Coaxing the Antlion Guard to fight the Combine prison guards

[Vietnam Mission]

I’m referring to the first AG you encounter in Nova Prospekt – the one which smashes through the double doors into the shower room.

Any of you done this? I assumed it is well known but I've looked around and haven't seen it anywhere yet, including a search of this site.

I was playing with different ways of killing the Antlion Guard in the prison bathroom (conventionally, from the balcony, using just the gravity gun, etc.) and I found that you can lead/coax it forward to the next section where you fight the prison guards and sentinels. Of course, this is not a strategy for killing the AG (more trouble than it's worth for that) but just a way to have some fun watching the RUCKUS of your sworn enemies killing each other...while they're also trying to kill you.

A couple of other interesting things there. I found that once you hit the 'checkpoint' at the back of the first section of the prison and the doors open leading to the section with the other Combine guards, AG will disappear as soon as you set one foot in that section. Whether it's alive or dead. It can be chasing you and you're staring right at it, then take that one step backwards and *poof*, no more Antlion Guard.

The other thing is that I think the AG can get back in that section of the prison also (before you of course). I was watching from the balcony and saw it led in there once by fire from the Combine prison guards. Usually, the AG just roars and bangs its head or stands there scratching and taking fire until it dies but that time it charged and got in. Unfortunately, on my way over to see what was going on, I got hit by a stray bullet and died (you can take a lot of fire doing this). I assume it would be just another fight and that the AG would still disappear as soon as I stepped in that part of the prison.

BTW, this was on the Xbox version (although, I’ve read that the gameplay is the same as for the PC. Correct?)

 

[99.vikram]

I've done that accidentally

I went to the next section, stood in front of the AG and was like, j00 can't catch me, sucka!!
And then the hideous thing charged at me me, and I ran towards the soldiers screaming like a girl

 

[Vietnam Mission]

You were about halfway there then

The first set of doors you refer to is the easiest to get the AG through. The next set leading into the prison block seems a little harder. The best way is to get the AG to get a running start from the first set of doors while you taunt it from the doorway of the second that connects to the actual prison hall. And you really need to take the hit. If you back out of the doorway at the last second to avoid it the AG usually slows up and doesn’t pop through all at once. Then you have to jump/get close and shoot it with the pistol to encourage it to wiggle through.

Naturally, >save< after you get it in position through the first set of doors leading to the prison block. Then save again after you get it into the prison block. And try to shoot the AG as little as possible getting it there. That way it will live longer and its chances of getting lured into the final portion of the prison block by the Combine (through the *third* set of doors) before being killed by the Combine are that much greater.

Actually, if you want to count the third set of doors (by far the hardest because you can't lure the AG yourself), you were maybe 1% of the way there.

 

[Azner]

Miones on X box too... i seems easier on X box than Com Btw mabye it because of the limited buttons

 

[Termite]

I have an Xbox too, and this same thing has happened. It's awfully wierd.

I wish I had a PC because of all the stuff you can do on it. Console commands, mods, ect.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

My biggest issue would be using analogue sticks on a joypad rather than a keyboard and mouse which FPS's were designed for. HL2 will always be a PC game for me. We don't know much about the xbox version of the game really, we assume its a direct port without some extra bits (like HDR, multi-player, mods and updates)

 

[Langolier]

If games are made well with sufficient but not outrageous Auto-Aim they play fine on Consoles. Goldeneye/Perfect Dark worked beautifually. Half-Life on the PS2 was alright but the lock-on feature was kind of boring because then it was impossible to miss.

 

[hungryduck]

If games are made well with sufficient but not outrageous Auto-Aim they play fine on Consoles. Goldeneye/Perfect Dark worked beautifually. Half-Life on the PS2 was alright but the lock-on feature was kind of boring because then it was impossible to miss.

the coop was still fun for ps2

 

[Vietnam Mission]

My PC is not quite up to the system requirements to play HL2. I’m going to buy a new one pretty soon so I don’t want to upgrade…but I didn’t want to wait to play HL2 either – and I got a copy on sale for just $20.


Anyway, from reviews I’ve read elsewhere, the content/gameplay (as distinguished from the controls or graphics definition) was brought over to the Xbox pretty much exactly the same.

So I’d be interested to see if anyone with the PC version can do this. I’ll bet you can because it appears to me to be *designed into the game*. I mean, if the designers really didn’t want the AG to be able to follow you (with some effort), it would have been a simple matter to make the doors smaller.

There were lots of weird little secrets/glitches/tricks in Halo and Halo 2 so that’s what got me thinking about it.

If you encounter some initial glitches, don’t assume it won’t work. I was once coaxing the AG through the first set of doors in a severely wounded state. You know the way it has a tendency to go into full gallop mode sometimes right before it dies in a last attempt to kill you? Well, it did that in the first doorway, only it was galloping in one place with its legs slightly above the ground! I moved around a bit and gave it a little more "encouragement" and it promptly broke free…only to crush me to death in a corner.

The fun of watching the crazed beast stomping around in the prison block is well worth the effort to get it there.


P.S. I’ve only seen the auto-aim function in HL2 during the big scene where you fight the helicopter to the death on the hoverboat. Then your mounted machinegun will lock on the explosive barrels and the helicopter a bit.

 

[kupocake]

BTW, this was on the Xbox version (although, I’ve read that the gameplay is the same as for the PC. Correct?)

The only notable difference I've heard of is that the coast maps are split up into smaller pieces. Between the first abandoned house on Highway 17 and New Little Odessa is a loading zone that isn't there in the PC version, and because it's there they had to cut out a G-Man sighting through a pair of binoculars. Valve tweaked numerous things for the X-Box version, so there may be the possibility that the AG doesn't behave exactly the same in the PC version (for starters, i'm not certain whether the "checkpoint" you talk of coincides and acts exactly the same as the autosave points in the PC version). May be something to try on your next playthrough PC buddies

 

[Vietnam Mission]

for starters, i'm not certain whether the "checkpoint" you talk of coincides and acts exactly the same as the autosave points in the PC version.

It’s not actually a checkpoint (that’s why I put it in quotes) in that it doesn’t automatically save at that point. I’m just referring to when the doors open to the back section of the prison. A closer look shows that it is triggered by killing the Combine soldier on the balcony and knocking out the two sentry guns in that part of the prison.

No need to replay the whole game to get there - just a portion of the Nova Prospekt level.

 

[99.vikram]

With enough coaxing, you can get the AG into the prison section in the PC version.

 

[Rennmniscant]

Miones on X box too... i seems easier on X box than Com Btw mabye it because of the limited buttons

I heard it was because of the easier targeting with a mouse. Harder enemy placement on the computer, or maybe more of them, I don't know. They did that for Halo too.

 

[Vietnam Mission]

Miones on X box too... i seems easier on X box than Com Btw mabye it because of the limited buttons

It’s not the number of buttons...it’s how you use them.

 

[el Chi]

I forget who said this, but it was definitely someone on these forums:
"Trying to play an FPS on a gamepad is like trying to wank with no thumbs."
Pretty much sums it up, I reckon.

Anyway - one thing I tried before was, once you killed the antlion guard, pushing its corpse along the ground with the grav gun through the doors, round the corner so you can use it as a hideous meat shield whilst the antlions attack the soldiers and you have a pop at them from (sort of) relative safety. All things considered, it's more trouble than it's probably worth, but still. I just like the idea of using a vast alien corpse as cover in a firefight.

 

[Vietnam Mission]

"Trying to play an FPS on a gamepad is like trying to wank with no thumbs."
Pretty much sums it up, I reckon.

I’ll defer to your expertise on that one.