Confession time, I have never played any of the Half-Life games. Shameful I know, and its made worse by the fact that I bought the Orange Box for pc years ago and they've just been sitting on steam gathering virtual dust. I now have a long weekend coming up and thought I might finally make a start on the franchise but I see that Black Mesa has been released and wondered if I should start with that? Would I get anything out of playing Black Mesa first, or should I wait till after Half-Life 2 and the episodes so the added cameos and injokes make more sense?

Maybe. You'll still miss the Xen section of the first game, if that's important to you. I haven't played Black Mesa but it can't be horribly different from the first game, can it?

Personally, I played Half-Life 2 long before I played the first game and I loved it. The two games aren't terribly related in terms of story beyond some names and a handful of references here and there. Hell, even some names (Kleiner, Vance, Breen) aren't even mentioned in Half-Life 1 despite those characters being integral to the plot of 2.

Yes, you can play 2 and still enjoy it greatly without having played 1. I don't necessarily think playing 1 or Black Mesa will add a ton of value to the second game.

EDIT: A word of warning: Half-Life 2 was incredibly impressive when it came out but a lot of people who play it now express an opinion of "eh, it was all right". It's held in such high regard because it was an incredible game for its time. It has definitely aged very, very well, but so many games have taken so much from it that it probably won't feel particularly special if it's your first time through.

Honestly, the first game's story isn't that great in a modern context. It was revolutionary for the time, but overall it's just a great FPS. The graphics on the new mod will be much more similar to HL2 obviously. You wouldn't "get" anything out of playing Black Mesa besides an arguably still fun to play FPS. If you're looking for the story to make more sense, you can just look up a couple videos for the three important parts that happen in the first game. What are some of your favorite FPS games as a reference? Personally, if you played Black Mesa, you will probably get burnt out because it's an old school, super long FPS so only go into that if you're prepared.

Hrmm, I don't normally really get into FPS games, at least not modern ones such as Halo and Call of Duty. For what its worth I loved both Portal games and I'm a big fan of classic point and click adventure games and most RPGs largely due to the puzzles or the story/atmosphere. I really want to try Half-Life 2 simply due to my love of the Portal franchise spilling over somewhat, but if Black Mesa is too clunky and dated I might give it a miss. Thanks guys!

EDIT: How long is the Xen portion of the game out of interest? Just curious as to what I would miss if I did try to play the game.

@spacetrogg said:

EDIT: How long is the Xen portion of the game out of interest? Just curious as to what I would miss if I did try to play the game.

Reasonably long. You'd basically be missing out on the entire end of the game.

I say drop the ten buck on Half-Life: Source and take a stab at it. But then I'm a pretty big Valve nerd.

Missing Xen isn't exactly a bad thing. That level sucked absolute ass.

Basically all you're missing is Ballsac Spider, Nihilanth and a brief "conversation".

@spacetrogg: After just finishing Black Mesa and being half way through Half-Life, I would say to just go with the original. Wait for a definitive release of Black Mesa with steam support. There is dialogue and an entire section of the game missing.

Also be ready for a different style of FPS with platforming. Everyone above is right, it feels a bit dated but without it we wouldn't be where we are now. I feel the same way about the entire HL series besides parts of HL2 episode 1 and 2. I think if they were to release another HL now, it would be a very different game.

Vinny alt account.

@ThePickle said:

Vinny alt account.

That a Bombcast joke?

@Snail said:

@ThePickle said:

Vinny alt account.

That a Bombcast joke?

You could say that. More of a general Vinny joke.

A lot of people got turned off by the Xen portion that I don't think playing Black Mesa as it is right now would be a bad thing. I'd go and beat Black Mesa, read about the ending to Half-Life, and then that will make more sense for HL2.

Theres a few injokes in Black Mesa, however theres also injokes and other references to HL1 that are in Half-Life 2.

@SomeDeliCook said:

A lot of people got turned off by the Xen portion that I don't think playing Black Mesa as it is right now would be a bad thing. I'd go and beat Black Mesa, read about the ending to Half-Life, and then that will make more sense for HL2.

Yah, I try to forget that whole third of half life. And I think Half Life 2 dose too.

If you never played Halflife. Halflife 2 would still make sense.

Wow. I would love to get that HL1 / 2 vibe for the first time once again.