Half-Life 2 - Strategy Guide (Page 07)

Below are the cheat codes, hints and help for Half-Life 2 - Strategy Guide (Page 07).

	Once the elevator hits the lower floor, exit and head to the right.
	Dr. Breen will taunt you from inside the safety of the teleportation
	shield bubble.  As soon as he finishes, the reactor comes to life,
	and your way through opens up.  As the piston to your right starts
	to move, the gates blocking access to the small ledge around it will
	retract.  Carefully move past the piston when it's up, and get ready
	for Soldiers.

	Deal with them, and climb up the ramp.  As you circle around, you
	will see three generators, each with three Energy Cores inside them.
	Disarm the first generator by grabbing the cores and shooting them
	away.  Now, disarm the second generator, but don't walk out onto
	the ledge just yet.  Once the second generator is disabled, then move
	out onto the ledge.  Turn around, as soldiers will be coming up behind
	you.  An Assassin WILL fire an Energy Core at you.  Either take cover
	behind the generator's shield plating, or grab the core with the Gravity
	Gun and fire it right back at the Assassin.  Once the Soldiers are dead,
	disarm the third generator.  

	Now, as you reach the end of this ledge, there will be Soldiers above
	you, and a piston in front of you.  Wait for the piston to reach the
	bottom of it's stroke, then jump on.  Ride it up to the platform the 
	Soldiers are on.  Once there, head past the doorway they came out of.
	Ignore the next piston, for now, and instead get on to the rotating
	platforms that are near the center of the room.  There's a small
	walkway just past the next piston where you can board one.

	Ride this platform until it raises up for the first (and only) time,
	and then jump onto the platform with the visible Charger station.
	Soldiers will be below and behind you, but once you're on the platform
	you can deal with them easily.  Once that's taken care of, cautiously
	walk around the platform until you find the piston.  Wait for it to
	drop (starting to see a pattern here?) and then ride it up to the next
	level.

	Once you reach the top, circle around this platform until you find the
	bridge connecting you back to the main wall of the Citadel.  Soldiers
	will block your path, but they are insects to you!  Swat them!  Now,
	face the doorway they just came out of and turn left.  That piston you
	now see is the one you want to ride next.  You should know how to do
	it by now.

	Once you reach the top, get ready.  Things are about to get dicey.
	The portal will activate, giving you a blurry glimpse into the Combine's
	universe.  Two Gunships will fly out of the portal, and those are your
	immediate concerns.  Use the Energy Cores to either side of you to attack
	the Gunships.  You need to score a few hits on each of them to bring them
	down, and it will be harder then the Strider, since the Gunships are more
	maneuverable.  It's not hard, just do it.  Once they are down, move along
	the platform to the left.  You need a clear shot at the Dark Energy Reaction
	at the very top of the tower that Breen's shield bubble is climbing.  Throw
	Energy Cores at it.  After the first one hits, causing a flash, a ring of
	metallic shields will pop up around the Energy Reaction.  Keep throwing
	Energy Cores at it.  You'll destroy the shields and upset whatever delicate
	balance was keeping the Energy Reaction from going to hell.  You want it to
	go to hell.  Trust me.  Continue to attack it, and the screen will flash
	brightly!  Then... 

	Well.  I'll leave you to reap what you have sown.

	
	[End]




-=   HL2   =-


8) SCIENCE: The Gravity Gun and You


	The Gravity Gun, or Zero Point Energy Manipulator, is
	arguably the single most valuable "weapon" in your
	arsenal.  With the Gravity Gun in hand and an inquisitive
	approach to playing Half Life 2, there is very nearly no
	limit to the weird ass crap you can pull off.  In this
	section, I hope to give you a better understanding of
	just how far you can push the Source engine's physics,
	and what sorts of trouble you can cause with it.

First, lets list the numerous items you can pick up with the
Gravity Gun.

	-Boxes
	-Chairs
	-Tables
	-Doors
	-Bottles
	-Cans
	-Paint Cans
	-Tires
	-Weapons
	-Ammo
	-Medkits
	-Batteries
	-Planks
	-Metal Sheets
	-Buckets
	-Wreckage
	-Man Hacks
	-Scanners
	-Flashbulbs
	-Turrets
	-Barrels
	-Grenades (Live)
	-Grenades (Inert)
	-Energy Cores
	-Saw Blades
	-Gas Cans
	-Propane Tanks (They don't explode, however)
	-Car Batteries
	-Water Heaters
	-Pad Locks
	

Pretty much anything that isn't nailed down.  (Almost)

What you have to realize is that almost anything can become
a weapon.  And, conversely, almost anything can become a tool.
Boxes and planks, if used correctly, can make stairs, bridges,
ramps, see saws, forts (If you're patient), barricades, comfy
seating for six adults, etc.  

Bottles and Cans are instant projectiles.  Barrels make
excellent missiles.  Saw Blades are meant to be used as weapons.

Gas Cans, Explosive Barrels, Fuel Cylinders, and the like
are great incendiary weapons.  You can generally set Zombies
ablaze with any of those items, if the explosion doesn't
kill them outright.

Items that are meant to be thrown, like the three I just listed,
have a more defined use.  But things like boxes and planks, as
mentioned, can be both weapon and tool.  The thing is, I've
never really gathered up a good number of boxes and just
tried building with them.  I don't know how high I could go,
or what sorts of crazy domino chain reactions I could cause.
But that shouldn't stop you from trying to reach the Sky Box.
Go where you weren't meant to go!  See what you weren't meant
to see!  ... I'm rambling.  In any case, let us give more
definition to the role of the Gravity Gun.

In nearly every situation you find yourself in, there will be
loose clutter.  A door off it's hinges, the ubiquitous wooden
crates, whatever.  It's all fodder for your Gravity Gun.

Many of the game's puzzles revolve around the Gravity Gun,
or at least around your USE key, for picking up things.
But some of the more subtle hidden areas are only accessible
by careful manipulation of the objects at hand.

The Sandtraps Chapter is an EXCELLENT example of what you can
do with the Gravity Gun.  There's a lot of debris and trash
once you encounter the Antlions, and if you take the time to
gather some of it up, you could probably do all sorts of odd
things.  The real goal of that part is to force you to use 
the Gravity Gun as a bridge builder, having you step on and
rearrange multiple pieces of garbage to make a moving bridge
across the sand.  But that level rewards the inquisitive.
If you find the very large plank, and figure out how to 
maneuver it around correctly, it becomes a bridge to previously
untouchable areas.  But if you're just blazing through the
level you'll probably miss it.

Esentially, all I can really tell you is be creative.

Try using enemy turrets in creative ways!  They will shoot at
zombies and headcrabs, so try to use that to your advantage
by posistioning them with the Gravity Gun.

Sawblades are great, reusable weapons in Ravenholm.  And even
later on when you might happen opon one, go ahead and use it
as much as you can.

Bottom line, the Gravity Gun should never be underestimated.



9) G-Man Sightings

Now, while other mysteries of Half Life 2 are sort
of hinted at through out the game, in various hidden
images and snippets of conversation you can pick up
on, the G-Man is again a puzzle.  Why is he still here,
and what possible reason could he have for putting
you in this situation?  Well, by now you probably have
a pretty good idea of what your purpose was, but what
IS the G-Man's ultimate goal?  What is he?  Certainly
not human, as we know humans anyway.  He can pass
between realities, it seems, or at the very least can
travel vast distances in the blink of an eye - Such
as between Earth and the border world Xen.  But the
fact stands that the G-Man is neither on our side
nor the Combine's.  Though he may have put you in 
the right place to disrupt their plans, humanity does
not seem to be the power to whom he ultimately reports.
Nor does he seem to be employed by the ones Dr. Breen
refers to as "Our Benefactors".  Who does that leave?
What does that leave?	

	Current Breakdown:
	
	Chapter Two - If you look at the monitor that Barney
			activates when he first enters
			Dr. Kliener's lab, you can change the
			channel to get a good look at the 
			G-Man for a few brief seconds.  Once
			he realizes he's being watched, he
			walks away.  Hrm...

	Chapter Three - In the first box car you come
			to where the Vortigaunt is 
			powering the television, you can
			see the G-Man smiling at you for a few
			brief seconds on the television.
			(Use your suit's Zoom)

	Chapter Four - Standing on the Barn that is
			way station 12.  You can only
			see him from a distance before
			he runs away and does his
			disappearing act.

	Chapter Four - In one of the areas where you go
			beneath a bridge, the G-Man can
			be seen on a catwalk on the upper
			left of the bridge, before you
			pass beneath it.  	

	Chapter Four - At the very end of the chapter,
			after you have defeated the
			Hunter Helecopter, you can
			see the G-Man walking along the
			dam towards the switch you need
			to pull to open your path down to
			Black Mesa East.
	
	Chapter Six - At the very end of this level when
			you are on the train tracks.
			If you go up to a pair of train
			cars that are wedged in a V shape,
			and look through the crack on the 
			left of them by crouching, you can see 
			the G-Man walking away.
	
	Chapter Seven - Through binoculars in Beach House
			#2.  It's interesting to note 
			that in this sighting he appears
			to be having a conversation with
			another person.  
		
		*Thank you to numerous people who pointed
		out that the person he is talking to is
		in fact the Colonel who gives you the RPG
		launcher.  Thank you guys.

	Chapter Nine - In the room with the first two
			chargers that you see.  If you
			change the video screen in there
			to the third "Channel" you can see
			the G-Man for a few seconds.

	Chapter Eleven - On a television in the first
			building after you get separated
			from Dog.  It is a brief image of
			him before the television goes
			dead.  Plus, if you check, it was
			never plugged in.  Creepy.