Improved Xen is a modification for Black Mesa game.
For a small project like this it's greatly polished, there's a few really minor things that could be done but it's otherwise a great mod
I was very impressed by this add on. Clearly a lot of work has been put into meeting the standards of the original Black Mesa game. No corners were cut, no short cuts taken. This is the real deal when it comes to a retail quality version of Xen.
Ok, so to me this is a solid nine. Because it has things to love and other things to loath about it.
So first, things to love about this work: well, to me I just love how this whole project keeps a great fidelity to the Hl1 original Xen levels, I truly enjoy them all but Interlooper and the Nilianth Chamber. Is indeed so well recreated that most critics about the original Xen levels could be transposed here too.
Aesthetically the whole textures and environments just look amazing and the same aura of being in an outer world is just there all the time.
Now about the turndowns... I think the thing I just hated most in this mod was the ammo supply was just freakin terrible, the ammo was very, very scarce, and I don't know, but as far as I remember in HL1 Xen levels it wasn't like that at all. So having this worst ammo supply makes the gameplay hectic, cumbersome, and just very difficult, in some parts like the Interlooper where the enemies are just at very close range combat is terribly annoying, as You die many times before You can actually defeat all the Xenian Grunts, also The Controllers are a pain in the *** all the time and the scarce ammo makes the combat against those bugs even worse!
Also, the last level where You Fight the Nilhiant is just almost impossible to beat without cheating because ammo is scarce and this final boss takes just tons of ammo to beat, ammo that You don't have at the final moments of the game, I had to use the god code and that just was a total anticlimax.
In conclusion, this is a mod that You must play, and especially if you are a Half-Life purist, this is the perfect mod for You as is the one that keeps the closest resemblance to HL1 in the Black Mesa Xen levels. And well, in comparison I'd say the BM game really made a great reinterpretation of Xen but despite that, it was clear that just get rid of the original Xen layouts and for some gamers, that's just a sacrilege, so for all of them here's possibly what all of You were looking for.