HALF LIFE - WALKTHROUGH

General Tips

1. Use your crowbar to break open every crate or box yousee (except those labeled 'explosives'), they often contain health, HEV cells, or ammo.

Half-Life Websites. Half-Life Franchise on Steam Combine OverWiki Black Mesa Source LamdaGeneration Project Borealis RunThinkShootLive Valve News Network ValveTime.net. Created by Splatterh0use Prospektor a community for 9 years. Help Office Complex Elevator broken (self.HalfLife).

2. Watch out for those damn tongue monsters -- those skinnylittle tongues can be hard to see, and hard to avoid even if you do see them (otherenemies will frequently back you up into one you forgot).

Top Contributors: Honestgamer, IGN-Cheats, CosmicVelvet + more. Last Edited: 11 Apr 2014 12:50 am. Sampler package of the blockbuster Half-Life, featuring the Half-Life: Day. Mar 30, 2018 The first release contains the Office Complex chapter based on the E31998 footage, and other media from around that time. Now, I know a few of you might be underwhelmed by only have one chapter to play, but don’t you worry. “Office Complex”, while it may represent filler in Half-Life 1’s overall progression, is actually very important for the HL series” overall flow and legacy. For starters, this is where Half-Life’s iconic vent-crawling mechanics were first introduced. After exiting the elevator, break the grating on the wall near the floor. 1) Once outside the elevator break the grate on the wall by the floor near the electrical wire that's shooting sparks. Stay clear of the wire, and wait a bit first so the headcrabs come for you and get zapped. Crawl into the vent shaft.

3. Even if you're a seasoned FPS player, take the HazardCourse from the main menu. Not only is it cool, it will teach you a few new moves that arerequired to get though the game (like ducking at the peak of a jump to raise your legs andmaximize your effective jump height, and the super long jump).

4. Not only can you push crates and boxes (by just runningup against them), you can PULL them too. Move up to a box and hold down 'use',it will follow you around as long as you hold down the use button. This is critical toremember for several areas.

5. Save often (quicksave is F6 by default, and quickload isF7), especially before attacking a difficult area.

6. Feel like a little low-budget (ammo-wise) whapping on atank or a Bradley? Check out Billings' cool piece over at CFTF.

7. When faced with the alien-eaten scientists (those thingsthat have the crab for a head and very sharp arms), note that they're so slow that youdon't have to waste two shotgun shells on them; just run right up to their face and blastonce. It takes a few seconds for them to fall but one shot will do it.

Intro

Black Mesa Research Facility
Black Mesa, New Mexico
Load the game with 'hl.exe -nointro' to skip the long, but cool, intro.

Anomalous Materials

1) Follow the green stripe to the locker room, then go leftto the HEV room. Press the button on the computer console to open the storage door for thesuit. Walk up to the suit in the chamber that just opened and you'll don the suitautomatically.

Amusement: Press the button on the main lobby guard's deskto watch everyone freak out.

2) Follow the blue stripe to the security door, the guardwill only open the door for you if you're wearing your HEV suit. Once inside, it's astraight walk down a few halls and up an elevator or two. Use the buttons on the elevatorsto make them work.

3) Once inside the test lab, you'll have to listen to thetwo scientists talk for a bit, then they will open the door for you.

4) Inside the test chamber, climb to the platform, wait forthe switch on the console to open, and then press the switch.

5) Climb back down and walk over to the cage. When itopens, get behind the cart and push it into the particle beam. Then pay attention, this isa cool part.

Unforeseen Consequences

1) Use the broken retinal scan panel to open the door, thenexit the test chamber. Make sure you pick up the crowbar you see by one of the doors onthe way to the main lobby.

2) Find your way back to the main lobby security desk, thenuse your crowbar to smash open the vent panel by the floor on the right. Go through thehole into the vent.

3) There are a few headcrabs near the vent on the otherside. If you brought the guard with you that you met in the hall (by Using him), he'llshoot at least one of them for you. Also watch out for the exploding computer.

4) Climb up and exit through the other air duct (smash itwith your crowbar to open it -- get used to doing this, there are quite a few vents in thegame, and many of them must be smashed with the crowbar or shot open with a gun -- crowbarsaves ammo, which you'll need).

5) Pick up the gun from the dead guard you'll find. Youcould also kill the guard you had following you around (using the crowbar) and take hisgun, but it's not necessary (and not very nice).

6) Keep walking to the end of the hall, kill the monster onthe other side of the iron bar door (which you can't open). Then drop down through thesquare hole into the sewer. Inside the sewer there are two open holes in the roof (one youjust dropped through) and one covered with a grate. Note the location of the 2nd open holebefore proceeding.

7) Find the concrete thing with the wheel valve control onit, use it, then walk/swim to the open grate you located. You can then swim up to the holeand exit, and you'll be on the other side of the iron bar gate. If you killed the monsterfrom the other side, this part will be a bit easier.

8) Use the big lever that's on the platform by the hugelift, then run down and get on the platform before it descends too far. As you descend,look behind you. Headcrabs will start falling after you. Don't try too hard to kill them,just dodge them by moving to the side and opposite their direction of motion as they flyby.

9) Be careful on the steel-grating bridge. It will breakwhen you step on it. To get around to the opening on the left, jump up onto the silverpipes and walk around. Once at the other side, you can try to jump for the opening, orbreak the grate to your right with the crowbar and crawl through -- it takes you to thesame place.

10) Watch out for the hanging tongue things while crossingthe water. You can jump into the water, or push boxes in to make a bridge. Go left and upthe ladder, out the door, then in the other door.

11) Continue walking along the corridors until you find theelevator. Use the button outside to open the door and walk inside, then use the buttoninside to activate the elevator.

Office Complex

1) Once outside the elevator break the grate on the wall bythe floor near the electrical wire that's shooting sparks. Stay clear of the wire, andwait a bit first so the headcrabs come for you and get zapped. Crawl into the vent shaft.

2) Crawl to the right, bust the grate with the crowbar(watch the scientist get eaten by the tongue monster), and then jump down into the room.Find the electrical room door, go inside and turn off the main power. The lights will gooff, so use your flashlight to navigate around the room (watch for more tongue monsters).You can then open the door to the hall by the elevator and the electrical wire, which willnow be safe to pass.

3) Break the glass in the window at the end of the hall andclimb through. Then break through the crates to proceed.

4) Get the shotgun and shells from atop the green box, thenkill the alien that attacks the guard behind the fence. If you don't save him, you can'tget behind the gate (he opens it for you if he's alive), and there's some ammo and healthinside. There is also ammo and health to be found by busting the crates below the catwalk.

7) Go to the flooded room, climb in and jump on objects toavoid touching the water (and electric shock). Find the light switch on the left wall andturn it off to make the water safe to touch, then get the goodies from the cabinets beforebusting the vent on the left wall and climbing out of the room. Watch out for the fan inthe vent shaft (duck).

8) Move the small and large crates to make two steps up tothe ladder in the hall by the locked door. Break all the vent covers in the shaft, but youmight want to save before exiting the last one -- there's a security gun just outside.

9) Either duck and shoot the security gun with the shotgunto destroy it, or jump down and run for the switch under it to turn it off.

10) Climb up the stairs after getting the guard follow youby using him -- they make for a great distraction target for the security guns you'll runacross. Then go out the EXIT door and up the stairs. There you'll find another guard tohelp you if you managed to get the other one killed.

11) Stop by the room to the left and down to pick up a fewgrenades, the go back to the right and break open the boarded-up exit with your crowbar. Walk through (the flashlight helps) and find the freezer door, open it by using thehandle to the left. But before entering the freezer, get all the health and ammo you canhold from the previous area -- once inside the freezer you can't go back out.

12) Inside the freezer, walk around to the left and find ared switch. Use it to start the cart moving back and forth along the rail on the ceiling.

13) Go back to the entry door and climb up the ladder, thensmash open the vent and crawl through the vents and across the shelves until you come outnear the track of the ceiling-cart.

14) When the cart moves by, jump on and cross to the otherside. You may need to smash the crates on the cart with the crowbar to get on, and you mayneed to wait until the cart comes around again to get off at the vent on the other side.Getting stuck between the cart and a wall or shelf is fatal.

15) Keep climbing up the vent shaft and exit up to theleft. To the right there is a dead guard and a few HEV power cells that might come inhandy.

16) Go up the stairs and find the open elevator shaft.Inside, on the far, wall is a ladder to which you can just barely jump (don't jump tooearly, and consider saving before trying this one -- a fall is fatal).

17) Keep climbing up ladders until you can jump up on topof the elevator. There is no way to save the scientist who is hanging by hisfingernails above you -- he'll fall as soon as you hit the elevator.

18) Once atop the elevator, find the access panel and smashit open with your crowbar and drop inside. The panel is at the rear left, and theflashlight will help you find it more easily.

We've got Hostiles

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1) Watch out for security guns, trip wires (red lasers,which activate sentry guns in the area and close fire doors), and trip mine lasers (bluelasers, which will blow up the trip mine -- and you -- if crossed by anything, includingan enemy). It's pretty painful to take on a sentry gun head on -- it's best to avoidactivating them at all by ducking under or jumping over. If you do activate one, strafeout from behind a wall or crate and take a shot with your shotgun (both barrels preferred,use Alt Fire) and then strafe back to safety before trying again.

Total war shogun 2. 2) When trying to creep through the area without activatingsentry guards (by avoiding touching the red lasers), watch out for aliens that may appearand kill them quickly -- they can activate the guns as easily as you can. If you'vedestroyed all the sentry guns in an area, it's safe to cross the red lasers -- nothingwill happen when you do (assuming you destroyed all of the sentry guns).

3) Creep past the lasers and guns (touching a sentry gunsets it off also), climb the crates and jump down to the hallway. Watch out, there aremore guns there.

4) There's a pretty hairy area with sentry guns, a wetslippery floor, and an open elevator shaft (a fatal fall). You may want to grenade thesentry guns in this area to get past, then the red lasers are harmless. Be carefulgrenading near fire doors, as breaking the glass on their wall switches will close thedoors. They can usually be re-opened with the switch on the wall.

5) Make sure you don't cross a blue beam -- those are tripmines, and they blow up when you do. They inflict heavy damage. Also be careful not topush a crate or box into one, or move a box that a blue beam is hitting.

6) Climb up the ladders to the exit. There you'll see ascientist run to the soldiers, thinking he's getting rescued. While the soldiersmercilessly slaughter the scientist, blast them with grenades. Note that pressing the firebutton with a grenade in-hand pulls the pin, but you don't throw it until you release thebutton. Try to time it so that the grenade explodes soon after hitting the target area, ofthe soldiers will run away before it explodes (they aren't stupid!)

7) Exit by using the freight elevator, then go out thefiredoor onto the catwalk. At the fork, go right. Find the conveyor belt and walk up it(the wrong way), in the next room you can climb the crates to get back onto the conveyorbelt and continue walking up it the wrong way.

8) Destroy the sentry guns below with a grenade, then jumpdown. This is much easier than trying to come through this area by the other way (by notusing the conveyor belts). Keep an eye out for the sentry gun behind the open fire door.

9) Climb the stairs in the warehouse and wait for thesoldiers and the aliens to kill a few of each other before taking them on. The soldiersare tough in this area, and they will try to flank you. They are also deadly accurate witha grenade toss, so if you see one coming, take cover.

10) Walk up the catwalks to the top of the room and go downthe corridor. Kill all of the soldiers from this height advantaged position before goingonto the floor. Once down, take the elevator up to the surface. Save here, it's nasty upabove.

11) If you kill the soldiers that the plane drops off, theywill just keep bringing more. Your best bet is to make a run for the bunker (to the left,near the middle of the outdoor area) -- running around the perimeter of the area seems abit safer than the middle. 20) open the door to the ventilation shaft, go down to thebottom. Once inside the bunker, dive down the ladder as quickly as possible and takecover.

12) In the vent system, drop past the (deadly) fan bladesin the far right corner. Then exit the fan chamber through the middle vent (the othershave a few goodies in them, but are dead ends).

13) Once outside the vent, use the control on the computerpanel to open the silo door, and then exit.

Blast Pit

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1) Use your crowbar to break the barrier and duck under thehazard barriers. Then enter the control room to your right and use the switch there. You can exit by using the freight elevator.

2) Jump up on the train, and press use to activate itscontrols. When the big arrow thing appears on your HUD, forward increases speed, and backdecreases it. Use again or strafe to either side to let go of the controls and leave thetrain.

3) Running train at full speed will help you avoid hitsfrom the monsters in the tunnel (and run over a few in the process). Once you smashthrough the barrier, you can't stop the train. So either stop right after the barrier andclimb over the pipes up to the ladder, or prepare to swim to the low box in the center ofthe slime when you go flying off of the train.

4) Personally, I found flying through the air a lot of fun,and it doesn't cause much damage if you get out of the slime and onto a box prettyquickly. You can then jump to the other boxes and make your way to the platform oppositethe slime. Either way, next you can jump up onto the walkway to get to the ladder whichleads you up into the pipe.

5) Next climb the ladder and get on top of the pipe so youcan walk past the slime, and once inside the big slime-filled room, walk along the upperpipes and jump over the rail and onto the platform. From there you can take the elevatorup and out.

6) When exiting the elevator you'll run into an alien. Youcan shoot the canisters next to it to cause an explosion that will kill it. Make sureyou're not too close when you do. It's tricky not to cause the explosion, but if you canmanage to avoid it do so, otherwise you'll have to jump across the bridge that getsdamaged in the blast.

Half Life Office Complex

7) Use the switch by the door to open up the airlock, andstep inside. Another switch is waiting, which you must use to get through the airlock.Note that the scientist here in the test fire control room cannot be saved -- he's agoner.

8) Before entering the test fire chamber, shoot the cratesthat block the ladder to your left. It's much easier to do this now than while you'retrying to creep past the tentacle. If you break the boxes while inside the chamber, thetentacle will hear you and attack.

9) Note that the 'Test Fire' switch on the panelcannot be activated until you turn on the power, oxygen, and fuel (this is how you destroythe tentacle -- there is no other way). You'll need to creep past the tentacle at leasttwice to activate these, and doing so can be tricky. The easy way is to walk (hold downthe 'walk' key if you have auto-run on) or crouch while moving past him, being careful toavoid the whapping tentacles. The hard way is to distract the tentacle with grenadesand/or shotgun blasts, causing it to briefly retreat into the hole while you run by.Either way is nerve-wracking, take your pick. go to the second level from the bottom.

10) First we'll turn on the oxygen and fuel (although theorder is unimportant, you could turn on the power first if you want). Creep around thetentacle and through the door on the second floor of the test chamber. Run fast afterbreaking the boards with your crowbar, because the tentacle will hear you and attack assoon as you do. Walk across the bridge and follow the red and blue pipes down the halls.

11) Enter the sewer grate by ducking on top of it, aimingdown, and smashing it with the the crowbar. Follow along the pipe and turn left at thefork (right is a dead end), then climb the ladder.

12) Climb down the ladders to get below the huge fan. Savehere, this is tricky. Turn on the switch and run immediately back up the ladder, trying toavoid the fan blades. Once above it, wait until the fan spins up to full speed beforeproceeding.

13) Look up and notice the boards over the roof. You have achoice for dealing with them: the visually appealing way is to toss a grenade (assumingyou have one) out above the blades and watch as it flies up and explodes through theboards. If you have no grenades, or want to save them, just jump out above the fan blades(trust me :) and take out the boards with the crowbar once you float up to them.

14) Once above the boards, break the vent cover on the wallwith the crowbar and climb through. Ducking helps here.

15) Crawl along the shaft until you get to the Oxygen/Fuelcontrol room. Turn on (use) both switches on the control panel. You'll know they're bothon by the lights and the bubbles that will start flowing in the pipes. Then exit byclimbing up the ladder and follow the blue and orange pipes back to the tentacle.

16) Next we'll turn on the power so we can make sometentacle jerky. Creep through the test fire chamber again and exit the door on the lowerlevel.

17) Jump over the broken section of the metal walkway -- Iknow it looks too far to jump, but it isn't. Just make sure you don't jump too soon. Savebefore trying.

18) Before crossing the puddle of water round up all theboxes and crates you can find and build a bridge across it. It's harmless now, but onceyou turn on the power it will become electrified, and then it's very difficult to crossand survive. Make sure that you can jump onto and off of your crate bridge withouttouching even a drop of the water. Update: Keith sent in a clever strategy that doesn'trequire this preparation. See #24 below for details.

19) Walk over to the catwalk and use the elevator button.Once on the elevator, use the button inside to start it up. The elevator will malfunctionand stop half way (or so) up the shaft. As soon as it does, jump off and grab the ladderon the wall to your left. If you wait too long, the elevator will fall with you in it andyou'll take damage from the radioactive sludge at the bottom before you can climb back upthe ladder on the wall. Larry says you don't need to jump off right away, just wait untilit starts falling again and when it's close to the platform jump off. No damage! (Sounds risky to me).

20) Once at the bottom, climb around on the pipes to avoidtouching the radioactive sludge.

21) Climb the stairs to get to the power generator controlarea. There are two switches -- one on either side of the generator in the center. Bothhave to be turned on to start up the generator, but make sure you are not on top of itwhen the second switch is activated, or you'll get fried.

22) Moving around the generator can be tricky. Avoidgetting hit by the fast-moving platform thing. It'll kill you. Just stand for a fewmoments and watch it run, you'll get the pattern and the timing so that you can safelymove around.

23) Once the the power is on (you'll know if it is), leavethe way you came in. There's a conveniently located ledge you can use to avoid damage fromjumping off of the ladder.

24) Use your crate bridge to avoid touching the (nowelectrified) water on the way out. If you forgot to do so, use one of Keith's strategies:

You can get up on the large stationary box at the end of the hall (in order to get up on the pipes and walk around the wall on the pipes OVER the water) if you slide the other boxes up to it then do the Half-Life spasm jump. Run then hit the JUMP and CROUCH keys simultaneously. I'm told this will get you up there.

You will NEED this spasm jump later on in the game. (BTW, you don't need the Jump Pack thing for this jump.)

This is my solution that I found: I slid two boxes end to end into the water on the left side by the wall. Then I lined up two more boxes right next to those in the water. Then I stood on the left pair of boxes facing the second row of boxes. This is the weird part -- I held down the USE key and strafed left. This sent the second row of boxes sliding out into the water. With the correct slide I was able to jump from box to box and get over the water without damage!!

25) Go back to the top and into the test fire control roomby the tentacle. All the lights on the panel should be lit (if not, you didn't turn onpower, fuel, and oxygen). Press fire and watch the action. You'll probably take a littleheat damage in the process since the doors will close and lock while the test fire isunderway, but it's not fatal (and worth it :)

26) Enter the test fire chamber and leave the room throughthe hole in the floor in which the tentacle was sitting (save first, drowning is commonhere). Make sure you fall in the center of the hole, or you'll hit the side on the waydown and die. There's a nice .357 magnum waiting for you at the bottom of the water if youmake it, so get it.

27) There are two fans at the bottom of the pool also;ignore them, they can't be broken open or used to escape. Note that the pool looks as ifit is surrounded by four equally spaced pipes, two on each side, but one is missing. Thatmissing pipe is your way out. Swim up to that side and up out of the pool.

28) Continue walking on the pipes and go to the end. Whenyou see the wheel. jump off of that pipe into the one by the wall that has a broken gratein it. Climb inside and keep walking, but be careful. You'll notice a slight change incolor of the pipe in one area, and that part is going to break off when you step on it.Jump back immediately when the breaking starts and you can avoid going down with it, whichcauses a lot of damage.

29) Once the pipe breaks, assuming you didn't go down withit, walk to the left and drop down between the pipe and the steel beam. You'll land on theceiling of the room below, and then can jump the rest of the way down. Don't worry toomuch about taking a few hits of damage; there are health kits at the bottom.

Power Up

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1) Don't hesitate at the start, try to make it across theopen area and to the tunnel to the left while the big ugly beast is fighting with themarines. They should all ignore you while they're trying to kill one another. It'll beharder to make it by without damage once the monster smacks the marines.

2) Continue down the tunnels until you come upon red doorsand a wheel. Use the wheel to open the doors (hold use down until they open enough to gothrough) and ten climb up the tunnel to the top.

3) Go across the open area and up to the other side, thengo left towards the power generator (follow the signs). Once you get to the elevator, sendit down (without you on it) by using the button. Then you can shoot the trip mines below,or better yet send down a detpack on the elevator and set it off from the safety of above.Bring the elevator back up (use the button), climb aboard and go down with it this time.

4) Take the stairs down and continue all the way to thebottom. Watch out for the freaky leech-worms in the water -- they don't do much damage,especially if you have some HEV suit power remaining, but they gross me out bigtime (thecrowbar works on them nicely). Once you make it to the (non-operational) power generator,use your crowbar to smash the boxes that are blocking the pistons (on the front of thegenerator).

5) Climb back up the stairs and go to the fan controlpanels. One fan is not on, so you have to turn it on with the switch there. Now the powergenerator is on, so you can head back up to the elevator and then to where that lovelymonster is waiting for you. Note that the track main power still has to be activated foryou to use the train in the center of the open area (by the monster).

6) Find the the boarded up doorway labeled 'TrackControl'. Ignore the switch for now, just jump out the window and let the monsterfollow you. Go down the large tunnel on the left (the one that isn't obviously a dead end)all the way to the far wall of the room at the end. Pull the switch there and when themonster walks between the two huge electrodes, he'll fry like an egg.

7) Exit the room through the door, which will lead backaround to the tunnel you took to get there. Go back to the large open area with the traincar and jump on -- you now have power. Drive the train straight (full speed is fine) untilit stops at the rotating platform on the track. Go back into the track control room anduse the switch there. The rotating platform will spin, pointing the train car in thedirection you want to go, then hop out the window, back onto the train car, and smashthrough the barrier at full speed.

On A Rail

1) Once your train car stops at the guard, listen to hisstory and get off the car to use the switch on the wall. The gate will raise, and you cancontinue driving the2 train along. Avoid the water and the center track of the rails --they will damage you (to the tune of about 10 points per touch).

2) Continue driving the train straight ahead until you seethe second track switch sign. Shoot the sign to change the way the arrow points (you wantto go straight instead of turning), and your train car will switch tracks at that point.

3) Stop your train car at the platform by the stairs andthe monster. Take out the monster and climb the stairs, but don't smash the crates --there's a sentry gun behind them. Instead, toss a grenade to the other side of the cratesand take out the gun with no hassle. Then enter the little room and use the switch to movethe hanging hook that was blocking the train tracks.

4) At the next track switch sign, shoot it to changetracks. That should take you down the track where the hanging hook was blocking before youmoved it. Once you make it to the next gate, get off the train and use the switch to raiseit, then continue riding the train down the track.

5) When the train car stops at the end, you have to get offand go it on foot. Shoot the marines on the left and keep moving. Smash open theboarded-up room to find the friendly guard and get him to join you (use him). 6) Becareful turning the next corner -- there is a feisty mounted artillery gun in a bunkerstraight ahead that will perforate you if you stand there long. It can also shoot anddestroy crates, so once it knows you're there, run like crazy up to the right side of it'sbunker. There's just enough space there between the wall and the bunker to toss in agrenade or two and take out the gun.

7) If you're hurting at this point, climb up atop the blastdoors and get the health and HEV power cells before entering the blast doors. Once inside,shoot or toss a grenade at the trip mines and stand clear.

8) Walk down the stairs to find another train car and takeit for a spin. Watch out for falling debris (that can knock you off your train and ontothe electrified rail as your car runs off without you) and red sentry gun lasers. Duckunder them to avoid unnecessary firefights with sentry guns.

9) Also watch out for the marine with the rocket launcheraround one of the bends in the track. It's best to disembark to take him on, as he aimsfor the train car pretty darn well. Continue along the track. If you lost your train whenfighting the rocket launcher, you'll find it up ahead soon (it stops at the next gate).

10) On the platform by the train track kill a few aliensand then hop up over the green boxes blocking the doorway. You have to duck at the peak ofyour jump to do this (see the Hazard Course for details if you haven't already). Onceinside, use the switch to raise the gate on the track and continue down the track on thetrain car.

11) Continue to the next gate, and then kill everything inthe room. To kill the mounted gun, toss a grenade into the bunker with it. The switch forthe next gate is near that bunker. Feel free to take off on foot at any time -- the trainis not critical to completion, but it does save a little walking time. The train car alsocomes in handy for clearing out trip mines -- you can just let it go on it's own and catchup with it later (it will stop at gates).

12) The train car also makes a pretty good shield againstincoming rockets, which you will run into at least a few times in the tunnels. Duck behindthe control panel and speed by to avoid them, there is no benefit in taking the time todestroy them.

13) At the next track switch sign, shoot it so that youcontinue going straight. At the next gate, get off and take the ladder down, but becareful not to cross the red sentry gun laser -- near the bottom of the ladder jump awayfrom the wall and strafe to the side at the same time to avoid it.

14) Enter the control room and choose your path. You caneither take out the sentry guns with grenades (why?) or just hop out the window and avoidall of the red lasers while walking away to safety. You're going to need your ammo soonanyway :)

15) At the end of this tunnel is a rather ugly situation: amounted gun in a bunker right in the tunnel, a mounted machine gun behind some sand bagsjust to the right of it, and a load of marines crawling around the large room to the rightof that. First kill the machine gunner, then push the crates as cover while walking up bythe bunker. Climb up the bunker and throw in a grenade to shut it down. You're on your ownwith the firefight with the marines in the main room.

16) Once you enter the blast doors, watch out for redsentry gun lasers. There are several of them up a staircase, and these are attached to afew hundred points of explosives lining the room. One wrong move and it's all over. To getpast the lasers, first push the larger box under the last beam. Then crawl under thefirst two lasers and jump from the stairs on to the box. You can jump over the lastred laser from the box.

17) Take out the few guards (a nice silent snipe with thealternate fire crossbow works wonders) and go press the launch button in the control roomoverlooking the launch pit. Enjoy the show.

18) Leave the building (careful of the red lasers --they're still there) and then exit out the blast doors (the way you came in to the launcharea).

19) The large doors to your left will now be open (watchout for the sniper off to the right and up on the rocks), go through the newly openeddoors.

Apprehension

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1) There's no way to stop the train; get off or ride it allthe way in. At the bottom of the water is a set of barrels or canisters tied down. If youswim down and 'use' the lock on them, they will float up to the surface and makea bridge over which you can walk to get up the other side.

2) Walk around the catwalks and jump into the water. Swimaround until you find the sloped floor that leads to the exit of the water. Through you'llprobably take damage from not having enough oxygen, it's only temporary and your healthwill return shortly.

3) In the room with the cage hanging from the ceiling, goaround the catwalks to get to the top. Climb out onto the cage support and enter the cage.In a few seconds the cage will drop into the water -- you can stay put and fire from thereor, easier, move up and out and near a wall to prevent attacks from behind. Shoot the bigfish with the crossbow and/or the 9mm pistol (it also fires underwater).

4) Swim down and open the grate by holding 'use'down on the red wheel. It starts closing as soon as you stop holding'use,' so be sure to open it enough to allow yourself to swim through.

5) Climb the stairs and walk along the catwalks. They willbreak apart in places, so stay near the center where the main support is (it stays whilethe rest breaks). If you fall off, you have to go back to get back up there.

6) When you come to the steel cage wall, you can try tojump past the hanging electrical wire, but it will probably hit you for a few points.Instead, jump in the water and swim through the opening to your right.

7) Climb the stairs and chose one of two methods to get tothe catwalk on the opposite side of the room: 1) Push the two crates down to the floor andbuild a staircase up to the broken ladder (smash the boxes blocking it) or 2) Use thebutton on the control panel to start the pistons moving and jump across them to the otherside.

8) Once you kill everything in the next room, the scientistwill open the door for you. Like he says, there is nothing all that interesting in thecold room, so just run as fast as possible to the ladder that leads down. (Turn right,then left, then right again).

9) This will be your first meeting with the sniper babes,and they are tough. Explosives work if you can figure out where they are or coax them tochase you. Sniping with the crossbow works well if you can find their hiding places (twoare on the ground floor, and one is up on the catwalk). A full-on frontal assault withboth barrels of a shotgun (my solution) works well if you're quick, a good aim, and arelentless pursuer. Save before trying.

10) After killing all three of the sniper babes (I can'timagine that you'd get very far just trying to sneak past, but it's worth a shot if that'syour style), go up the ramp to get to the surface access control. Hold down 'use' at thewheel to open the large doors below. Save before entering (see below for why).

11) Although I've heard stories of people doing so (lies?),I was totally unable to avoid being caught and knocked out when entering the dark room. Ifyou want to try, I suggest loading up the room with detpacks and blowing them up beforeentering. Didn't work for me. Besides, apprehension isn't that bad..(except for losingall your weapons). I've also heard of a few people for whom the game seems to just stop atthis point -- they get stuck (can't move) in a dark room with a walkway barely visible.reloading a saved game just before being caught worked fine -- it should only take a fewseconds before the dragging scene begins.

12) After the dragging scene (cool), you'll wake up in atrash compactor that is slowly closing in. Take your time and climb up the boxes andcrates to avoid assuming the role of a pancake. Once up and out, you can walk across theclosed walls of the compactor to get your crowbar, and then leave the room via the grateon the floor on the left side of the compactor (smash it with your crowbar).

Residue Processing

(Maps in this chapter: c2a4.bsp, c2a4a.bsp, c2a4b.bsp,c2a4c.bsp, c2a4d.bsp, c2a4e.bsp, c2a4f.bsp, c2a4g.bsp)

1) The flow control wheel will raise or lower anelevator-like platform inside the cylindrical tower. Use this to leave the area.

2) Jump down onto the edge of the vat and leave by walkingacross the pipe on the other side. Keep walking on pipes to get to the next vat.

3) Walking around the edges of the vats is possible, buttricky (they're slippery!) Instead, jump to the plunger thing to your left when it is onthe downswing. Then you can jump from plunger to plunger along the left wall to get outthe other side. If you fall, there's a ladder to get you back to square one to restart.

4) Keep walking and duck under the grinding wheels andcogs. When you get to the room of conveyor belts, walk around to the right to the threeswitches. Set all three switches 'up' (forward), which should make all conveyorbelts moving away from where you started in this room.

5) Walk back to the control room and press the greenbutton, which will stop all the smooshers, but only for long enough for you to get by --don't sit around and wait -- run fast.

6) Continue riding forward along the conveyor belts, timingyour motion to move past the smooshers (note that they are not all the same -- the firstdoes all long strokes, the second is a long stroke followed by a short one, and the thirdis a long stroke followed by two short strokes).

7) Drop down from conveyor belt to conveyor belt to findthe two belts running side-by-side. The one on the right is no good, but the one on theleft is laced with two trip mines. You can shoot the first one, but not the second, sinceit is around a corner (if you can shoot it, you're close enough to be killed by theblast). Try this to get by: exit the conveyor onto the platform to the left (before itenters the wall where the trip mines are). Drop a detpack onto the conveyor and startcounting one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand, .. at six, detonate the detpack and youshould take them both out.

Questionable Ethics

1) To open the electric door, shoot the electrode on thefence.

2) The big thing behind the glass will get out if you taunthim, get near the glass, or break the control switch cover. You have to break the controlswitch cover to exit. You can run away from him, or lob a few grenades from your machinegun (alt fire) in his face.

3) In the two jail cells filled with headcrabs there is ahornet gun and a crossbow. To get them without wasting all your ammo on headcrabs, orrisking an all-crossbow assault, open the doors and draw the crabs out. Then run into thecontrol room and use the button there -- it will zap everything in the room. It may takeyou a few zaps to get them all.

4) Watch out for trip mines in this building, there aremany. Also try to let the marines fight the monsters as much as possible -- if you lay lowfor a bit in each areas they will do a lot of your work for you, and it's fun to watch.

5) Turn on all four lasers in each of the four rooms at theend of the hallways. Find the room with the sign that reads 'Do Not Obstruct LaserShield'. Obstruct the laser shield. Move the crate on the floor so that it blocks theshield that lowers when you activate the mega-laser.

Vst keyscape. 6) Exit the room through the hole the laser blows in thewall, and jump down the pipes to avoid taking falling damage on the way down.

7) You have enough scientists for a little trial-and-errorhere, but you should check the patch to the main exit and clear it of hostiles (and sentryguns) before taking one up to open the door for you. Watch out for sentry guns on the roofon your way out.

Surface Tension

1) Don't worry about the helicopter, the marines, or therocket launcher. Just run and dive into the water to the left of the dam. If you insist,all of them can be destroyed (including the chopper), but at a cost of much ammo.

Half Life Office Complex Speedrun

2) Kill or evade the big fish in the water, then climb thetower and go inside it and use the switch to make it safe to swim through the gates underthe dam.

3) Swim down to the bottom by the dam and find the redwheel. Hold down use to open the gates of the dam. Swim through one of them, but becareful when coming up for air on the other side -- do so quickly, the chopper is stilllooking for you.

4) Climb the ladder and walk through the pipes, exit andclimb up the ladder on the wall of the building.

5) Ignore the tentacle monster in the next area -- youdon't have to mess with him at all unless you want some of his goodies. The other crack inthe rocks leads to where you need to go.

6) Walk around the mine field on the left hand perimeter,staying on rocks as much as possible. Once at the red wheel, turn it to open the stormdrain and climb down the ladder (don't fall, it's too far).

7) Walk down the pipe until you see blue sky, then pull outthe crossbow and snipe (alt fire) the marines in the area. They are above and below you.Use both barrels of your shotgun on the sentry gun.

8) Climb down the breaking bridge by walking on the wires,or slide down the large section carefully. There's a chopper in the area that's prettyeasy to avoid, but you can destroy it with two shots from the laser-guided rocket launcherif you want to see the pretty explosion.

9) Once inside the pipes, take a left at the tee creep upthe ladder (walk, don't run) and throw a grenade at the marine's back. Retreat into thepipe and exit the other way (right at the tee from before) and jump into the water. The marines will be looking near where you tossed your 1st grenade, so you can surprisethem again from this side.

10) It takes several rockets to destroy the tank so justtry and run around it and do it with two detpacks (or grenades) instead. Open the gate andreplenish supplies.

11) The next tank (?) is tough to kill, it's better to tryand strafe back and forth to avoid his shots.

12) Stay to the left in the next minefield, or shoot theground several feet in front of you to take out any mines in the area. Also watch out forthe snipers up in the windows. A grenade from your launcher (machine gun alt fire) it theeasiest way to take out snipers. There are two snipers in this map.

13) Shoot the exploding barrels to turn off the powerbefore trying to climb up the fallen electrical tower to the roof. Watch out for thesniper behind you when crawling under the barbed wire to get to it.

14) Walk around the roof (first left) to find the hole init, and drop in onto the larger crate there to avoid falling damage.

15) Leave the chicken scientists and be very careful aroundthe trip mines -- they are everywhere. Push a crate up to the one on the stairs to jumpover, or just jump on the railing to avoid it.

16) Jump and duck trip mines to make your way to the mainroom (that's just loaded with trip mines) and find the elevator platform by the wall (notthe one in the center of the room -- yet). Break the box on the elevator platform by thewall so that when you raise the lift it won't activate the trip min above it. Be carefulnot to break or move the crate next to it that has a trip laser already hitting it on theother side.

17) Jump and duck your way into the control room and usethe switch to raise the platform. Jump out onto this platform, then jump over the lasertrip mines and onto the elevator platform in the middle of the floor. Use the button thereto lower the elevator, taking you to safety and leaving the scientist screwed and coweringin that room :)

18) As the aliens drop in, the air raids will come and killthem. No sweat, but stay clear and don't be near the surface when the bombs drop. Then runpast the tank, strafing to dodge it's fire.

19) Turn right around the corner, but watch out for thesniper as you climb the stairs. Find the guard and get him to open the storage room foryou (use him, and lead him to the door).

20) Jump out the window and walk along the ledge to theladder that leads to the roof of the other building (across the alley). Kill everyone inthe bombed building and then jump across the twisted girders and debris to exit on theother side.

21) Climb up to the big gun and use it to blast open thebig doors. You can also use it to dispatch any marines that might be following you. Exitthrough the big doors.

22) Be careful exiting the next door, there are tons ofthose big hornet-gun-toting baddies out there, usually three at a time, but they won'tspawn until you step in certain areas. Kill the first three and make a run for it.

23) Use the conveniently located mounted machine gun totake out the hordes of lightning monsters coming down the sloped tunnel. Just duck downbehind it, use the gun, and hold down fire while spraying hot lead all over the place --they keep coming in several waves to just peek up to check on them until you're surethey're all gone.

24) Use the bouncy-crater (step on it) to get atop theroof, then watch the marines fight the aliens. Clean up the survivors. Drop down and smashopen the vent with your crowbar. Be careful! The vent shaft is crawling with snarks, andthey are a pain. Some sort of explosives are handy for removing the bulk of them, butyou'll probably have to run from a few. They are hard to shoot, and they hit pretty hardfor their size. Their weakness is their short life-span. If you can evade them for about20 seconds of so, they explode. I wasted a lot of ammo on those little chum toads (whatthey were called before the game was released) before I realized this.

25) Once inside the tunnel, find the vent cover and smashit open. Soon after, the marines below will hear you and start perforating the vent withbullet holes (this effect is great) -- back up and fill the room with snarks, it's a blastto watch. You have to get very close to the hole in the floor of the vent shaft to dropthem, but even if you take a few hits it's worth it.

26) After killing the marines, exit by the door on theright. If you wait too long, someone will throw a grenade in from outside and seal off thedoor with debris. If this happens, use the switch hanging from the ceiling by the car liftand hop on, it will raise up and you can jump out through the hole in the wall.

27) Once outside, use the big mounted gun to blast throughthe big doors to exit the area.

Half Life Office Complex Walkthrough

28) Jump over the broken catwalk -- it's far, but possiblewithout a super long jump. Don't jump too soon. You may find it easier to jump up on therailing first, and then jump across.

29) Use the bouncy crater to get to the roof then open upthe pipe and climb through. Find the guard at the end and get him to follow you, you'llneed him to open the door at the bottom, and the door after that (so don't kill him!)

30) At the next big flame-throwing monster, run away anddon't look back -- he'll get it bad in a minute. Bounce on the crater over the wall andinto the pool. Then climb quickly across the pipe and onto the platform with the green mapand the radio. One of the controls moves the horizontal aiming, one moves the vertical,and one calls in the air strike. Examine the map (it's a map of the large area you are innow) and figure out where the large door you entered the area is on the map (lower left).

31) Line up the intersection of the two lines on the mapwith the area just outside of the door by which you entered this area. Turn around andwait for the flame-throwing monster -- he'll be there soon. As soon as you see him, usethe button to call in the air strike and he's toast. Best boss kill ever in a fps, barnone.

32) Next take your time and call in air strikes to destroythree targets:

(1) the right wall of the fortress-like area across the moat
(2) the door inside the fortress walls, and
(3) the large tower in front of you.

Then simply walk across the tower (which falls convenientlyto let you cross the moat) and through the door in the now breached fortress area.

Forget About Freeman

1) Get ready for some falling ceiling action. Go to yourright and wait for the third segment to fall from the roof (it's shorter than the others)and jump on top of it. Wait there until the rest of the roof falls and make your way tothe exit on the left.

2) Walk to the tee and go right, then use the wheel to openthe hatch cover. Avoid the red sentry gun lasers (or destroy the sentry guns).

3) Go down either of the 'West' tunnels and jumpover the grate to exit the area. Avoid or destroy the tank, then ride the elevator down.

4) Turn right at the tee, then use the tank to blow a holethrough the door. Be ready for a slew of monsters to come through when you do. Thecombination of lightning-shooters and hornet-shooters is especially annoying. Trip minesand your own hornet gun work well.

5) Be careful walking through the big door -- there's alaser gun to the left and several hornet-shooting monsters on wither side. Strafe out fromcover just long enough to fire a rocket at the laser gun, then strafe back to cover (turnoff your laser guidance system with alt fire or you'll miss when you strafe for cover).Use your hornet-gun to kill the hornet-shooting monsters -- you can shoot them from thesafety of behind the wall.

Lambda Core

1) Use the switch in the control room and ride the elevatordown, then watch out for the sniper babes.

Parallels desktop 15. 2) Only after you kill everyone in the area will thescientist open the door for you. Walk to the right and get the big gun, then go back tothe elevator that leads to the coolant system.

3) Go to each of the pump rooms and use the switches thereto activate both pumps. Then go to the auxiliary reactor and jump down into the water. Crawl through the maintenance tunnel and use each of the two switches on eitherside of the core. Watch for and avoid the sparks on your way out (climb up the ladders tothe top and leave).

4) Climb up the elevator shaft and jump off the ladder toget to the upper level. Here there are steam valves you can open (use) to kill themonsters in the area. It's fun to watch. The teleporter here is just to show you how theywork -- green ones are entrances and orange ones are exits.

5) Find the door with the sign that says 'Core LevelB' , go inside and start the teleporting festival. This is perhaps the only reallyannoying puzzle in the entire game, but it's not too bad once you figure it out (duh). Youhave to jump into each teleporter on the tower, in numeric order (lowest one on eachlevel), and time your jump so that then you appear at the orange teleport exit at the nextlevel up, you will land on a rotating platform and not fall to the bottom. I suggestsaving after each successful teleport.

Neal also points out the following tips: As you jump ontoeach rotating platform, walk to the leading edge (in the direction you are moving). Thatway, when you jump into a teleport (don't delay), you will be aligned correctly to landonto the next higher platform.

6) Once you get to the top platform (a new area) don't jumpback into the teleporter! Look behind you for a door, open it and go inside. Climb theladder and wait for the scientist to open the door.

7) Once inside, stock up on weapons (health and HEV powerare in the next room, so don't worry). Make sure you take the jump pack with you (right bythe door) or the next part is much harder. Save before proceeding in any case.

8) Kill the flying monsters to keep both you and thescientist alive until he tells you it's ok to jump into the teleporter. When he says go,do it -- you don't have long.

Xen

1) If you didn't take the Hazard Course, now is the timewhen you'll wish you had (so save and go do it!). Use the super long jump to jump fromplatform to platform, making your way to the large center area. Save often.

2) On the center planet thing there is a little pool ofwater that will restore your health while you stand in it (these are all over Xen, so lookfor them). Near this pool is the entrance to the center of the planet thing you're on.

3) Walk to each of the three mushroom things and use them,they will open up as you do each one. Break open all of the web stuff with your crowbarand release the yellow butterfly things that will float into each of the mushrooms andactivate a teleporter in the center. Go into the teleporter.

Gonarch's Lair

1) Shoot the spider repeatedly in the belly-sac thinghanging underneath it. Keep doing this until the spider runs away, then follow it, andshoot its sac some more.

2) There's a webbed area in the center in the second areathat you can jump into (if you're careful and don't miss the ledges beneath it). You'llfind a health pool (and some headcrabs) down there. Use the bouncy crater to get back upfor more sac-shooting fun.

3) Keep shooting sac and chasing spider until you drop downbelow a web on the third area. Unleash all your ammo on his sac while you're underneath it-- soon it'll drop down with you. Kill the spider (remember, only sac-hits do damage), andthen hide behind the whapping trees to let them finish off the headcrabs and babyheadcrabs.

Comment: Psyci suggests not dropping down below on thethird area. Rather, let the spider drop, then dump every snark you have into the pit withit. Seems they know to go for the sac too :)

Interloper

1) Look for healing pools in the caves if the spider got apiece of you -- you'll need decent health to finish this level. Watch out for the pitsthat open and close -- you'll die if you fall inside one.

2) Find the small yellow area in the cave to the left andgo inside. Use your crowbar to smash the webbing around the base of the white column.Climb on the tower and ride it up to the top.

3) Like you did at the beginning of Xen, jump from rock torock to make your way to the low area near the teleporter. Watch out for thelightning-shooting aliens (duck). Finally, jump on the back of one of the bird things andride into the teleporter.

4) Walk (don't run) past the tentacle or climb over therocks (watch out for another flame-throwing monster) to get to yet another teleporter.

5) Once inside the place where the lightning-shootingaliens are slaving away at some space-beer-brewing factory, take the elevator things up tothe conveyor belts. Don't shoot the slaves in this area -- they'll leave you alone unlessyou attack.

6) One of the conveyor belts enters a hole that does nothave a blue force-field on it. Enter this hole. Keep going up and right until your way isblocked by big beer kegs. These kegs each contain an ugly monster that hates you, so avoidbreaking them like the plague.

7) If you back up and super long jump, you can clear thekegs blocking the path (it's low gravity -- try it). If you can't get that to work, drop adetpack by the kegs but don't detonate it. Switch to the shotgun and blast open the keg,then switch back to the detpack and detonate the monster than comes out.

8) Look for a red vent-shaft type thing with weird globs oflight inside. Go in there (seriously). Keep going until you enter a huge, tall room. Whipout the crossbow and snipe everything in sight with alt fire. Keep working your way upwardand sniping the aliens. You'll have to ride up a few odd spinning cog platforms and killloads of flying things, but it's not too bad. At the top is an (obvious) teleporter; jumpinside.

Nihilanth

1) Shoot the triangles until each explodes and avoid thegreen teleporter balls by ducking behind rocks -- getting teleported into those otherrooms really sucks.

2) Shoot the big baby until his heads opens up on the top(the head just opens up on the top a little, you may miss this lovely event if you're notbouncing up high) on the bouncy craters on the floor.

3) Bounce up high over and over until you can get a goodshot at his brain inside the opening in his head (one or two detpacks dropped in hisgaping cranium should do the trick).

Neal says:

Here's how I killed the final boss: Using the bouncer on the floor I got to the upper ledge bouncer. From there I jumped onto his head. He can't attack you while you're standing there! I then smashed his brain with the crowbar. That's right! I killed him with the 'weakest' weapon of the game.

4) Save the game here, becausethere are two endings, slightly different depending on your decision (you'll see), andyou'll probably want to see both without fighting the big baby again.