Half Life Walkthrough - part 1

                     by Paul Griffiths

See also his General Tips in Issue 75

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 left to the
HEV room.  Press the button on the computer console to open the
storage door for the suit.  Walk up to the suit in the chamber
that just opened and you'll don the suit automatically.



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

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

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

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

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

Unforeseen Consequences

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

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

3) There are a few headcrabs near the vent on the other side.  If
you brought the guard with you that you met in the hall (by Using
him), he'll shoot 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 it with
your crowbar to open it -- get used to doing this, there are quite
a few vents in the game, and many of them must be smashed with the
crowbar or shot open with a gun -- crowbar saves ammo, which
you'll need).

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

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

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



8) Use the big lever that's on the platform by the huge lift, 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 fly by.

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

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


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

Office Complex

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.

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 go off, 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 will now be safe to pass.


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

4) Get the shotgun and shells from atop the green box, then kill
the alien that attacks the guard behind the fence.  If you don't
save him, you can't get behind the gate (he opens it for you if
he's alive), and there's some ammo and health inside.  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 to avoid
touching the water (and electric shock).  Find the light switch on
the left wall and turn it off to make the water safe to touch,
then get the goodies from the cabinets before busting the vent on
the left wall and climbing out of the room.  Watch out for the fan
in the vent shaft (duck).

8) Move the small and large crates to make two steps up to the
ladder in the hall by the locked door.  Break all the vent covers

in the shaft, but you might 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 shotgun to
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 you by
using him -- they make for a great distraction target for the
security guns you'll run across.  Then go out the EXIT door and up
the stairs.  There you'll find another guard to help you if you
managed to get the other one killed.

11) Stop by the room to the left and down to pick up a few
grenades, 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 the handle to the left.
But before entering the freezer, get all the health and ammo you
can hold 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 a red
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, then smash
open the vent and crawl through the vents and across the shelves
until you come out near the track of the ceiling-cart.

14) When the cart moves by, jump on and cross to the other side.
You may need to smash the crates on the cart with the crowbar to
get on, and you may need 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 the left.  To
the right there is a dead guard and a few HEV power cells that
might come in handy.


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 too early, and consider saving before trying this one -- a
fall is fatal).

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

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

We've got Hostiles

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 (blue lasers, which will blow up the trip mine -- and
you -- if crossed by anything, including an enemy).  It's pretty
painful to take on a sentry gun head on -- it's best to avoid
activating them at all by ducking under or jumping over.  If you
do activate one, strafe out 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.

2) When trying to creep through the area without activating sentry
guards (by avoiding touching the red lasers), watch out for aliens
that may appear and kill them quickly -- they can activate the
guns as easily as you can.  If you've destroyed all the sentry
guns in an area, it's safe to cross the red lasers -- nothing will
happen when you do (assuming you destroyed all of the sentry
guns).

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

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

5) Make sure you don't cross a blue beam -- those are trip mines,
and they blow up when you do.  They inflict heavy damage.  Also be
careful not to push 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 a scientist
run to the soldiers, thinking he's getting rescued.  While the
soldiers mercilessly slaughter the scientist, blast them with
grenades.  Note that pressing the fire button with a grenade
in-hand pulls the pin, but you don't throw it until you release
the button.  Try to time it so that the grenade explodes soon
after hitting the target area, of the soldiers will run away
before it explodes (they aren't stupid!)


7) Exit by using the freight elevator, then go out the firedoor
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 conveyor belt and continue walking up
it the wrong way.

8) Destroy the sentry guns below with a grenade, then jump down.
This is much easier than trying to come through this area by the
other way (by not using 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 the soldiers and
the aliens to kill a few of each other before taking them on.  The
soldiers are tough in this area, and they will try to flank you.
They are also deadly accurate with a grenade toss, so if you see
one coming, take cover.

10) Walk up the catwalks to the top of the room and go down the
corridor.  Kill all of the soldiers from this height advantaged


position before going onto the floor.  Once down, take the
elevator up to the surface.  Save here, it's nasty up above.

11) If you kill the soldiers that the plane drops off, they will
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 a bit safer than
the middle. 20) open the door to the ventilation shaft, go down to
the bottom.  Once inside the bunker, dive down the ladder as
quickly as possible and take cover.

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

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


Blast Pit

1) Use your crowbar to break the barrier and duck under the hazard
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 its controls.
When the big arrow thing appears on your HUD, forward increases
speed, and back decreases it.  Use again or strafe to either side
to let go of the controls and leave the train.

3) Running train at full speed will help you avoid hits from the
monsters in the tunnel (and run over a few in the process).  Once
you smash through the barrier, you can't stop the train.  So
either stop right after the barrier and climb over the pipes up to
the ladder, or prepare to swim to the low box in the center of the
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 pretty quickly. You can then jump to the other boxes and make
your way to the platform opposite the slime.  Either way, next you
can jump up onto the walkway to get to the ladder which leads you
up into the pipe.

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

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

7) Use the switch by the door to open up the airlock, and step
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 a goner.

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

9) Note that the "Test Fire" switch on the panel cannot be
activated until you turn on the power, oxygen, and fuel (this is
how you destroy the tentacle -- there is no other way).  You'll
need to creep past the tentacle at least twice to activate these,
and doing so can be tricky.  The easy way is to walk (hold down
the 'walk' key if you have auto-run on) or crouch while moving
past him, being careful to avoid the whapping tentacles.  The hard
way is to distract the tentacle with grenades and/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 the order is
unimportant, you could turn on the power first if you want).
Creep around the tentacle and through the door on the second floor
of the test chamber.  Run fast after breaking the boards with your
crowbar, because the tentacle will hear you and attack as soon 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, aiming down,
and smashing it with the crowbar.  Follow along the pipe and turn
left at the fork (right is a dead end), then climb the ladder.

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

13) Look up and notice the boards over the roof.  You have a
choice for dealing with them:  the visually appealing way is to
toss a grenade (assuming you have one) out above the blades and
watch as it flies up and explodes through the boards.  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 wall with
the crowbar and climb through.  Ducking helps here.

15) Crawl along the shaft until you get to the Oxygen/Fuel control
room.  Turn on (use) both switches on the control panel.  You'll
know they're both on by the lights and the bubbles that will start
flowing in the pipes.  Then exit by climbing 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 some tentacle
jerky.  Creep through the test fire chamber again and exit the
door on the lower level.


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

18) Before crossing the puddle of water round up all the boxes and
crates you can find and build a bridge across it.  It's harmless
now, but once you turn on the power it will become electrified,
and then it's very difficult to cross and survive.  Make sure that
you can jump onto and off of your crate bridge without touching
even a drop of the water.  Update:  Keith sent in a clever
strategy that doesn't require 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 malfunction and stop half way (or so) up the shaft.  As soon
as it does, jump off and grab the ladder on the wall to your left.
If you wait too long, the elevator will fall with you in it and
you'll take damage from the radioactive sludge at the bottom
before you can climb back up the ladder on the wall.

Larry says you don't need to jump off right away, just wait until
it 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 avoid
touching the radioactive sludge.

More next issue










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