Last updated : 7 January 2001 (Australian Time) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Magus' Half-Life Guide v1.8 --------------------------------------------------------------------- _ _ _ __ | | | | | |/ _| | |__| | __ _| | |_ | __ |/ _` | | _| | | | | (_| | | | |_| |_|\__,_|_|_| | | (_)/ _| | | _| |_ ___ | | | | _/ _ \ | |____| | || __/ |______|_|_| \___| Legal Stuff This entire FAQ is copyright Magus 2000-01. The only sites that can use this without asking are: http://www.gamefaqs.com http://kengc.alphalink.com.au http://vgstrategies.about.com http://jump.to/magus http://home.planetinternet.be/~twuyts http://www.ludus.it http://www.thefragland.co.uk http://www.timsvault.com http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/memphis/1501 http://www.ludus.it http://www.gamingplanet.com http://www.the-spoiler.com/ http://faqdomain.cjb.net http://www.twnp.org http://www.geocities.com/smokill_2000 http://dlh.net http://www.thegamer.com http://www.neoseeker.com If you want to use it on your site, please e-mail me at shinra9@yahoo.com The latest version can always be found from http://www.gamefaqs.com or http://vgstrategies.about.com Note, that if you've asked me for permission but don't see your site on the list above, don't worry about it, as it's a real pain to update each time everyone asks me to use this guide on their site. So as long as you've asked me, yes, you can put it up on your site. The sites above are the ones that don't have to ask to use them. Half-Life is copyright Sierra/Valve 1998. Please do not leech any of this to make your own FAQ out of it. Unless you have MY permission DO NOT take anything at all from this guide. Don't edit, don't do anything to it and submit it without e-mailing me with permission first. You can print it out, but only for personal use, no selling this! Summing it up, do anything for your own personal benefit (apart from reading it) without asking me, AND YOU'LL BURN IN HELL!!!!! ---====================--- To get in touch, e-mail me at shinra9@yahoo.com My ICQ# is 34601221 My webpage is http://www.dcmagus.com My MSN contact is dcmagus@hotmail.com, but any email sent to that address will most likely be ignored, as I don't check that account My AIM name is dcmagus Be warned that I'm only on the net twice a week, don't expect replies from me which are ten minutes after you've sent the mail. Here's some guidelines about sending me mail: 1.Make sure you put the title of the game you're asking about in the subject. I've made a fair few FAQs, and it's a bit hard to work things out sometimes. 2.If it's an FAQ, make sure that it's not already in the guide!!! If it is, I'll do my best to ignore it. If it's not in there, make sure that the details you provide are, well, DETAILED, and not sketchy. Examples are "Hi need to know how to get past this part, i'm in a room and stuck", I need to know where you are, etc. 3.Ask nicely. So far, most people have, but if your mail goes along the lines of "Hi, need code for B2, reply within the next hour otherwise I'll bomb you" will not get you anywhere. That's it. Sorry for being a pain, but it had to be said. ---====================--- Version History v0.5-About three quarters of the walkthrough up, and weapons. v1.0-Finished Walkthrough, plus tips. v1.1-Weapon Strategies, FAQ. v1.3-FAQ. v1.4-FAQs. v1.41-Copyright Notice changed. v1.5-Tip. v1.51-Copyright Notice changed. v1.52-Copyright Notice changed. v1.53-Seems like a waste of time, but I like ASCII art headings =) v1.54-Copyright Notice changed. v1.55-Copyright Notice changed. v1.56-Copyright changed. v1.57-Copyright Notice changed. v1.58-Email guidelines. Some people out there are getting annoying. v1.6-DOOBA DAN ROCKS!!! v1.61-Copyright updated. v1.7-New email addy. v1.8-Added a small but useful tip. 1)Introduction 2)Weapons 3)Walkthrough 4)Tips 5)Cheats 6)FAQ 7)Acknowledgements --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1)Introduction --------------------------------------------------------------------- After playing Quake to death, I really needed something to brighten up my FPS world. Unreal just couldn't do it for me, and I had to resort to what I thought was a inferior shooter, Quake II, until this game came out. Half-Life places you in the body of Gordon Freeman, a scientist who's working at the Black Mesa Research Facility. During one of your experiments, something goes terribly wrong. Now, Black Mesa has become a breeding ground for aliens, and an extermination target of the army. It's up to you to stop them in this great FPS. The graphics are top notch, sound is awesome, and the gameplay/storyline just absolutely brilliant. This game contains probably the best storyline ever for a FPS, which is usually about shoot as many as you can. You'll have to take a more subtle approach with Half-Life. So sit back and enjoy! --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2)Weapons --------------------------------------------------------------------- There are about 15 weapons in Half-Life. The way you select them is by hitting 1,2,3,4, or 5, and then hitting the same key again until you reach the one you want. Then hit fire and that weapon will be in your hand. *Note* Always aim for the head! It deals WAY more damage. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Crowbar The most basic weapon. Used to kill weak enemies, and smash objects in your path. Works underwater. The crowbar is the basic weapon, such as the chainsaw in Doom, the axe in Quake, the Wrench in System Shock 2, etc. It's the best weapon to take out little things with, like headcrabs and possibly the mutated scientists. Just keep on moving, and you can probably achieved 4 hits in about a second. For multiplayer situations, there's really not much use to this... unless you can sneak up behind someone and smash their head in. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Handgun A basic gun. Holds 15 to a clip, and the secondary fire shoots at a faster rate. Works underwater. It's great, not only for the beginning but anywhere. It should be the weapon of choice for most situations, before acquiring the shotgun and the MP5. The secondary function can take most things out quite quickly if you aim for the head. Just jump in there, empty the clip, and if they're not dead, reload and go again. But once you get other, better weapons, it should be a "last resort". Multiplayer situations are okay to use this as well, especially for the beginning. If you can scab this weapon, find the enemy as fast as you can (preferably without being seen) and fill their head full of bullets. Really, it's also a "last resort". --------------------------------------------------------------------- Magnum --------------------------------------------------------------------- Your old-fashioned six shooter, which deals a hell of a punch. The secondary function in Multiplayer is a zoom function. The pumped up version of the Handgun. It deals a hell of a lot more damage, but it can only hold six bullets and takes ages to reload. Don't bother using on headcrabs, save it for badder enemies. It's a very useful weapon for multiplayer, as the snipe mode has a handy little dot to guide you, but it makes a hell of a noise, so be careful. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 --------------------------------------------------------------------- MP5 Your basic machinegun, holds 50 to a clip. Runs through the ammo quite quickly. Shoots grenades with it's secondary function. This is the weapon that you should stick to with for a default weapon. In my opinion, it's the best weapon, as it's got a real fast fire rate, and the secondary fire (grenade) is accurate and deadly too. In multiplayer, this is the stuff. Jump into a battle with this, and aim for the head. Soon they'll be gone. Even better, chuck a grenade in the midst of it. The perfect weapon. Almost. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Shotgun --------------------------------------------------------------------- Holds 8 bullets. Slow, but deadly. With the secondary function, turns into a double shotgun. It's a great weapon for those easy enemies, and the marines plus those female assasins and the mutated scientists are great to take out using these, of course, using the double shotgun function. Multiplayer wise, it's not that effective. Damage is even from all areas, but still, it's great to rush up behind someone and empty your clip on them. Watch out for long reload times. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Crossbow --------------------------------------------------------------------- A one-hit kill weapon (for most enemies), which holds 5 arrows. When in the secondary mode, turns into a very helpful sniper crossbow. Works underwater. Excellent for not giving away your cover. Be careful of using it in close range, as it is explosive. Make sure that you're well hidden when sniping. It's a damn good weapon in multiplayer. While it only holds 5, and takes a long time to reload, you can easily combat this problem by using the secondary fire to get the shots in quick. Aim for the head for an instant kill. Be careful when sniping though, they might sneak up right behind you. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 --------------------------------------------------------------------- RPG The famous rocket launcher. Handy in the fact that with the secondary mode on, you can guide the rocket by using the mouse. Works underwater. It's pretty powerful, even though extremely slow to reload. Using the laser guidance means you can hide around corners and kill whatever's around there without dying. Same with multiplayer. Be careful, the laser sighting will give you away, so turn it off, unless you want to control it. Just keep the dot on whatever you want to hit, and you'll get it. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Gauss Gun --------------------------------------------------------------------- Emits radiation beams, which kind of act as Quake II's Rail Gun. When charged up with the secondary function, it can rip through anyhthing but don't let it overheat...(like that hilarious scene with the policemanand scientist..."Don't let it overheat!" "Overheat?... AARGH!"). It's quite useful, but only in the charge up mode. Even though it will overheat, it's powerful, and I took out a chopper in one (charged) shot with this baby. In multiplayer, this brings a new feature, the Gauss Jump. Charge it up for five seconds or more, then shoot the ground for a huge jump. It's a deadly and quick way to get rid of enemies. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Egon Gun --------------------------------------------------------------------- Uses either radiation or some sort of electric charge to dispose of your enemies, creating a strong vortex. Secondary fire acts as a "homing beam". The most powerful weapon in any mode. No reload time, heaps of power. Enough said. Multiplayer wise, it's still a killer. Hold it for a couple of seconds and your enemy is dead. You can shoot as far as you want as well. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hornet Gun --------------------------------------------------------------------- Shoots heat-seeking hornets. In secondary mode this is turned off. Works underwater. A weak weapon, but thanks to unlimited ammo, it's great to hide around a corner with and shoot. It's very fast, and with the heat-seeking turned off, you can easily pummel an opponent to death. You can also check out areas before venturing forth. Shoot a few hornets, and if they go somewhere, someone's there, waiting for you. Great for taking out those people who like hiding behind boxes. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tripmine Trip mine, set it on a wall, preferably around a corner, and if you touch it...Works underwater. Not very useful in single player mode. But in multiplayer, it's great. Place them low around corners, surround your "base" with them, but be warned that you can shoot them to take them out. And that's what your opponent will be doing. Though if you set one up around a corner, you can shoot it just as they come around... --------------------------------------------------------------------- Satchel --------------------------------------------------------------------- Throw it, run to a safe place, then detonate it. Deals a helluva lot of damage. In secondary mode, you can lay another one. Works underwater. Brilliant for taking out enemies. You can also get chased, and drop one just as they round that corner... In multiplayer, their use is basically the same. But if you are very sneaky, you can drop one off at the place where it respawns, and if someone comes...KA-BOOM. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hand Grenade --------------------------------------------------------------------- Throw it. The longer you hold, the earlier it goes off. Works underwater. Long range explosives. Use them to the same effect as the satchel, but remember that they can go off in your hand. Use these in multiplyater to full effect. Lob them into camps, lob them behind you, drop them on the ground when someone is chasing, and you'll survive. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Snark --------------------------------------------------------------------- A creature which you use to attack other things. Throw lots of these to annoy the hell out of your enemies. They blow up after 20 seconds or so, so keep that in mind. It's a great distraction, so you can get that Egon gun ready! --------------------------------------------------------------------- I suggest making the handgun your primary weapon in the earlier stages of the game, until you get the machine gun. The machine gun is the most versatile weapon in the game due to it's rapid fire rate and it's ability to throw grenades. Save the shotgun for the moments when you're trying to take out a sentry gun, or you're certain that something lies ahead, and that you can take it out. Whenever you move into a new room and spot an enemy, the crossbow in either mode is a great choice. When in those situations against the marines, grenades are a perfect weapon. The satchels are great for tanks and the last boss, tripmines for when you're being chased, and the various level 4 weapons for those big, bad guys. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 3)Walkthrough --------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction Here, you'll just be shown around the Black Mesa facility. It's long, but lets you take a good look at your surroundings. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Anomalous Materials --------------------------------------------------------------------- Wait until the soldier comes to you, then get out. Head inside, and you'll reach the front desk where a guy is trying to fix a computer. You can press the button on the desk to create chaos...if you talk to any of the scientists they will say you're late, so head to the locker room, which you'll get to if you follow the green stripe. Inside, go left to the room with the suits. Press the button on the console and go and collect your suit. Check your locker "Freeman" on the way out, and head back to the main room. This time, follow the blue stripe to a door. The guard will let you in only if you have your HEV suit. Head in, and then take the elevators down to the next level. Move through this area, and you'll reach the test chamber. Two scientists are there, they'll give you a briefing before you can enter. Once inside, climb the ladder, then wait for the scientists to finish talking. The box should open, allowing you to press the switch. Head back down, and to the other side of the thingy in the middle. A cage will rise soon, push the cart into the thingy in the middle. Now sit back and watch. Something strange will happen, and you'll witness scenes of alien life...and back to reality. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Unforeseen Consequences --------------------------------------------------------------------- Make your way out. Speak with the people, and take extreme caution when walking near the lasers and overturned cupboards, they have a tendency to blow up. On the way to the elevator, there's a crowbar. Use it for defense and smash you way through. Climb the ladders in the shaft, then make your way back to the front desk. Near the desk there's a vent on the bottom of the wall, smash it and climb in. Make your way to the other side where there's an overturned block, which leads to another vent. Get though here via the air duct, then you'll be walking down a hallway again. You'll find a dead guard, take his handgun. Head to the end of this area, and you'll probably see a man in black walking around. He can't be killed, so ignore him. There'll be a grate blocking your way, and a monster on the other side. Kill it, then jump down into the sewer. Make your way to the valve, and use it. Swim up through the other hole to make it on the other side. In the next area, use the switch located above the platform, then quickly run down and descend. Headcrabs will start falling down, so dodge them or keep on swinging that crowbar. Next, there'll be a steel walkway. It'll break. Don't do a leap of faith, unless you never want to see daylight again, instead, jump on the pipes to get across. Break the vent and move through. You'll go through a door, to a sewer with lots of crates. Watch out for the tongue thingys hanging down, and make your way to the other side by using the crates. Push them into the water and jump. Head up the ladder and out of the door. Take the door here, and then find the elevator. Hop in. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Office Complex --------------------------------------------------------------------- Break the vent near the sparks, and wait a few moments until the head crabs appear. Then climb through. Inside, head right, and break the vent there. Drop down. Navigate your way around until you reach the room with the power switch. Turn it off, turn your flashlight on and make your way back to the door near the sparks. Climb through the window, then head to the mass of boxes. Smash through them. You'll reach a room with a cop and an alien behind him, waste the alien quick. Then he'll open the gate, and allow you to get some ammo and health. Head to the room which is full of water, then climb in through a window. Jump form object to object without touching the water, and then turn the lights off. Smash the vent and climb through. Be careful of the fan... Use the crates to make your way up to the ladder, and climb through the vent. Be careful before jumping out, a sentry gun lies to the right of you. Two ways to get rid of it are to run in and use the on/off switch beneath it, or to fight it with your shotgun (duck behind the crates etc.) Climb the stairs, and head to the door with EXIT above it. Smack open the boarded up door with the crowbar, then make your way to the big freezer by using the lever. Inside, walk to the left and use the red switch. The platform above will start moving around. Head back to near the entrance and climb the ladder. Climb through the vents until you reach the part where the platform is moving. Jump on to it and into the vent on the other side. Climb through the shaft and head to the left. Go upstairs and into the shaft. There's an ladder on the far wall, save before trying to jump. Make it to the top, there'll be a scientist hanging by his fingers. He'll die, but not by your fault. Jump on top of the elevator, smash the floor until you find a panel. Jump through. --------------------------------------------------------------------- We've Got Hostiles --------------------------------------------------------------------- This area is annoying due to the fact that there are a large number of sentry guns, trip wires and trip mines. Sentry guns are best dealt with a double-barrelled shotgun, but preferably not up close. Trip wires will set off these sentry guns, so be very careful. Be even more careful around the blue beams, they're trip mines. Touch it, you die. Be within 3 metres of it when it goes off, you die. Take out any aliens/marines in an area with these trip wires, as they can set them off as well. Creep past everything, blowing things up if necessary and jump down. Next is a annoying area with sentry guns, a shaft which leads nowhere, and a wet floor. Be careful when you're going around the corner, you can easily slide into the shaft and die. Take out the sentry guns with the shotgun or grenades, then move forward. Use the ladders to escape. In the next room, you'll meet the marines. There, they kill off a scientist. While they're shooting, take the opportunity to take them out. I think you grab a MP5 from them. If using grenades, time them perfectly, otherwise the guys will run away. Take the elevator out of here, then out the fire escape door, and onto the bridge/catwalk. Walk up the conveyor belt. Take out the sentry guns below. There's a sentry gun behind one of the doors. Climb the stairs, then sit back and watch the marines vs the aliens for a while. Don't forget to join in! The marines are a tough enemy, they attack strategically, and dodge attacks, grenades, etc. Plus, they're good at throwing grenades, so watch out! Walk up to the top of the room, head down the corridoor. Take out the marines before going down. Take the elevator up and get ready for one of the coolest parts of the game. Outside, a plane will drop marines and more marines and more marines. If you cheat or are REALLY good, you can take out the plane which drops them. Either way, make your way to the bunker in the middle, and go down. Take cover. Climb through the vents, and guess what? The marines drop down from here too. Sigh. Make your way to the bottom, CAREFULLY past the fan blades and take the vent in the far right corner to get out. Now you can open the door to the silo. Head out. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Blast Pit --------------------------------------------------------------------- Make your way through to the elevator. Go up to the room nearby, and turn it on. Now head down on the elevator. There'll be a little train thingy there, jump on it and hit the USE key. Press up to accelerate, down to decelerate. Go at full speed to avoid the aliens. You'll hit a barrier and fly. Quickly get out of the slime and onto the platform. Climb up the ladder, and makle your way inside the pipe. In the next room, walk on top of the pipes, and jump onto the platform. Use the elevator to exit. When out of the elevator, there'll be an alien surrounded by explosive barrels. Be careful not to shoot the barrels, or you'll have a tough jump across. Get through the locked doors. Before you enter the test fire place, take out any crates you can see. It'll make life easier. Here's a dilemma. There's these Tentacles in the way of your escape. And the Test Fire switch doesn't work...so you'll have to power it up. The way to get past the tentacle is the walk, or crouch past him. Head to the second level from the bottom. Smack the door open with your crowbar, then RUN the hell out of here, as the tentacles will hear and start going nuts. Walk across the bridge, go down the halls. Smash open the sewer grate, and the turn left at the fork. Climb the ladder. Climb down below the big fan, the rush back as fast as you can to the ladder,climb back up. Wait until the fan is spinning at full blast. Look up. See the boarded up roof? You're gonna break it. Either chuck a grenade up there (it'll reach, thanks to the fan), or jump in and smash it yourself. Either way is fine. Once up there, smash the vent and climb through. It's squishy, so quickly make your way through and get to the Oxygen and Fuel room. Turn on both switches. They're on when the fluid flows. Exit via the ladder and get back to the tentacle. Now you just need to turn the power on. Creep past the tentacle to the bottom. Smash open the door, and run. Jump over the broken walkway, then go down the flooded corridoor. Just in case, you may want to use all of the crates in the room ahead to make a bridge across the puddle, as when you turn the power on, it'll become electrified. Watch out for the tongues, then go inside the elevator. Once it stops, jump out onto the ladder nearby. Otherwise you'll fall to your death. Climb down. Walk around on the pipes to get to the platform. Make your way to the power control. Here, you'll use horizontal transport machines to make your way through. Be careful of the one on the second level though, it's out of control. You've got to climb to the top thing and activate both switches on both sides. Leave once you've turned the power on, climb back up the ladder and into the flooded hall. Now's the time where you'll want to have placed out those boxes to get across. If not, climb on the big box near the end, and walk carefully along the edge. Head back to the Test Fire control panel and turn it on. You'll get damaged a bit, but the Tentacles die. Jump down, and grab the magnum. Jump down further, swim under the pipe/the missing pipe, and surface. Walk to the pipes, and to the end. You'll have to do a bit of pipe- switching every now and then. Head onto the pipe at the end, with the grate. Be careful, use the wheel to get across. A part of the pipe will be a different colour, it's gonna drop. So jump back before you break your back. Jump down, grab the health kits and move on. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Power Up --------------------------------------------------------------------- Don't waste a second: you need all the time you have. Rush past the monster and head into the tunnel to the left. The marines serve as a good distraction. Head to the left, past the pipe, and then down the ladder, and down the corridoor, and up until you hit the red door. Open it with a wheel, then climb the tunnel to the top. Head across to the other side, and then go left, heading towards the power generator. Once you see an elevator, which should be after the bunker sort area, and then drop a satchel on the elevator. Make the elevator head down, then detonate the satchel. You'll set off the mines down there. Bring the elevator back up, then go down again. Take the stairs, all the way to the bottom, full off water. Go over to the power generator, then take out the box in the way. Go back up, and to the fan control room. Turn the non-operational fan on, and then get back up to the place with the monster. But head into the door marked Track Control on top of all those boxes and ladders. Jump out the window, and run for your life down the wide tunnel on the left. Make sure he's chasing. Go to the wall at the end, the far right hand corner, and whack the switch. The monster gets zapped, and you leave through the door. Go back to the open area with the train thingy, then drive it onto the disc. Go into Track Control, hit the switch, and then the disc will spin. Head back onto the train, and go full speed into the barrier. --------------------------------------------------------------------- On A Rail --------------------------------------------------------------------- Stop to listen to what the guard has to say. Then he'll let you pass. Be careful, don't touch the water or the rails, as they will both do damage to you. Drive past the first switch, and when you reach the second one, shoot it to go straight forward. Slow down, and jump off at the stairs and the monster. Be careful, a sentry gun lies behind the crates so it's best to be prepared or to lob a grenade. Hit the switch and a hook, which was blocking your way before, will move. Jump back on the train and head forward. Shoot the switch again, and you'll be taken back towards the hook which was previously in your way. Shoot the switch, so this time you go left instead of forward. There'll be a gate, get off and hit the switch. Go to the end, and you'll have to get off. Combat the marines, then find the boarded up door. Inside is a guard who will help you. Around the next corner is some sort of artillery, which is up against the wall and will start shooting at you if it sees you. It's no use hiding behind crates, so RUN when you turn the corner, jump next to it, and grenade the person who is inside. Before heading into the blast doors, there's health on the things above it. When you enter, take out the mines with a grenade/satchel, and move on. There'll be a train at the bottom of the stairs, but this time the ride is less than easy. There's debris falling from the roof and red trip wires which will trigger off the sentry guns. Along the way, there'll be a rocket launcher shooting your way. The way I killed it was I ducked, and lobbed a couple of grenades in the marine's direction. You can also get off and go into blazing with your MP5. The train will stop at a gate, press the button to get through. You'll stop to fight at the next platform, jump over the blocks to your left to get to a switch. Raise the gate, then head back onto the train. In the next room, next to the gate, will be a swarm of marines. Get behind the machine gun and use it to your advantage. Take out the mounted gun thingy with a grenade, then hit the switch next to it. There'll be more than a few trip mines ahead, so you may want to just jump off the train and let it detonate them all, as the next gate isn't too far. Duck behind the controls to avoid getting hit by all those projectiles. There'll be a switch soon, shoot it so that you can keep on going straight, and then head down the ladder at the next gate. There's a sentry trip wire though. There's a whole bunch of sentry guns, either head into the little side room and take them out with grenades, or simply use the double barelled shotgun. At the end of the next tunnel is a mounted gun, and a tonne of marines. Plus, there's a machine gunner. So take him out first, then make your way to the mounted gun by dodging, ducking and weaving. Kill the guy operating the mounted gun and the marines are yours. There'll be more marines in the launch area, a safe bet is to sneak in with a crossbow. Kill the and enter the door. There's a tricky part involving red lasers and a lot of explosives, take care there. Use the box if you need to. Press the launch button in the control panel and there you go. Leave, though the red lasers are still there, and then go through the doors which just opened. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Apprehension --------------------------------------------------------------------- The train, simply, does not stop. Go down with it, and swim over to the locked up barrels. Open the lock and they will float up, creating stepping stones. Go up there and make your way across. Walk around, and when it seems like you have nowhere to go, dive in the water and find the exit. It'll slope, and you'll probably lose some health. Don't worry though. In the room with the tongue monsters and the cage hanging from the middle of the ceiling, move around climb up the ladder. A scientist will be there. Go onto the cage, switch to the crossbow and fall. Use the crossbow to take that thing out. If you're too scared to go under water,use grenades or satchels and piff them in. Get out by smashing the cage, and getting to the wheel which turns the grate. Make your way to the door you didn't go into before, and then go up the stairs. The platforms in the next area will break sometimes, so be careful. When you hit the grate, you can either jump past the wire, or jump in the water and swim around. Be careful, you may lose health either way to the wire or the monster swimming around. In the next area, turn the pistons on, and jump across to the other side with them. Otherwise, climb down, and go over to the other side. In the corner should be a ladder, use the boxes to get up there. Kill all of the things in the room with the shelves, and the scientist will ramble about nothing in the cold room. So, when you reach the cold room, run right, left and right again. You'll reach a ladder, go down. Now you'll talk to a guard, but he'll die...and in come the, um, foxy, female assasins. We'll just call them assasins. They're fast, and annoying. There are three of them, and a good bet is to use your crossbow to snipe them. You can also lay satchels out and lure them to it. Another option is to go one-on-one with a double barrelled shotgun, but it's not recommended. Go up the ramp, use the wheel to open surface access. Now save. Enter the door, and there's a darkened room. If you go in...BOOM! Lights out for you, you just got captured by marines. As far as I know, you can't stop this happening, and it's annoying as you lose all your weapons. You'll be dragged somewhere, and it's to a trash compactor!!! Climb up the boxes before you get flattened. Find the crowbar on the other side, smash the grate below and escape. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Residue Processing --------------------------------------------------------------------- Head through the outdoors, to a big tower. Use the wheel and climb the tower. Exit via the pipe. Now climb up the edge of the vat thing, clmimb across either by the pieces of crap in the middle or along the edges. Leave via the pipe, and do this until you get to a room full of vats, and "plungers". Jump from plunger to plunger to get across. Take the pipe out, then soon you'll fall into a processing area. Keep going through, and ducking under everything. Soon, you'll come across some conveyor belts and a control room to the side. Flick all three of them up, then find the real control room and hit the switch. Quickly run up the belts and under the plunger thingys. You'll have to get through an area where these things are trying to squash you. Study the pattern and venture on. Soon you'll reach a part where you'll have to drop from conveyor belt to conveyor belt. You'll eventually reach a part with two belts next to each other, one leads to the start and one leads the way out. Take the one on the left, but be warned, some idiot placed trip mines inside the tunnels. You can shoot the first one, but the second one is around a corner. Drop a grenade or satchel on the belt, and let it go around before detonating it. It should take about six seconds to reach the point. Then follow your path to freedom! --------------------------------------------------------------------- Questionable Ethics --------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, not yet. You'll have to contend with marines and big, fearsome enemies here so watch out. Head straight down the stairs, and into the room with a big baddie in a glass chamber and a control switch. Hit the switch, turn around and blow the thing to hell with grenades, preferably the ones with your MP5. You'll come across a room with a "headcrab farm" in the middle, don't bother wasting ammo on them. Run into the control room, and hit the switch to electrify them. You can also do this for the next room but you'll have to lure them out. There's more than a few trip mines, especially in the marine v monster rooms. Let them take each other out, then you clean up. You'll reach an area where you have to turn on laser beams, there are four. Be careful of the one that is blocked, as it will blow up due to some dumd guard who can't use a Gauss gun properly. Head to the middle area which says Do Not Obstruct Shield. Naturally, you want to, so push the crate right up against the wall, and so when the shield comes down it will hit it. Then flick the switch and watch the laser eat the wall. Exit via the big hole, and then take the pipes on your way down. You'll find some scientists, tell them to stay put and then turn the cutting thingy off. Then grab the scientists and make your way back to the main lobby where they'll open the door for you. Be careful, on the way ou there's a marine and a few sentry guns, outside on the roof. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Surface Tension --------------------------------------------------------------------- Run to the bridge with the chopper and the mounted gun. Dive into the water and climb the tower. Use the switch and it will make the gates underneath the damn/bridge accessible. Watch our for the thing in the water though. And the helicopter, marines and mounted gun. If you really want you can take all of them out (including the helicopter, use the Gauss gun if you really want some fun). Then swim underneath the dam to the other side. Use the red wheel to turn open a gate. Climb the ladder there and walk through the pipes. Then climb up the ladder on the wall of the next building, creep around the edge and climb up the next ladder. There'll be another tentacle monster, rush in and out if you want to pick up his stuff. Next area is a mine field. Sheesh. You can shoot the ground in front of you if you want to detonate the mines. Head to the red wheel, use it and cilmb down the ladder in the storm drain. Here's an awesome part. Climbing around on a cliff face, with narrow ledges, enemies, and if you fall, you're dead. Snipe the sentry gun, and any marines you can see. Then carefully, carefully make your way down. Another chopper will be around, take it out or ignore it. Carefully walk across the breaking bridge. Next, you'll reach a structure which slopes upwards. In the alcove above is a marine. Climb up the ladder, taking lots of care, then find the steps on the wall and make your way up, and up again to the pipes. Next is a nerve-wrecking part. You'll climb a ladder to face millions of marines. So chuck a grenade, then pop back in and head around to the other ladder, and continue this process to kill them. The tank is taken out with rockets, or you can sneak behind it and roll some satchels/grenades under there. There's another tank after you open the gate, it's hard to kill but use the same tactics. In the hole in the fence, there's supplies and marines below. The next area introduces the alien spacecraft, and those big, bad monsters have found their way outside. Be cautious when walking around this map, as up in the windows, there are snipers. Take them out with grenades from your MP5. There's also lots of mines too. Go around the building, under the barbed wire and take out the barrels. This should stop the power and allow you to climb to the roof. Find the hole in the roof and drop down onto the crates. Now this part is tricky. DO NOT TOUCH THE TRIP MINES unless you want to run around in the Black Mesa Crater Facility. Touch one and the whole damn place goes ka-boom. Use the crates to help you, but don't touch the trip wires with the crates. Reach the first door, and go in, make you way out through the window and take care of the enemies before they set off the mines. Go to the control room, shoot the crate on the elevator next to the room and make the elevator go up. Then take it down, and jump into the middle. Take that elevator down and get out of that place. Be careful of the air-raids, but the aliens will get killed by them. The tank here is easy to get past, but it helps to take it out. Run to the right of the building, and enter it. Find the guard and save him from the marines. He'll open up a room full of goodies. Climb out the window on the seond level, and walk along the edge until you can jump onto those green boxes. Get across and then climb the ladder to the destroyed building. Below are many marines, kill them, then find a way to get across the debris. Oh, another chopper. Make your way to the right. There'll be a gun, use it to kill off anyone around, then blast open those big doors just to the left of your vision. There'll be plenty of the big baddies around that area, so use your MP5 and grenades. You'll soon reach a machine gun, use it to clear out the swarm of aliens which will appear. The best way to do it is to duck and keep swinging it from side to side. This will take about five minutes 'cause they keep on coming. See that crater thingy? It's a bounce pad, bounce up to the roof, and peek over the edge to watch a marine vs enemy match. Make sure they don't see you, and do the cleaning up. Head into the vent in the corner after they're finished. You may come across some small, crawly thingys in the vent called snarks. They're hard to kill, but they detonate within 20 seconds. Who cares, just head through. The next area will have you under attack by the marines, and they've used an extremely cool effect where they're shooting through the vents. You can drop down and kill them, or back up a bit, and drop snarks down there to kill them Exit by the door on the right. If you take too long, it'll become blocked. Use the car lift thing to get you up there, and jump out via the big hole. Jump behind the gun, blow open the door and anything behind it. In the next area, there'll be a broken section of the platform, but you can get across it-with two jumps. Get up to the roof via the crater and then open the pipe. Watch out, a marine will throw a satchel in there, quickly back up. Then head out, kill him and go upstairs to reach a guard. You need him to open some doors, so head to the bottom, open that door, open the next door, then you'll be back out where you were before. Get him to open the door in the control room. Beware, there's a HUGE monster after you, so once you see him, run in the opposite direction without stopping. Come to a crater and then jump up to the pool. Climb up to the platform with the radio and controls. There's a map, you've gotta position the the mark of where the lines cross right near the entrance. Then wait for the monster to come, and bomb him with the middle button. Once he's dead, take out these targets: The tower to your northeast The right wall of the "castle". You know, next to the moat. The grating inside the "castle" Now head over to the "castle". --------------------------------------------------------------------- Forget About Freeman --------------------------------------------------------------------- The ceiling falls very raipdly in this area. So head through the area dodging the falling pieces and climb up the debris to get through. Exit stage left. Go right at the fork, and use the wheel. Be careful of the sentry guns around here. Head down the West tunnel, then to the extreme left. Be careful of the monster in the water. Head underneath the cogs and come out on the other side. Take out the marines and a sentry gun. Be careful of the tank and marines as you head towards the elevator. Use the tank to make a hole in the door. Then hurry up and kill all of the enemies. Watch out for that laser gun to your left. Take it out with grenades or your rocket launcher. There's also big baddies, use a hornet gun to full effect. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Lambda Core --------------------------------------------------------------------- Take the elevator down, using the switch to turn it on. Watch out, those sneaky female assasins are back. Three times. Meaning there's three of them. Resort to camping and sniping, that works the best. If you can place yourself in a corner, and are quick to react, you'll get the job done easy. Kill them, and the scientist will open a door for you. Head to the right, and pick up the weapon there. Then take the elevator down to the coolant area. Find each of the pump rooms and the switches located inside them to turn the pumps on. Head to the auxiliary reactor now, jump into the water. Get through the tunnel, and use both switches on both sides of the core. Climb the ladders and leave. Make your way up the elevator shaft and get off at the upper level. Here, you can turn on valves, which blow high pressured steam about. It'll hurt you and the enemies. Time-wasting but fun. Here you'll also meet the teleporters, step into the green one to appear on the orange one. That's how they work, remember that. Get inside Core Level B. This is a nightmare. You have to use the teleporters to get up onto revolving platforms. Time it wrong and you fall. What were those scientists thinking? No ladders? Damn! So time it so that when you step into the teleporter, you'll appear on the rotating platform platform above you. Save after you get it right. Once you get to the top, there'll be a teleporter there. Avoid it and head into the door behind you. Take the ladder to the top and get the scientist to open the door. Take the stuff inside including the jump pack. Now, kill off all the monsters while the scientist is preparing the thing. When he says go, GO. And you'll be transported into the alien world of Xen. Personal opinion:Half-Life would have gotten a 10/10 instead of 9.5 (in my opinion) if the alien enviroments weren't so damn stupid. Hey, they might have been funky but everything (apart from the aliens) was going pretty realistically. But who am I to judge? --------------------------------------------------------------------- Xen --------------------------------------------------------------------- This part is very hard. You've gotta make your way from platform to platform, and to reach the center platform. Use the long jump learnt in the hazard course, and save after each successful jump. On the platform, there's a healing pool of water. It'll give your health back if you're hurt. Enter the "center" of the planet through the entrance. Walk up to those weird mushrooms in this room, and USE THEM to release yellow things. Once you've hit all three, a teleporter will open in the middle. From DoobaDan: when you get into the room with the mushrooms: 1. break the cage with the little yellow things in it. 2. USE the mushrooms. the yellow things will float into them, and create a teleporter. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Gonarch's Lair --------------------------------------------------------------------- Whoa...weird...see that spider thingy? Shoot it's belly, and soon it'll start running away. Give chase and keep aiming for the sac. Keep on chasing and shooting, and you'll pass one pit, then reach another. You can choose to drop down and take the time to kill the spider, or let the spider fall, and you can kill it with your snarks. Either way works. Don't forget to take out the headcrabs as well. The trees there will protect you, but you won't need it. Move on. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Interloper --------------------------------------------------------------------- If you're low on life, keep an eye out for those healing pools. Be careful of the pits too, fall in and you're dead. Find the yellow part of the cave and go inside. Smash the stuff around the white column and take a ride to the top. It's chaos here. Make your way from platform to platform while avoiding or killing the enemies present. Once you get close enough, grab a ride on the things flying around and head into the teleporter. Sneak past the tentacle in the next area and climb past the rocks to reach a teleporter. Be careful, there's those huge baddies again. Now you're in some weird factory...do not fire a weapon at all, even if it isn't aimed at anything. The workers will all start to attack you, that's bad. Take the elevator up to the conveyor belts. Find the belt which leads to a path without a blue forcefield, and head through. Keep going until you find your way is obstructed by big, barrels of something. You can either long jump over them (yes, it is possible), or take them out. You'll have to deal with an enemy though. It's best to throw a satchel, blast open the barrel with your shotgun, and then detonate the satchel. See that weird, vent shaft? It's all red. Head inside and in the next room, you have my permission to snipe out everything. Make your way to the top, and you'll have to deal with some annoying platforms, enemies, but at the end, you'll see the light. I mean, teleporter. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Nihilanth --------------------------------------------------------------------- The big, bad, final boss is a...baby? Well, not really but he sure does look like one. First, be careful of the teleporter that he shoots out, he'll take you to another room and you'll have to make your way back in. First things first, destroy the three orange triangular crystals on the wall. This will prevent him from regenerating. Now bounce to the top, and blast his head until it opens. Drop a satchel in and detonate it. You could also try hide in it and take him out from there, or use grenades. It's not too hard, and the ending gives you two choices. You may want to save before seeing either of them. Good work! --------------------------------------------------------------------- 4)Tips --------------------------------------------------------------------- -Take the Hazard Course. What's that? You're good enough at FPS's already? Stuff you, there's a whole heap of new commands to learn. -Don't forget about the secondary fire! The most useful are the sniper mode for the crossbow, the grenade for the MP5, and the gauss gun buildup. -Reload whenever there are no dangers around. You don't want to go into situations and find out that you've gotta reload. -Often, the grenade from the MP5 is faster and more accurate than a normal grenade. From Neeinc99: Hi, i dont need to know anything but i have an eddition for you guide, smal but could help if your on the brink of dying, in the sewer part before the offive complex hop in and go all the way to the left, then make a right, there should be a ladder, climb it to find a health charger thingy and a door leading you to the other side From ~devilz2003~: When facing the army grunts or marines, always chuck a few grenades (if you have any) into the area first because it makes them scatter and probably kill 1 or 2. then the ones that are left are spread apart and cant work as a team to take you down. then charge into action with your mp5. also, its good to listen to their radio communications so you know when they're gonna attack and your ready for them. And these cheats: give item_suit =gives you the HEV suit give item_battery =gives you 1 battery/rechargy cell notarget =makes you invisible to MOST enemies --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5)Cheats --------------------------------------------------------------------- To cheat, right-click on the Half-Life shortcut and in Properties, find the Target box. At the end of hl.exe, put -console. It should end up like: hl.exe -console Or, go to the DOS prompt, and in the Half-Life folder, type in hl.exe -console Now, when in the game, press ~ and bring up the console. Type in sv_cheats 1 and then the cheats are active. Sometimes they don't work...try moving to a new area, and it should work. Cheats: /god-God mode impulse 101-All weapons, everything noclip-Walk through walls From ~devilz2003~: give item_suit =gives you the HEV suit give item_battery =gives you 1 battery/rechargy cell notarget =makes you invisible to MOST enemies --------------------------------------------------------------------- This is more of a bug than a cheat. When in the sniper/zoom mode of the crossbow, quicksave the game, which is usually the F6 button. Then quickload the game, with F7, and change your weapon. You'll be in zoom mode for that weapon! Very sneaky. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Also, for quicker reload times, do the following. When in the middle of the reload animation, switch to another weapon. Then, when you switch back, it should be reloaded. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Other command line commands: -nointro - You'll skip the long intro. -startwindowed - Start Half-Life in a window. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 6)FAQs --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q.how do you get this ~ to work on the game? where do you go to to make it work? A.Well, find the shortcut (or program) for Half-Life. Right click, hit Properties. In target, add -console onto the end of the command line. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q.Where's the Hornet Gun? A.I think it's found after desceding from an elevator, I think in the trip mine room. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q.I've gotten to the center of XEN, but can't get anything other than the spider web looking thing to the right of the entrance to smash! I've exhausted all my ammo and hit everything at least 70 times but the only release of flying yellow things were those trapped inside/ behind the spider web. What is the trick?? Do you mean the glowing yellow things or the roof vent looking things? Any suggestions? A.It's the brownish, stemmy mushroom thingies. It's not the spider web, I'm sure of that, if you've hit everything, you should have come across them by now. Use your crowbar. Remember, brown mushroom thingies. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q.Hello. I have the game of the year edition of Half-Life. About the CONSOLE codes. I got the console thing to work the first time, but now I can't even get the console to come down. I went back and re-typed the target also. Got any suggestions? A.Um, re-installing may help, otherwise try running from a DOS prompt. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q.dear friend, please tell me how do you perform the longjump ? A.Um, I think you run, then press crouch and then jump. You must have acquired a long jump module first. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q.Hey, I hope I'm not asking a stupid question here...but I was reading your great Half-Life walkthrough up to "Surface Tension". It's the scene in which you jump off the bridge to avoid the chopper, climb the ladder, hit the switch, and then go find a red wheel underwater. There's only one problem, I can't find the wheel! I've looked all over the place underwater and I just see the red grates, but no wheel. If you could help, what is the idea of a precise place of where the wheel is. Thanks, and keep writing great FAQ's for great games. A.The wheel? Hmm...from my memory it's down at the very bottom. You turn it and the gates should open. I had no trouble, I remember it being quite visible. From Mike: Hello again! I'm that strange person that came by and said he couldn't see the wheel under the water in Half-Life. I recently saw your latest FAQ for Half-Life and saw my question. What I don't think you included was my alternative way to see the wheel, and that was to turn off 3D acceleration whenever you hit water. It looks like crap compared to glorious 3D, but it works! Another possible solution is that I tried a new program called GLSetup by accident while installing a demo. It installed the latest drivers on my Intel i840 for Voodoo or GL 3D modes. I ran GL Mode in Half-Life, went to the Hazard Course and swam into the water to be surprised that I could actually see through the water! I think the website is http://www.glsetup.com and I'd invite anyone to try the latest download if they are having trouble viewing the water in the game. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q.Hello shinra9. I recently printed your walkthrough off Gamsages.com. It's very good, but I have not been able to get through the game yet and I would like to use the cheats. When I Re-Installed it, I when to Browse and typed in: C:\hl.exe -console. It worked and now when I go into Half-Life there's a little thingie that says CONSOLE at the top left of the screen. But try as I might, when I click on CONSOLE it says it's loading but it never finishes! I forgot about it and went into NEW GAME. But while I was in the game, I could hear it but not see the actual game! A.Try loading up a game, then pressing ~ instead of clicking on console. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Q. In the level Apprehension, where is the crossbow? A. The crossbow is on top of the big cage, hanging in the middle of the murky water. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 7)Acknowledgements --------------------------------------------------------------------- Sierra/Valve-For setting the FPS standard with this brilliant title. Ken-Hey! GameFAQs and VGStrategies-For being the first other Webmasters to place my FAQs up, thank you!