game. I would even dare to say since Valve supported the game. One of the absolutely finest Half-Life games ever made!!! I am really not kidding, everything about this game is very good.
Yes it has a few technical issues I will discuss. I strongly felt those weren't game breaking. My game did crash a few times with a particular save failed to load up. Although I quickly figured a way around that problem. They somehow made the entire experience way more interesting than it ever was. The music in all honestly very decent, I loved majority of the songs.
They recreated Half-Life 1 enemies like soldiers as well as assassins very well. Yes parts of this game can be challenging at times. There's more puzzles this time around, I actually enjoyed doing. This really made Gordon Freeman stand out in a huge way. There's virtually the same amount of levels as in the original game.
Similar to MediEvil Remake, another remake I deeply enjoyed despite it's criticisms. The weapons are very fun to use with ammo being a little hard to find at times. Don't worry you surprisingly get more help in a few ways especially later on. Black Mesa even made the other scientists more interesting too. They really took advantage of the Source engine.
Yes I seen pieces of Half-Life: Source, this really blew that away. Even Valve knew it, you can buy this for twenty bucks on Steam. Thankfully I got it with a few other games and dlcs for cheap. Thanks to my brother since those were all my birthday presents he gave me. Now I got to talk about the notable technical issues I had.
Probably the biggest one I didn't even understand. There's a particular section you jump on moving platforms with each section having three portals. If you attempt to load up your save on those moving platforms. You simply fall in then get crushed to death. It's almost like you reset those moving platforms among loading up your save.
As mentioned earlier, I am not sure what happened. I had a save not work at all, I was able to load up the previous save before it. I got to say the game itself looks absolutely amazing. The visuals especially in Xen were mind blowing. Why did it take this long for me to play this? Black Mesa doesn't alter much story wise.
You can sorta tell they made a few changes to help the player out a bit. Even knowing that, still expect no mercy late into it. Some areas are filled with a lot of enemies making it difficult to survive. I will confess some weapon sounds I do prefer from the original game, they aren't bad though. It's hard to compete with the shotgun or an magnum fired off sound effect.
I also greatly appreciate the major changes they done. A lot of them made the game stand out in ways I never thought was remotely possible. In near every aspect, it deeply surpasses the original game. I still recommend playing the original version before playing this. Which may help you to a degree but also at the same time test how well you adapt.
Black Mesa is essentially an indie video game remake. I haven't played many indie remakes myself. I will say this currently holding the title of the best of them. Valve does care for it's community despite not releasing much actual games in recent years. Hey Gabe Newell do something!!! Anyway this game was worth a lot of hours to fully playthrough.
Xen isn't as difficult as it was in the original game. It's a vastly different experience among the last few levels. Even the final boss fight was notably different too. I actually prefer the newer version myself. Black Mesa nailed so much it's truly inspiring stuff. This game renewed my interest in the franchise. In all honestly, you really got to check this one out.
Resident Evil 4 Remake (2023)
There's no hiding it, my choice for Game of the Year. I didn't play many 2023 games this year to clarify. I will say this Resident Evil 4 Remake was well worth the wait to play. I know a lot of people are curious to know my thoughts on this right? This might even come as a huge surprise. As someone who played through the original RE4 so many times.
This newer version is even better than that!!! They made the smaller stuff we noticed. Somehow they made those stand out more than ever before. I'll give a good example what I'm talking about. They made Ashely's portion in the campaign more interesting. Originally you deal with cultists and armaduras in a short section.
Ashley can only use lanterns by throwing em at cultists. Virtually helpless against armaduras, she does technically take a few hits in the original game. They reduce it to instant death by armaduras. Which better fits the theme of the game, I surprisingly liked it. You now use an lantern to stun lock armaduras in place.
There's a puzzle during this section as well, I do like. It deeply reminded me of a particular puzzle in MediEvil. Both are a similar theme puzzle involving lights. The mine cart section is more like a crazier Indiana Jones style. You also can go back to some previous areas. Most games are present, a small spoiler.
A particular boss U-3 got moved into Separate Ways dlc. I still can directly compare most of them in this review. There's a lot of notable changes to the story that ends up being better. They changed most boss fights to a small degree with Salazar getting the biggest change. Yes even more so than Saddler the game's final boss.
Originally, Salazar would be this huge mounted monster with two huge tentacles. Now Salazar fighting you completely by himself. They made the other Verdugo creature an boss in Separate Ways dlc. Personally I hated the remaining one got wasted like that in the original game. Somehow, they even made Salazar way more annoying too.
He's a huge creature that moves around spitting stuff at you. He also has an instant death but it's trickier to avoid. He also had a similar move in the original game. You mostly attack his one huge eye to force Salazar's body to get exposed, in the original version. Salazar simply does peek a boo, I see you thing. This already made him a better boss fight, still annoying to deal with though.
Verdugo ended up being my favorite boss fight in the main campaign. You don't have to stay on top of buttons to press as nearly as much anymore. They somehow made the boss fight more interesting than it originally was. Instead of knocking off large tanks then waiting for him to get close. In order to fire at those tanks causing em to explode.
We get switches that causes liquid nitrogen shower down in a small radius within the area. Both versions you are on the end, you really wanna survive. They also made the insects more annoying too. They now can camouflage as well as swim in water. There's a lot of them in the game too. They are more aggressive than they were in the original game.
They don't use as many chainsaw enemies but still enough to keep you on the edge at times. They made Garradors stand out more in this version. I also really need to say this for the record. I really wasn't expecting this to be a vastly different game from the original version. This is virtually like RE2 Remake to the original version level stuff.
In nearly every possible way, they greatly improved the game over the original version. Story wise, some moments happens sooner with others happening later. I also need to mention this unlike Black Mesa, this doesn't have the same amount of levels. The original game had nineteen levels excluding the five levels from Separate Ways.
There's sixteen levels excluding the seven levels from Separate Ways dlc. Despite that, you may be very interested to hear this. The newer version is notably a longer game. They added in a lot of puzzles, I deeply appreciate that. Originally any puzzle section in the original game was easy stuff to keep the pace going.
The original game not speed running it can take a few hours. The remake felt more like double or slightly more that length to me. Length is a funny thing in gaming. It's difficult to make long games enjoyable for so many hours. Somehow, this remake does just that incredibly well. This game is a true master piece!!!
A lot of these new puzzles turned out to be quite interesting. I also liked you get keychains for your case that holds your inventory. It actually gets better, these keychains differ some aspects to better your chances. For example, Leon with a rocket launcher keychain gives you 20% off either rocket launchers. We gotta talk about the merchant, you knew this was coming.
I always loved the character in the original game, still my favorite merchant in the series. Somehow, I even enjoyed this new version of the character nearly as much. Both has some of my absolute favorite lines from supporting characters ever!!! Yes this game is virtually like an third person version of Resident Evil Village.
Oh wait they actually added that in Resident Evil Village lol. There's a lot of strong similarities between the two games, I highly recommend both of them. They made Luis and Ashley stand out more in this version. I actually prefer these versions over their original versions no joke. Ashley could be so annoying in the original game at times.
They greatly made this a truly impressive game. I am not going to hide it anymore. As much I really love RE2 Remake, I got to come clean. This is currently my favorites among the remake series. This greatly made up for the disappointment that was RE3 Remake. I personally don't want them remaking RE5 for a lot of reasons.
I'm more in favor of remaking Resident Evil Code: Veronica, RE6, Chronicles series, Outbreak series and RE0 respectively. All of those plus Dino Crisis remake yes please Capcom!!! I also love you can swap out outfits at anytime, which you can't do in the original game. Everything about this game, I can honestly say for me.
This is my new favorite Resident Evil game, this is so damn good!!! I do love the surprises like an classic Salazar statute actually in the game. They also made treasures more interesting to collect. They even made the shooting gallery mini game stand out more. Originally you simply have these gun doors. Now make way for elevators that takes you down to the shooting gallery.
There isn't much that stays the same in this version. In fact, I ended up preferring the changes in the remake version more. You can't go in thinking "Oh well it's just like the original game, I'll have it beat in no time." You really can't go in with that here. I also loved among the dlcs, you have the original soundtrack too.
Yes I know the same team responsible for RE2 Remake made this. I actually don't have much to criticize either, it's that damn good!!!. The closest thing is more of something Capcom done. They made throw away purchases that helps those that buy ems cheat the weapon's upgrade system. I will explain, you can buy a set amount of these tickets.
Among giving em to the merchant, regardless how leveled up your weapons are. You can instantly get the exclusive upgrade being the most expensive upgrade free. For some weapons, it does sorta break some of the challenge out the game. Please don't do that, I prefer to work for my victories. Every enemies is very faithful to the original versions.
Just seeing all the major changes alone is enough reason to play this. In all honestly, this helped made Leon awesome again. I know a lot of Resident Evil fans doesn't like the character. I always respected Leon for years since original RE2 wise. This game is truly amazing stuff, it set a new standard. I don't think any game going to be able to surpass it in my book.
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