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From a gameplay standpoint I'd love vending machines (replicators). If Shock 2 is considered canon...
Well they're retconning SS1's events, so maybe they're fine with retconning SS2.
Black Mesa, a remake of Half-Life that was by fans, for profit, and didn't retcon anything or change core mechanics.
uhh, are we talking about the same game? excluding the storyline, they've changed pretty much everything. it's basically HL2 in Black Mesa.
The big thing is if you have like a +cyberspace abilities or something else for cyberspace/e-space. How do you prevent shodan from becoming an anti-climactic boss fight without making her nearly impossible if you don't specialize in hacking?
I have watched a LP very recently, as I wanted to see the depth of the rework, and to my surprise, found out that (as mentioned), pretty much the only things that have been preserved is the story (and related events), and general locations. apart from that, it's HL2 running the HL1 story - the new devs have used the HL2 engine to mold the orig game into their own version of it. mechanics like firefights, collisions, AIs etc, that's all pretty much pure HL2. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but I really don't understand how anyone can see it as "true to the original". because it isn't - it looks like, feels like, and plays like HL2, just at a different place.
again, Black Mesa is exactly what it is - HL2 running the HL1 story.
What core mechanics were changed in Black Mesa? Same weapons, same locations, same enemies, same health/HEV stations. Only thing I can think of is some of the weapon caps being lowered and duckjumping being automatic, as well as more voice acting and some cuts from unpopular chapters (vent maze in We've Got Hostiles, rail maze in On A Rail). But none of that is nearly as extreme as introducing RPG elements into SS1.
Considering that HL2 runs on an upgraded version of the HL1 engine, and you play the same guy, in the same suit, with (almost) the same crowbar, that's not really much of a damning statement. HL2 was so successful as a sequel precisely because they made it feel so much like its predecessor.
Having a different engine is not the same thing as having different gameplay. Besides physics (which was down to Havok as well), gameplay was much the same - shoot guys, shoot more guys, shoot some aliens, hear exposition, solve a puzzle to progress. New bits added were the long driving sections, which I didn't like, and the Gravity Gun, which despite its popularity I also didn't like owing to its unwieldy nature.