Given how much time has ed since Gordon Freeman first rode the automated transit system into our hearts, I think we're all comfortable now with itting one unassailable truth: every single moment spent in the original version of Xen is a nightmare. Half-Life 2 is 20 years old. Valve has marked the occasion with a revised and tweaked version of the FPS. But historically, it's modders who have fixed the very worst part of the iconic shooter series, first in the superlative Black Mesa, and now in its spiritual successor. An unofficial remake of Half-Life Blue Shift is available to play right now, and it's just gotten a new chapter that makes Barney's excursion into the alien border world actually enjoyable.
Black Mesa Blue Shift is developed by HECU Collective, a team of modders working within the semi-eponymous 2012 FPS game, it's short, ugly, and aggravating – just like in Half-Life itself, the trip to Xen is easily Blue Shift's worst section. But HECU Collective has gone above and beyond in remaking the level. I expected it to be different, but this is something else.
One of the first problems with Xen is the bland brown-and-orange color palette. It's not just harsh on the eye – it makes navigation a chore, since it's hard to distinguish scenery from the critical path. HECU Collective's version of Focal Point fixes this completely. It's lustrous and vivid, and rather than the quasi-open areas that comprise the original, complete with miss-and-you-die platforming sections, in the remake, exploration is clear and straightforward.
But that's not to say it's boring. On the contrary, HECU Collective populates its version of Xen with more enemies, more background storytelling, and more set pieces and action. The new teleportation sequence at the start of the level looks terrific, and I love the way that Barney's clothes get dirtier and more ragged as you progress.
Spiritually, the remake's version of Focal Point feels like the complete opposite of the version in the original game. In the original Blue Shift, it feels like Gearbox is going there reluctantly, like it has to tip the hat to the alien world, but has little interest in the level outside of service to series lore.
In the remake, I get the sense that Xen is HECU Collective's showpiece. It's as if the team has tried to take the worst section of the original game and turn it into the best. What was once a fleeting detour through a dull semi-platformer is now a rich, vibrant, and well-paced showcase.
Naturally, you need to own Black Mesa to play it, but if you want to try the Blue Shift remake, including the newly released Focal Point, just new version of Half-Life 2 just released by Valve.
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