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Half-Life 2 - Orange Box, The PRIMA OFFICIAL GAME GUIDE DAVID SJ HODGSON STEPHEN STRATTON MIGUEL LOPEZ Prima Games David SJ Hodgson A Division of Random House, Inc. Originally hailing from the United Kingdom, David left his role as a writer of numerous 3000 Lava Ridge Court, Suite 100 British video game magazines (including Mean Machines, Computer & Video Games, Roseville, CA 95661 and the Official Nintendo and Sega Saturn magazines) and a bohemian lifestyle on a dry-docked German fishing trawler to work on the infamousGameFan magazine in www.primagames.com 1996. David helped to launch the fledgling GameFan Books and helped form Gamers’ The Prima Games logo is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., Republic in 1998, authoring many strategy guides for Millennium Publications, registered in the United States and other countries. Primagames.com is including The Official Metal Gear Solid Mission Handbook. After launching the wildly a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., registered in the United unsuccessful incite Video Gaming and Gamers.com, David found his calling, and States. began authoring guides for Prima Games. He has written over 30 Prima strategy guides, including The Godfather: The Game, Knights of the Old Republic, Perfect Dark © 2007 by Prima Games. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be Zero, Half-Life 2, and Burnout Revenge. He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, wife, Melanie, and an eight-foot statue of Great Cthulhu. including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without written permission from Prima Games. Prima Games is a division of Random We want to hear from you! E-mail comments and feedback to dhodgson@ House, Inc. primagames.com. Product Manager: Todd Manning Stephen Stratton Editor: Rebecca Chastain Stephen Stratton has worked on more than 30 projects in his five years of writing Copyeditor: Sara Wilson strategy guides for Prima. His repertoire of mastered games includes Counter- Design and Layout: Winter Graphics North Strike: Condition Zero, Rome: Total War, Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, The Manufacturing: Suzanne Goodwin Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Super Mario Sunshine, Hitman: Contracts, and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. © 2007 Valve Corporation. All rights reserved. Valve, the Valve logo,Half-Life, the Steve is a lifelong video gamer who attended the Rochester Institute of Technology Half-Life logo, the Lambda logo, Steam, the Steam logo, Team Fortress, and the Team in Rochester, NY. In addition to his Prima Games guides, he also held a staff position Fortress logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Valve Corporation. All with Computec Media and managed the strategy section of their incite.com video other trademarks are property of their respective owners in the United States and game website. other countries.. RIDING SHOTGUNMiguel Lopez All products and characters mentioned in this book are trademarks of their respective Miguel Lopez has been working as a journalist in the video game industry since 1999. companies. OVERVIEWDuring his nine-year stint as an in-house editor, he’s worked at GameSpot.com, The pace to White Forest quickens, now that the open roadGameSpy.com, is before andyou. the Until, now defunct of course, Gamenow the Magazine. road becomesAs a freelance writer, he’s Please beclogged advised that with the ESRBrusting Ratings vehicle icons, “EC,” hulks “E,” and “E10+,” the “T,” long-dead “M,” “AO,” and remains contributed of hapless to numerous refugees mainstream and and worse. enthusiast Amid publications, the eerie including Wired, “RP” are trademarks owned by the Entertainment Software Association, and may only Games for Windows Magazine, Gamepro, Electronic Gaming Monthly, and X-Play. be used withquiet their permission of these and mountains authority. For is information a lonely regarding radar station, whether a whichHalf-Life needs 2:to The be Orange powered Box is uphis firstfor Alyxproject to with communicate Prima. product haswith been White rated by Forest. the ESRB, This please area visit www.esrb.oris your firstg. For combat permission with to use the hated Hunters, but Alyx is ready for them this time. the RatingsContinue icons, please driving contact until the ESA you at esrblicenseinfo.com. reach an abandoned farmhouse Aand native barn...although of Hialeah, Florida, Miguel a new now and lives frightening in the sunny Mission resident District of San has taken up a corner: the dreaded Advisor. After tacklingFrancisco, him California, and a Combine with his wife, scout cat, and team, two house you plants.quicken Important: the pace, driving erratically down a winding railroad to avoidACKNO theW LEDGEMENTSguns and bombs from a Hunter Chopper Prima Games has made every effort to determine that the information contained in David SJ Hodgson would like to thank: all at Valve for going above and beyond to this book isattack accurate. craft. However, Only the when publisher you makes reach no warranty, a Rebel either train expressed yard can youfurnish disembark us all with insane from tactics your and overheating exceptional hospitality. Car, use Special the thanks to Eric or implied, as to the accuracy,Chopper’s effectiveness, own or completeness weapons againstof the material it, and in win theTwelker, respect David Speyrer,of your Phil new-found Co (for his gnome-herding friends. skills), and Dario Casali this book; nor does the publisher assume liability for damages, either incidental or (who took down over a dozen Striders in an amazing display of carapace-exploding). consequential, that may result from using the information in this book. The publisher Thumbs way up to Miguel Lopez and Steve Stratton, Todd, Rebecca, and Sara. Polite cannot provide any additional information or support regarding gameplay, hints and cap-doffing to Laibach, Ladytron, and The Knife. All my love to Melanie. strategies, INVENTORYor problems with hardware PICK-UP or software. Such questionsENTITY should be directed ENCOUNTER ENTITY ENCOUNTER to the support numbers provided by the game and/or device manufacturers as set And “W” for Winnie, embedded in ice. forth in their documentation. Some game tricks require precise timing andFRIENDLIES may HOSTILES requiren repeated Crossbow attempts before the desired result is achieved.n Alyx Vance Stephen Stratton would nlike Zombine to thank: all the nicen folks Zombie at Valve for being so friendly n Dr. Magnusson and helpful. Special thanksn toHunter Eric Twelker, Robin nWalker, Headcrab and the entire TF2 team n Rebels* for being so great and sharingn Combine their time Pod* and knowledge.n Fast Big Zombie ups to David Hodgson, ISBN: 978-0-7615-5693-0 Miguel Lopez, Rebecca Chastain,n Combine Todd Advisor*Manning, andn SaraFast Wilson Headcrab for pitching in to Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2007927559 keep the insanity of the project to a minimum. Hugs and kisses to Julie Mervyn, the Printed in the United States of America n Combine Soldier* most loving and awesomen game Combine store manager APC* in the world. n 07 08 09 10 GG 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Miguel Lopez would like to Hunterthank: everyone Chopper* at Valve for being such gracious hosts during the visit, and particularly Jeep Barnett and Eric Twelker for their generosity * Indicates first exposureand expertise. to entity Many thanks go to the co-authors, David Hodgson and Steve Stratton, for their insight throughout my first strategy guide project. Finally, boundless appreciation goes to my brilliant and patient wife Emiko for her support and encouragement during this challenging deadline. CONTENTS Half-Life 2: Episode One . 70 Undue Alarm.........................................................70 Direct Intervention . 82 Lowlife . 91 Urban Flight . 106 Exit 17..............................................................128 Half-Life 2: Episode Two .............................136 To the White Forest...................................................136 This Vortal Coil . 146 Freeman Pontifex ....................................................160 Riding Shotgun . 169 Under the Radar .....................................................178 Our Mutual Friend . .190 T-Minus One . 202 The Art of Half-Life 2 . .205 Half-Life 2: Deathmatch Strategy . .216 Overview............................................................217 2 ı PRIMA OFFICIAL GAME GUIDE HALF-LIFE 2 BASICS: GETTING STARTED HALF-LIFE 2: BASICS HALF-LIFE 2: A CONDENSED WALKTHROUGH HALF-LIFE 2: EPISODE ONE HALF-LIFE 2: EPISODE TWO HALF-LIFE 2: DEATHMATCH STRATEGY PRIMAGAMES.COM ı 3 UNDUE ALARM OVERVIEW Rescued from the rubble by Eli Vance’s daughter and her mechanical pet, you rendezvous by video uplink with your colleagues, who give you bad news. The Citadel is about to explode, and the only way to slow the process is to enter the core and stabilize it. This almost-impossible task is made more problematic because you must cross the rim of the Citadel; fortunately, Dog has a rough-and-ready plan. Once inside the Citadel, you must work your way through the gigantic canyon complex of black metal and sinewy pipes while the hated building’s inhabitants begin to malfunction. INVENTORY PICK-UP ENTITY ENCOUNTER ENTITY ENCOUNTER FRIENDLIES HOSTILES n Zero Point Energy Field n Alyx Vance* n Combine Dropship* Manipulator (Inorganic)* n Dog* n Stalkers* n Rollermine (Hacked)* n Doctor Isaac Kleiner* n Rollermines* n Doctor Eli Vance* n Combine Soldiers* n Rollermines (Hacked)* n Combine Elites* * Indicates first exposure to entity 70 ı PRIMA OFFICIAL GAME GUIDE HALF-LIFE 2: EPISODE ONE HALF-LIFE 2: EPISODE ONE HALF-LIFE 2: “Anyone left in the vicinity will BE suBJected TO EPISODE TWO HALF-LIFE 2: DEATHMATCH energetic events whose effects are Beyond my powers STRATEGY OF speculation!” MAP 1 CITADEL RIM AND CHASM SIDE BURNING DEBRIS 1 RUBBLE COMPUTER VAN LAUNCH BURNING TERMINAL POINT DEBRIS END OF VAN RIDE 3 4 BRIDGE 2 1 2 CITADEL NARROW THE CHASM LEDGE MAP LEGEND 1_START 2_CLEAR POINT 3_OTHER ITEM/S* 4_GRAVITY GUN *Usually Ammo or Health Pack You hear the scraping of rock, along with mechanical whirring. Shafts Alyx spots something in Dog’s paw.
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