When you do notice a tongue, killing the beast is a simple matter of popping the Barnacle's main body with eight or nine shots from your pistol they're immobile, so they can't dodge your fire.Īlthough Barnacles can be distracted by anything, perhaps the best item toĪ new tactic for bypassing Barnacles arises from Half-Life 2's new physics engine now that you have the ability to manipulate items in the game world, you can trick the Barnacle into thinking that it has some tender prize by throwing an inorganic item into its tongue. You shouldn't have too many problems spotting the Barnacles from a distance, though, as their tongues are pretty easy to spot, save in darkened rooms. This includes Overwatch forces, for the most part, the occasional headcrab, and of course Gordon himself. In fact, you should have an even easier time killing them in most instances, due to their new and improved behavior.Īs in the first game, Barnacles will latch on to any organic entities that come into contact with their adhesive-coated tongues, and slowly draw their prey up into their maws.
The large man-traps known only as Barnacles are a repeat enemy from the first game, and as in Half-Life, you shouldn't have any problems defeating them or getting around them. There are, of course, plenty of new foes to face off against check this section for a description of each. Point Insertion/A Red Letter Day Route Kanal Water Hazard Black Mesa East and Ravenholm Highway 17 Sandtraps Nova Prospekt Entanglement Anticitizen One Follow Freeman Our Benefactors Dark Energy CheatsĪlthough many of the enemies from Half-Life have returned, many don't, while some make only cameo appearances. Luckily for Gordon Freeman, though, he's not alone in his travels he'll have you along, and you'll have this guide to help you out! Included within are a bestiary, a weapons rundown, combat tips, and, of course, a full walk-through, complete with video guides to the game's most challenging sections. the compelling new environmental interactions made possible by the Source engine), and Valve has proven themselves to be quite adaptable to these sea changes, incorporating them into a genuinely compelling adventure through the streets of a city defeated and oppressed by alien aggressors. the innovative use of full-face animation) and gameplay (e.g. Although it sticks pretty closely to the formula laid down by its predecessor, the sheer weight of technical advancements made in the last six years have opened up new vistas of storytelling (e.g. Now, six years later, Half-Life 2 is upon us, and it's unbelievably and almost unbearably good. No one can seriously counter the claim that Half-Life was a watershed moment in gaming history, and indeed, its popularity is part of that legacy, as it spawned the most fertile mod community in the modern FPS community. Many of us probably recall sleepless nights shortly before our Thanksgiving break of that year, as we struggled to get through just one more encounter with ruthless government troops or horrific alien entities before finally getting to bed. Of course, all these titles are still backwards compatible on my gaming PC (quite a formidable creature compared to that first budget PC I built all those years ago) but it's cool that Xbox One players can also play them on their systems now.Anyone who played FPS games in 1998 will have fond memories of their first play-through of Half-Life. The visuals at the time were so striking compared to console graphics. I built my first PC so that I could play Half-Life 2. That game ushered in my own personal gaming renaissance, and I immersed myself first in all of Valve's titles (especially Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2) and then RPGs like The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. I don't think I've ever been so pleased with a game as the first time I was able to run Half-Life 2 on a computer I built myself. It's about playing some of these wonderful older games on your current console, especially if you missed them but even if you're just pining with nostalgia. Of course, these older games won't look as good as modern titles, but it's not just about the visuals. It's a pretty neat trick, and it really does work.