Half-Life 2/"We Don't Go To Ravenholm": Difference between revisions

As you can see from the outset, things have not gone on well in Ravenholm — the headcrab shell and legs hanging from a rope tied to the tree prove it. Your destination is the house at the back on the right; the one with the entrances covered up with boards. There's a zombie out here; use the gravity gun to grab an explosive barrel, then put a bit of distance between you and it and fire the barrel to take care of the zombie. You'll need to use the gravity gun a lot in Ravenholm to conserve ammo; there are an enormous amount of zombies, but also lots of handy things you can fire at them, too. If you like the gravity gun or like slicing zombies in half with flying saw blades, then this will be a fun stage for you.

Some zombies will approach from the dark corridor — use a sawblade to dispatch them. In the next dimly-lit corridor, use the explosive barrel on the right to take care of the zombies approaching from around the corner, but retreat as this will ignite some more explosive barrels out of sight which will blow you up if you remain there. Once it's clear, head on through. Outside, to your right is a bit of a dangerous obstacle — a propeller blade on an engine, constantly spinning around. It's pretty easy to figure out that if you approach this standing up it's not going to end well, so grab your sawblade and crouch underneath it. Some more zombies will approach from the building ahead; you can either dispatch them now whilst crouching with your weapons, or retreat and let them walk mindlessly forwards and get chopped to bits by the propeller blade. Once they're dead, crouch past and head inside the building. In the room, push away the wooden pallet, and watch out for the headcrabs and zombies coming at you from the dark corner of the room. There's another fixed propeller blade in this room which you can spin yourself using the gravity gun's punt, or simply dispatch them another way. Head outside, and use the explosive barrels to blow away the zombie approaching from the alley. At the end of the alley is another building; go inside and take out the zombies and headcrabs. Follow the path outside towards the flaming pile of dirt with various bits of zombie impaled on spikes, and you will be rather impressively introduced to a new ally.

He won't really do much except help deal with some of the approaching zombies with his shotgun, and promise he'll "keep an eye on you". However, you'll thank him later. At the moment heading right is fruitless, other than killing the zombies in the boarded up house (don't forget to use the sparks and gas tank to set the caged zombie on fire), or turning off the flames at the top of the road to access an area filled with zombies and an electrified ladder you can't currently get over. So, instead, head around the edge of the fire, dealing with the zombie behind the tower as you go. Turn the gas valve to close it to stop the flames, and enter the before concealed doorway behind the macabre display of zombie pieces. Inside this building, use the sawblade, explosive barrel and propane tank to deal with the zombies, then approach the two large machines up the stairs. You'll see a hastily-sprayed lambda symbol on one of the pillars — if you look at the machine next to it, above is a vent grate which you can remove. Climb up and inside the vent and follow it; you'll re-emerge outside and you'll find an extra SMG grenade and normal grenade on a higher-up ledge above the zombie display. Go back inside and this time find the junk-filled staircase. Use the gravity gun to get rid of the wardrobes and stuff, and use the explosive barrel to take out the headcrab and zombie at the top of the staircase. Turn left and work your way through the rooms killing the various enemies until you reach a window and lever overlooking the electrified fence and ladder. If you haven't already killed the zombies below you can do it from a safe place up here; just use a grenade. If you wish to save said grenade, you can always fiddle with the gas that is feeding the flames. Turn it off, lure the zombies into following you, turn it back on and gas, just gas, will spurt out. Then fire one bullet as soon as they are in the cloud of gas. The spark from the bullet will re-ignite the gas.

Ignore the fast zombies jumping around the place; they're harmless for now. Instead, go around the building and you'll meet Grigori on a metal walkway just across from you. Approach him, and after a few words he'll throw you a shotgun (not his own, unfortunately, but still incredibly useful). This, along with his advice to "aim for the head" is one of the most useful things you'll get in Ravenholm. Deal with the fast zombies as they appear, and Grigori will tell you to head for the church. Look towards the large water tank above the streets, and make a jump across there once you've got rid of all the fast zombies. For now the SMG is probably better for dealing with fast zombies than the shotgun, but the shotgun is definitely more useful for slower zombies and headcrabs. Climb up the ladders and deal with the fast zombies. Open the door to the building and go inside. Use the switch to call the lift, and kill the fast zombies as they come. Once the lift arrives, get in and press the button to close the lift doors and descend. As the lift reaches the bottom, another new adversary will appear; the Poison Zombie. You may have already observed that poison headcrabs, although unable to kill you, are still tougher than other headcrabs and can reduce you to one health. In the middle of fighting a zombie horde, this is not good news. The poison zombie is therefore a lot, lot tougher than your normal zombie, capable of taking up to six normal shotgun shots to the face to die. Plus, instead of carrying just one normal headcrab this carries four poison ones, three of which it can throw at you! The shotgun is your best bet here, but later in the game, the best way to take these things out will be with the pulse rifle energy ball, which decintigrates both the zombie, and all 4 headcrabs on him. Once it's dead, use the wooden plank on the car to get over the wire fence, head past the used combine shell and the fire, and along the path behind the next wire fence to a loading screen and a new area (the room on the right contains a headcrab, a medpack, a shotgun and some ammo and a radiator).

Although you're out of Ravenholm now, you're not done with the chapter just yet. When you emerge from the mines, firstly watch out for the poison headcrab waiting to ambush you on the top of the tunnel exit. Then, open the supply crate on top of the boxes to your right. Head right and follow the traintracks along. After a short distance you'll see a mysterious moving blue laser which will hover over the approaching zombies, before releasing a shot and killing the zombies instantly. These are combine snipers, and they hurt quite badly if you get hit by one of their shots. Also, you can't shoot them to death; you can only use explosives. They will always hide in a dark, windowed section, so to dispose of them, throw a grenade in and wait. The first combine sniper is fine as you can throw a grenade in without him being able to see you, and the game thoughtfully supplies you with a supply crate full of grenades just below the bridge the sniper is in.

Carry on up the traintracks until you reach another abandoned train cart. The next combine sniper is in the bridge up ahead but this time he is facing you; if you attempt to rush past the various bits of junk will hamper you long enough for the sniper to get off enough shots to kill you. Rapidly weaving from side to side whilst sprinting is usually enough to stop them from ever hitting you but right now it's best you don't take that chance. Edge along the traincart, then use the explosive barrel to clear the junk, then sprint to the next train trailer with the large wooden logs on it and crouch. The sniper will shoot an explosive barrel somewhere up ahead which will knock all the logs off - however, this forms a little safe tunnel you can crouch and crawl through between the logs and the underside of the trailer. From the end, quickly get out and sprint to the next cart. Approach the left hand side of it, and get in, then quickly sprint to the end closest to the bridge (as there's enough of a hole in the top for the sniper to get a shot in if you're unlucky). Once there, pull out a grenade and toss one up to get rid of him. Get back out and carry on, crawling under the next carriage between the wheels. You'll find some more supplies by a corpse and an overturned carriage. Up next you'll find some more zombies by a fire, with a new adversary, the combine soldier. These guys are basically tougher and better-equipped versions of the CPs you found whilst in City 17. They'll carry shotguns and SMGs mostly, although some, including one here will, upon death, present you with a new weapon, the AR2 pulse rifle! A full stock of ammo is available in the next cart along. The AR2 is like the SMG only each shot is more powerful, more accurate and overall the weapon is slightly slower-firing. Ammo for this weapon will be scarce at the moment but it becomes a lot more common later on, but for now don't use it too often.

Up ahead you'll find a large open section of the trainyard, with a car park and a warehouse. In order to get into the car park you have to head to the end of the trainyard and loop around a train cart. Some combine soldiers will shoot at you from the car park, ignore them until you get around. Kill them all, and head inside the warehouse. Some rebels will be shooting at some invading combine soldiers - just kill them. Once the fight's over, the rebels will greet you and one will lead you into a back room with some hurt rebels, and you'll talk with Alyx. Apparently, Eli and Judith have been captured and sent to a combine facility called Nova Prospekt - Alyx wants your help to spring them and get them to safety. Unfortunately, there's now many miles of antlion and combine-infested road and beach for you to navigate before you get there. Look around to pick up all the available supplies, then approach the door in the corner to get a loading screen and begin the next chapter.