10 years ago, Half-Life was released. And it was good. Great story, great action, and some of the best puzzles we’ve seen in a shooter. Not to mention some of the biggest pants-wetting moments in the history of games. And although it was good, Valve tried to make it better with Half-Life: Source. Sadly, all they really did was replace the engine with the newly-created Source engine and shovel it out for the masses to purchase. When they did, they found what was basically Half-Life with better physics. This didn’t sit very well with some of the fans out there, so they decided to create the true successor to one of the greatest games of all time: Black Mesa.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, Black Mesa is a full-conversion mod for Half-Life 2 that completely remakes the setting of Half-Life in full, source-charged 3-D glory. Though the project is only about halfway done, it should be out some time in 2009. This trailer, released earlier this week, is nothing short of fucking awesome. We get to see each of the levels that have been completed so far: The introduction stage, “Unforseen Consequences”, “Blast Pit”, “Office Complex”, “Power Up”, and “Surface Tension”. The graphics look awesome, and the sound design is great so far. I, being a huge fan of everything Half-Life, can’t wait for this mod to finally come out. And yes, the Hydra made me shit my pants, too.

More information on Black Mesa can be found at their homepage. Get the HD version of the trailer here.