Black Mesa: Getaway - Dunkelschwamm
Here is a beautiful map with a really well done intro sequence. According to the map description it is abandoned which is a shame since what has been completed is pretty good and well polished.
Author: Vector-T (now known as I-ka)
Date of release: 2019
Maps in package: 1
Map review of Black Mesa: Getaway
(originally posted on SCMapDB)
by dunkelschwamm | April 10, 2023 | 6990 characters
Black Mesa Getaway is a seemingly abandoned map by I-ka, or VectorT. To save time off the wall of the text that's about to unravel, I will begin with my summarized thoughts: Black Mesa Getaway, while unfinished, offers a slice of tense, simple, beautiful gameplay that utilizes many decisions which I principally disagree with in ways which I subjectively agree with. If you're uninterested in deeper analysis, I'll see you at the bottom paragraph.
Let's unpack that: first, Black Mesa Getaway is unfinished. Indeed, Black Mesa Getaway is a map which concludes in a broken map change. That said, what we have inbetween is a large scale (medium playtime) experience which offers variety, progression, and some satisfying playing with ideas. As you move through the complex, the environment begins with ventilation shafts and storage areas which are beautiful, but boring in concept. Corpses and atmosphere invite investigation, and as the map continues players are thrust through the larger research labs and glimpse samples of xen environments. There's even a beautifully rendered ichthyosaur aquarium with a tunnel and cages. Yes, Black Mesa Getaway is unfinished. However, in its unfinished state, it renders as a complete experience which tells a thorough story.
Black Mesa Getaway offers a slice of tense, simple gameplay. Throughout the map weapons do not respawn, ammo does not respawn, and depending on your class selection if another player is grabbing every gun they see you're stuck with either a 9mm handgun or a crowbar/medkit. The 9mm isn't bad, but the scientist class has its perks (more on that later). The map caters to survival gameplay with ambushes which don't rely on overwhelming the players with fast-kill scenarios, but rather overwhelming situations which force players to make tactical position decisions. For example: enter a cafeteria and HECU rappel from the ceiling; you run for a door, but it blows open and HECU are behind it; you run for the exit but are taking many bullets in the back because you didn't commit to that choice earlier; you can't heal your injuries now because both players picked guard for firepower. The map is a series of choices which result in interesting gameplay outcomes, and once the player is in a corner they're thinking back to a corner they cut earlier that got them there. It's very well paced and very well done, and with very simple encounters.
But I didn't just say "tense, simple gameplay" at the top. I also said "beautiful". And it is. The map is really good looking, packed with great details which bring the environment to life without distracting from objectives or points of interest. When you walk into an office hallway, glass windows line the walls and the interior is filled with desks and junk- but as soon as you enter the hallway you have a sightline through one of those windows to a health charge station across from you. As soon as you jump and recharge, you turn around and see a corpse with a weapon to pilfer. All the while, the corpse in the office is delivering environmental storytelling accented by moody lighting. Each area has a different feeling brought on by a combination of colored lights and textures- from the grey basements to the blue labs to the yellow aquarium.
What do I mean when I say that Black Mesa Getaway utilizes many decisions which I principally disagree with in ways which I subjectively agree with? Well, Black Mesa Getaway heavily punishes players who play outside of survival mode with weapon removal, which I generally have found to add nothing when seen in many other maps. There's a class system which seems to serve to deprive players of their basic functions more than give them unique offerings. It creates scarcity of resources in ways I often feel suck in Sven Co-op. The whole map is Black Mesa themed- yuck. However, when put together, the map is absolutely greater than the sum of its parts. The scarcity, lack of respawning weapons, and even the class system come together to create what I would consider a mostly cohesive experience.
Let's hit some critiques, though: First of all, while the class system works just fine, it is still worse than it could be. The scientist offers a checkpoint-opening ability which is *awesome* in the map with how it is presented, but lacks repeated use. After halfway through the map, this aspect of the scientist is useless and their best quality becomes having a weapon which requires no ammo and a medkit. The class system still could be more than just depriving players of basic functions so they can feel like privileges when granted to other players, which is also undermined quickly when, say, a scientist picks up a 9mm or a guard picks up a crowbar. Also, I was under the impression early on that death would be a lot more of an inconvenience when things began. Survival mode seems broken, but when we learned that all that a death means is a frustrating stripping of weapons, after we lost our first batch of weapons to some deaths we started playing much sloppier. Even still, we were two players playing on the selected hard mode and I found the map to be pretty easy overall. We died twice apiece: once due to underestimating an explosive, once due to an elevator smashing mishap (totally my fault), and two when we both got ambushed and underestimated the threat instead of falling back. It's overall a pretty easy map, and would probably be more tense with survival actually togglable. There was a button for it in the game lobby, but my buddy tried pressing it and it seemed to make not difference. Trying to initialize a vote didn't work.
So, overall, where are we left? The map is quite good, too bad it isn't finished, too bad it didn't go harder on the class system and difficulty in some places. But what we have, for an unfinished product, is great to play. I recommend it for any server rotation, or if you want to play with friends. Don't expect a big challenge, but do expect a very well-rounded experience overall.
Pros:
- It look very good
- Some very good pacing, and combat encounters play out in very interesting and dynamic and fun ways
- Lots of varied scenarios for a map that takes place in a Black Mesa complex
- The way forward is often intuitive, but satisfying to figure out regardless
- Really lovely production value like the beginning cutscene
- Nice to include things like checkpoints, difficulty select
Cons:
- Class selection is implemented somewhat lamely
- Scientist class's special checkpoint ability is useful one time
- For how interesting the combat encounters are, I found the overall map pretty easy considering the suggested player count and our playing on hard with two players
- Disappointing conclusion, as it is unfinished
- Survival mode broken?
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