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Half-Life 2 Hints
Combat Strategies
1 of 10: In many of the battles you will fight, taking cover to avoid being hit by enemy fire is an essential strategy. This is especially useful with bullet-firing enemies since they have to pause and reload every now and then. Stay under cover until they stop firing, then quickly dash out and do some shooting yourself. (Also, with stationary enemies, see if you can maneuver so you can only see part of them, like their legs. If so, you can shoot them without them being able to shoot you.)
2 of 10: As in most games of this type these days, head shots count for a lot more damage with most enemies who have heads. This fact is especially useful when you're fighting hordes of the same kind of enemy (like cops or Combine soldiers) -- shoot 'em in the head! The pistol and .357 Magnum are great for long-distance head shots, and the SMG and shotgun are better for close-up ones.
3 of 10: Environmental hazards are also a major factor in many battles. For instance, if there are several explosive barrels or gas canisters around, you'll want to shoot them from a distance while an enemy is near them in order to do a lot of damage to that enemy while using very little ammo. Conversely, you'll want to stay away from explosives while enemies are shooting at you. (Once you get the gravity gun, you can pick up explosive containers and hurl them at distant enemies. Lots of fun, but don't let an enemy shoot the explosive while you're still holding it!)
4 of 10: Strafing is a good strategy to use, especially when fighting bullet-firing enemies who are at a distance. Their accuracy will be fairly low anyway just because of the distance, and strafing left and right will help keep them missing. Meanwhile, use a weapon that's accurate over a distance like the pistol or .357 Magnum.
5 of 10: This game has an auto-reload feature, which will make sure a weapon's clip is fully loaded when you switch to it (if you have enough reserve ammo and if it's been at least a few seconds since you've readied that weapon). That means you can, for instance, fire the pulse rifle at some enemies until it runs out of ammo, then immediately switch to the SMG and keep firing until it runs out, then return to the pulse rifle to find that it's already reloaded and ready to fire. No need to stand and wait for a manual reload in the middle of combat!
6 of 10: To make the weapon switching even faster, choose "Options" from the game's main menu and click on the "Keyboard" tab and then the "Advanced..." button and put a check mark next to "Fast weapon switch." Or you could pause your game, press the keys necessary to do the weapon switch, and then unpause the game. You won't see anything happen until you unpause, but if you pressed the right keys, it should work. (For instance, to switch from the SMG to the pulse rifle, pause the game, press the 3 key twice, press the Primary Fire key, and then unpause.)
7 of 10: Once you get the gravity gun in Black Mesa East, it can be used in many offensive and defensive ways in combat. Offensive ways include picking up heavy or explosive items and hurling them forcefully at an enemy. Defensive ways include moving items around to remove enemy cover or create cover for you, blocking an enemy's progress while you make a run for it, and grabbing and throwing back enemy grenades. Use the G key to quickly switch between the gravity gun and another weapon.
8 of 10: On rare occasions, you'll be able to lead or trick two different types of enemies into fighting each other. This usually happens when Combine forces spot non-Combine creatures like zombies or antlions nearby. Let them fight it out, then step in and take care of any survivors yourself.
9 of 10: You can fire through mesh fences and gates with small-arms fire like bullets and shotgun shells, but forget about things like grenades and rockets ever passing through wire mesh.
10 of 10: It's usually thought to be a bad thing to let yourself be cornered in battle, but sometimes standing with your back to the wall can help, particularly in making sure that no one can sneak up behind you while you're concentrating on firing at the enemies ahead of you. Also use small spaces and narrow passageways for dodging and forcing-them-into-single-file tactics.
