Most Fun Chapter

[Laivasse]

I'm near the end of like my 6th or 7th play through of HL2 at the moment. Playing it this time made me realise that I've always underrated Nova Prospekt. NP and Entanglement make a superb pair of chapters.

I kind of half love and half dread the big turret shootout in Entanglement. I always play on Hard, so it can be a real bitch but this time I got through it without dying once, which is probably a first for me. That's without using wacky tactics like physprop ladders or hiding in the turret compartment either, because I don't like it...

As for other favourite chapters -
Some love needs to go to Point Insertion and Route Canal. All the great atmosphere and oppressiveness building up in PI, and the dam finally bursting in RC - love that.

Highway 17 is probably my least favourite because I think Valve missed a trick by not having some kind of chase sequence - eg. a gunship + a stretch of road with no rocket ammo + lots of rollermines + a combine outpost or two. I wanted more excuses to really throttle the buggy, not just to use it as a bus service between shootouts.

 

[nokori3byo]

That's without using wacky tactics like physprop ladders or hiding in the turret compartment either, because I don't like it...

Simply using the physprops as barricades will turn the odds pretty decisively in your favour, and it's a tactic that seems like like cheating to me than others you mentioned. Of course, if you like the fast and furious action, you might just prefer to play it straight up. But, honestly, I think Entaglement was designed to force the player to experiement with different approaches to defending the area.

 

[Iron_cube]

I usually punt the large green office cabinets from the lower flooded levels all the way up the stairs and literally seal two of the soldier spawn routes. Takes like an hour to do so but it makes the battle so easy even on hard.

 

[function9]

I usually punt the large green office cabinets from the lower flooded levels all the way up the stairs and literally seal two of the soldier spawn routes. Takes like an hour to do so but it makes the battle so easy even on hard.

A couple times I got rid of the battle all together. I would get the large crates from the flooded room and with the other crates in the area, make a stack to climb up to the balcony over the doorway you exit out of after Alyx arrives. Takes the fun out of the fight, but I was surprised to see that area was accessible.

 

[Kevin]

Never tried sealing myself in that little room.
The first time i played through the 3 turret shootout, i placed them in the doorways, and it was a royal pain in the ass to get them back up everytime an NPguard kicked them down.

Speaking of kicking, why doesn't Gordon have a melee attack for every gun?

 

[Laivasse]

Simply using the physprops as barricades will turn the odds pretty decisively in your favour, and it's a tactic that seems like like cheating to me than others you mentioned.

Yeah, I don't think using stuff as barricades is necessarily a cheesy tactic, but I try to play as naturally as possible. For example when I first played that section, I had no idea that the guards' arrival was triggered by placing the last turret so I thought I had hardly any time at all to get prepared. If there's one to hand then I'm not above chucking the odd filing cabinet in front of an entryway maybe, but I don't, for example, spend ages dragging physprops halfway across the level in order to make ladders to inaccessible places, because I don't find it enjoyable - I love that shootout to be as chaotic as possible - and I don't think it was the way it was designed to be played.

 

[Iron Kat]

There was a time I had 6 antlions following me, maybe they just didn't like you lol.

I second that! I've had six following me around as well!

 

[nokori3byo]

Ah, the antlions. So much more intrepid and effective than resistance fighters.

 

[GreatEmperor]

There was a time I had 6 antlions following me, maybe they just didn't like you lol.

Maybe you had bacon stuck to your ass:dozey:

OR

they wanted to hump you because they smelled "bugbait" which makes them twitchy

OR

every time a pod goes near an unopened hole one pops out regardless of how many are out there just for intensity

 

[Iron_cube]

Ah, the antlions. So much more intrepid and effective than resistance fighters.

Yeah, good thing they have that "one-hit-kill attacks versus combine soldiers" bonus coded in :upstare:

You can't compare citizens with antlions, imo.

 

[Sharki]

Ravenholm is my favorite level
Because its so easy to kill all those stupid zombies and all over the map there are lots of traps to kill the zombies with

 

[nokori3byo]

Yeah, good thing they have that "one-hit-kill attacks versus combine soldiers" bonus coded in :upstare:

You can't compare citizens with antlions, imo.

At least not until antlions start carrying medkits around with the, no.

 

[Kevin]

I prefer the rebels, because they're still humans...