Some introductory bullshit
[/center]So I've recently played the Hazard Course remake for Black Mesa, and I have to say, it's a quite good piece of work. But for those who don't know: Hazard Course was an optional tutorial for the original Half-Life and this mod I'm talking about here recreates that training course within Black Mesa (2012 version). But not only does Hazard Course recreate the original tutorial, it also expands the whole experience, via additional locations, dialogues and even a mini plot! Every single map is filled with little detail that adds to the atmosphere and new assets make the mod more diversed.
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How does it look and sound
[/center]The voiceactors I'm pretty sure are those who worked for Black Mesa, I also recognised some of the BM developers among creators of Hazard Course. I like the writing in it. Scientists commenting on your progres throughout the course is a nice touch. Sometimes they serve as a comic relief, sometimes they give us useful information. And speaking of which, I have to mention our main 'coach' in the HC, the holographic assistance. Her voice is good for a computer program and I like the Gina Cross model:
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Tho her HEV suit looks more Half-Life-ish than the one we are using, but that's just nitpicking :p
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By the way, I also like that animation when you pick up the suit:
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The... PLOT?
[/center]Surprisingly, for a short mod that mainly serves as a tutorial for the actuall game, Hazard Course has some 'plot', or rather writing. We start off in a tram to the training facility. Thankfully the ride is not as long as the "Inbound" chapter :) When we get on place, we can walk around, we get to see our ol' friend, hear some guards talking about HECU marines and so on, and so long.
As I mentioned before, most of the time we're assisted by a hologram and a couple of scientists commenting on our progres (and Gordon's MIT education). I like how at some parts they will react on our unusuall actions. For example, right after we put our HEV on, if we jump into the sever bellow, we'll get a whole lecture on how we shouldn't be worried about the 'waste water'. A nice touch it is.
There's also the 'plot' going around the weapons training. Apparently Gordon was accidentaly assigned for it. I used to assume that everyone in the HEV team has to go through it, since they've been send to Xen, but oh well.
[center]Some other bullshit
[/center]The rest of the training is pretty much what we all remember from the original H-L. So we get to jump over and duck under pipes, use the long-jump module, but I feel like the last part of it was a bit overdone. We get a set of rooms that simulates a lab disaster, in which we have to deal with all kinds of hazardous situations, such as flames and explosions, coolant leak and even radioactive wastes. While in the original game all of it was more of a short obstacle course, here it's more complex, like a whole lab on its own, constructed for one purpose: go get destroyed over and over againg. I wonder who cleans all the mess after each trainee gets through that course :p
If I was a young scientist on a training course like this, where everything around me is exploding, electrified or radioactive, I would just sit in the corner and pray for help.
Overall, the mod works well, I didn't have any problems with it, other than the long map loads and at one point I got stucked and couldn't continue training; when I had to push the blue crate into a pit to get to the other side, I received some damage and the crate flought all the way to the point when I couldn't reach it anymore. But I'm sure that's just some issue with the Source engine itself. I would complain about the outdoor areas aswell. As rare they are, they also feel empty. Other than that, I was having a good fun with this mod. The last really nice touch was the timer at the end, which showed how fast you got through the entire training:
I will do my best and try to finish it as fast as I can ;)
Hazard Course also comes with its own menu 3D background, which is cool:
And I think that's all I've got to say about the Black Mesa: Hazard Course. It's a very good mod and I'm looking forward to see more like this one in the near future (BM: Insecurity!!!) :D My final verdict is high 9/10. And here's some other screenshots I took while playing it:
