-<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>- _ _ _ ___ _ _ ___ | | | | | |/ __) | | (_)/ __) | |__ | | ____| | |__ ___| | _| |__ ____ | __)| |/ _ | | __|___) | | | __) _ ) | | | ( ( | | | | | |_____| | | ( (/ / |_| |_|\_||_|_|_| |_______)_|_| \____) FAQ/Walkthrough >>==<<==>>==<<==>>==<<==>>==<<==>>==<<==>>==<<==>>==<<==>>==<<==>>== For PC Version Final By Chris Zawada User: antseezee E-mail: antseezee@epix.net Website: www.z-wad.com Created: 06/24/04 Last Update: 03/10/11 Copyright 2011 Chris Zawada -<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>- Author's Note ---------------------------- As our gaming society has matured through time, games have continued to astonish some, and downplay others. In very few cases, you'll get a classic game that absolutely turns the gaming world around. However, for the past few years now, there has been one game which players could always rely on for fun. Not only has this been my keystone in my collection for over 6 years, but it has undoubtedly provided more modifications, expansions, and additions than any other game out there. This game is known as Half-Life. It basically revolutionized first person shooters into a whole new depth by providing an in- depth storyline that captivates the player, along with a superb playing engine, and lasting graphics to this day. This guide will provide you with a full step-by-step walkthrough for the single player mode, along with a multiplayer guide, weapon ratings, and tips for expanding your gaming collection from this title alone. Prepare to play one of the most action- packed and flawless first person shooters of all-time! Contributing/Feedback ---------------------------- If you have any contributions, feedback, or strategies you'd like to have added to the guide, contact me via e-mail or on GameFAQs. I'll be more than content to add your segment of information, and will also provide credit. If you have any questions you'd like added to the Common Questions section, ask. I simply don't have the time to sit around thinking of questions. Provide me with what you want to know! Updates ---------------------------- =03/10/11= vFinal Final update. =07/08/04= v1.0 Finished the FAQ. I'm pleased with the finished work, although it does lack a codes section. In my opinion though, it's 100% complete, and will be uploaded tonight. =06/24/04= v1.0 Started the FAQ. Expecting to finish this one within a week. This is one of my favorite games of all-time, so I'm trying my best to make it extremely in- depth, and pinpoint on detailing. - To make it easier to find certain sections of the walkthrough, look at the (#.#) next to the individual level of that walkthrough. If you press CTRL + F on your keyboard, and type in that exact code (#.#), you will be able to find the exact location of the walkthrough in this guide. ============================ - Table of Contents - ============================ 1) Introduction 2) Game Basics > Controls > HUD Screen > Basic Training 3) Weapons 4) Walkthrough > Anomalous Materials (4.1) > Unforseen Consequences (4.2) > Office Complex (4.3) > We've Got Hostiles (4.4) > Blast Pit (4.5) > Power Up (4.6) > On a Rail (4.7) > Apprehension (4.8) > Residue Processing (4.9) > Questionable Ethics (4.10) > Surface Tension (4.11) > Forget about Freeman! (4.12) > Lambda Core (4.13) > Xen (4.14) > Gonarch's Lair (4.15) > Interloper (4.16) > Nihilanth (4.17) 5) Multiplayer > Tips > Expansions/Mods 6) Common Questions 7) Copyright/Distribution/Reproduction Guidelines 8) Proper Credits -<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>- ============================ - 1) Introduction - ============================ Perfect first person shooters are almost as rare as finding a unicorn in the forest these days. Heck, it's almost impossible. Developers have been caught up in enhancing graphics, adding more bloodshed, and altering multiplayer development that they have missed the key point - balanced gameplay. Half-Life is one of the first shooters of its decade to have a fluent balance in graphics, gameplay, sound, online capabilities, and compatibility. Back when it was released in 1998, its intriguing storyline took gamers to a whole new level. They interacted with the storyline almost as if they were Gordon Freeman, a lost pawn in the middle of a freak accident. Several years later, it still proves to be one of the most dominant shooters out there, providing several modifications such as Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat which hold the upper echelon of online gaming. The storyline is fairly simple. You're basically a lab assistant working in an underground government facility that the public knows nothing about. In this facility, you and hundreds of researchers are performing experiments issued by the government. Some include the manufacturing of secret weapons, while others are more biological and relate to external beings. As usual, you come to work, and are to perform an experiment. Suddenly, the experiment goes haywire, and hundreds of morphed aliens are warped into your underground lair. Now you're surrounded by powerful foreign creatures looking to kill you and your allies in a desolate location. The situation gets even hairier as you progress along with the storyline. Not to spoil too much, Half-Life is a very exciting game. Its storyline proves to be nothing short of toasting action. Here's a brief excerpt from the instruction manual (credit to Valve Software): Deep in the bowels of the Black Mesa Federal Research Facility, a decommissioned missile base, a top secret project is underway. A portal has been opened to another dimension, and human science has never seen anything like the world on the other side. You are Gordon Freeman, a young research associate in the Anomalous Materials Laboratory. You have limited security clearance and no real idea of just how dangerous your job has become, until the morning you are sent alone into the Test Chamber to analyze of a strange crystalline specimen. A routine analysis, they tell you. Until something goes wrong. Is it sabotage? An accident? Or is it something you did? All you hear is screaming; all you see is spacetime shattering. The next thing you know, the entire Black Mesa Facility is a nightmare zone, with sirens wailing and scientists fleeing in terror from the things their co-workers have become. Hordes of creatures from the far side of the portal are pouring through rifts in the local fabric of reality. Monsters are everywhere. Madness rules. You head for the surface, but the usual routes are impassable-closed off by the disaster, infested with headcrabs and houndeyes and increasingly larger and hungrier creatures. As Gordon Freeman, you must enlist the help of traumatized scientists and trigger-happy security guards to get through high-security zones, sneaking and fighting your way through ruined missile silos and Cold War cafeterias, through darkened airducts and subterranean railways. When you finally come in sight of the surface, you realize that the inhuman monsters aren't your only enemies-for the government has sent in ruthless troops and stealthy assassins. Their orders seem to be that when it comes to the Black Mesa, nothing gets out alive... and especially not you. When even your own species turns against you, maybe you'll be glad to see another portal beckoning. But then again, on Earth you have allies; while on the far side of the portal, nothing at all is familiar except the sense of danger. Save the Earth? Well, maybe. But that's a pretty low priority compared to saving your own skin. ---------------------------- _____________________ ##### GAME INFO ##### //////////|\\\\\\\\\\ Players: 1-32 (online capable) Developer: Valve Software Released: 1998 Rarity: common Special Features: STEAM/WON compatible, free modifications available ESRB: Mature Cover Art on box: - Shows Gordon Freeman staring into the distance with a loaded shotgun in hand -<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>- ============================ - 2) Game Basics - ============================ The PC is designed perfectly to fit the theme of a first-person shooter. Your keyboard keys allow you to move, perform actions, and type detailed messages to opponents. Your mouse allows you to rotate the view, fire, and perform interacting actions. Plus, when you are playing an intense action game like Half-Life, you're going to need as much control as possible to keep the situation under a seal. - The following is a list of recommended game controls. You can set them yourself by going to the controls menu under Configuration. ______________ /Game Controls/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= - - use voice communication Y - chat message U - team message Up - move forward Down - move back Left - strafe left Right - strafe right A - turn left D - turn right KP_ins - jump CTRL - duck E - use item Left click - primary fire Right click - secondary fire R - reload SHIFT - walk F - flashlight T - spray logo 1,2,3,4,5 - select weapon categories 1,2,3,4, or 5 Mousewheel - scroll between next and previous weapons Q - switch to last used weapon F5 - take screen shot F6 - quick save F7 - quick load PAUSE - pauses game - Movement in the game is very simple. The keypad 0 key will allow your character to jump. You will want to place your left hand on the four directional arrow keys, with your left pinky on the CTRL, and right index finger on the KP_ins. Your entire right hand will go on the mouse, which will control your firing of weapons, and view of the entire game. Using items or interacting is a key skill that will be used frequently throughout single player. You must interact with certain computers and buttons in order to progress through the game. Screen shots that are captured are saved inside the Sierra/Half-Life directory under a graphics filename. Most of the other controls are self-explanatory, or are used during multiplayer. ___________ /HUD Screen/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= In the traditional styling of a FPS, it's safe to say that understanding how the screen layout works, usually increases the player's success rate of completing the game. This section will describe the layout of the screen, and what the functions are of specific numbers/graphics. ______________________________________________ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | [4] -- -- | | | | | [5] | | | | | | [3] * | | # [1] % [2] ##/### | |______________________________________________| [1] - Health Indicator - this shows how much life Gordon has left. If the number reaches 0, Gordon will die. You will always start with 100 health, and you cannot exceed that maximum number. [2] - Hazard Suit Power - this shows how much power your special hazard suit has left. This basically acts as exterior armor as damage from enemies will be cut in half while there is a % of power to the suit. When the suit's power is 0, you will not receive any protection. You can recharge the energy by using special power meters, or picking up power cells. [3] - Ammo Indicator - this shows how many bullets you have currently loaded in your weapon, along with the remaining stash of ammunition you can use. If the weapon has a special secondary ammo, you will usually see the rockets or grenades listed above. [4] - Special Status Indicator - this shows whenever you enter potentially dangerous situations, such as an area with toxic waste, or electricity. If you're hit by a specific element, the danger sign for that element will appear. Electricity has a shock logo, and toxic waste has a skull with crossbones. [5] - Crosshair - this is what you will use during the course of the game for aiming weapons, and determining the center view of Gordon Freeman. Use the mouse to navigate the view wherever you desire. _______________ /Basic Training/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Being an associate in an underground lab is one thing, but handling combat on a regular basis is another. Before you can leap right into the intense action that Half-Life possesses, it's a key quality that you understand the basics of how to navigate, and engaging opponents in the world of Half-Life. This section will describe some basic interactions that will occur throughout the game. ...~> Combat <~... / \ - Engaging targets is simple in the game of Half-Life. Once you acquire your first weapon (the crowbar), you may engage aliens by running up to them and using the primary fire button. Each weapon will shoot out a specific blast of its ammunition, and the enemy will be wounded. Creatures, humans, and opponents can be killed by blasting enough bullets or explosives into them. Other than that, it's a simple point-n-click process. You don't have to setup any nasty combos, or initiate turn based commands. ...~> Puzzle-Solving <~... / \ - Puzzle solving is a process you must become familiar with to edge your way across Half-Life. For the most part, the game is linear-based. However, there are a few spots during the game where you can take alternate routes, such as a vent shaft, or pushing objects into toxic waste. Consider the consequences of your environmental hazards, and then work around them to complete your objective. The puzzle solving is based at a moderate level. ...~> Navigation <~... / \ - Get use to jumping as it will be the prime way you reach obtuse locations. You may perform a long jump by crouching and jumping at the same time. Walking allows you to move without making any noise, but is faster than crawling around. Crawling around is much slower, but does prove to be an efficient way of aiming and staying hidden from opponents. ...~> Interacting <~... / \ - The use item button will be a key essential in opening doors and using elevators along the way. Get use to pressing the button on computer monitors, snack machines, and switches for interesting effects. ...~> NPCs <~... / \ - Throughout the course of the game, you will encounter numerous non-playable characters that may assist you with your journey. Press the use key next to a person to have them follow you. By luring certain people around to certain locations, they may be able to unlock doors, secure areas, or even help you fight off your daring opponents. -<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>- ============================ - 3) Weapons - ============================ In order to engage enemies and opponents throughout the game, weapons are truly the only way of interacting with your targets. Whether they are ranged, close-combat, or explosive, each has a certain disadvantage or flaw. It's best to understand the flaws and efficient capabilities of each item before rushing out into battle. .._____.. |CROWBAR| "This is your typical crowbar used for prying objects open, and breaching doorways. Thankfully, its heavy weight, and ability to be swung from the hand makes it the perfect weapon in close quarters. However, don't rely on an overwhelming blow to the victim. Use this as a last resort with no ammo for other weapons." POWER: * ACCURACY: ** RANGE: * OVERALL: * -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ..__________.. |GLOCK PISTOL| "This is your traditional pistol firearm for most security guards and law enforcement officers across the country. Equipped with a 17-clip magazine, the GLOCK can lay down accurate shots on targets even from a hefty distance. Its secondary fire sends out a rapid barrage of bullets at a quicker firing rate. However, this packs hardly any wallop against bigger opponents." POWER: ** ACCURACY: *** RANGE: **** OVERALL: ** -------------------------------------------------------------------------- .._________.. |.357 MAGNUM| "This is not your typical pistol. This baby is a powerful revolver coated with a chrome outlaying to give it a Dirty Harry look. With 6-enhanced bullets, the Magnum can penetrate even some of the most sturdy walls during the game. While its rate of fire is slow, and its ammo capacity is small, the power and accuracy is enough to be satisfied with." POWER: **** ACCURACY: *** RANGE: *** OVERALL: *** -------------------------------------------------------------------------- .._____.. |SHOTGUN| "This is a specialized shotgun designed primarily for assaults. With the capacity of up to eight shells, and a secondary feature that fires two shells at once, the shotgun is a very favorable close combat weapon. However, each shot requires a pumping on the manifold in order to fire another bullet. This can be a drawback during an intense battle." POWER: *** ACCURACY: ** RANGE: ** OVERALL: ** -------------------------------------------------------------------------- .._____.. |MP5 SMG| "The MP5 Submachine Gun is basically an automatic gun with lighter ammo capacity. Unlike today's rifles which pack a wallop and have quite some recoil, SMGs are a tad easier to control, and provide a fast rate of fire. The 50-bullet clip is plenty to expend upon opponents during a firefight. This gun also has a special secondary feature of launching grenades out when gathered. These can be destructive to lighter opponents, and proves to be a deadly combo." POWER: *** ACCURACY: ** RANGE: *** OVERALL: **** -------------------------------------------------------------------------- .._____.. |GRENADE| "Grenades are small circular objects that provide explosive damage when a pin is pulled, and the object is tossed towards the target. The grenades featured during the game have a 3-second det from release, and can be tossed farther by holding them down and jumping while releasing. However, grenades can be awry at certain times, especially when they bounce back, or are held on too long." POWER: **** ACCURACY: ** RANGE: **** OVERALL: *** -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ..____________.. |SATCHEL CHARGE| "Satchel charges up the ante on the gambling table. These are basically high-detonation explosives that can be tossed as little pouches on the ground. From there, you can then move away, and detonate them anytime you want with either a detonator, or by shooting them. The explosive damage is designed for leveling buildings, so make sure you get some distance between them and yourself. The only downfall is that they cannot be tossed very far." POWER: ***** ACCURACY: *** RANGE: * OVERALL: *** -------------------------------------------------------------------------- .._______.. |TRIP MINE| "This is yet another groovy device that you will encounter during the game, but rarely get a chance to use effectively. Trip mines are basically what they sound like. You can mount these on any rock solid surface, and a laser is then emitted from the starting point. If any object crosses this laser, or the mine is shot at, it will explode for quite some damage." POWER: **** ACCURACY: **** RANGE: * OVERALL: ** -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ..__________.. |RPG LAUNCHER| "This is not your typical weapon to encounter on the battlefield. The RPG is a rocket propelled grenade, or basically a rocket launcher. You can launch missiles out, one at a time, or guide your missiles with a laser dot by moving the dot at the specific target. The RPG is very useful in inflicting large amounts of damage to tanks, infantry, and even aircraft. The only disadvantage is a reload between each shot, and the kickback from firing the rocket." POWER: ***** ACCURACY: **** RANGE: **** OVERALL: ***** -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ..______.. |CROSSBOW| "At a first glance, you would believe that this item would totally suck. However, the crossbow is basically the sniper's weapon of choice. This item launches bolts out that soar slightly slower than a normal weapon, but inflict high amounts of damage. You can take out some of the biggest aliens with a few shots from this. The only problem is that it has a small 5-bolt clip, and the time it takes for an arrow to hit a target." POWER: **** ACCURACY: **** RANGE: ***** OVERALL: **** -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ..__________.. |GAUSS CANNON| "An experimental weapon developed in the Black Mesa Labs, the Gauss Cannon uses a highly combustible energy, that is launched out in a piercing pattern. The result is a high-density laser that shoots through walls, obliterates organic targets, and literally kicks butt. The only problem is that if it's charged too long in secondary mode, an overcharge will hurt the user. Normal fire sends out rapid fire beams. It uses a special type of ammo that is fairly rare, so don't expect to use it too often." POWER: **** ACCURACY: **** RANGE: **** OVERALL: **** -------------------------------------------------------------------------- .._______.. |GLUON GUN| "This is probably the best weapon in the entire game. The Gluon Gun is yet another extremely rare weapon acquired near the end that acts like the Gauss Cannon, but has an unknown effect. It's believed that the item disrupts the genetic code in opponents causing them to vanish into thin air. It is by far the most powerful weapon, and sends out a blue beam of swirling energy in a straight pattern. As usual, this uses the same rare ammo as the Gauss Cannon, so use it sparingly." POWER: ***** ACCURACY: **** RANGE: *** OVERALL: ***** -------------------------------------------------------------------------- .._______.. |HIVE-HAND| "This is the first Xen technology you will come across during the game. This item launches out mini-Xen bees which zoom in on the closest organic target and take away minimal damage. However, the catch is that you will always have 8 bees to launch, and the ammo regenerates itself even when depleted at a rapid pace. So, you'll always have infinite ammo with this weapon. The secondary fire mode sends the bees out in a straight ahead pattern at a much quicker rate, which yields more damage." POWER: ** ACCURACY: ***** RANGE: *** OVERALL: *** -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ..___.. |SNARK| "These pesky little buggers are actually weapons that can be fairly lethal. Snarks are little Xen bugs that zoom in on the closest non-Xen target. These can be lethal when tossed in tight quarters because your opponent must shoot them in order to destroy them. They're very small, fast, and agile, so be quick with the trigger finger when tossing them. They CAN chase you if there are no targets in the vicinity." POWER: *** ACCURACY: * RANGE: **** OVERALL: ** -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>- ============================ - 4) Walkthrough - ============================ Action games can get very cluttered at critical moments. Many times, you'll be stuck on how to get past a certain puzzle, or simply tactics to use against an opposing boss. This section will describe how to complete Half-Life, step by step, and ensure a safe venture in the meantime. Enemy and boss strategies will be included in the walkthrough, so keep your eyes open. Spoilers are present, although I'm limiting them to an extent, so it will not be that bad. The walkthrough will be split up into individual sections, depending on stage differences and levels. - To begin a single player game, click on the New Game tab right on top of the main menu. You may now select from the following difficulties: + EASY (enemies are weak, do less damage, and have a smaller influence) + MEDIUM (enemies are at default settings) + HARD (enemies are stronger, have more HP, and dish out more damage) __________________________ /Anomalous Materials (4.1)/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= *Our brief adventure starts out with you staring through the eyes of Gordon Freeman, a Research Associate, working at an underground government facility called Black Mesa. You'll soon realize that you are traveling on monorail system heading to your daily session of work. Apparently, you work as a lab assistant in the Anomalous Materials section of the facility. Black Mesa is no walk in the park however. It's a massive location containing newly developed technologies, and also a place where freak experiments are tested out all the time. The public knows nothing about it, and the government would like to keep it that way in the meantime.* *As you travel along the monorail, you'll get a few humorous quotes from a loud speaker in the background. You'll see some interesting scenes including a toxic chemical leak, rocket being dismantled, and even a stout man in a blue suit (whom you will get to know quite often). You will eventually arrive at your station where your lab is located.* A security guard will walk over and unlock the sliding door for you. Exit the car, and head down to the door. The guard will again unlock the door and let you through. Walk up to the receptionist desk, and the local patrol will let you know that you're late for work, AGAIN. Start off by going down the hall, making a right, and continue down the hall. You should pass a small snack room on your right. Enter this doorway at the end of the hall, then make a left in the room to find three tubes. One should contain a Hazard Suit. Walk up to the control console, and press the use button (should be "E"). This will unlock the shield holding the suit. Get use to interacting with certain doors, buttons, and consoles with the use button. Run up to the suit, and you will now be equipped with the Hazard Suit. This is especially designed for protecting you from dangerous chemicals, materials, and events that could prove dangerous to your health. It can also be considered armor in a sense. Walk back to the middle of the locker room, and you should find your locker at the far right end, before the place that leads to the bathrooms. Walk up to it to open it up, then run in to grab a power cell on the ground. Now leave the locker area, and head back past the cafe. Make a right to go down the other split section of this hall. A guard will open the door permitting access to the area ahead. Run around the center wall, and hit the button on the doorway to draw the elevator up. Go down the elevator by hitting the button on it, then run outside. Run through the curving corridors, and another guard will let you through. You're at the Control System now. Talk to the three scientists in the room. *Apparently you are needed to perform some labor duties on the next experiment. A sample has been brought in by the government, and they want you to do some in-depth analysis. The Administrator is very worried about this specimen, and it has a high priority.* Head through the door, and enter the next door on the right. Go down another elevator, then enter the test lab door. *Two fellow scientists will inform you that this is there "purest" sample yet. One scientist is worried about recent malfunctions in the lab analysis machine, but the other one assures him nothing will go wrong. Both men will then open the door to the test lab.* Head on in, and prepare for instructions via a loud speaker. After several seconds, the scientist will instruct you to turn on the rotors. Go to the far end of the room, and climb the ladder. Move up to the console at the end of the railing, and interact with it. The rotary blades will now be turned on, and the machine will begin to charge up. One of the scientists says he sees a small problem, but then never mentions it. Your specimen will then be loaded into the test lab once the machine is charged up. Run up behind the cart that's holding the crystal, and walk towards the center ray. Gordon should push the cart towards the middle. When it hits the middle, all hell breaks loose. *Suddenly, mechanical parts start to explode and malfunction in every way and direction. Scientists start screaming that something has gone horribly wrong, and they tell you to get out of there. You'll then witness a series of strange creatures, or aliens who start to appear at the Black Mesa facility. You'll also be temporarily warped to the alien's world, and be surrounded by these hideous beasts. Finally, you'll get tossed unconscious on the ground, and soon awake back up in the test lab.* _____________________________ /Unforseen Consequences (4.2)/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= As usual, the alarm to the government facility will be blaring because of the recent incident. Make your way back out the door, and use the retinal scanner to cause the door to open up because of an error. Head past the dead bodies to the elevator, and use it to go up. Go meet up with the nearest scientist, and he will tell you to get to the surface to find help. The scientist will help open the doors up ahead, and have him follow you for the set distance. Up ahead you will find a risky laser that cuts against the wall in a set pattern. You can usually crouch under it, but be careful as some nearby components will explode, and body limbs will be released in numerous directions. The second laser is a tad more tricky to dodge, but you can still jump or crouch under it. Once you make it around the corner, walk over the Crowbar on the ground to receive your first weapon. The crowbar is basically what it stands for, a simple melee weapon that is fairly weak. You can smash various objects with it like glass panels, wooden crates, and even kill a few weaker aliens with several hits. Look at the nearby door, and you'll note that it has several glass panels. Crouch, and smash the lower one, then crawl through. Go up ahead to the next door, and smash through it, and crawl through. Suddenly, you'll hear screaming and witness an elevator full of scientists plummet to the ground below (where they all get squished). Not the best site to see on an eery day. Climb down the ladder to where the elevator crash site is, and pick up the power unit for your Hazard Suit. Climb back up, but this time, climb all the way to the top. Meet up with the nearby security guard, and help him kill the two zombie walkers. Have him follow you now, and proceed through the upcoming 2 doors. Around the corner, you'll find 2 more zombies, and a headcrab on a scientist's head. Once you reach the "T" in the halls, interact with your security guard to have him stop. Go back to your locker room, and check the opened locker to your left for two clips of Glock ammo. Go back to your locker, and you'll find two base power units on the floor. There's also a medivac healer near the bathroom stalls if you're low on health. Bring the guard with you, and head back to the reception desk from the first portion of the game. A vent should explode open revealing a new path. Crawl through, but watch out for the headcrabs in this room. Jump over the flipped over shelves, and crawl through the other shaft opposite of the room. Jump out to reach the next area. The nearby scientist in the room will be killed. Go to the Sector B door, and grab the Glock off the dead guard. The glock is a semi-automatic pistol that fires fairly accurate with primary mode. Holding down secondary mode will release a quicker burst-fire, almost like an automatic, but not quite as quick. Conserve your ammo though as this is your only weapon for now. Crawl through the small opening, and watch for the two shockwave creatures. They'll start to scream really loud. When their voice pitches, a blue shockwave aura will be released in the surrounding radius. You should either kill them before the shockwave comes out, or simply run. Go left and you'll notice that a man in a blue suit is watching over you. Not to reveal too much, but this is the famed Administrator you have heard much about. You'll see two more shock creatures to deal with. Go left up ahead, and a doorway should explode revealing a red room. Kill the creatures that spawns out of it, then check out this room for more Glock ammo. Go back to the previous room, and make a right now. Climb up the ladder, and kill the 3 aliens sitting up above. Go through the halls to the far end, and check out the Armory room for some grenades and pistol ammo. A nearby scientist should help you open that door. Head back to the area with the Red Room, and now go right. You should see a little sewer hole that leads into water below. Jump down, and then go to the far right end of the pipes. In the corner should be a valve. Turn it to flood the pipes with water. Now swim back, but look for a vent opening on the top. Don't go back to the first hole you jumped through, but rather a hole in one of the other pipes. Swim up and jump through it. You'll now be on the other side of the wall which is blocked off with some metal fencing. Move ahead and take some more ammo off of a dead body. Hit the giant lever against the wall, then jump onto the giant elevator. It will slowly take you down to the area below. However, watch above as several headcrabs will try to ambush you. I found it best to stand somewhat in the middle of the platform, and lure each headcrab to leap up and over me into the toxic waste below. This saves pistol ammo, and makes the whole process less painful. Once you're close to the ground, jump to your left to reach ground level. Kill any nearby aliens that pop up, then smash the nearby crates for some ammo, health, and consistent powerups. Go thru the corridor, and a thin metal bridge connecting the two area will collapse. Jump to your right onto the wall pipes, and use them to reach the other side. Leap to the other corridor, and walk through. There's some power units and ammo in the crates ahead. In the next room, drop down below onto one of the wooden crates. Avoid the rope eating aliens as they can kill you in one hit. Shoot their base four times to rid of them. Get behind each of the large wooden boxes, and push them into the toxic waste river in the middle of the room. You'll notice that the objects float. Push two or three of them in, then jump on them as boosts to reach the other area of ground. Go through the green door, and continue up ahead. You will be in a room with hanging boxes. Climb the first two ladders, then leap from box to box to reach the door on the other side of the room. Go through the left door, climb the ladder, and head through the next two series of doors. Make it to the other side of the catwalk, go right, and use the elevator to proceed to the next level of the game. _____________________ /Office Complex (4.3)/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The Office Complex is practically a series of interlocking clerical rooms with basic computers and nice diplomas hanging on the wall. Its close, traditional design will provide for some nasty scenery, and lots of navigation to do. Start off by looking to your left, and you'll notice how the electricity is zapping aliens that cross a certain line. Shoot the vent cover next to the electricity, and quickly crawl through. Crawl left, and take the ammo by carefully navigating yourself under the ventilation fan. Head back, and take the right route. Jump into the room, but watch for the rope eaters. Go right, and hit the switch in the small room to turn off the power to this location. Leave the scientist alone as he will not go with you. Head through the two metal doors, and run past the electric area. Since the power is off, they will not be shocking anyone, anymore. Smash the upcoming window, then leap through. Jump through the broken window to your right, but DO NOT touch the water. You'll notice an electric cord is electrifying the water in this room. Make your way across the room by jumping onto non-wet surfaces, then hit the light switch to turn off the power to this room. The water will be safe now. Jump into the water, and smash the vent cover along the wall. Crawl through. Eventually, you'll fall down as some ceiling tiles lose their support. Open the two red doors, then go to the storage door. An alien will chop away at the wooden door. Lure him to break down the rest of the door, then kill him. Go in the room to find some glock ammo. Smash through the cargo boxes in the upcoming area, and grab the shotgun you'll find. Kill the nearby alien, and the security guard will open the gate for you. The area below this has some health and ammo in wooden crates. Go through the hallway where the guard just opened the gate. You will find some ammunition in this back room. Head back to the area with the storage door, but now look for an area with two LOCKED red doors. Push two nearby crates to the ceiling hole, and then use the boxes to boost up there. Jump up to the ladder, and climb above. Destroy the vent cover to your left, and then jump down. A scientist will run out to greet you, but suddenly, an automated turret will pop out, and kill him. Duck behind the wooden crate for protection. Use your pistol and keep shooting the turret till it dies. Make your way to an area underneath where the turret was, and hit the switch to open a door. Go in the small side door to your left for ammunition, and some powerups. Now, go in the main hall where the scientist came from, and climb the stairs. Another turret will pop up behind you, so keep aware, and take that out too. Watch for some headcrabs up above as well. Go through the door, and then another door on your left. You will find some power pods. Go ahead, and there will be a ton of ray- shooting enemies. These guys are fairly new, and will launch powerful laser attacks after charging up. Aim for their eyes, and take them out with your useful shotgun. There are about 15 mixed in this interloping area of office subrooms. Go right, clear out most of the rooms for additional powerups. Go back to the mid left area, and then head upstairs. *A scientist will inform you that government soldiers have arrived to save everyone from the horrors that have presented themselves.* Use your pistol on the turret above and continue ahead. Open the door, and you'll find some grenades in the room below. Some ray shooters will spawn after you visit this room though. Head back up, and have the nearby ally follow you. Go into the office ahead, and blast away the wood in the doorway. Watch for the headcrabs that fall from above in the lunch room. Go into this dark doorway to reach a new and brightful area. Hit the wall lever to enter the cooler. Go along the right paths in the cooler, and clear out the aliens as you go. You'll eventually reach a room before the last one. Look for a bright red switch at the far end of the room, and hit it. You should see a conveyor platform to start scrolling back and forth. Now, head back to the first room, and climb to the top of the shelf. Go through the nearby vent, and continue going through the vents up ahead. You'll reach an area where you need to cross via the moving platform. Shoot the boxes on it to free up some space, then time your crawling motion across. Crawl through the series of vents, and crawl left through a series of vents. Jump out, shoot the aliens, then climb more stairs. Go left up top, and a scientist will leap through a solid window. Go in this room for some ammo. Continue up ahead to the elevator shaft. You'll hear a scientist screaming for help as he dangles above. Climb up the series of ladders, however, he will soon fall and plummet to the darkness below. Once you reach the top of the elevator, shoot the vent cover on it to open up a small hole. Jump down below, then open the elevator door to reach the next area. _________________________ /We've Got Hostiles (4.4)/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= You will now be at a high security storage facility. Go right, and you'll note that an innocent guard will get dragged into a vent. Look near the red open door for a button on the wall. Smash the glass to sound off an alarm and seal the area. Quickly run through this before it closes, and go ahead. You're going to face a lot of standing turrets up ahead, so get ready. Destroy them using a shotgun or Glock from a hefty distance. Look in the lower right portion of the room for an MP5 off of a soldier's body. Go through the next hallway and break the glass to sound off the alarm again. Jump over the upcoming two lasers, and watch for 3 ray-shooting aliens. Head to Storage Area 1. Take down the turret around the corner. But avoid the red lasers that are popping out of the wall. These devices are actually sensor lasers that will activate turrets in the vicinity. Do NOT shoot these turrets, or you will activate them. You can actually sneak by them if you don't touch any lasers, or shoot at any of the machines. Watch for some ray-shooters to spawn behind you after you enter the room. Leap onto the green crates, and boost yourself to the other side. Jump down, and destroy the two turrets, then move ahead. Break the glass, run through the lasers, jump over the next series of boxes, then continue ahead. Repeat the last process from before. Jump on the nearby crates, and watch out for the trip mines. Climb the ladder, and you should now be on a tall catwalk leading to a new area. Enter around the corner, and you will see a Black Mesa scientist run to the rescue of the government soldier. Unfortunately, the soldier blasts away the scientist with no remorse. Quickly go down and kill the soldier. All of the government forces are equipped with MP5's. Hit the button on the wall, and then board the elevator to go up. You will find 4 soldiers in this room, so be careful. Note that they will toss grenades if they have an idea of your position, but cannot see you. Check the wooden boxes for health, ammo, and power units. Now, go upstairs and proceed through the next doorway. Break the next glass alarm, and go past the rope creatures on the walkway. You should now be at a T-split. Go right, and run back through a conveyor belt. Climb some boxes to reach the next upper belt, and run through that one too. Cross the mini-bridge, and take out the lone soldier behind some sandbags. Now, drop down past all of the red lasers, and sound the alarm for the next door. In the next room, two panicking scientists will run to 5 soldiers, who slaughter them mercifully. Kill the 5 soldiers, then make your way up the room. Along the way you will find ammo and health. Cross another catwalk up above, while avoiding the rope eaters. There will be 5 more soldiers in the next room, and be cautious as some are hidden behind boxes. Grenades will be very troublesome in this room. Drop down, and hit the button to initiate an elevator to come down. Take it up, and you should hear a military chopper in the background. There will be a few more soldiers around the corner in the open. You have finally been able to see what the outside surface of the facility looks like. Unfortunately, the area is locked down by government forces. Make your way to a center bunker that has a ladder going down. Climb down, and go left to re-equip. Enter the ventilation access, then go through the next door. If you look above, the chopper will destroy the roof to the vent access area. Move back, wait for the debris to fall, then jump out. Slowly make your way to the bottom, jumping from ledge to ledge without taking any major fall damage. Be careful though as two soldiers will rappel their way down in the opened roof. Go in the vent at the lowest level. Jump to your left, then climb down. Go take the bottom vent, and you will be in a new room. Take the middle vent to reach the control room from before. *The nearby scientist will inform you that the government's plan for fixing the problem is to eradicate all links to the Black Mesa facility. Thus, the soldiers are your hostiles as well as the aliens. He says the only way to fix this problem is to make your way to the Lambda Labs, where hopefully the scientists can figure out a solution to the problem. You can reach the area by taking a decommissioned railway under the facility which leads to the labs.* Hit the button on the control console to gain silo access in the facility, and go through the newly-opened large door. ________________ /Blast Pit (4.5)/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Start off by smashing the wood to your left, and entering the new room. You'll now be in the control console. Kill the alien to your right, and hit the lever. An elevator should rise. Board it, then hit the button to go down. You will now be in a large railway. Board the mini-cart, and press the use button to turn it on. Press up to increase your speed. You can squish some of the aliens easily. When you reach a large red horizontal beam, jump out of the cart as you are reaching a danger zone. Go back to the cart, and use it for a boost to reach the walkway on the right. Go under the pipes to the other side, then climb up the ladder. Jump into the pipe, and plop out on the other side. Leap to the other elevated pipe, and then jump to the solid nearby balcony. Re- equip via the nearby powerups. In the next room, run across the pipe and onto the elevator. Go up, and destroy the 4 shockwave creatures ahead. On the railing, go right, and you will come across more aliens. Cross the center, and hit a lever for the next door. You will start to hear a large banging. I'm going to refer this area as the CORE. Make your way ahead until you are in a small control room. Suddenly, a large tentacle arm will smash through the glass, and kill a scientist who tried to reach for a test fire button. This creature acts as a mini-boss for the most part, as he can only be destroyed by launching the test engine rocket to incinerate him. The creature has 3 arms, which move around the core, and keep banging at various locations. The creature has no eyes, but reacts to sound. Thus, you have to crawl or walk in this area to get by undetected. It easily gets distracted by sounds. So tossing a grenade on an opposite wall is great for reaching an area without taking damage. You may also shoot one of the arms to cause it to lower temporarily for about 5 seconds. This is great if you're about to enter a ladder or doorway, and don't want to get hit. Anyhow, make your way up ahead, you should be on the very top of the core. Distract the creature, and make your way down to the lowest level in the core. Smash the wooden boards covering the door with a grenade, but toss it from a distance. Wait for the creature's attention to lower, then sprint through the door. Before you can test fire the rocket launcher on the creature, you need to turn on three elements - Oxygen, Fuel, and Power. We're going to start with Power. Jump across the gap in the metal platforms, and then jump past the second hole. Kill the 3 shockwave creatures, and move ahead. Go right, and hit the button. Board the elevator down. However, it will short out after a brief amount of time. Look to your left, and leap for the long ladder. Climb all the way down to the bottom, and then jump to the solid concrete via the small pipe. *The scientist standing next to the control console hopes the Lambda Lab can fix the problem. Unfortunately, without any power, there's going to be problems activating the trains in the railway. His bud went down to the power generator, but hasn't come back in quite some time.* Go down the hall, and jump over the toxic leakage in the hallway. Hit the button on the platform to spin around to the other side. Jump onto the ladder and climb up. Make your way around the outer edge to the left and right ladders. On top are two buttons which have to be hit within several seconds of each other to activate the power generator. You will know you've accomplished your mission when blue electricity shoots out of the spinning generator. The scientist on top, who was hiding, will be killed by the device, so don't worry about him. Now that the power is activated, make your way back to the elevator shaft, and climb the ladder. Jump up top, and make your way back to solid ground. Now, push these small metal boxes down into the hallway right in the narrow entrance. There should be a power generator to your right. Jump on top of the box, then onto the generator, then crawl along the narrow elevated wire. Make your way over the electrified water, and then drop down. Go back to the main core. Climb one level while avoiding the humongous creature. Go across the catwalk, and take care of the aliens along the way. Go right, and down the ladder. Smash the sewer grate, then climb down the long ladder. Move ahead on the small pipe, and make a left at the T. Climb the ladder, and kill any aliens above. Go ahead, and in the next room, make your way down to the base of the large fan. Hit the button to start it up, then climb back up top. Jump into the middle, and the fan is so strong that it will boost Gordon upwards. Pull out your crowbar, and smash the wooden planks on the roof. Then, float over to the vent cover, and smash that as well. Now, crawl through and smash the cover. Smash more wooden beams, then crawl ahead, and smash the cover to drop down. You will now be in the control room for the fuel and oxy of the rocket engine. Hit the button on the console to turn on both features, then hit the button by the sliding door to open it up. Go through the door, and make your way back to the Core. Get to the command console by climbing all the way up top, taking care not to make too much noise. Once you're in the room, and now that all of the features are online, run up and tap the Test Fire button. Move back, and watch the fireworks. *The rocket engine will test fire, launching three large fiery beams that toast and burn the giant tentacle creature to nothing more than a pulp. That mutation is nothing more than a burnt muffin.* Now that it's out of the way, you can climb down to the lowest level. Note that there's a new hole where the creature once was. Jump down this hole, and strafe down the winding tunnels. Jump down into the large pit with water, then swim up. Leap up into the small aclove, and check the security guard's body for a Magnum Revolver, along with some ammo nearby. Drop back down, swim under, and go around to the outer edge of the small concrete layering. Swim to the surface water on the one side, and then jump to the dry ground. Move ahead over the toxic waste. Climb down the ladder, and refill your status with the nearby chargers. Climb back up, and jump onto the long pipeline. Use these pipes till you reach a wall, then drop off to a side pipe, and take that all the way to the other side. Jump to the pipe ledge, and then jump onto the large pipe. Leap over to the small hole in the fence of the pipe entrance, and run through. When you reach the end of the pipe, the small section will collapse with you inside. You will lose a majority of your health. However, jump on the table for two medpacks, and smash the boxes for ammo, more health, and powerups. You will also discover some trip mines in the boxes too. Go ahead to reach the next area. _______________ /Power Up (4.6)/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Continue down the hall, and suddenly a large ruthless creature will slaughter a marine. This mini-boss primarily has two different attacks. One is where he will lift his foot then stomp down a raging red beam that goes in a line pattern towards you. The other attack is a twin flame launcher where he'll burn you to a crisp whenever you get fairly close. If you look in the far diagonal corner of the room, there will be a hallway. Make your way there, then take a left to the Track Control destination. Move ahead on the railing, and the one end will collapse. Kill the aliens that attempt to ambush you, and check the boxes for ammunition. Now, go down the lower hall and it should lead back to where you were coming from (but one level down). There will be a few headcrabs along the way. Make sure you refill your health at the charger. Some ray shooters will spawn as well. Move dow the hall, and look for a valve. Hold down the use button on the valve to wind it so the door is completely open. Go through the door into the toxic pit. Climb the ladder and rid of the soldiers above you. Grab the ammo and nades where the one marine body is dragged into a vent. Climb again, and you will find a soldier and a turret to deal with. Refill on your status, then go down the hall. Move to the opening, and take out the soldier with your Magnum Revolver. Make your way to where the explosives are, and plant two trip mines (one on each side). Leap up on the middle ledge, and then go through the new door. Lure the soldiers inside to follow you, then jump back across the walkway, and watch them die from a humongous explosion thanks to the trip mines and explosives. Go back in the new way they came from, and make a left. Pick up the new ammo and recharge your armor. Then hit the button to cause for the Power Generator elevator to lower. Take it down. When you reach the bottom, some shockwave creatures will try to race towards you and set off the mines. Take them out, then crawl out through the opening, and fall into the water below. Climb via the ladder, and detonate the mines from a safe distance. Now, move ahead to engage more shockwave creatures. Make a left in the circular room, and go down the stairs. Go down for two levels till you reach the Maintenance portion of the stairs. Go into the water- covered floor, and watch out for the underwater leeches that peck away at your health. Go to the far end and look at the machine. Smash the two wooden boxes jamming it, and the machine will now start lubricating. Now, climb a flight of stairs, and enter the new area. Go to the end, and hit the button to enable Power Unit 1. The power will now be restored. At the same time, you will hear a Marine's radio call in the background. Climb the stairs, and go back to the Power elevator. It will start to lower with two soldiers. Quickly take them out with a MP5 grenade. Use the elevator to go up, and then jump back out, and head back to the place that puts you where the large creature was. You will now notice that two large silver metal doors which weren't open before, are now open. Proceed down this large tunnel, to an area with two large shockers. Move to the end of the room, and hit the lever to turn the main track power on. At the same time, the two shockers will connect with shining blue beams of light. Take the hall on the right to avoid being shocked, and head back to the open arena. Here comes the fun part. Catch the attention of the large Cyclops, and lure him after you. Sprint back down the large tunnel, and take the hallway on the left to avoid getting shocked. Move to the railing with the power lever, and he SHOULD see you. He'll start running towards you when he gets shocked and blown to pieces by the shocker. Good work, Gordon. Now, head back to the main room, and jump on the cart under the little inlet. Press the use key on it, and drive it forward to the center platform. Now, go back to the room with the fallen railing, and go to where the one door is boarded up. Smash away the wooden planks, and go inside. A security guard will be proned on the ground nearing death. Grab his revolver ammo, and use the medpack to restore some life. Since the train cart is on the center platform, his the lever to cause the platform to rotate it towards the other track. Jump through the small window, and drive the train cart ahead. It will smash right through the concrete barrier set up to stop it. You will now proceed to the next stage of the game. ________________ /On a Rail (4.7)/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Your brief ride will shortly stop at a security gate along with a security guard overwatching your progress. *The guard says that the Lambda Labs have contacted him with some new information. In order for the hectic problem to be resolved in any way, they need a special government satellite delivery object to be sent up and in orbit. The soldiers set up the launch site for the rocket, but have failed to launch it. If this satellite can get in orbit, then the labs might have some success in fixing this problem.* After hearing the valiant speech, hit the nearby switch to flip the gate open. Move ahead in your cart and watch for the rope eaters. Your cart will lower via a mechanical elevator into a water-covered tunnel. Continue on the path making your way around the tracks. You'll come across switches, which look like orange-mounted objects that allow you to change the path your cart goes. To switch to an alternate path, simply shoot the switch once, and it will flip to a different direction. However, let's go back to the walkthrough. As you dwindle along the path, go straight through the first switch. When you reach the second switch, shoot it, and your cart should go straight. At the open area, kill the poison spitter to your right, and watch for the rope eaters on the roof. Go ahead, and another spitter will pop out on your right. Jump off your train, and go upstairs. Destroy the small boxes blocking your path, and hit the lever on the control panel to move the crane blocking the path. Ride the rail straight ahead to the first switch you see, and shoot it so the direction points to the left. Take the new path up on your cart, and you will go on an elevator. This is a fairly tricky part though, leap off and climb the first ladder you see. Take out the guard standing there. Climb the next ladder to your right, and take out the remaining guards. There will be a soldier around the corner, and go right. Snipe the two soldiers that are exposed down the alley, then go back, and take the left path. Nade the middle two soldiers and rid of them. Look along the left wall for some dead alien bodies (which the marines were fighting before). Go up the stairs, recharge your armor, then climb all the way back down the elevator shaft. Take your cart up the elevator, and move straight ahead. Your cart should stop at the gate. Normally, you'd have to combat several enemies, but since you took them out before, this will be a breeze. Jump off, hit the switch to open the gate, then move your train cart forward. Up ahead you will find more marines and a few planted trip mines. Shoot them down, and continue ahead. Stop your train at the first hall to your right, and dismount. Clear out the corner on foot, and check the middle area for ammo or health. Go upstairs, and clear out the rooms for marines and aliens. You will be able to find some nifty medpacks, boosters, and specific ammo along the way. Now, go back down to the lower lever where you first started. Move your cart ahead, and stop at the newest area. You can tell when you see sandbags blocking your route ahead. Immediately to your left will be 3 soldiers; take them out in a jiffy. Board off, and take the right hall. More aliens and marines will be battling it out, and it's best you not interfere. Let them eliminate each other, then take out the remaining forces. Go into the first room on the left, and look beyond the box for a security guard. Have him follow you to lay down support fire, and check the branching off to the right. Destroy the boxes for some power units, but be weary as some headcrabs will fall from a vent above. Now, go back to the main hall, and continue ahead. Around the corner is a mounted bunker machine gun. Toss a grenade behind it to eliminate the guard, and the threat also. Leap across the tracks, and then go through the right red door that says Blast Area. Crawl along the small right ledge until you see a guard below, and snipe him with the Revolver. Climb down, and go through the next blast door. Jump onto the next cart, and ride it through. Avoid the red lasers by crouching, otherwise, pesky turrets will be activated. Some spitters will also try to attack you as you proceed forward. Check the door on the left for some leftover ammo on dead bodies. When you reach a sudden spurting corner to the left, BE CAREFUL. A mounted RPG launcher will continually fire at you. You can duck under the shots, however, it keeps on firing in successive blows. Pull out your Revolver, and snipe out the guard next to it, by bobbing your head up and down as the rockets fly overhead. Destroy the trip mines ahead, and go up the hill. There will be two soldiers above. You can recharge your armor via a nearby booster. Hit the lever to open the nearby gate blocking your path. Go back to the original cart you were on, and ride it ahead. Suddenly the second cart to your left will start moving with a guard. Take him out, then jump off your cart, and start following the second one that went down the tunnel. You will see it in the distance stopped at another gate. Right to the right platform where you'll see several boxes and a MG to your left. Here comes the tricky part. There's a mounted MG to your right, right around the corner. You're going to have to eliminate the three soldiers hiding behind the boxes first, then pull out a grenade, and toss it behind the MG bunker to destroy that. Pull out your grenades, and toss one to catch attention. As the soldiers scramble, pick them off with the Revolver. Finally, charge towards the bunker, and get close enough to it on the lower ground so that it cannot hit you. Toss the grenade from this safe location for a job made much easier. Once this is clear, you can go up the stairs, and restock on ammo. Go next to the MG bunker, and hit the lever to open the gate. Continue ahead, and stop at the elevator. Go right, and take the right elevator up by yourself. There are two boxes right by the entrance that have satchel charges. Once you're at top of the elevator, you will notice that the way is blocked by explosive boxes. Toss a satchel charge behind the boxes, then send the elevator down. Detonate it from a safe distance, go back up, and get off the elevator. Now, go over to the ladder, and proceed down. Kill the lone soldier, then go up one level, and head back to your cart. Drive it straight forward, and it should rise all the way up. Once you're at the top, you'll notice streams of electricity shooting out. Time your way past them, and take out the 2 trip mines around the corner. In the next area, stop your cart at the gate, and watch out for the moving boxes. In the right corner are two boxes. Be careful as two soldiers will pop out and try to ambush you. Quickly nade them, and hit the lever behind their dead bodies to open the gate. Proceed ahead on your cart. After you make it over the hill, the next area has two side lasers. Time your movement with the train cart so that you do not get sidewhacked by boxes. Once you make it through, there's an RPG around the corner. Use the same tactic from before by rushing it with the cart, crouching, and then popping up with your Revolver. Ahead will be a High Voltage area. You will have to time your movements so that you do not take major damage from the two moving beams. Once you're past them both, hit the nearby switch to proceed forward. Stop the train at the missing gap in the tracks, and go down the right ladder. At the bottom will be a laser that crosses the ladder's path. Leap off before you touch the laser, and go into the small room. Eliminate the two aliens, grab the remaining ammo, and crawl out via the small window. Jump over the tracks, and proceed ahead. Around the corner is a lone soldier and a mounted MG. Try to nade the mounted MG from a distance, then charge the right hall, and take out the guard around the corner. Grab the medpack, and go upstairs. *You will overhear a discussion between two soldiers. Apparently, you're believed to have sabotaged the experiment, and the sole reason these aliens have warped here. The men then get extremely angry as you have been killing their buddies left and right.* Take out the two guards after their melodramatic speech. Continue into the wide open area, and look into the upper left for a small ghille area. Nade it as there is a snipe mounted up there. Grab the medpack on the box if you need it, and continue ahead through the blast door. Go through both doors by hitting the keypads next to them. You will then see a giant silo opening in the ground. Around the corner to your right will be 3 soldiers. Take them out with grenades. Move ahead into the Console Control via the lower blast door. Go up the stairs and avoid the 3 horizontal red lasers (otherwise you will be blown to pieces by explosives). To avoid them, crawl under the first two lasers, stand up on the stair railing, then leap over the third one. Go through the next door, and you will be able to overhear another discussion between commanding soldiers. Kill them both, then enter the second room. Hit the red button on the wall to launch the rocket. *In a massive event, blast doors will cover the windows, and the silo hole will open up. A massive rocket will be launched, which is the satellite test rocket the government never sent up. This is exactly what the Lambda Labs needed done. Now all you have to do is reach them.* Now, head back to the open area where you took out the sniper. If you look to your left, a large door will now be open. Proceed through, and go down the ladder to your left. Pick up any remaining ammo, health, or powerups from the wooden boxes. Ride the red "speed demon" train to make it to the next location. ___________________ /Apprehension (4.8)/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The next area loads with Gordon riding the speed demon train with ease. Unfortunately, you will notice that you have lost control of the cart. It will then speed ahead, derail, go past 3 soldiers, and plummet into a giant water tank below. Quickly swim to the surface for air. Now, swim to the bottom and go into the hall next to the cart. Go into the left room, and swim through the bottom hall. Some dirt will collapse through a ceiling. Catch a breath of air, and swim back out to where your cart was. You might have to wait a bit, but the outer frame holding the four barrels will fall apart, and allow them to float to the surface. Swim up above, and use the barrels to boost across onto the red hall to the right. Kill the 2 aliens, and continue up the stairs. You are now on the other side of the water tank. Drop into the water below, and swim down the closest hall. Catch a breath in the new room, and smash the vent cover on the ground. Swim through it, and take the right route up into the new room. You will be able to find some MP5 ammo and various munitions. Swim back to the other side, and continue up ahead in the hall. You will now be back on dry land. If you look up ahead, a scientist will be eaten by a gigantic fish creature. Avoid the water and rope eaters. You'll also notice that a crossbow is stationed in the middle container. Continue ahead and climb the ladder to the upper room. *The scientist will inform you that he's too afraid to move out because of the large fish creature in the water. It was supposedly brought in a week ago from the depths of the ocean, but based on its size and origin, it's probably another freakish alien. You can try to knock it out with the tranquilizer crossbow in the sharkcage, but that risk is up to you.* Seeing as there is not much else to do, move ahead and onto the narrow beam. Drop into the cage and equip the crossbow. Suddenly, the cage will snap and lose its grip. You'll now be sinking in the water, when you hit the bottom, the fish creature will approach you. Shoot as many darts into it until it dies. It usually takes 4 hits to take one down. Swim out, and catch a breath of air. Now, swim back down, and look in the left corner for a valve. Rotate it all the way to open the door next to it, then briefly swim through. Take the ammo along the way, and go upstairs through the next door. You will now be in a room with lots of rope eaters. Soem ray shooters will spawn to attempt to interfere. Go down via the lower hall, and the next room will have 2 giant fish in the water. One of the beginning railings fall apart, so be careful. Try not to fall into the water, and make your way to the other side. Leap through the hole in the fence on the right, as you can't make it past the sparking wire. Swim down the water and up around the corner. Go up the stairs. Climb the ladder to reach the Generator Control room. Some poison spitters will try to alter your path. Go down and up through the right hall. Move up to the control console, and hit the button to cause for the pumps to start moving. Now, time your jumps across via the moving pumps to reach the other side. Watch for the lone headcrab that will try to ruin your jump. Go right into the yellow halls. You can recharge your health along the way. In the next room with the computer equipment, there are about 6 aliens total, composed of ray shooters and headcrabs. Finish them off. *A scientist in a safety chamber will open the door. He will inform you that Black Mesa security has been tracking you ever since the incident began. There are all sorts of tracking devices in your Hazard Suit, and the government has been able to track you down as well. The area up ahead is very cold, and can knock you out fairly quick unless you know what you're doing. Stick to the older industrial areas if you want to play it safe.* Hit the console button to open the door. Quickly sprint ahead with a MP5, and shoot any aliens that try to stop you. Make a left in the next room, and look for the ladder shaft in the corner of the room. Climb down it. Up ahead are some barrels and boxes. Down the narrow hall will be a total of 4 spawning ray shooters. The 2 other ones will spawn ahead and behind you, so be careful. At the end of the hall, take the elevator up. *A security guard has an important message for you. However, before he can spurt it out, he'll be sniped in the back by a mysterious entity.* Go up ahead into the large room, and you will be greeted by black-cladded assassins. These guys (or girls for that matter) are a true pain as they have silenced Glocks, and can do various flips. They're also agile enough to dodge MP5 grenades while in mid-air. Try to engage them, and put them down for the count. Go down the right hall, and curl around the corner. Go into the room for lots of ammo, health recharges, and power units. Go back out, and finish off the remaining 4-5 assassins. Climb the stairwell in the center of the room, and walk up to the Surface Access lever. Hold down the use button to pull it all the way. Once the doors are opened up, proceed through the 2 doors into the room ahead. *Suddenly, the room will go dark, and you will be clobbered by several army grunts. As you're being dragged along the way, the two guards debate whether or not you can be reported for questioning. Since you killed most of their buddies, and they despise you, they decide to get "rid of" the body.* You will now awake in a small caged room. After a short amount of time, the walls will start to press in on you! Quickly leap on the boxes, and use them as boosts to reach the above area. Crouch on the side, and wait for the machine to stop compressing. Look for a crowbar on this tall ledge, and grab it. Then, jump down to the side of the compressor where there is a vent on the ground. Smash the vent cover, and drop into the pipe. You will be brought to the next area. _________________________ /Residue Processing (4.9)/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The pipe you just leaped into will now flush you out into a canyon with some water below. After landing, go right. A few headcrabs will spawn along the way. Go next to the tall water tower, and look for a valve. Hold down the use key to rotate the valve all the way. Once it's rotated all the way, quickly climb the tower, and drop into the lowering elevator. Once you reach the bottom crawl in the little shaft to the left. Break the cover and crawl through. Break the other end of the shaft to reach the interior section. *A security guard will be shooting some headcrabs in the distance. After he notices you, he'll run down the hole. If you look ahead, he actually ran right into a rope eater, and got eaten up. Poor person.* After the guard is dead, pick up his dropped pistol. Now you're armed to the teeth - not quite. Go recharge your health, and move ahead. You'll now be in an Observation Area. Go down the spiral stairs and kill the two headcrabs at the bottom. Since there's a high amount of radiation in this area, charge up your suit via the nearby boosters. Now, go back to the room where you first met the security guard. Climb the ladder on the pool of toxic radiation. Leap over, and crawl through the vent. In the next room, you have to time your jumps so you can make it to the red room across from you. Just wait for the opportune moment, and try to leap on the middle two when they're both moving at the same rate. In the red room, move along the left pipe, and then leap across to the right pipe. If you try walking directly across the right pipe, it will shatter due to the weight, and you will have to do the process all over again. In the next location, you have to make it across the radiation pool via the rotating swirls in the vat. As usual, time your movement directly across when the rotators are lined up. Crawl in the vent to the upcoming area. Now, jump onto the middle conveyor belt. It should bring you to a giant pool of water. Swim down and head back towards the direction you came from. Swim down the channel of underground bubble water, and avoid the chopper. Move ahead, and crouch swim under the churner. Catch a breath in the new 3-conveyor belt room. Move around and check out the room behind you. Kill the alien, and take the Revolver from the ground. Now, head back, and go right of the conveyor belts to the Maintenance section. Hit the middle lever to cause that belt to go forward now. Move to the back room, and hit the button control to stop the stompers. Quickly run out, and leap onto the middle belt. Make sure you timed pressing the button so both stompers are high enough so that you may crawl under them. The next room will have side squishers. Time your sprints past them to not take any damage. There will be 3 more patterned vertical squishers up ahead. In the next large room, drop onto the first right conveyor belt you encounter. Drop onto the next one, and the one after that. You will know you're on the right track when you past through a section of hot flames. Follow this belt until you can see 2 conveyor belts to your left (leading into a wall). Jump down on the first one, and shoot the mine to not take any damage. Shoot the other mine around the corner. Up ahead will be 3 rollers positioned at various lengths. Diagonal leap across both belts to get past them. You'll now be in a large squisher room. Jump to the side to avoid being crunched by the central chopper. Time your jump down as it retracts. Now that you're in the toxic area, leap up and climb the ladder. Once you're in the red hall, we've reached a new section. ___________________________ /Questionable Ethics (4.10)/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Climb up the ladder, and you'll be greeted by a herd of shocker creatures. Quickly drop a satchel on the foreground, then climb down the ladder, and detonate that sucker to eliminate most of the threats. Make your way back off, and finish off the remaining threats. Shoot the electric bulb to open the gate to continue forth (it probably blew up from the explosion of the satchel). Recharge your health, then go through the lab doors. There will be a creature in the central tube. Look on the nearby console, and smash the alarm button. At the same time, the creature will burst out of its tube. Run down the newly opened door to escape the clutches of the fiendish beast. In the next room, go into the corner shack, and hit the button. All of the headcrabs in the center cage will be incinerated by a blinding ray. Remember this for later on. Move ahead, and kill the lone soldier around the corner. The MP5 will help you against the upcoming threats. You'll also meet up with a security guard along the way. *He will inform you that the military has the exitway sealed off. The only way out is to find a scientist who has retinal access, and to get him to open the door for you. Now if only you could find a scientist in these cursed labs.* Have the newly found guard follow you. Kill the 3 guards in the next room, and make sure you pick up their ammo. Recharge your suit, then enter the upper door looking for scientists. In the next room, hit the button on the left to release the crabs. Then, run to the corner shack, and hit the button to incinerate the beasts. Finish off the remaining threats, then pick up the crossbow where the crabs were, along with additional ammo. Move ahead. You will find 2 soldiers around the corner. Go left to open access forward, then move right. In the new room, watch for the trip mines in the lower right portion. Grab the power unit near the middle, then go left and up the hall to the red control room. Shoot the trip mines to trigger an alarm. Several alien beasts and marines will clash and collide in battle. Let them eliminate each other. Along the way, you should have found a few trip mines. Go back down this hall, and plant the mines bunched together. One of the remaining aliens will try to sneak up behind you, but the mines will make quick work of him. Once the area is clear, go in the newly opened door thanks to the alert. There will be a soldier to your left around the corner. Go past the first locked door to your left. Go down the hall and run past the glass labs. Headcrabs will lunge out of them in an attempt to ambush you. Go left up the stairs. There will be more aliens and soldiers duking it out in traditional battle. Go into the first room to your right, and hit the button to start the laser. Leave this room, then enter the first hall to your left. *You will overhear a conversation between a scientist and security guard. Apparently he found a new prototype weapon (the Gauss Cannon). The scientist warns him not to overcharge the weapon, but the guard didn't know, and both of them are killed.* Enter the room, and pick up the tasty weapon. Also, hit the button to enable the laser. Go back to the main hall, and proceed to the far end. Go into the upper left hall, eliminating the soldiers along the way. Inside the room, clear out the shockwave creatures, and turn on the laser. Go back to the hall, enter the room across from it, and turn on the last laser. Now, head to the room about halfway down the main hall. Inside you'll find two lasers coming down. Look for a gray box in the room, and push it against the wall, where the two glass windows are. Make sure it's within contact of the wall. Walk over to the command console, and press the use button to start the powerful laser. A powerful red beams will be formed thanks to the turning on of the other laser consoles. Because of the box's positioning, a special metal protective layer won't retract, and the laser will blast through the soft wall. Jump down into the room, and go through the chamber door up ahead. *A scientist in the room will inform you that they all have retinal access to get past the main door. However, a surgical unit got tossed out of control, and is spinning harmfully, preventing them from reaching the main lobby.* The spinning device is fairly simple to avoid. Just strafe and jump over the lower one to get past it, then hit the button on the console near the other side to turn it off. Once it's off, have one of the scientists follow you. Lead him out to one of the far ends, and run through the double lab doors. Watch for a spawning marine to your right. After he's dead, lead the scientist to the main door, and he'll open it up for you. The man has some kind words for you as well. *The military has an extreme lockdown on the entire exterior of the base. You would be crazy to go out there and attempt to reach the Lambda Labs unless you had a fully trained batallion. You can find the labs on the opposite side of the base, where most, if not the rest of the science team is hiding. Get there, and perhaps they can figure out a solution to this eery mess.* Go through the spinning door. Outside you'll find one marine to your right. There's a turret above as well, but you can usually sprint away from it without taking too much damage. Blow the explosives blocking the tunnel to move ahead. Destroy the boxes in the tunnel for ammunition and health. Approach the door, and prepare for the toughest level. _______________________ /Surface Tension (4.11)/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Our next level is mainly going to be based around the surface of the Black Mesa facility, so prepare to face numerous human soldiers, and their "creative" weapons of mass destruction. Start off by going through the door, and you'll have 2 soldiers around the corners of the door. There will also be a few in the distance behind the wooden boxes. Move forward to the dam up ahead. You will start to hear an attack helicopter in the background. There's also a mortar cannon as well. Quickly sprint and dive into the pool of water on the right side of the dam. There will be a giant alien fish in the corner that will start to make its way towards you, but not reach you yet. Swim to the ladder and climb it to reach the top of the guard tower. Go around and enter it. Hit the button to turn off the turbines. Recharge your health if necessary, and look out the door. Now, dive back into the water. Be careful though as the fish creature has probably caught up to you by now. You may have to use your crossbow to rid of him. Swim to the bottom near the dam, and turn the valve just far enough so you can swim through the tunnels. Swim through the tunnels (thanks to the Turbines being turned off). On the other side, keep swimming down the river. Climb the ladder at the far end, and crawl through the vents. Go right once you reach the clearing and climb the next ladder. Go around the corner, and climb that ladder. Now that you're on the top, approach the wired fence. Go in the little inlet hole to your left. Meanwhile, that helicopter will be chasing you. Be weary of its missile attacks, and machine gun spit fires. In the next clearing will be 4 soldiers, based around the camo tent and behind some rocks. Rid of them, and go into the small tower. Rotate the valve, then go left near the sign. Crawl into the small inlet and go down the narrow path. A headcrab will try to ambush you from the sand below. Stick to the right side of this opening since the area is mined. Crawl under the small shelter inlet, then peak your head out to catch the chopper's attention. Move back in, and it should launch two missiles down where you were. They'll hit and destroy the mines protecting the sewer grate. Now, run over onto the hill next to the sewer grate, and leap down the sewer grate shaft. Climb down. Smash the cover on the vent, and crawl through to the end. At the opening, pick out an accurate weapon, and take down the turret to your right. There will also be a soldier below you, and a little to the right. Drop down via the left stone hedges, and move past the tower pipe along the way. Slide down the green pipe to a roof, then jump down to ground level. If you proceed backwards, you'll be able to find a lone power unit. Move ahead, and check the right inlet for a soldier. Once he's down, proceed inside, and the door will open to reveal an armory. Equip up, and ensure that you pick up the RPG. You will then hear a chopper coming down towards the cliff. Pull out the RPG, and make sure the red dot is on. This is basically a tracking dot, which is exactly where the rocket will go. Wait for the chopper to come down, and fire a missile at it. Fire one more rocket, and the chopper should go down. Now that the annoying machine is dead, climb the ladder to your right, and proceed up the canyon via a series of walkways and stairs. When you reach the top, crawl in the pipe. Crawl until you reach a T in the path of piping. Go right, and crawl into the water. Be silent, and crawl to the forward pipe you see. Ingore the first one to your right. Jump and crawl through this straight pipe, and it'll take you to a spot slightly behind a tank up above. Quickly look to your left and take out the lone guard. Thankfully, because you are behind the tank, it can't rotate its turret far enough to hit you. While this happens, run over to the garage and pick up any ammo or health you need. Some soldiers from the front will come behind the tank. Take them out as you go. You can destroy the tank turret with about 4 direct hits from an RPG. There is some rocket ammo nearby in case you run low. After you've finished off the soldiers and tank, go out front, and look near the small bunker booth. Hit the button next to the structure to open the gate. Proceed through and you'll see a bunch of boxes. About halfway down, a large RPG tank will start firing at you. Dodge the rockets and launch some explosives yourself. Toss a few grenades when you run low. The RPG tank will go down after a few hits as well. Once it's destroyed, jump in the hole along the right wall, and take out the two guards by the camo tent. You may then re- equip your health, ammo, and hazard suit armor. Go back out the hole, and leap over the sandbags near the blown-up tank. Go through the gray doors up ahead. Up ahead, the aliens will start to launch an aerial assault on your compound. Watch out for the large creature to your left. Move to the right, and watch out for the trip mines in the narrow quarters. After you pass an area with a small dip of stairs, look to your upper right. You will see a dark hole with some camo. Toss a grenade up there to rid of a sniper. Pick up the dying security guard's shotgun, and continue up ahead. You will see a mines sign. Now, pull out the shotgun, and start shooting the ground in spread out bursts. Mines should be detonated thanks to the wide blast radius of the gun. You may also toss a grenade in clustered areas to take out multiple mines, rather than shooting multiple times. When you see a wooden cross-section near a fence, look to your upper right for another sniper hole. Nade that one too. Jump on the wooden cross-section, then jump over the fence. Shoot the barrels next to the green generators to have them destroy them. Now electricity will not be flowing in the metal towers. Scale up the one tower, and leap onto the vent to your left. Jump over to the hole and drop down. *A scientist in the small room will warn you to proceed with caution. The soldiers really locked down the room ahead with LOTS of trip mines.* Go out the door, and make your way past the first two mines. Take the first left right before the corner, and jump onto these boxes. Make your way to the center room with the elevator and two large rockets above. Here comes the tricky part. Go the upper right corner of the room, where the small stairs are, and a locked door. Leap onto the stairs railing, jump to the nearby box, then make your way to the barrel next to the elevator. Jump out and over the elevator. Go to the upper left corner of the room, and crouch under the laser. Walk up to the control room, and kill the headcrab. Walk over to the button, and look to your left for a tall box. Shoot and destroy the box, THEN hit the button. The elevator will rise. Now, drop down to the main floor, and push a wooden box under the newly risen elevator. Go back to the control room, and hit the button. Because the box is under the elevator, it will jam it from coming down. This helps because the main elevator in the room was malfunctioning, and the new jammed elevator will allow you to go down on the central elevator. If you're having trouble finding a box to move, simply plant a trip mine pointing upward directly under the elevator to jam it as well. You can find a trip mine inside one of the boxes in the room. After you jam the elevator, leap onto the central elevator, and hit the button to go down. Grab some ammo from the nearby boxes. If you move ahead, a security guard will come running towards you for help. Kill the 3 soldiers chasing him directly behind him. Pick up the bee bug gun as well. This gun has unlimited ammo as the bugs regenerate. You can launch them in homing or straight path patterns. Go through the tunnel, and destroy the turret in the back of the first truck you encounter. Go up and outside of the tunnel. Suddenly, an alien dropship will let down a huge army of bee aliens. However, move back, and an F18 will drop bombs on them. Now, equip the Gauss Cannon you got from before, and move up. An tank will be revealed from behind the boxes in a nearby tunnel. Since you're either low or out of rockets, charge up the Gauss Cannon, and launch a blow directly on the turret. It should blow it away. Now, continue to the right of the tank. Once you reach the alley, look to your upper left, and nade the sniper nest to take out a soldier. Move halfway down the alley and take a right. Kill the two soldiers in the room, then proceed upstairs. Have the security guard follow you, and lead him to the nearby door. He will open it for you. Re-equip yourself in the armory room with explosive weapons, experimental ammo, and a plethora of items. Now, go back out of this room, and look for a nearby window on the second floor. Smash through it, stand on the ledge, and make your way around the corner. Jump to the green transformer, then proceed up the ladders on the walkways. You'll now be in a congested and mangled room. Below are three soldiers at various positions. Take them out with the crossbow or revolver. Jump across the ledgeways until you can reach the small platform on the other side of the room. Run through and proceed to the large wide-open field. *When you reach the new area, you will hear a chopper-like aircraft in the background. This is definitely not good news.* Quickly sprint to the right, and the large double doors will explode. Take care of the bee creatures that march out, then proceed right down the alleyway. Go to the right corner, jump on the green boxes, and boost your way up to the second floor. Now, get behind the artillery gun, and aim at the double doors in the center of the field. Blast away the door with 2-3 shots. If any enemies approach you, take them out with the artillery gun as well. Now, go through the main bi-door which has just been breached. In the next area, jump behind the mounted MG, and start firing away at the spawning ray shooters. There will be about 20 in total, but thanks to the gun, they will be quickly-made toast. Go ahead and use the bouncy Xen pad to reach the high platform. Go right, and you will witness a battle between some aliens and soldiers. Shoot the vent in the lower right and crawl through. Up ahead, the wall will fall down to reveal several mini-bugs charging at you. Quickly pelt them down and pick up the Xen bugs as ammo. These nasty creatures can pack a punch. Move up ahead, and you'll hear a conversation between some marines believing that they just heard something. They will then start to shoot through the vents in a rapid pattern. Quickly retreat back from the shots, and watch out for some of the metal casing to fall off. Take out the two marines below, then drop down into the tank garage. Recharge your status, then go through the door. Watch out for the grenades, and quickly retreat back. Explosives will block the doorway. There will also be a hole in the nearby wall. Go up to the left hanging switch, and hit it to lower the lift. Hit it again, jump on it, and it should rise to an elevated position. Leap through the hole and take out the pesky duo of soldiers. Now, man the artillery gun and blast away the door. Now, about 5 bee creatures will start to march towards the breached door; keep blasting them away with the artillery gun. Once the doorway is clear, run through. In the next room, a tank will burst through the wall, and soldiers will begin to engage the aliens. While this is going on, move ahead across the railing, and leap over the gap. Go through the door, then move right. A marine will come flying through the wall. Kill the bee creature, then go ahead to the open area. There will be yet another pursuing battle. Drop down to ground level, then use the alien pad to the left to boost to the roof. Break the vent cover, and drop into the water. Move ahead in the pipe, and suddenly a soldier will toss a satchel charge in. QUICKLY sprint back and dive back into the far wall of the water room. Crouch and wait for the fire to dissipate. Crawl back through and take out the lone marine. In this room will be several headcrabs to worry about. Climb across the pipe near the middle portion of the room, and rotate the valve. A ladder hatch should open up. Climb up the ladder. Crawl through the narrow crevice, and at the other end, kill the soldier to your right. Go right, and kill the other marine. Recharge your health, and make your way upstairs. *A lone security guard will tell you to freeze, but soon realize that you're Gordon Freeman.* Get the guard to follow you all the way downstairs, and lead him to a locked computer door. He should enable the terminal to unlock the door. Continue to lure the guard with you down to the checkpoint stop gate. Lure him to the ticket booth, and he will open that door too. Proceed through. Move ahead into the parking garage. If you look to your left, you will see an innocent marine get crushed to death by a sliding vehicle. The vehicle was actually tossed by a gigantic alien creature. Shoot the creature to get its attention, and lure it after you. Make sure it follows you, and continue right weaving back and forth. When you reach the solid wall, use the alien jump pad, and leap up to the right tower. On top, you should see a mounted grid map, along with a radio, and dead marine body. Here comes the tricky part. You will receive a message saying that the government is going to lay down airstrikes on the Black Mesa compound, in order to cut down on their losses. He tells Cooper (although he's dead) to mark targets for airstrikes, or get the heck out of there before all chaos breaks loose. In order to get past this part, you must destroy the following targets. The process is simple. You can adjust the horizontal and vertical targeting beams by holding down the use key on the specific adjustment keys. Once both are aligned and overlap each other, the overlapping area is where the airstrike will hit. Remember that the alien should have burst through the gate if you lead him to the destination correctly: [1] - Kill the ALIEN beast [2] - Destroy a solid wall _______________________ __________________________ | | | | | | | | | |________X_________________| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |______X________________| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |______|________________| |________|_________________| [3] - Destroy a tower for a boost [4] - Destroy exit door _______________________ __________________________ | | | |_X________________________| | | | | | | | | | | | | |_______________X_______| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |_______________|_______| |_|________________________| - After completing all 4 tasks, run down, and use the destroyed tower for a boost to reach across the gapping moat. You may also leap through the hole in the concrete wall because you destroyed that too. The exit door should be burst open as well thanks to your well-planned targeting. Move on up ahead. The entire compound will start to be flooded with numerous airstrikes. Go into the door up ahead to reach the next area. _____________________________ /Forget about Freeman! (4.12)/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= This next area will mainly take part in an underground facility leading to the Lambda labs. Along the way, you will be dealing with threats of foreign aliens, and airstrikes from above. Start off by going through the tunnel, and the ceiling panels will start to crumble. Avoid them (they will usually darken before falling below), jump to the road to your right, and wait till the rumbling starts. Boost yourself on top of the rocks, and crawl through to the next area. *You will overhear a radio conversation saying that soldiers are cutting their losses, and that they should forget about Freeman. There are bigger problems to deal with.* Kill the nearby turret, then hit the lever on the wall. Get the nearby security guard to follow you, and take out the 2 bee creatures up ahead. Go to the stop sign gate, and a few aliens will spawn behind you. This next part can be a tad tricky. You can shoot the webbings to clear out a path through the tunnels. However, avoid shooting the nests, or coming in contact with their lasers. If destroyed, the nests will release several minute alien bugs that swarm at you. They're fairly hard to kill because of their tiny size. Go left, and then go left up the stairs. The Glock tends to work well on the mini-bugs. Use the health recharger on the wall, then go back down. If you need some rocket launcher ammo, continue past the webbing to your left, and you'll find some in a small gated room along the left wall. Otherwise, go back, and go right from the main "T" in the tunnel. Around the corner will be 2 ray shooters. Wait till they approach the explosives box, and shoot the box for an easy kill. Go up, and look across the railing. There's a nest. Destroy it, along with the creatures, then rotate the valve next to it in order to open the hatch. Climb down the ladder. Kill the headcrab below, then make sure to avoid the red laser (unless you want to activate some tasty turrets). Watch for a headcrab to your right around the corner. Leap across the small stream, and push the blue box into the second stream. It will float, and drift downstream against a small black metal grating. Now, leap on top of the box, and then use that to boost over the grating to the other side. Swim ahead, and proceed right. Move straight, then make a right at the narrow "T". Crouch crawl through the rotating cog, and swim under the hot steaming flames. Swim past the right cog, jump up, and eliminate the lone guard. Grab some of the ammo, then climb the ladder, and rid of the two other guards in the open area. To your left behind the blocked view of the protruding rocks is a tank. You can actually sprint behind it, and not even waste any ammo attempting to destroy it. Be careful though as there is a rotating MG near the front of the tank. Go up to the elevator, and hit the button to bring it up. Go down, and on the next level, leap over the radiation seeps along the floor. There's a power unit to your left. Move right and kill the 2 soldiers around the corner. Go right, and there will be a medpack in the box, along with a power unit farther right. Go left up the stairs, and you will witness another battle between soldiers and aliens below. Jump onto the tank, and this neat vehicle has two functions. The green control panel will launch a tank shell (which is necessary to blow away the door to the following area, along with killing tough creatures). Also, the side MG can be controlled to take down individual targets. Take out the remaining enemies with the MG, and ensure that you blow down the door. Go through where the new door was. At this cross- section, there will be aliens to your left and right. To your left, take out the plasma turret with your Gauss Cannon, and rid of the bee creatures on both sides. Go left, and hit the control pad to open up the doorway to the Lambda Core. ____________________________ /Lambda Core (4.13) / -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Start off by going right to the nearby control console. Hit the button to start the elevator decline, and leap onto the large platform with the green truck. After it lowers to the bottom, kill the 5 headcrabs and poison spitter at the bottom. Go to the left ladder, and climb it to find some rechargers along with ammo. Go through the upper door, and a dead scientist should be up ahead. Go through the door, and there will be roughly around 4 assassins to deal with in this room. I used MP5 grenades and the gauss cannon to take them out. Go right, and smash all of the wooden boxes to reveal stairs that lead to the second level. Go upstairs, and cross the catwalk. Take the indented halls, and proceed left. You can recharge your health and armor by going down the set of stairs. Go back up, and take the halls all the way to the rightmost part. Hit the button at the end, and go down the next elevator. Walk into the tunnel with the barrels, and proceed ahead. A bee creature will suddenly clamp the door open. Take him out, and use the barrels to cause for a slightly potent blast on your opponents. There are 4 creatures in total. Go into the room, and onto the right ladder. In the next area, go right into the Test Fire Chamber. *The scientist will inform you that he developed an advanced weapon called the Gluon Gun. Unfortunately, he has never had the nerve to test it on living specimens. However, seeing your current condition, he hands it over to you to assist you on your journey. The Gluon Gun is basically a powerful rail-like gun that sends out a continuous laser (when held down), which warps and disrupts the genetical code of the victim. They're basically warped into nothing. It eats up the same ammo as the Gauss Cannon, but is the most powerful weapon in the game.* You can test it on the specimens in each of the two targeting ranges. Make sure to grab the ammo on the shelves, then head out. Go left, and enter the Coolant System. Proceed down the elevator, and you will now be at the Core. There will be a ton of enemies to deal with. Go left, and make another left. Go right at the Maintenance Station Access door, and have the security guard around the corner follow you. Proceed down stairs, and enter the door. *The scientist will greet you, however, he has some bad news. The Core reactor must be engaged so that the scientists up in the teleportation chambers will have power. You must first drain the reactor by turning on the two pumps, then access it via a small ventilation shaft. That should help both the scientists, and give you access to the upper areas of the labs.* Recharge your status via the nearby chargers, and make sure you pick up the spare ammo. Head back up stairs, and go to the main room. Go down the side walkways, and head along the left side until you reach an area called Coolant System 1. Along the way, you will encounter bee creatures, ray shooters, and headcrabs. Climb the ladder, and go through the next door. Climb down to the lab, battle the nearby aliens, and hit the switch to turn on Pump 01. Go back to the main room, but this time, head along the right side to Coolant System 2. Along the way, one of the walls will fall and shatter. Avoid it, then crawl through. Inside the door, you will find a few bee creatures and ropers. Climb the ladder and watch for a broken gap in the railing. Go through the door to Pump 02, and rotate the valve. Crawl through the small hole, kill the crabs, and hit the switch. Run back to the main room, then head to the "T" where you first went to meet the scientist. This time, go left into the Auxiliary Access Station. Jump into the water pit, and swim in the small narrow shaft. At the other end, catch a breath, then swim through. Dive back down, and rotate both valves along the wall to flood the reactor. Once it reaches the peak, climb up to the dry ground. Climb the ladders, but be careful as lasers will be spurting out in various directions from the reactor core. You will have to avoid these (some rotate in spiral patterns). When you reach the top, go through the door. Around the corner you will find a supply room. Go up the next elevator, then climb the ladder, and leap off through the jammed doorway. Go right into the supply room, then head out left. You can recharge your health along the way. If you go into the left room, you will find the G-man standing in one of the control consoles. Head back out, and proceed down the hall. Take out the aliens that spawn along the way. The valve in the middle actually turns on some steam flames about a quarter of the way down the hall. Lure the bee creatures and various aliens around the corner to follow you. Then, turn the valve to turn on these flames so that you can save some ammo. Turn off the valve when you're finished, and head around the corner. Now, look for the door on the right, and head on through. In this room, you will have a nice view of the portal rotating in the center. There will also be a dark green portal, and a lighter green portal next to you. Step on the lighter green portal to get warped to the center. You should land on the first level of the rotating platforms. If you messed up, just time your warp again. Here comes the tricky part. As you rotate around the core, each side of the reactor has a Portal # on it. Each portal # will warp you to individual places on the level. Some of the warps are benefitting to the player, while others are depreciating. This is what each portal does: ))- #1 --> Warps to a room filled with headcrabs ))- #2 --> Takes you up one level in the reactor [REQUIRED] ))- #3 --> Takes you to a supply room ))- #4 --> Takes you up one level [REQUIRED] ))- #5 --> Drops you into a room with 3 scientists ))- #6 --> Warps into a massive radioactive damage fall ))- #7 --> Takes you to the next area [REQUIRED] ))- #8 --> Loads you to an area with extra ammo ))- #9 --> Kills you in a warping malfunction Basically, the correct order is: #2, #4, then #7 However, in order to reach the higher levels, jump into these portals when there is a platform ABOVE you. Sometimes if you miss a platform rotating above you, and you leap in too soon or too late, then you will miss the platform, and plummet to the bottom. After you've done this, you will be warped to the actual secret warp. Up ahead will be about two rings of rotating platforms, with a center walkway rising up and down. Below is radioactive material that will kill you if you touch it. The outer ring rotates into solid walls which will push you into the radiation, so be quick on the outer ring. Make your way to the middle rising platform, then leap to the two outer switches in this room. Hit them both to open the portal doors to the center warp. Leap into the center warp, and you will be tossed inside a room. DO NOT go into the portal in this room. Instead, go out the two doors to your right. Go left, and climb the ladder. Leap out to make your way to level A of the facility. Go up ahead, and a scientist will open the secure door for you. You've reached the most secure section of the Lambda Core. The remaining scientists have barricaded themselves up in this place as it is the only way to reach the alien planet of Xen. *The scientist will brief you, telling you that there is a massive being on Xen who is acting as the link between Earth and the alien planet. You must kill this creature to stop the portal. His fellow colleague will be at the main controls for the portal that will take you to the planet. He will also show you some new technology you haven't seen before. Because of Xen's lighter gravitational field, leaping will be much less restricted. A new long-jump training suit allows you to have a quicker long jump that extends your jumping heights. Practice with it by pressing the crouch + jump buttons at the same time. Finally, the scientist will tell you to equip up, then proceed to the warp room where you will be warped to the planet by yourself.* Make sure you grab the orange suit, along with the ammo in the armory stations. Go ahead through the halls until you reach a large room with a giant cylinder near the center. *The scientist will be on a tall platform up above. He says that once he starts the portal process, he must continue uninteruppted, and you cannot jump into the portal until he says so.* You'll have about 30 seconds before he starts charging up the portal. Go across the room, and climb the ladder to the elevated section. Once the portal starts to charge up, Xen flying aliens will warp through. I found it best to use the Gauss Cannon, and shoot them down with charged shots. If the scientist is killed, or he messes up, you will die, so make sure you save before doing this part of the level. Basically, keep shooting down the aliens until he tells you to get into position. Wait for his trigger sentence telling you to jump through, and don't wait too long, otherwise the portal rift will close. When you leap through, prepare for one long journey to an alien universe. ___________ /Xen (4.14)/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Welcome to the alien world of whirling sounds, freakish objects, and warped dimensions. Gordon will end up landing on a platform. Start long jumping your way down each platform, and then jump on the roof of the floating circular object. Drop down one level, and watch out for the blue hanging turrets. These defenses cannot be destroyed, although you can quickly long jump through them. The nearby water pool on the ground will recharge your health naturally. Look for a slight indentation along the inner wall with some webbing. Smash away the webbing to reveal an inner hull to the entire platform. Crawl through, and you'll see some floating bugs trapped in a cage. Smash the cage, then go over to the 3 pedestals. Press the use key on each of them to open them up. After all 3 pedestals receive their bugs, a portal will be opened up in the center. Jump into the portal to proceed to the next area. ______________________ /Gonarch's Lair (4.15)/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= After first greeting the alien planet with your presence, you're suddenly on a new area of the planet. If you look to your left, you'll see a gigantic spider with a sack underneath begin to approach you. Quickly move to your right, and run behind the rock with sacs near it. You'll find some ammo and health to assist you. Fire rockets, throw grenades, and launch Gauss shots at the beast until it starts to retreat into a nearby tunnel. Follow it. The spider mainly sends out headcrabs, has a melee attack, and spits out transparent mini- spiders that stab away at you painstakingly. Again, you'll be in another wide- open field. If you look to the diagonal left, you'll see a transparent webbing on the floor. Fall through it, and land on the ledge (don't miss the ledge, otherwise you will plummet to your death). If you go to where you can see the dead body in the distance, there will be plenty of ammo, health, power units, and even a recharge pool nearby. Go back up, and keep pounding on Gonarch until he retreats back into a side tunnel. Drop down into the area, and continue ahead. Drop down again through the webbing, and keep pounding the spider from below. Meantime, you'll have to deal with lots of spurting invisi- spiders. After enough pounding from your weaponry, he should fall through and explode. Launch a grenade at the rest of the mini-spiders that fall from his sac. His body should fall to reveal a new area to drop down below to. Drop down about half way in the little ledge, recharge your health, then drop down to the portal. __________________ /Interloper (4.16)/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= In the next area, you'll land on a platform. It will crush to have you fall below onto the planet surface. There will be several flying craft above that launch down lasers, along with ray shooters, and the large holes in the ground will shoot you up for a massive boost. Go around the back portion of the island, and enter the cave. Up ahead will be some ray shooters. Destroy the webbing to proceed ahead, and recharge via the health pool. Drop into the nearby hole, and you will know you're in the right place when you see yellow crystals bordering the cave. Proceed ahead, and avoid stepping on a lone rock in the middle as it's a poison trap. Move ahead, but watch for ropers. Go around the right corner for health, and go up around the back. Destroy the webbing covering the small crack, crawl through, and move forward. Break more webbing, then wait for the tall pillar to lower. Stand on top, and wait for it to rise. Long jump to one of the nearby top platforms. Carefully, long jump your way down progressively until you get to a lower one. Wait for a blue flyer to streak by, and leap on top of the creature. Allow it to carry you to the portal on the island nearby. If you try leaping to the portal manually, you will be killed. Jump into the portal to go to the next section. In this new area, a lone clamper will be to your right, along with several "unaware" aliens behind you. Slowly and quietly sneak above and around towards the clamper. Distract it with a grenade in the other direction, crawl over to the opening, and leap up into it. Proceed ahead in the cave. You can use the health pool to regenerate your health. Watch for the ropers up ahead, then take a left in the split at the caves. Try navigating your way over the rocks. *A large creature will bash through the rocks and charge at you.* Quickly retreat back, and go out to the right split in the cave this time. Run past all of the aliens, and keep running to the corner. Jump onto the small white twig, then leap over to the recharge pond. Now, efficiently take out all of the lone aliens, then use rockets, grenades, and satchels on the huge cyclops. It will go down after several shots. If you run low, you can find more ammo in a cave underneath in a dark room. Once all is clear, go back to the main cave, and take the left path. Now that it's cleared, crawl in the right opening, and pick up the items. Go back out, and go left this time. Now you'll be forced to deal with two clampers. Sneak past them by tossing a distraction grenade. Once you're about halfway around back, take the lower path to pick up more grenades and ammo. Again, distract the two on the right, and watch out for the one on the left. Once you make it across the bridge walkway, and go through the narrow canyon, take out the 2 bee creatures near the portal. Jump inside the portal to be warped yet again. Your new position puts you in an underground lair. In the room up ahead, there will be lots of ray shooters and flying behemoths. You can use your Glock and Revolver to pick them off. Go up on the two elevators. If you need health, you can use a recharge portal on the second floor in the right corner. Once you reach the top, go onto the first conveyor belt, cross over at the middle, then take the second belt into a drop up ahead. When you drop down in the new area, there will be plenty of ray shooters and flying behemoths. Again, drop down to ground level, and move ahead for ammo and health. Go back out, use the elevator to reach the first floor. Do the same strategy from before. Go up the right conveyor belt, and go up around the pathway into the narrow doorway. The next section will be mainly composed of tight corridors with lots of alien barrels, ray shooters, and bee creatures. You can make quick work of them by tossing grenades, satchels, and laying down trip mines. You'll know you've reach the area when there are two small red holes against the wall. Crawl into these to move ahead. Keep moving ahead until to red holes are now on the floor. Drop down, and quickly sprint left avoiding all enemy fire. Get on the first elevator, then take the second elevator up, go across, and take the final elevator up top to the portal. Along the way, there are several rechargers, along with a huge ammo room that spirals up. When you jump in the portal, you will be brought to a dark place. Jump from platform to platform until you reach the mainland. Save your game before entering the dark red portal. _________________ /Nihilanth (4.17)/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Our perilous hero will now be standing on a platform in front of a...giant squid-like monster. This IS the master alien of the Xen race, and your ultimate foe linking the portal between Earth and this freakish world. Nihilanth can truly only be defeated in a set pattern, which can be very difficult. To start off, Nihilanth has two different attacks. His first involves the charging up of several white energy balls which are launched in a semi-arc pattern. However, they're a tad more concentrated, and can be aimed vertically too. These will do damage, and you'll usually be hit in succession which can result in instant death. His second attack is one that it scripted, which you must be hit by at least 3 times. He'll charge up his hands and launch a large green energy ball at you. Early on, it can be avoided by shooting it, however, eventually you must be hit by it. This will launch you into a "trick" room which you have to escape to get back to the real world. There are 3 different trick rooms to get by, and most of them are easy. I'm not going to go through each of them since they're all self explanatory. However, you will encounter minor enemies, and receive powerups in each of these rooms. Here's how you defeat Nihilanth: == 1) DESTROY THE THREE YELLOW CRYSTALS - Look above, and you should see three giant crystals. I found it best to destroy them ASAP using the Gauss Cannon. Charge up a shot that takes at least 7 power units, and shoot it at each crystal. After all 3 are destroyed, he will be weakened. == 2) GET HIT BY THE GREEN ENERGY BALL, THREE TIMES - Again, complete the puzzle rooms which are brief, and usually require jumping. Each time you reach the exit, you will be brought out to the lair. == 3) BOUNCE UP TO THE TOP BALCONY - Look on the ground for a jumping pad. It should be slightly to the left of the highest rock balcony. Press the jump key when running over the pad to get a heightened boost. == 4) JUMP INTO HIS BRAIN AND DESTROY IT - Now that you've completed the above three requirements, and are on the top pad, use the second pad to boost up and over Nihilanth. Try to land on his head, and wait for it to open up. Once inside, use the Gluon Gun, along with shotgun blasts, the crowbar, and whatever else fits your liking. You'll know he's dying when the screen starts to spiral and flash with vibrant colors. *After killing the master being of the Xen race, you'll suddenly end up in an elevator with the man in the blue suit himself! In case you did not know, his name is the G-Man, and he's also referred to as the "Administrator" at the Black Mesa facility. He let's you know that all of your weapons were stripped for meeting purposes. He congratulates you for allowing him to now control the Xen race. Because of your potential, and single-handed ability to bring down an opposing race, he has recommended your services to his employers for future jobs. Seeing as you're a decisive man, the choice should be quite clear. If you want to work for the man and his associates, simply step through the portal when it opens up. Otherwise, if you choose not to accept his offer, you will be warped into a battle you cannot possibly survive. Of course, the choice is up to you.* ______________________ _____________________ |#|AGGRESSIVE ENDING |#| |#|SUBMISSIVE ENDING|#| ---- If you choose not to enter ---- If you choose to enter the portal the portal when it opens up, when it opens up, a message will the G-Man will reluctantly pop up saying you have been let you go, and warp you into activated for employment, and are a room filled with Xen currently awaiting future job creatures. Since you practically opportunities. murdered their entire race, they have no problem killing you. The lights dim out, but at least you have the honor of not serving that despicable man. *This is pretty much the end of the game. Credits will scroll by, and then you will be left with a blank black screen. The real questions lie behind the true identity of the G-MAN, and what exactly happened at the end. Some players believe the G-MAN is actually working for an alien race that tries to control other races by defeating them. This was the case with the Xen. Unfortunately, they were too overwhelmingly strong for his race to handle alone. However, by pitting a war between the humans and Xen, along with manipulating Gordon Freeman, you allowed them to control the Xen (and the humans in a literal sense as well). The G-MAN is most likely a human, but his sinister lisp voice and attitude of saying that he works for a higher being tends to give it away. Hopefully, Half-Life 2 will solve some of these problems.* [[ THE END ]] -<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>- ============================= - 5) Multiplayer - ============================= Thankfully, one of the key replay values of Half-Life is a free multiplayer feature. Thanks to WON.net, you are able to play the game for free against other players as long as you have an internet connection, and no conflicting problems. There has also been a new program called STEAM which allows you to play online by universally combining all mods and internet play into one. WON will eventually be shutting down during the Summer of 2004, so everyone will have to convert to STEAM eventually. Anyhow, this section will describe some of the necessary basics on how to enhance your multiplayer experience. ________________ /Deathmatch Mode/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= This is the primary method of facing opponents during multiplayer games. Players spawn into a random location on the level where there's a free-for-all fight between pitting players. Along the way, weapons will spawn in pre-set locations, which means players will battle over getting more supreme weaponry. Some levels have special devices that can be used to make the gameplay experience more fun. Deathmatch is the main gameplay mode that most servers run, however, it can get stale after awhile. ____ >>=/TIPS\=<< - Get use to using the Gauss Cannon as it is one of the most effective weapons during a DM game. You can literally take out numerous opponents in a row by shooting through walls, charging, and simply re-aiming. Not even the Gluon Gun can compare to its greatness. - If you want to change your player model, enter Half-Life, and click on the Multi-player tab. Go to the Customize button, and you may change your model to one of about ten different pictures. The two bars at the bottom adjust some of the color ratings on the uniforms to make them look different. To get custom skins, check out the Common Questions section. - MP5 Grenades, the Crossbow, and Gauss Cannon are highly sought after weapons. Expect to see lots of enemy resistance around these weapon spawning locations. Someone with a crossbow is a dangerous foe as they can nearly one- shot kill you with a zoomed-in bolt. - Camping is a great tactic, especially at weapon chokehold points. However, be careful on your back flanks as someone is always bound to be near. - The Gauss Cannon can be used as a jumping boost. Simply charge up a shot, then angle it at the ground and fire. If you fire it diagonally at the ground, you will be recoiled back diagonally in the air. _________________ /HL Teamplay Mode/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= One of the more contrary and enjoyable methods of playing is the HL Teamplay mode. This basically is a team-deathmatch game where players are separated in teams based on their selection, and battle it out against each other. Sometimes Friendly Fire is turned on, which means you can damage your own teammates. The battles are typically more conservative, and strategically focused. ____ >>=/TIPS\=<< - In TDM games, try to control one of the larger rooms on the map, and keep a threshold on it. Holding one area in the level will give you a higher chance of cutting off the other teams from their other teammates. - You can have as many teams as you desire based upon the server settings. Some servers separate teams based on the player's selected model skin. Others have pre-set teams that may be selected manually. - Some truly fun maps for TDM include subtransit and crossfire. Crossfire takes place at a military base with a concentrated center, and numerous amounts of action. On the far side of the base are two useable cannons, along with a special timed nuke that can be detonated. The entire safe zone of the base is locked down, which means it becomes a frantic rush to see who can get into the bomb shelter before the nuke goes off. Subtransit actually has a moving vehicle on it better known as a train cart. Players can be crushed by the moving cart, and it's speed/direction can be adjusted by using the use key on the vehicle. This map becomes intensely fun when you're blasting away people and crushing players on the tracks. _________________ /Expansions & Mods\ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= One of the premiere features of any game is the amount of software-developed modifications or expansions the game adds to it. A modification is a special program that alters the pre-set items in the original game, and usually adds an entirely new gameplay experience with a different system, variables, and scripts. For example, the all so popular Counter-Strike was originally developed as a modification to Half-Life. They basically stripped HL of its skins, weapons, and levels. Then, they remodeled everything according to how they wanted it to be. Someone made the weapon and player models, and they re- designed how the gameplay worked thanks to the Half-Life console. That's basically what a modification is, except it changes everything for you. - Mods can easily be loaded or unloaded via the Mod Viewer at the main screen of HL. If you download and install one off the internet, you can switch between them there. The following list will be of most of the "popular" mods available that are out there. ***If you have any mods you would like added to this list, send me a website link, and I'll check it out. If I give it a thumbs up, I'll add it to this list, and possibly to my own website.*** ======================================================= --[ Action HL ]-->>Website: http://ahl.telefragged.com/ ======================================================= MODE: Multiplayer DESCRIPTION: Action HL is basically an online multiplayer game where players take the roles of action heroes using various action movie techniques. You'll use a plethora of strange and loud weapons, plus stunt moves, special abilities, and cool player models. The mod use to be extremely popular until the arrival of the Specialists. RATING: *** ======================================================================== --[ Azure Sheep ]-->>Website: http://halflife.multiplayer.it/azuresheep/ ======================================================================== MODE: Single Player DESCRIPTION: This is a special mod developed by a small team that puts you in the role of a Black Mesa security guard caught in the middle of the Xen invasion. Your true goal is to escape alive rather than giving a free care for stopping the aliens. Lasts fairly long and is a decent one-time playthrough. RATING: *** ===================================================== --[ Battlegrounds ]-->>Website: http://www.bgmod.com/ ===================================================== MODE: Multiplayer DESCRIPTION: This is one of the more unique mods available for all of HL. The setting takes place during the American Revolution back in the 1770s. Players can side on either the British or American sides and duke it out via selected classes. Muskets are fairly inaccurate weapons, which turns this game into a hybrid mix of melee and ranged combat. You'll also get that Patriot feeling as you charge together with your men. RATING: **** ===================================================================== --[ Blue Shift ]-->>Website: http://www.planethalflife.com/blueshift/ ===================================================================== MODE: Single/Multi Player DESCRIPTION: Blue Shift is an officially licensed product from Valve Studios themselves. This expansion pack costs money, and places you in the role of a Black Mesa security guard. It introduces only a few new features, and is regarded as the worst expansion pack out of all of the HL bunch. RATING: ** =============================================================== --[ Counter-Strike ]-->>Website: http://www.counter-strike.net/ =============================================================== MODE: Multiplayer DESCRIPTION: Counter-Strike is the mod that started the online HL gaming craze. Not only is it the most popular online action game of all-time, but it is still one of the most played to this day. Its simplistic design of counter-terrorists versus terrorists pits strategy versus action game etiquette. You can buy various weapons with money, and play with the largest amount of competition out there. RATING: ***** =========================================================== --[ Day of Defeat ]-->>Website: http://www.dayofdefeat.com/ =========================================================== MODE: Multiplayer DESCRIPTION: This WWII mod takes you through as either the Axis forces or Allied Forces. You can take the role of several different classes on each team, and it has an extremely high realism rating. Probably the second most popular mod for HL, and well worthy of the title. RATING: ***** ======================================================= --[ Desert Crisis ]-->>Website: n/a ======================================================= MODE: Multiplayer DESCRIPTION: This game takes place in a wastelandish future with two organizations battling out for economic control. It use to be a truly cool mod with various abilities, weapons, and close range techniques. However, as time has passed, the game has lost any official contact from the dev team, and has declined greatly in popularity. You can still find a download lying around, and it's great to play with a group of friends. RATING: ** ======================================================= --[ Earth's Special Forces ]-->>Website: n/a ======================================================= MODE: Multiplayer DESCRIPTION: Another unique mod that pits you in the role of super heroes that each have special abilities. You'll also be able to play as DBZ characters and use damaging fireballs, energy attacks, and kung fu. This mod is popular to the anime fans out there. RATING: *** ========================================================= --[ Existence ]-->>Website: http://www.existence-mod.com/ ========================================================= MODE: Multiplayer DESCRIPTION: This is one of the first mods to actually mimic after the Matrix movie. You'll be able to join either the Rebels or Agents teams and battle it out on a Zynon-like map with the office building, Zynon mainframes, and large urban landscape. Unfortunately, the mod has imbalances and could use improvement. RATING: * ====================================================== --[ Firearms ]-->>Website: http://www.firearmsmod.com/ ====================================================== MODE: Multiplayer DESCRIPTION: Firearms is a realistic-like mod that pits you on two different teams (red versus blue), and players battle it out on capture- the-flag maps. The great thing about it is that the game features a unique customization feature of over 30 weapons to choose from. You'll basically turn yourself into a gunmaster from playing this game alone. Has a popular fanbase. RATING: **** ============================================================= --[ Front Line Force ]-->>Website: http://www.frontline2.com/ ============================================================= MODE: Multiplayer DESCRIPTION: Another mod that pits players on two teams. You will battle it out with a unique class system and various weapons to equip to each character. Unfortunately, it lacks any new items to make it different from the other mods. However, it is a high-quality mod with decent levels. RATING: *** ============================================================================ --[ Global Warfare ]-->>Website: http://www.planethalflife.com/globalwarfare ============================================================================ MODE: Multiplayer DESCRIPTION: Global Warfare is a special team-based mod that pits NATO versus Arab forces. This was actually developed before the entire Middle East conflict. It features a unique reinforcement method where players are dropped in via a helicopter. If your helo is shot down by a Stinger, then you must wait for another chopper to respawn. Has some interesting gameplay methods, but suffers from a lack of popularity. RATING: ** ===================================================================== --[ Natural Selection ]-->>Website: http://www.natural-selection.org/ ===================================================================== MODE: Multiplayer DESCRIPTION: By far one of the best mods HL has to offer, Natural Selection combines elements seen in Starcraft with those of a first- person shooter. The game takes place in the future, where space colonization is a rampart industry. Suddenly, a new alien life force is discovered, and it's two teams against each other (space marines versus aliens). Each team has different styles of gameplay. A head commander builds structures on the marines while the soldiers do all of the hands-on building. Aliens are designed for close-combat and can evolve into different classes. Each team must fight for resource nodes in order to perform special actions. Don't miss out on this popular game. RATING: ***** ============================================================================ --[ Opposing Force ]-->>Website: http://www.planethalflife.com/opposingforce ============================================================================ MODE: Single/Multi Player DESCRIPTION: Opposing Force is yet another official HL expansion pack released by Valve Studios. The game places you in the role of one of the government pawn soldiers who is sent out to the complex to investigate the scenario at Black Mesa. Not before long, you're caught up in a barrage between Gordon, the Xen aliens, and the desire to escape this barren place. One of the best expansion packs out there. RATING: **** ======================================================= --[ Ricochet ]-->>Website: n/a ======================================================= MODE: Multiplayer DESCRIPTION: Ricochet is a special mod that comes with the download of CS. The game pits you in a futuristic ring where players duke it out by tossing lethal sharpened discs at each other. With the use of jumping pads and low gravity, see who can get the most kills in a free-for-all. This mod is not as great as one would expect, and does have a low fanbase. RATING: * ======================================================================== --[ Science and Industry ]-->>Website: http://www.planethalflife.com/si/ ======================================================================== MODE: Multiplayer DESCRIPTION: Again, this is one of those mods that makes you cringe at the amount of peculiarity you will encounter. To start off, this game pits two rival corporations against each other. Their ultimate goal is to exceed each other's profits. So, each corporation kidnaps some of the most brilliant scientists to develop new technologies, and each team must fight out to hold a greater control of scientists to increase your cash flow. Teams vote on which technology they want to upgrade next, which adds an interactive flavor to the mix. This game has a decent fanbase as well. RATING: **** ====================================================================== --[ Team Fortress Classic ]-->>Website: http://www.planetfortress.com/ ====================================================================== MODE: Multiplayer DESCRIPTION: Team Fortress Classic is one of the mods that comes with the update patch for HL. This is one of the better games that allows player to join the red or blue factions. From there, you can select 1 of 8 different classes, and play with different weapons or abilities for each class. The game has a large fanbase, and is easy to learn from. RATING: **** ================================================================ --[ The Specialists ]-->>Website: http://www.specialistsmod.net/ ================================================================ MODE: Multiplayer DESCRIPTION: The Specialists is basically like a souped-up version of Action HL. Players duke it out in DM-style gameplay, and attempt to to score the highest amount of frags. However, the game has over 30 base weapons to choose from, and implements truly COOL abilities such as slow-motion bullet time, kung fu attacks, stunt dives, and powerups. One of the best action-style mods out there. RATING: ***** ======================================================= --[ They Hunger ]-->>Website: n/a ======================================================= MODE: Single Player DESCRIPTION: They Hunger takes place in the early 20s with a car crash survivor learning that a nearby town is infested with freakish zombies. The game takes place across 3 episodes, which each further develop the story as the player attempts to escape from the infested town. It's a great one-time playthrough, but seems a tad dull in certain spots. RATING: ** ============================================================ --[ Tour of Duty ]-->>Website: http://www.tourofdutymod.com/ ============================================================ MODE: Multiplayer DESCRIPTION: One of the few Vietnam mods actually available out there, Tour of Duty is well-designed for one. Players can choose from the NVA or American forces, and battle it out across jungle maps, There are a few different classes for each team, and the game is starting to draw attention. RATING: *** ======================================================================= --[ Vampire Slayer ]-->>Website: http://www.planethalflife.com/vampire/ ======================================================================= MODE: Multiplayer DESCRIPTION: This is another fun mod that allows you to take the role of either a Vampire or a Vampire Slayer. Slayers used ranged weapons and guns to bring down the vampires. From there, they must stake them to kill them, otherwise the vampire will be revived back to minimal health. Vampires can only use special claw attacks, but have heightened jumping and special senses. This mod is fairly popular, but can seem a tad unfair at times on certain maps. RATING: *** -<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>- ============================ - 6) Common Questions - ============================ )) Gameplay (( ---------------------------- << Where's the cheapest place to find this game? >> - To be honest with you, the best place to get this game is at any nearby store. Valve recently bundled up the entire HL series (with Blue Shift, TFC, and Opposing Force) in a special Platinum Pack. For $20, you can get all of the HL expansions, along with a CD, and CD-key which SHOULD work on the new upcoming STEAM. You can download HL for free from Steam, but you will not have a true "valid" CD KEY, nor any CDs to back up the download should it be lost. I would not recommend eBay as cd keys have probably been tampered with. << How do I add custom skins to my game? >> - First of all, there are truly three kinds of custom skins. You can customize player models, weapon models, and sprays. Player models are what other players see you as when playing a game. Weapon skins are the appearances of the weapons that show up on the screen near the bottom. To add custom skins, download the .zip file for the skin you want. Now, let's say you want to change Gordon into John McClane from Die Hard. Open up the .zip, and extract SELECT files into the specific directory. For example, highlight the .mdl (model files), and then extract them into the C:/sierra/half- life/models/player directory. Same goes with player models. Extract the weapon sounds into the /sound/weapons/gunname directory, and the actual model into the model/weapons directory. You can select specific files in the zip file by holding down CTRL. You may want to back up the files you replace before doing this, in case you get an error, or it messes up. << What's a WON ID or CD KEY? >> - Before Steam came in to play, WON ID's are basically the way you are identified on the internet. Each CD KEY has a set WON ID to it which is suppose to be your unique validation on the WON network. When a WON ID is banned from the WON network, you will not be able to play on their free servers. Same goes with STEAM. Your CD KEY can be banned from playing on the internet if you're caught cheating in specific servers. << What's the situation with Half-Life 2? >> - Sad as it is, Half-Life 2 has been having its ups and downs. Originally, the game was slated for a December 2003 release. However, for some odd reason, a beta test version of the game was hacked off of the Valve networks during a test run. It was then publicly launched on hacker sites who claimed to have a script of the actual programming language. Because of the pre-release of the game's engine, the developers decided to redo the entire thing, otherwise, their hard work would have been done for nothing. As far as I know, HL 2 is slated for a later release during 2004, and early 2005. It'll probably be Q1 in 2005, by my estimates. )) Troubleshooting (( ---------------------------- << How do I increase my graphics/framerate? >> - First of all, there are a few methods of displaying the graphics during HL. The best way is to use OpenGL, which sort of smoothes all of the rough polygon edges out for an enjoyable experience. The player "glides" along the level with pristine ease. Unfortunately, you'll need an OpenGL card. Hardware such as the Rivia TNT2 or ATI Radeon cards would delightfully accompany HL. Remember that this game was created back in 1998, so you really don't even need the most advanced hardware available. Secondly, you'll want to lower your resolution if you want a quicker framerate. My preferred resolution is 640 x 480 as it does just enough detail to accompany the user. Other players will probably prefer those outrageous 1000+ pixel modes. You can also try not using high quality sound, as it will speed up the gameplay. -<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>- ====================================================== - 7) Copyright/Distribution/Reproduction Guidelines - ====================================================== This FAQ/Strategy Guide/Walkthrough is my own published work, and copyrighted by Christopher Zawada. Whatever you do, DO NOT edit this FAQ in any way. DO NOT steal anything from this FAQ. If you want to use some information in your own guide, simply ask me. If you want to place this guide on your website, either link to the GameFAQs game page, or download the file and place it on your own web server. Basically, you can post this on your website as long as it's in ORIGINAL form, and not linking directly to GameFAQs. Aside from that, all proper credit is due when necessary. Also, don't even think about selling FAQs. Trying to prosper off of other people's work will get you in big time trouble (coming from an eBay seller myself). This is a list of the current known sites that host my FAQs: - http://www.gamefaqs.com/ - http://www.ign.com/ - http://www.neoseeker.com/ - http://www.cheatcc.com/ - http://www.cheatplanet.com/ -<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>--<>- ============================ - 8) Proper Credit - ============================ I'd like to thank the following people for their help in making this FAQ possible: )) CJayC (( for constantly updating GameFAQs, and dedicating his entire life to it. Takes a lot of effort to keep a site going this long. )) Rootsecure.net (( for providing an ASCII generator that allowed me to create the Half-Life title. )) Valve Studios (( for creating one of the greatest first-person-shooters of all time that has graced my computer for over 6 years. Not only did I grab enjoyment out of HL, but the mods for this game are amazing and have truly saved my hundreds of dollars as opposed to buying more computer games. )) Fellow Gamers (( for providing an entertaining experience that I have thoroughly enjoyed over the years. Had it not been for fellow gamers like myself who dedicated their free time to playing online games, maybe we would not have had as much fun as we did. Thanks a lot for the childhood years of fun. "Some people make sacrifices to make other people happy." - Chris Zawada "Freeeeeeddooommmmmmmmm!" - William Wallace (Braveheart)