And we're back once again, talking more about Black Mesa. What an unforeseeable surprise!

Power Up

"Power Up" always feels really short to me. I mean, it is compared to some chapters (I'm looking at you, "Surface Tension"), but it just feels like it goes by so fast? That's not to say it's not a great chapter, though. It actually has one of the most memorable moments/characters for me, and I think, as far as Gordon's own development, it's where he starts to realize that in order to for him to do what he needs to do, sacrifices are going to have to be made. (Or, I think it's where it really begins to sink in that he can't save everyone he comes across.)

The chapter is also where Gordon's reputation really starts to build, and not in a good way.

But anyway, starting the chapter, we come to what looks like a tramcar hub, and

Oh, look, for once, the HECU is shooting at something that isn't me!

But what exactly are they shooting at, then?

This guy here, Mr. Big Blue Stompy Flamethrower Hands.  This guy is another "boss battle" type enemy, in that you can't harm him with any of your normal weapons, he's isolated to one room, and the entire chapter revolves around taking him out. (It's actually called a gargantua, but. I like Big Blue better. I feel like I read something somewhere calling it that, and I thought it was really funny? but I don't remember what, or where.)

But anyway. We make it up to the tram control room, and on opening the door, we find that memorable character I was talking about.

"If you can get the power on... that train down there will take us to the surface. I would try myself... But it's a long way down to the generator room. And there's... things... in the way. ... Don't wanna... jump the gun or nothin'... but... looks like you can handle... this one yerself.  ...So long as ya... stay out of the big guy's way... you should be fine. ... I think I'm gonna hafta... sit this one out."

(And yes, I absolutely did include more chapters of his dialogue so you could see his agonized slide to the ground. Really helps to set the tone.)

Listen. This security guard? Badass. And you shouldn't take that lightly, that's not a word I say a lot. (Though I think I've already said it once somewhere in these commentary chapters, in reference to the Freeman himself. Which is also absolutely true.) But this guard, he somehow made it past both the marines and Big Blue out there, got wounded sometime in the process by one or both of the two forces, kept going, made it to the tram control room to try to secure an exit for himself, only to find that not only was the first aid station broken and out of juice, but the tram station itself was running on reserve power and didn't have enough to get the trams running. And he knows he doesn't have the strength to make it down to the generator room, much less back up, and then out of the hub before Big Blue gets him, but he's still not resigning himself to just die there, so in spite of his wounds, he props himself up in front of the door, ready to blow the brains out of the first baddie to walk through those doors. There's also a shotgun and quite a few shells on a table just around the corner, so he was planning to take down quite a few hostiles with him before he fell.

And this guy just refuses to die. Literally. I've never been able to bring myself to try it, because I'd feel awful, but apparently, you can do as much damage to this guy as you like, and he just. Won't. Die. You can do whatever you like, empty all your ammo into him, drop a few grenades around him, heck, even just whale on him with your crowbar, and while he'll offer empty threats, he still just won't die. (Note that, aside from a brief mention of this in a guide, I was actually unable to find any videos to see his dialogue for this. So either it's not true, or we're all just too nice to do that to him. I'd bet on the latter, though, because he is plot essential; he boots up the tram system for you, so I'd assume he really can't die.)

(Additionally, this is one npc that, you'll notice, Gordon doesn't actually lower his weapon for while looking at, but I don't know if that's supposed to be some sort of in game easter egg where Gordon is subconsciously picking up on his unkillableness, or if it just has to do with the programming and the guard's strange status or something.)

But on the way down to the generator room, if you pause to listen to the marines' idle dialogue, they start saying things like,

or "Keep a lookout for Freeman, guys." And when they spot you, they'll shout things like, "Squad! We found Freeman!" of "It's HIM!" (I tried to get some screenshots of these, but the only times they would say it was when I was too busy not dying to take a screenshot, and I got too impatient to keep reloading my save to get them to say it again.) And when they hit you, they'll shout things like "Guys, I HIThim!" like it's some big achievement.

And then later on, you hear this over the intercom...

So now they're not just targeting the employees, they're targeting Gordon specifically. They know he's the one who's been killing all the marines, and they know he is incredibly threatening.

And I love this. The fact that Gordon gains just as much infamy as he does fame, and faster at that. Because the BMRF employees outside of the Anomalous Materials lab don't really know who he is yet but that he's capable, but the military is already actively hunting him.

But anyway, other than that, the trip down to the generator room is mostly quick and uneventful.

Ambush waiting for you?

Nothing a few explosives can't fix!

But once you get down to the generator room, there is actually one bit I wanna talk about.

So the generator doesn't work because down in the basement, one of the pump mechanisms has become all blocked up and the basement has flooded. All you have to do, really, is break the box there and go back up and throw a switch to start the generator.

And if there is one thing I am glad they removed in the remake (aside from the limited flashlight battery, that is. But I don't think I ever talked about that. Basically, in HL, you had a limited flashlight battery, and when it ran out, you had to turn it off for a minute to recharge it. But BM is soooooo much darker than HL in general, so they just gave you an infinite flashlight battery.) would be the angry little worm leech things in the water. You only ran into them a grand total of twice, and they were incredibly annoying both times. They were basically just these tiny, fast targets in the water that did 1-2 HP damage on contact, and because they moved so much, it was near impossible to hit them with a gun, so you had to wait for them to get close and try to whack them. And because they were entities, they had collision mechanics, so you couldn't just run by them, you'd get stuck on them. So you had to kill them all.

And it was Such. A Pain.

But anyway. I've played this game enough times to finally remember beforehand that the HECU sets up another ambush for you on your way back up to the tram control room, so I decided to set a few traps, and whaddya know!

Their AI is actually good enough that they won't immediately run into tripmine lasers!

They still did once I shot 'em a couple times to get their attention then ran and hid, though, so. maybe not that smart lol.

But anyway. Getting back up to the control room, we find our wounded friend is no longer by the doors...

"You better go on without me... I'll just slow you down."

This always makes me feel so bad. Just leaving him here. But he doesn't even have any sort of fake consolatory lines or anything. You try to talk to him again, he just gives you this sort of mournful look, and stays where he is. So you have no choice but to leave him.

So that means we only have one more thing to take care of here.

Big Blue.

And with the power back on, we can lead him into a trap...

And fry him to death with all the electricity to run a tram.

(Also, you're probably all sick of hearing me say this by now, but lookit that lighting effect! It's so pretty! The blur and the shadows! I love it.)

But once you get back to the tram hub, if you look up at the control room...

Our wounded buddy is taking one final stand. All his efforts have failed to save him, but he's not done yet, and he sure as hell isn't letting all that work go to waste. After all, someone needs to operate the tram hub and make sure Freeman can make it out of there, right?

(...I always feel so bad leaving him behind. The feeling never dulls.)

But, a ways up the line, you come across a security checkpoint, and...

"Hold up a sec! One of your scientist pals said to give ya a message. Uh, you're supposed to take this old rails system up to some sort of Satellite Delivery Rocket or something. I don't know where it is, exactly... The old guy was so worried about getting out alive he didn't think to stop and tell me. Anyway, the main thing is, the military aborted the launch. So when you find the rocket... Well, IF you find the rocket... You'll have to get up to the control room and launch it yourself. He said something about a Lambda team needing the satellite in orbit if they were ever going to clean up this mess. Now, get going. I'm gonna stick around and help any other stragglers."

... I like to think that Gordon told, or somehow communicated to, if you think he's entirely mute as opposed to selectively mute, this guard about the one back in the control room. "Hey, there's a guard back there who helped me out. He's pretty badly hurt, didn't come with me because he didn't think he was able. But the way should be clear for you to go back and help him out." Something like that.

Another thing about this I'd like to note is Gordon's reputation here. The guard recognizes him, calls him by name. So word about him is definitely getting around on the side of the good guys. But he has yet to achieve his legendary one-man-with-a-crowbar army status, as is indicated by the "well, IF you find the rocket" bit. There's still some skepticism, some hesitancy that this one man can save them all. And honestly, I think Gordon would still have some skepticism, too. I mean, sure, he's getting more skilled, more confident, but he's just learned the military is singling him out  specifically for execution. He's gotta be nervous, and still holding some lingering fear over the whole event, not to mention feeling upset and demoralized by the fact that he couldn't save the one guard.

But he's getting there. He's getting to the Lambda Complex.

He's just gotta launch the rocket, first.

Aaaaand whaddya know! I've completed a chapter still one shy of the picture limit! But I don't wanna just throw a titlecard for the next chapter here, so that's it for now lol. And asof posting this, I'm gonna be going out of town for a bit, so it looks like you all get a break from my incessant rambling about Black Mesa.

But rest assured, I will be back soon with more to say about this incredible game.