Archived from groups: alt.games.half-life (More info?)
I tried out a few new ideas on my latest trip through HL2 (only the
second time I've beaten it on Hard!), and thought I'd share them with
you. Two of them came from an article in PC Gamer; the third is my own
original contribution.
Of course I realise that actually talking about Half-Life instead of
whining about Steam is a radical, unheard-of idea in this newsgroup,
but hey, let's live dangerously.
The PC Gamer article pointed out an easter egg I'd never managed to find
myself. It's in the last map of "Water Hazard", just after you shoot
down that last helicopter, and before you jump over the dam. After you
crank open the gate to reach the ramp that will let you climb the hill,
go a little past the ramp and look on your left for a pair of sewer
pipes. One of them is open; you can get into it if you park the boat
under it and climb up on the boat. Deep inside it, you'll find a
Vortigaunt. Have a nice long chat with him; he has quite a lot to say.
(Actually, it's probably a good idea to climb the hill and visit the
building up there first, because you'll be wading through quite a lot
of toxic waste in the pipe; you'll probably need to max out on health
and suit power in order to get in and out alive.)
The article also gave some useful advice for handling the Battle of
Generator Square in "Anti-Citizen One", which several of us agreed in
an earlier thread to be the most difficult fight in the whole game. The
secret is that Alyx's work on the generator is on a fixed time
schedule, but the arrival of the incoming soldiers is not. New soldiers
only show up as you kill their predecessors. So the idea is to leave
the soldiers alive as long as possible, to minimise the total number of
enemies you have to deal with. What you do is hang back, in the booth
where Alyx is working, instead of running to meet the incoming
soldiers. Let your rebel followers deal with them as long as possible;
only come out shooting yourself when the soldiers are getting
dangerously close. As soon as Alyx says it's ready, zap the energy ball
and sprint for the other side of the gate.
Finally, I believe I've worked out the perfect strategy for dealing with
the Battle of Cell Block H (the second scene with turrets in
"Entanglement"). (For the purpose of giving directions here, I'll
assume that the end you arrive at is the north end; so the power-ups
are on the north wall, and the gate you eventually leave through is on
the west.)
Before jumping down into the cell block, gather all the movable objects
you can from the storage room downstairs (where you came in -- don't
break those crates!) and the office. Combined with the stuff already
down there, you'll have a nice collection of tables, filing cabinets,
crates, and barrels. Use these to build a good solid barricade at the
southeast (far left) end of the cell block. Next to this entrance is a
well-lit cell with some goodies in it; this is going to be where you
make your stand. Place all three turrets in the corridor just outside
the cell, all facing north.
Now the turrets have a clear field of fire along the only direction
soldiers can come at you from. You'll have to keep the gravity gun
ready to deal with a few grenades and manhacks, but pretty much all of
the soldiers will be mown down long before they get close enough to
fire into the cell. After they stop coming, you may find that you need
to deal with a handful of soldiers hanging around on the other side of
the barricade, but they're few enough to be no problem.
--
Ross Smith ......... r-smith@ihug.co.nz ......... Auckland, New Zealand
"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs,
then you probably haven't checked with your answering service."
-- Capt. B. F. Pierce
I tried out a few new ideas on my latest trip through HL2 (only the
second time I've beaten it on Hard!), and thought I'd share them with
you. Two of them came from an article in PC Gamer; the third is my own
original contribution.
Of course I realise that actually talking about Half-Life instead of
whining about Steam is a radical, unheard-of idea in this newsgroup,
but hey, let's live dangerously.
The PC Gamer article pointed out an easter egg I'd never managed to find
myself. It's in the last map of "Water Hazard", just after you shoot
down that last helicopter, and before you jump over the dam. After you
crank open the gate to reach the ramp that will let you climb the hill,
go a little past the ramp and look on your left for a pair of sewer
pipes. One of them is open; you can get into it if you park the boat
under it and climb up on the boat. Deep inside it, you'll find a
Vortigaunt. Have a nice long chat with him; he has quite a lot to say.
(Actually, it's probably a good idea to climb the hill and visit the
building up there first, because you'll be wading through quite a lot
of toxic waste in the pipe; you'll probably need to max out on health
and suit power in order to get in and out alive.)
The article also gave some useful advice for handling the Battle of
Generator Square in "Anti-Citizen One", which several of us agreed in
an earlier thread to be the most difficult fight in the whole game. The
secret is that Alyx's work on the generator is on a fixed time
schedule, but the arrival of the incoming soldiers is not. New soldiers
only show up as you kill their predecessors. So the idea is to leave
the soldiers alive as long as possible, to minimise the total number of
enemies you have to deal with. What you do is hang back, in the booth
where Alyx is working, instead of running to meet the incoming
soldiers. Let your rebel followers deal with them as long as possible;
only come out shooting yourself when the soldiers are getting
dangerously close. As soon as Alyx says it's ready, zap the energy ball
and sprint for the other side of the gate.
Finally, I believe I've worked out the perfect strategy for dealing with
the Battle of Cell Block H (the second scene with turrets in
"Entanglement"). (For the purpose of giving directions here, I'll
assume that the end you arrive at is the north end; so the power-ups
are on the north wall, and the gate you eventually leave through is on
the west.)
Before jumping down into the cell block, gather all the movable objects
you can from the storage room downstairs (where you came in -- don't
break those crates!) and the office. Combined with the stuff already
down there, you'll have a nice collection of tables, filing cabinets,
crates, and barrels. Use these to build a good solid barricade at the
southeast (far left) end of the cell block. Next to this entrance is a
well-lit cell with some goodies in it; this is going to be where you
make your stand. Place all three turrets in the corridor just outside
the cell, all facing north.
Now the turrets have a clear field of fire along the only direction
soldiers can come at you from. You'll have to keep the gravity gun
ready to deal with a few grenades and manhacks, but pretty much all of
the soldiers will be mown down long before they get close enough to
fire into the cell. After they stop coming, you may find that you need
to deal with a handful of soldiers hanging around on the other side of
the barricade, but they're few enough to be no problem.
--
Ross Smith ......... r-smith@ihug.co.nz ......... Auckland, New Zealand
"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs,
then you probably haven't checked with your answering service."
-- Capt. B. F. Pierce
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