Half-Life Platinum – FAQ/Walkthrough

Title and Introduction

Half Life: Blue Shift Walkthrough

By: hp1234

Introductory Notes

First of all, MAJOR SPOILER ALERT (obviously). This guide is a step-by-step walkthrough of the game on normal difficulty so if you were hoping to experience the game yourself (which is what I would personally recommend) you should stop reading. Now I know there won't be a lot of people who are genuinely stuck looking for help, but if that's you, then you've come to the right place.

Enemies

Xen

Headcrab- A fairly small and weak parasitic creature that attacks by jumping toward the player. They have 10 health.

Zombie- Humans who's nervous system has been taken control of by a headcrab. They attack by swiping their claws at the player and they have 50 health.

Houndeye- These dog-like creatures use a sonic wave to attack the player. They have 20 health.

Bullsquid- These massive creatures can be found in pools of radioactive or otherwise toxic waste. They shoot balls of acid at the player for a ranged attack and for melee attacks they use a biting or a devastating tail whip. They have 40 health.

Barnacle- These creatures don't attack, but rather wait for the player to walk into its tongue and be pulled up into its mouth. They have 35 health.

Vortigaunt- These creatures have a tendency to appear in groups and use an electric bolt as a ranged attack and scratching as a melee attack. They have 60 health.

Alien Grunt- These massive armored soldiers don't appear until much later and use autonomous insect=like projectiles as their ranged attack and a powerful punch for their melee attack. They have 90 health.

Alien Controller- These flying creatures use slow moving energy balls to attack the player. they have 60 health and are only found in Xen.

Military

HECU Grunt- Also known as the Marines, these soldiers were sent in to cover up the disaster by killing everything in sight. They either wield a machine gun or shot gun and can sometimes be found manning mounted weapons. They also use grenades to flush out the player. They have a variety of health stats depending on the variety encountered.

Automated Turret- These consist of a powerful machine gun on a tripod that will pop out and fire when there is an enemy in range. They have infinite ammo and their health is based on the weapon being used.

Player Weapons

Crowbar

Primary Fire- Crowbar swing

Damage- 5

Particularly useful for breaking windows and crates.

9mm Glock Pistol

Primary Fire- Single shot

Secondary Fire- Rapid fire

Clip Size- 17

Max Ammo- 250

Damage- 8

Mainly useful for the less threatening enemies.

.357 Magnum

Primary Fire- Single shot

Secondary Fire- Hold to use scope

Clip Size- 6

Max Ammo- 36

Damage- 40

Very useful for long range shots.

Assault Shotgun

Primary Fire- Single shot

Secondary Fire- Double shot

Clip Size- 8

Max Ammo- 125

Damage- 5 (per pellet)

Useful for close quarters combat.

M4 Assault Rifle

Primary Fire- Hold for rapid fire

Secondary Fire-Launch grenade

Clip Size- 50

Max Ammo- 250 bullets 10 grenades

Damage- 5 for bullets 100 for grenades

Useful for open area combat and doing a lot of damage in a short amount of time.

Hand Grenade

Primary Fire- Throw grenade

Clip Size- 1

Max Ammo- 10

Damage- 100

Useful for lobbing at turrets without having them "see" you.

Satchel

Primary Fire- Throw Satchel

Secondary Fire- Detonate

Clip Size- 1

Max Ammo- 5

Damage- 100

Can be used to set traps for enemies.

RPG

Primary Fire- Launch rocket

Secondary Fire- Laser sight On/Off

Clip Size- 1

Max Ammo- 5

Damage- 100

The Walkthrough

The Hazard Course

You start off in a room with a hologram of a security guard welcoming you to the hazard course and telling you to put on your armor. Wait for him to finish talking and walk through the door that opens behind him. You'll be on a catwalk with a small path leading off to the right and a bulletproof vest and helmet on the wall at the end of it. Walk up to these and you'll put them on automatically. Once you have it, walk back to the main catwalk and a door will open at the opposite end. Walk through it. The holographic security guard is back, and will tell you that moving around in the armor can be difficult. Just follow the path ahead of you until you get to a circular platform and turn left to see your friendly holographic guide in front of you again. This time, he tells you to get a feel for jumping in your new armor. Jump over the three red hurtles behind him by pressing space and holding the forward button. Walk through the door and this time the three red hurtles will be slightly raised and he'll tell you about the usefulness of crouching for stealth. Crouch underneath them by holding CTRL and moving around. In the next room you'll have to combine your newfound skills by jumping off the first one, crouching under the second one, and jumping over the third one. In the next room there will be three white tubes that you have to jump-crouch through. You do this by pressing the CRTL and space, then the forward button at the apex of your jump to get into the tubes. It can be kind of tricky at first, so you may want to go back through this room once you reach the end if you feel you need to.

To get to the next room, you need to crouch-jump into the rusty pipe into the wall and emerge into the next area. Now your holographic guide will tell you to walk forward into the ladder that is directly in front of you. Next, jump across the four gaps in this room. These gaps are fairly wide, so don't jump until the absolute last second, and if you fall short there will be ladders for you to get back up. Next, walk into the room where you see and elevator. The holographic guide will tell you to walk up the the red and green button panel and press the use key ('E' by default). the lift will take you up to a diving-board-like platform. He tells you to jump off and aim for the target on the floor. Yes, that's blood on the floor. Do what he says and you'll take about 25 points of damage. In this next room, he'll be standing next to a health station and HEV charging station. You can't use the charging station in this game, but you can use the health station. The health station will refill your health for 50 points, stopping either when it runs out or your health reaches 100, whichever comes first. Walk up to this one and refill your health then continue on.

Walk down the stairs, down the hallway, then up the ramp and there will be a platform hanging perpendicular to your path over a large gap. walk up to the wheel on the railing and hold the use key to spin the platform and use it as a bridge. Next there will be a gap with a large crate in front of it. push the crate by walking into it and it will be used as a bridge. Walk into the next room where you'll find a crate inside a narrow path that you can't push forward. Walk up to it and hold the use key and walk backward to pull it out. Now you'll see three boxes of increasing size, push them together to use as stairs and walk into the next room. Walk over to the crowbar on the table to pick it up and use it to smash through the crates and crouch down and smash through the vent. Now you'll be standing in front of a dark area that you need your flashlight to navigate through. Press 'F' to turn it on and walk through the maze and if you fall off just climb back up. Make sure you press 'F' again to turn off your flashlight as you enter the next room, the firing range. Pick up some ammo to your right then complete the firing range section by firing at the targets as they appear, the final one behind the pane of glass marked "unbreakable" can be hit by launching a grenade over the glass when it pops up.

Next Jump off the platform into the water and swim under the wall and up into the hole on the other side and wait on the surface until your health return to where it was before, then the underwater doors will open and you can swim through and climb out in the next area. Walk down the hallway where you will be introduced to the various types on damage you can take in the game. At the end of this hallway you'll be in a room filled with nuclear waste and a ladder at the opposite side. jump to the ladder and climb up to safety. Get into the elevator and it'll take you up to the final area. walk up the scientist standing by the door and press the use key then lead him to the biometric scanner next to the security doors. He'll open them for you and you can walk out and get on the very unsafe looking tram and drive it away. Congratulations, you've successfully completed the Black Mesa Security Hazard Course.

Chapter 0: The Black Mesa Transit System

To start off the game, you'll be treated to a tram through the research facility on a tram. There's nothing you can do here, so just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Chapter 1: Insecurity

You start out by stepping out of the tram onto a platform with a malfunctioning door that won't open. While the scene is playing out of the guards on the other side try to get the door open make sure to look behind you at the passing tram and you'll see Gordon Freeman on his way to work. Now that the door is open, head inside and take a left down the stairs into the main atrium and talk to the guard sitting at the desk on the computer. He'll tell you to go to the armory, so turn around and head down the hallway that says "Armory" and "Video Surveillance". Take the elevator up and take a right to the firing range and grab a gun from the guy in the booth. You can use the firing range if you want but if not just head back out to the elevator. You can also go down the hall labeled "Video Surveillance" if you want but there's not much there. Take the elevator back down to the atrium and this time go down the hallway labeled "Personal Facilities" and grab the armor next to the locker labeled "Calhoun". Now go back to the atrium and the guard you talked to earlier will tell you that you need to help some scientists that are having problems with an elevator. Head back to the door you came in at the start of the chapter and take a right.

Through the door you'll pass by a bunch of scientists going about their days until you reach the tram stop, where you'll find that the tram is broken and you have to walk, take the ladder off to the side down below the tracks. Head into the door to your left, push the debris out of the way, turn on your flashlight, and navigate around the crates and barrels through the dark hallway. After you've done that you'll emerge into a room with a ladder opposite you. Climb that ladder, head through the door at the end of the catwalk. You'll have to wait for the tram to pass by before you can lower the bridge and walk across to the next tram stop.

Head right until you get to the elevator where a very frustrated scientist will lecture you about how long you took to get there. Press the use key at the button panel and sit back and watch the scene.

Chapter 2: Duty Calls

With the plot now in motion, grab the crowbar, refill your health with the station behind some boxes in front of you if needed, then head right. Kill the two houndeyes, jump across the gap, and break the boxes ahead of you until you reach a panel with a yellow warning sign above it. Smash the panel with your crowbar. Now that the power is out, turn on your flashlight and jump into the gap you just crossed and head through the now unlocked door. Make sure to avoid the liquid on the floor as you jump across the desks to the other side. Enter the door off to the side, climb up the ladder, and after the scientist is done talking, shoot the red barrels to blow out the fence and walk through. Turn right and hot the red and green button panel and quickly step onto the hanging platform to your left and ride it across. Fight the houndeyes and vortigaunts then go through the metal door to the left and hit the button labeled "South Access Tunnel". Though the tunnel you just opened and past the two houndeyes there are some boxes all the way at the back of the room that contain health packs and another houndeye. Crouch through the half-open door, and after collecting the dead guard's armor, kill the houndeye and use the two levers to your left to raise and lower the platforms to make your way to the ladder. This puzzle is all trial and error and you'll probably die so make sure you save before you start.

At the top of the ladder you'll fight five vortigaunts, then head down the ladder and turn left on the catwalk. When you reach the pool with barnacles above it, jump in and swim through the right-most grate, which is broken open, and turn the wheel to your left. Quickly swim out and, making sure to dodge the barnacle tongues, push one of the green barrels toward the edge and jump out. Grab some ammo from the crates in the corner, pick up the shotgun and armor from the dead guard, and proceed through the doorway. Once through, Two vortigaunts will spawn in, kill them and proceed out onto the catwalk. A third vortigaunt will spawn in the air and break the catwalk, so jump off onto the large rad pipe just below, then onto the platform at the other end. Around the corner youll see a guard being torn apart by headcrab zombies on the catwalk opposite you. go through the room on your left, kill the zombies, collect the goodies, and go into the next area. When you step off the catwalk, you'll see a bullsquid in the water down below. Kill it and jump down. Kill the vortigaunrtts and bullsquids in this area, then go down the red-lit corridor at the other end of the room from where you came. Turn left and hit the breaker, kill the vortigaunts that spawns, and head toward the elevator at the other end.

Grab the ammo and health pack, then take the elevator up the the waste canal. Grab a health pack from the craters directly to your left then jump down inot the canal and swim upstream. Climb up the ladder out of the canal and head through the door to your left. You'll emerge into a large room with a ladder in front of you. Climb this ladder, turn the wheel on the railing, then head over to the other ladder and climb down, turn the wheel then head down the hallway to your left for ammo, then head back up the ladder and go left into the control room. Once in the control room, grab some health then press the button by the window. This will lower a large freight elevator containing three vortigaunts and an explosive crate. Kill the vortigauunts but DO NOT shoot the crate. Head out the way you came until you get to the room where you emerged from the canal. Jump back in and use the lift a short distance downstream to get out. Walk over to the crate and push it into the water to destroy the rotors. jump into the canal for the third time and swim through what used to be the rotors. Climb up the ladder and you're treated to a scene of Marines throwing your fellow guards down into the water.

Chapter 3: Captive Freight

Head down the hall and climb up the ladder. When you emerge you'll be outside and you can either go right or forward. You can go forward for some new grenades if you want but to disable the turrets you have to run forward and crouch behind the sandbags and peek around and shoot them. The grenades are in the truck. Go right toward the giant tunnel doors and open them. Walk down the tunnel and you'll come across an abandoned Black Mesa SUV. Open the back hatch for a health pack and ammo, then shoot the red barrel off the the side to break open the fence. turn the wheel inside the fence and proceed down the hatch. At the bottom you'll encounter your first headcrabs. Kill them and head right. You'll reach a closed hatch a little farther down the corridor. Open the hatch by turning the wheel next to it. A little farther and you'll encounter steam shooting out of the pipes, quickly run in and turn the wheel to close the valves and continue forward. A little ways further and the hallway will start flooding. You'll come to another hatch, this time submerged. Be careful to avoid the wires in the water, because they'll cause damage. Turn the corner and there will be a bullsquid. Kill it. Turn right and there will be another bullsquid. Kill that one too. Get into the elevator just past the bullsquid and take it up into the headcrab-infested warehouse basement. Two headcrabs will immediately attack you as soon as you step out of the elevator, head left following the corridor until you reach a crossroads. Head straight and break the boxes to find a health station then go back and head right.

You'll find some exposed wires and electricity arcing across your path. Run through as soon as it's clear. Through the dark area and immediately around the corner there will be group of vortigaunts to watch out for. Kill them then use the green boxes in the corner to climb into the vent. Proceed through the vent until there's a crossroads, turn right and watch for as grate on the left wall. When you see it, break through it. When you reach the end of the air ducts, exit into the storage closet by breaking through the grate and climbing out. Exit the room and turn left and go down the stairs for some ammo and armor, then go back up and head right from the storage closet and there will be two marines at the top of the stairs that will attack you. Kill them and collect their ammo and go into the office on your right where a dying scientist will tell you to find his friend if you want any hope of escaping. Collect the health pack out your left and head toward the door opposite the office labeled "Main Stairwell" and when you get close to it the door will fly open and the marine behind it will shoot at you. Kill him and head down the hallway toward the stairs. Be careful ascending theses stairs because there will be marines ambushing you on your way up. After you clear the staircase and head in the door labeled "Storage Room" and break the boxes on the shelves for some health, continue through the next room and open the door to the outside. As soon as you do three marines that are across the parking lot will turn and start shooting at you. Kill them as well as the one shooting from the window just around the corner and Use the debris to climb onto the ledge and into the window.

Head through the rooms until you get to the room with the cage to your left. Shoot open the lock and grab the armor then head around the corner into the loading dock where you'll be ambushed by a group of marines. As soon as you kill them you'll hear the sound of a scientist calling for help inside one of the freight cars. Open the door on the back of the red car and have the scientist come with you and unlock the door labeled "Storage Room". As soon as you get close to it the two marines behind it will throw the door open and shoot at you. Kill them and collect their ammo. You don't need the scientist and he won't follow you into the next area anyway, so head down the hallway to the freight yard. You'll be attacked by another group of marines. As soon as they're dead break the crates around the freight yard for some goodies and break open the crate labeled ".50 cal Mounted Machine Gun". You'll need it in a little bit. Now head over to the car with two giant spools of cable on it. Break the crates on that car and crouch down and break the two wedges to get the spools rolling. Make sure you get out of the way fast because the spools will crush you if you're in the way. Once they're gone open the door to release the scientist inside. As soon as you open the door run up to the gun you opened earlier and press the use key and mow down the marines that come out of the tunnel in front of you. They'll be aggressively trying to flank you so expect to miss some. Grab their ammo and head into the the tunnel. When you reach the other end of the tunnel, kill the marines from inside the tunnel. Once they're dead climb into the truck, crouch down and collect the rocket launcher. Remain crouched down when the tank blows the top off the truck. Poke your head up and fire a rocket at it four times to destroy it.

Now that the tank is gone, collect all the health and ammo in the area and head through the door behind it's burning remains. Head down the hall and there'll be an automated turret to your right. Poke out and throw a turret at it then head left. climb onto the train car and break through the crates and there will be four CO2 canisters at the end. Shoot the caps to cause them to shoot forward and break through the door. Kill all the marines in this area. Once they're dead get over to the control room and hit the button to open the Bay 5 doors, then the lever labeled "Turn Table Control". Now head into the tunnel you just opened and climb on to the car pusher and press the use key. this will push the car over to the other side of the yard. Open the door and once inside you'll hear the marines trap you. Walk over to Dr. Rosenburg and listen to what he has to say. After he's done he'll give you a boost out the top of the car allowing you to kill the marines and let him out. Have him follow you to a door labeled "Freight Warehouse". Head up the stairs and clear out the third floor making sure Rosenburg doesn't die. Head down the halls and all the way down the flight of stairs back down into he warehouse basement. Down the hall a ways and you'll see some plywood covering a hole in the bricks. Break through it and the barricades blocking the elevator and get inside it. Wait for Rosenburg to catch up and hit the button. Step out of the elevator and explore the dilapidated hallways a bit, then bring Rosenburg with you to open the security door. follow him and while he talks to the other scientists and explains that you'll have to go to Xen. When he's finished with his preparations the field will open.

Jump in.

Chapter 4: Focal Point

As soon as you spawn in Xen some houndeyes will rush you. After you kill them you may want to get used to the lower gravity here. Head over to the pile of rocks directly to the left of where you spawned and use them to get up to the ring around the area where you spawned and make your way over to the next area. Be careful around the thing that can only be described as a tentacle with a giant claw at the end because if you touch it you'll be killed in one hit. Sneak around the tentacle thing into the little cave next to it. When you emerge head into the next tunnel to your left. Watch out for headcrabs. When you reach the split in the tunnel go left for ammo and right to the next room. In this room there is three ways you can go. First, take the first tunnel to your right and continue straight at the T for ammo (if you go left you'll end up in the second chamber), ignore the second one to your right, then enter the third one all the way at the back and turn right to get to the next room.

Head over to the blue pool to the right to heal and then head left into the tunnel to make your way back outside. In this area you'll have to jump across the floating platforms. This can be kind of tricky so I'll tell you the order to follow. First jump on the one all the way to the left, then one to the right, then crouch jump on the next one to the right, then one forward, then another forward, then crouch jump to the one to the left, then as soon as soon as you jump to the one forward, three vortiugaunts will spawn. Kill them then jump one to the right, then to the right again, then to the platform. Head through the tunnel and kil the houndeyes, then in the next area you have to platform jump again. This path is fairly linear so jump to the center ring and immediately get into the healing poo. Kill the vortigaunts that spawn and wait for the ship to destroy the ring. One of the green stalks will fall over. Jump over to it and use it as a bridge to get across. Once on the other side go around to the back of the rocks and break through the grate on the ground to drop down into the "water". Swim through the tunnel and up to the next room. Kill the bullsquid and get over to the waterfall and jump down into the next area. Kill the bullsquid on the island and use the trampoline to get into the opposite waterfall. Kill the barnacles in this tunnel and push forward.

Use the healing pool in this chamber then take the tunnel down. Back outside, kill the houndeyes and bullsquids then make your way upstream. Use the trampoline to get up to the platform and make your way through the tunnel. At the other end you'll see the teleportation relay you need to activate. Activate the generator to your right, then get over to the control panel and use the dials to move the yellow arrows into the red areas on their respective radar screens. As soon as you do this, the relay will activate and aliens will spawn all over the place. If you need health, the tunnel next to the generator has some. Once they're dead, head into the tunnel where you got health and climb up the rocks into the hole in the ceiling. Jump down into the healing pool and heal up, then make your way outside. Some aliens will spawn in, so kill them then proceed across the bridge. Head through the tunnel killing the headcrabs along the way. As soon as you drop through the hole in the floor, kill the vortigaunts then jump into the teleportation field.

Chapter 5: Power Struggle

You're finally back safe and sound, but Rosenburg tells you he needs you to go down to the basement to grab another power cell and that he sent two people down there before but hasn't heard back from them yet. Follow him to the elevator and take it down to the basement. Open the blast door, kill the bullsquid, and grab the armor before heading right and taking the lift up. Watch the scene unfold then head to the door labeled "Coolant Basin" to the left of the elevator. You'll see the door being cut through. Stand there with your gun aimed at the right side of the door. As soon as the marines kick it down fire at the explosive canisters. Clear out this area and when you reach the lift go left across the bridge. Kill even more marines until you get to a room with a ladder. Climb it and kill the marine at the top then head down the path to the right. You'll find a room with a TNT plunger and a broken wire. Go over to the corner and kill the houndeyes that attack you then slide the barrel over to the break in the wire. Hit the plunger to blow the door open. Immediately through the door two vortigaunts will spawn in. Kill them and climb up the ladder and kill the headcrabs waiting for you at the top.

Head right and turn the wheel to drain the coolant tank, then go back to the left and grab the armor before taking the elevator down to the bottom of the tank. Once at the bottom kill the headcrab and refill your health then head into the empty coolant tank. Look up and you'll see two platforms hanging out over the tank and four coolant barrels (two up on a platform ahead of you) arrange the barrels between the platforms in a line but make sure they're close enough to jump between. Head back up to the room where you drained the coolant and turn the wheel again to refill the tank. Now get to where you blew up the door and make your way out to the now-full coolant tank. Kill the aliens that spawn on the other side and use the barrels to jump across (I'd recommend quicksaving before you do this because it can be kind of tricky and if you fall in the coolant you're dead). Open the door and kill the vortigaunt waiting for you, then make your way to the next area. Kill the marines on the other side of the gap and refill your health at the station just to your right. Climb over the boxes to your left and kill the alien grunt, then head through the door. kill the headcrabs and navigate around the flames to the control room. Once inside, kill the bullsquid and power up both generators, then head back by jumping back over the boxes. Quicksave again before you jump across the barrels, snd make your way back to where you killed th marine that was using the radio. This time head left and push the button to move the bridge up to you. Once across the bridge, kill the vortigaunts that spawn and the turret on the other side of the glass. Refill your health and make your way over to the power cell area. You'll find a dying guard who will explain that you need to charge the power cell. Wait for him to finish and move out of the way, then slide the power cell into the charger and press the button. Once it's charged, slide it into the dumbwaiter on the other end of the room and send it up. Now, get to the elevator you took to get down here and take it upstairs.

Chapter 6: A Leap Of Faith

Once you arrive in the elevator, Rosenburg will explain that you need to stand in the control room, hit the power switch, and press the red button as soon as the light bars to the right of the teleporter are filled up, and repeat this for each person, with you being the last to leave. During the initial start up the coolant pressure will become too high and you will have to go up to the catwalk and turn the wheel to release the pressure, however, while doing this, two houndeyes will spawn. Kill them and get back to the control room. The first three scientists will teleport through with no problems, but SURPRISE! The marines are here! The door next to the control room will break down while it's charging for you to go through, so just fend them off and hit the button when it's ready, then jump through.

Congratulations! You've finished Half Life: Blue Shift. Thanks for reading, I hope this walkthrough was helpful. Now, just sit back and watch the ending cutscene.