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Half-Life 2 Hints

Notes on Keeping Dog's Ball

  • 1 of 7: To keep the ball from exploding when you drop into the second mine shaft, have ahold of it with the gravity gun and drop into the shaft while looking up.
  • 2 of 7: Throw the ball straight up before you hit the water, then surface as quickly as you can and catch the ball before it hits the water.
  • 3 of 7: As you're moving through the underwater tunnel, stay against its ceiling and hold the ball up as high as you can.
  • 4 of 7: When you get to the area with the barnacle, be careful not to let the thing latch onto the ball. (I've heard that this can cause a game crash, though I've never tried it.)
  • 5 of 7: After that, you're clear of deep water, but you still have to go to all the trouble of keeping the ball with you at all times and getting it past annoying invisible barriers every now and then.
  • 6 of 7: It's really not worth the trouble, especially since the most common enemy from the end of Chapter 6 on will be Combine soldiers, and the ball ignores them as friendlies.
  • 7 of 7: Also, it's a *super* colossal pain to keep with you as you drive the jeep through Chapter 7, and it'll interfere bigtime with your antlion army in Chapters 8 and 9 if you somehow get it that far.