Now that I've gotten a little of my excitement over the Xen chapters out of my system, let's get back to me commenting on things about Black Mesa as I play through it, starting with the second security guard we find in "Office Complex!"

"Uh... You first."

Well fine, I've already fought my way through my zombified coworkers, sonic boom tripod puppies, acid spitting Cthulhu dogs, and three armed taser men with big red eyes, but I guess I'll go see what's causing all the screaming for you, coward.

Can

Can you two

Can you two please stop pointing your guns at me

Closer to the end of "Office Complex," we find this guy.

"Soldiers have arrived. They're coming to rescue us. Of course, I have my doubts that we'll live long enough to greet them..."

Well, of course, your best shot at survival is if you come with me!

Well okay then. Guess not.

(This is, actually, one of the few npcs in "Office Complex who will NOT follow you! After he gives his scripted dialogue, if you try to recruit him, he'll just give all the generic responses to confirm he's not following you, one of which is the line above.)

Alright, guys! Front cover of the vending machine fell off! Free snacks!!

I swear, I notice another silly little thing like this every time I play this game.

(Obligatory Freeman's Mind reference about how crawling through air ducts isn't for everyone, and he shoulda stayed out of Gordon's area of expertise.)

But here we are at the end of "Office Complex," and after assembling my little squad of followers, THIS guy had to go and ruin it all by having failed PE in high school and being too chicken to leap across an elevator shaft to grab a broken ladder to keep climbing upwards, therefore recruiting the aid of the security guards to keep him safe, because it's their job to protect science team personnel, except not Gordon, because as the one guard on the left puts it, "you look like you know what you're doing."

Dang this guy.

(Okay, it's really because the npcs can't climb ladders, but still.)

Anyway, jumping the elevator shaft and climbing the ladder, we come to the next chapter,

We've Got Hostiles!

I feel like this chapter is simultaneously good plot-building and character development. Plot-building because it introduces the HECU marines and their goals (contain the incident through any and all means possible) and character development, because it shows how far Gordon, who has now become adept at wielding weapons in the field, rather than just the hazard course, is willing to go to survive. Those two things, of course, being murder and murder, respectively. But anyway

The first marines I see and they're already dead, presumably killed by the single headcrab I found walking around here.

Really, if these guys are here to save us... I don't have much faith in them so far. Also, before I forget to say this again, another thing I love about this game is,

You can replenish health

just by raiding a vending machine. That's right kids, take it from Gordon Freeman! Got shot in the head? Mauled by a headcrab? Electrocuted by a vortigaunt? Chemical burns from the bullsquids' acid spit? Or maybe you just broke both legs the good old fashioned way by being stupid and not paying attention while sprinting across a catwalk thirty feet in the air? That's fine, just drink some* soda! The sugar and caffeine will have you back up on your crippled legs in no time at all!

*(each can of soda restores only one hp)

Man, this is the fourth guy to die in front of a first aid station. What crummy luck!

Hey look it's the G-Man!

Hey, wait a second buddy don't you walk away from me—

Also, I feel like it's ridiculous that the military feels the need to not only announce the fact that they've taken control of the announcement system, but also that they feel the need to change the AUTOMATED calm feminine voice to another AUTOMATED hostile, somehow more monotone masculine voice. Like, did they have this already all prerecorded for when they invaded Black Mesa? What if the resonance cascade was really just a coverup excuse for them to invade so they could use their new recorded voice on the announcement system?

But anyway, we finally come across a living HECU marine and-

Oh. Oh no. Hey pal, listen- listen, you're supposed to shoot the zombified scientists. Not- not the normal ones. Definitely not the normal ones who come running towards you, looking for protection moments before you started shooting. And definitely not the ones in popsicle orange hazard suits. Definitely not those ones.

(Spoiler alert- I got shot anyway. Then I shot him back and took his gun.)

But witnessing the supposed rescue force coming in and shooting those they were supposed to save must trigger something in Gordon. Because sure, maybe you can chalk up killing the marines to self defense, as they always start shooting on sight, regardless of what's said-

(They still got shot.)

-but from then on out, Gordon pretty much starts on the path to becoming the one man army he's known as in HL2. He singlehandedly takes out entire squads of marines and is left presumably completely unfazed by the fact that he's just slaughtered tons of people. I mean, maybe we can put it back down to shock again, but I feel like there's only so much you can pin under that before it's no longer believable.

So maybe, instead, Gordon's begun to get comfortable with the fact that if he's going to survive this, he's gonna have to get violent, and he can't afford to let anything stand in his way.

But moving on, towards the end of "We've Got Hostiles," you come across this npc...

"Well, so much for the military!"

Yeeeeah, thanks for the warning...

This is also where Gordon starts to acquire his first bit of fame. This scientist has no idea who Gordon is, but he can still make a guess...

Yeah, part of what went wrong all the way back in the Anomalous Materials lab. This guy has no idea who Gordon is, yet he can still tell where Gordon came from, and thus must realize then just how far Gordon's already come. Just how capable Gordon is.

So of course, that means that he's going to give Gordon a new, more dangerous task than simply getting to the surface to get help.

"If you can make it to the Rocket Test Labs, you might be able to worm your way through the old tunnels to track down what's left of the Lambda Team. You can trust them. You can trust all of us. Mark my words, those at the Lambda Complex will know how to put an end to this. I've no delusions that this shall get any easier for you. For any of us. But you must get to the Lambda Labs before it's too late! Quickly! You'll be able to find shelter from the military in the Rocket Test Labs."

So with the realization that the help that's come is just as lethal as the hazards they were sent to help with, Gordon abandons in part the task he was given by Eli Vance, and decides instead (or it's decided for him by this random scientist?) that he's going to become the help he was sent to find. He's gonna go to the Lambda Complex and stop the aliens. Alone. Just him. Just Gordon Freeman.

So I guess this is where it really starts to sink in for him that he's really got to survive, or something like that.

Also, as the last screenshot for this bit, as I was walking away, something kinda funny happened. As I was leaving, the first random idle dialogue for the scientist that came up was this:

Like. DUDE. YOU LITERALLY JUST TOLD ME ABOUT THE MILITARY CLEANUP. YOU. SPECIFICALLY. TOLD ME. AND NOW YOURE HOPING ITS JUST A RUMOR.

I'll admit that had me chuckling for a good few minutes.

Anyway, that's the end of "We've Got Hostiles," so I'll be getting on to talking about "Blast Pit" soon enough.