The mines

[Asknoone]

I'm wondering what everyone thinks about the mines in Hl2? Was the length just right? Was it far to short? Or was it even a wasted opportunity?

I personally think there should have been more of it, but not to the extent that it would have taken almost an entire chapter to finish.

 

[Llama]

I hated the mines...soo many damn headcrabs, and i could never get through without cheats (always got stuck on the wooden cieling)

Edit: I have teh first post.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

I think the mines could have used maybe one more room between the headcrabs and the zombies.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Funny you mention it, I was thinking of some old discussion we had here a few months ago, and we mentioned that the mines would have been a perfect spot for a Gonarch to appear.
Visually cool, logical and moody location, story-wise correct and overall it could have been a cool boss. Fighting a giant testicle on legs underneath an infested ghost town with a manical preacher in it? What could be better?
That might have made the mines a bit better. Now they're kinda boring. Cool locale, just too many of those freaking poison headcrabs!

 

[Ennui]

They were too short IMO but the headcrabs were annoying.

 

[Asknoone]

There were maybe a little many headcrabs in the cavern, but I scraped past them easy enough.

A gonarch fight would have been suitable within the mines, I could see that working.

 

[Seppo]

They should've been a bit longer. Visually they were awesome, especially the part were the fire reflects on the surface of the water. The headcrabs were annoying, that's true, but not as long as you stayed on the catwalks and shot the exploding barrels. It was so much fun

 

[French Ninja]

The mines should have been longer; at least 2 times longer. IMO it needed more cramped passageways with scary stuff happening. (dead bodies, zombies jumping out at you from branching tunnels etc)

 

[ríomhaire]

Funny you mention it, I was thinking of some old discussion we had here a few months ago, and we mentioned that the mines would have been a perfect spot for a Gonarch to appear.
Visually cool, logical and moody location, story-wise correct and overall it could have been a cool boss. Fighting a giant testicle on legs underneath an infested ghost town with a manical preacher in it? What could be better?
That might have made the mines a bit better. Now they're kinda boring. Cool locale, just too many of those freaking poison headcrabs!

I would be even better if you had a choice to fight it. Do you help Farther Gregori by killing off the headcrab breeding machine, or do you abandon him after all he's done for you. BTW I can't help but laugh a little when people say they were out of ammo in Ravenholm. I pretty much only used the shotgun and GG for that chapter up to the graveyard.

 

[Seppo]

BTW I can't help but laugh a little when people say they were out of ammo in Ravenholm. I pretty much only used the shotgun and GG for that chapter up to the graveyard.

Me too. I think I used the gravity gun for like 95% of the time I had it.

 

[$kelet0r]

i can just imagine the gonarch chasing you down in the mine shafts like the momma spider in 8 legged freaks - that would have been awesome!

 

[The_Great_Walter]

The mines are boring and annoying, although it's quite fun to slash the zombies with the propeller that goes from one end of the track to the other and back.

 

[NeptuneUK]

Fighting a giant testicle on legs underneath an infested ghost town with a manical preacher in it? What could be better?

hell yah!

 

[Kare Bear]

It was fun mowing down zombies with the minecart.

 

[BlackMesaDude]

what we saw was enough.

 

[knut]

what we saw was enough.

Fairly dark areas and alot of headcrabs? No thanks, I had enough of that in Ravenholm.

I would of liked to meet the Gornarch (sp) in the mines, it would remind me greatly of Aliens when Ripley enters the lair with all the eggs pulsing beside her.

But, in answer to the question, it was okay, not brilliant. It made the exit from Ravenhom good, though. Climbing the lift shaft to see light pouring in through the entrance. That was good.

 

[Reginald]

Maybe that'll be the way out in Aftermath? That was one of the scariest parts of Ravenholm in my opinion. Seeing Gregory on the other side of a fence and him telling you to go to the mines.
"What? I have spent 2 hours fighting through this godforsaken city and now I am going somewhere darker and scarier?"

 

[UltraProAnti]

valve got the length of the mines section just right. in fact, throughout the game they have the knack of ending a section with a particular gameplay style at the just the point where it begins to be repetitive (the canals & highway 17 comes to mind also). after several slow, nervy maps in ravenholm the last thing i wanted was yet more slow nervy maps underground.

in the context of the whole game the mines were merely a transitional device, a solution to the problem of going from dark (ravenholm) to morning (the railway tracks)

 

[Laivasse]

valve got the length of the mines section just right. in fact, throughout the game they have the knack of ending a section with a particular gameplay style at the just the point where it begins to be repetitive (the canals & highway 17 comes to mind also). after several slow, nervy maps in ravenholm the last thing i wanted was yet more slow nervy maps underground.

in the context of the whole game the mines were merely a transitional device, a solution to the problem of going from dark (ravenholm) to morning (the railway tracks)

Yeah, I agree. I was delighted the mines section was so short. By the time you get to the end of Ravenholm you're fatigued with all the dark, horror atmosphere and you don't really need any more. The mines were a nice little short device to bring you out of that area and back into the sunlight smoothly.

I don't think every area that Gordon enters needs to be all that big.

 

[A True Canadian]

in the context of the whole game the mines were merely a transitional device, a solution to the problem of going from dark (ravenholm) to morning (the railway tracks)

That's one reason why I felt that the mines should have been longer. It turns from night to mid-day in a matter of 10 minutes. I realize that game time is short, but the transition wasn't as subtle as it should be.

The mines might have benefited by being extended another 10 minutes or more. The addition of a Gargantua/Gonarch as a boss or even an Itchyosaur to continue with the fear theme would work.Grigori does mention that the mines are likely a worse place than the infested town, Ravenholm.

The only problem is that by including the afromentioned villians, would it upset the flow of the game? The Garg is impervious to bullets and can only be downed by explosives. The Gonarch takes quite an arsenal to destroy, and after trudging through Ravenholm, I doubt there would be enough ammo remaining. As for the Itchy...the crossbow would be the ideal weapon as it works under water, but Gordon doesn't get it until half-way through the coast.

 

[Adabiviak]

...I liked the headcrabs in the mine, and found the length to be just right. They were, actually, rather easy if you stayed on the balconies and capped them off (the explosive barrels helped). For a real challenge, drop down there with a crowbar and go to town! That's actually one of my favorite levels, because it's so challenging (and I like the dark tone it sets).

 

[J_Tweedy]

The scariest bit in the game imo was when you exit into the sunshine, and the speedy zombie comes at you across the train roof. Those speed zombies things were a genius idea.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

That's one reason why I felt that the mines should have been longer. It turns from night to mid-day in a matter of 10 minutes. I realize that game time is short, but the transition wasn't as subtle as it should be.

The mines might have benefited by being extended another 10 minutes or more. The addition of a Gargantua/Gonarch as a boss or even an Itchyosaur to continue with the fear theme would work.Grigori does mention that the mines are likely a worse place than the infested town, Ravenholm.

The only problem is that by including the afromentioned villians, would it upset the flow of the game? The Garg is impervious to bullets and can only be downed by explosives. The Gonarch takes quite an arsenal to destroy, and after trudging through Ravenholm, I doubt there would be enough ammo remaining. As for the Itchy...the crossbow would be the ideal weapon as it works under water, but Gordon doesn't get it until half-way through the coast.

Well, that wouldn't be much of a problem if it came to that, I mean, who ever heard of explosives in a mine?:dozey:

 

[Asknoone]

The Gonarch takes quite an arsenal to destroy, and after trudging through Ravenholm, I doubt there would be enough ammo remaining.

You know, it is possible for Valve to insert ammo here and there before you fight it. :dozey:

 

[ríomhaire]

The Gonarch takes quite an arsenal to destroy, and after trudging through Ravenholm, I doubt there would be enough ammo remaining.

BTW I can't help but laugh a little when people say they were out of ammo in Ravenholm. I pretty much only used the shotgun and GG for that chapter up to the graveyard.

 

[gabriel]

i think the mines section was perfect. it was short and sweet. i dont like playing games where you are underground too much because there just isnt much creativity in it; just dirt, dirt, some wood, and more dirt. that is why i'm glad they kept it short.

I wouldnt want to fight the gonarch again. that would be lame. but really, how do you run out of ammo in ravenholm?

 

[bat_lyubo]

I think that it was perfect, because if we set aside the critics and think about the mines, they are a wonderful idea, coz they are full of crabs and some zombies, like a good adventure movie. i think it's very interesting that there were so many headcrabs, because it makes the chapter more realistic, coz in reaL life, such a mine would have been full of headcrabs

 

[A True Canadian]

The scariest bit in the game imo was when you exit into the sunshine, and the speedy zombie comes at you across the train roof. Those speed zombies things were a genius idea.

Yeah, there was a feeling of triumph and relief once you exited the mines and onto the railway. The feeling that you would never have to deal with those fast zombies again, only to see one jumping about, down the tracks on the derailed train.

The only problem is that by including the afromentioned villians, would it upset the flow of the game? The Garg is impervious to bullets and can only be downed by explosives. The Gonarch takes quite an arsenal to destroy, and after trudging through Ravenholm, I doubt there would be enough ammo remaining. As for the Itchy...the crossbow would be the ideal weapon as it works under water, but Gordon doesn't get it until half-way through the coast.

Well, that wouldn't be much of a problem if it came to that, I mean, who ever heard of explosives in a mine?

More explosive barrels...

Of course you run into the problem of all of them exploding in a chain reaction if you make a mistake. Like that room filled with barrels in Route Kanal that you use to take out a swarm of manhacks.

You know, it is possible for Valve to insert ammo here and there before you fight it.

The type of ammo cache that we're talking about here would be enough to fill one of those ammo crates. And the addition of an entire ammo crate in the mines seems out of place to me for some reason. Like having an HEV and Health charger in the mines, an ammo crate would seem amiss.

I wouldnt want to fight the gonarch again. that would be lame. but really, how do you run out of ammo in ravenholm?

I came close to running out on my first time through; although I did have a lost of machine gun ammo. Since then I have gotten more strategic and used my Manipulator more often. :E


In the end, if we were to battle a boss, I guess we would have to rely on one of Grigori's traps to take them out. Or we can scrap the idea of a boss battle and include a mine-cart ride ala the Indiana Jones movie: Temple of Doom.

 

[Asknoone]

The type of ammo cache that we're talking about here would be enough to fill one of those ammo crates. And the addition of an entire ammo crate in the mines seems out of place to me for some reason. Like having an HEV and Health charger in the mines, an ammo crate would seem amiss.

A HEV and health charger would be slightly laughable down in the mines, but an ammo crate wouldn't. You could easily have a bunch of corpses surrounding an ammo crate, somewhat burried in mud/rubble, with the assumption that they tried to defend a specific area but clearly failed.

 

[ríomhaire]

The type of ammo cache that we're talking about here would be enough to fill one of those ammo crates. And the addition of an entire ammo crate in the mines seems out of place to me for some reason.

Oh, like the ammo crates and med kits that are in the mines?

 

[A True Canadian]

Oh, like the ammo crates and med kits that are in the mines?

No I was referring to the wall mounted chargers for Health and HEV, as well as the big, green, bottomless, crates as opposed to the boxes with the lambda logo.

A HEV and health charger would be slightly laughable down in the mines, but an ammo crate wouldn't. You could easily have a bunch of corpses surrounding an ammo crate, somewhat burried in mud/rubble, with the assumption that they tried to defend a specific area but clearly failed.

Are you talking about the Combine or the Resistance here?

 

[Asknoone]

Are you talking about the Combine or the Resistance here?

Resistance.

 

[gurra]

the mines were boring. annoying headcrabs. they could have made a mine cart race instead, with some stupid zombies to mow down.

 

[DannyC.]

I think the mines are ok, just a quick little passage from Ravenholm to the surface.

 

[diluted]

I didn't mind the mines at all, I didn't even bother trying to kill the headcrabs, I just ran like hell to the water. And the part where the moving blade slices all the zombies is fun.

 

[Langolier]

Of all the things to ask about, why the Mines?

As for the Mines?

I think they were perfect. Ravenholm was dark and long enough. It was time for the sun to come up.

 

[PupSocket]

I sat around on the first catwalk and used the grav gun and barrels to kill all the crawlies. Most of the time I didn't have to fully grasp and throw a barrel, just get it rolling along and squishy time.

Took some time, but I was enjoying myself. Then I crossed the room and jumped the barrier, only to find myself surrounded by a fresh crop.

 

[kofrad]

I hated the mines...soo many damn headcrabs, and i could never get through without cheats (always got stuck on the wooden cieling)

Edit: I have teh first post.

I hated those mines. I remember the first time, I actually tried to kill everything, I ran out of shotgun shells and died. The second time, I just ran as fast as I could through there. Still no idea how I made it through, I just remember lots of jumping and running very quickly.

 

[kattmat]

I killed most of the headcrabs and walked to the next area, never found out they were spawning..

 

[Fonaki]

I killed all the headcrabs, then realised they where spawn all the time, then I jumped up on the walkway, camped there for a minute or so, shoothing a few fast one coming after me, then I continoued going on those things over the zombies. I never had problems with that part, only first time I jumped straight down from the top, and died, it was a little to high I think