Remember this? The trailer for Black Mesa, the new Half-Life: Source mod/complete overhaul (not made by Valve, unlike the old one), certainly blew us away, creating a lot of anticipation amongst us and you alike. Well, The Age's Screen Play section has a two-part interview up with the team behind it, which comes in handy as we haven't really heard from them through the official website since.

Project leader Carlos Montero is the man we're hearing from, who lets us know things are coming along nicely:

"The entire first half and then some of the game is completely playable, actually. There are still a few gaps and holes in the latter portion, but more and more comes online every day."

As for how it plays, he says "excellent!":

"I regularly play through chapters and have been doing so for a long while, so to see parts of the game go from nothing to final has been incredible. I pay attention to a lot of the little things and try to make sure we're creating a polished experience as we go. I'm consistently amazed at our progress, though - every time I get to sit down and see a new area that has come together I get that feeling of nostalgia and excitement and I fall in love with the project all over again. It's those same feelings that I know will make our game a memorable experience for others as well."

Montero says they're as dedicated to a balance between the nostalgia factor for the original Half-Life and new enhancements and surprises, one component of which is the completely rewritten Artificial Intelligence (AI), thanks only in part to the Source engine.

As for the Xen levels (not so liked by many members of the community), those are under wraps; he says this is "a necessity to make sure that players have the sense of awe and excitement when they play the game for themselves the first time, and get to experience it on their own." Montero also divulges those levels will be altered to "minimize the things [that] were hindrances to gameplay and maximize the elements that played really well." They're always aiming to remain "true" to the source (pun semi-intentional), however.

"So when is it coming!", we hear you ask. This year, the project lead says, assuming all goes according to plan:

"I won't say anything more specific than "Late 2009". Like any developer, we want to squeeze as much awesome in as possible before we ship, but we won't withhold it any longer than absolutely necessary once it's done."