History VideoGame / EntropyZero2

* DismissiveKick: [[spoiler:In the "There Will Be Pain" route, you can kick the G-Man out of spite rather than listen to what he has to say, causing him to dispose of you by dropping you into a pit with a Gonome and no weapons.]]

* TrialByFriendlyFire: Bad Cop orders canister barrages directly on his position when overwhelmed by the Resistance on two occasions. The canisters will naturally kill him if they land on him, but [[CrosshairAware their impact zones are marked with red bullseyes]], making it easy to avoid standing where they're about to hit.

This sequel once again follows the wise-cracking sociopath Bad Cop -- more precisely, the last of the Overwatch soldiers copied from Bad Cop after his consciousness was uploaded to the Combine's repository at the end of the first game. After awakening in the ruins of Nova Prospekt, he's briefed by a Combine Advisor on the current state of affairs: the Administrator is dead, and the Combine on Earth has been cut off from the Overworld. The Advisor then gives Bad Cop new orders to capture Judith Mossman, the double agent who helped undermine the Combine's grasp on the planet and uncover the secret project she and her team were trying to find. With this, Bad Cop falls in with an Overwatch regiment heading north to track down Mossman at the Arbeit Communications facility, showing no mercy to the rebel and alien forces who stand in the way of his goals.

* EleventhHourSuperpower: [[spoiler:The [[SuperPrototype prototype [=AR2=]]] from the first game makes its return just after the boss battle in the Entropic Control facility. Its devastating stopping power makes it a useful weapon for the remaining fights.]]
* AllForNothing: This is what the [[GoldenEnding best ending]] details if [[spoiler:Bad Cop denies the advisor from wiping his memories, with Bad Cop shouting this to the bastardly, uncaring Advisor that informs him that it will soon wipe his memory so that the clones after him are perfectly obedient with following orders blindly.]]

** In a conversation with Wilson, Bad Cop will mention that he can't feel anything from his waist down. Later in the game, once Bad Cop makes contact with a Xen Healing Pool, he will gleefully exclaim that he can feel his legs again.

** Bad Cop runs into a gun emplacement while he's right on Mossman's tail, at which he exclaims "A manned gun! My old nemesis!" One of the most notorious encounters from the first game was a gun emplacement sticking out of a wall at the end of a narrow hallway.
** The names of the achievements granted for the two different endings reference the Advisor's parting words to Bad Cop from the first game: "'''There will be pain''', and then '''there will be darkness'''. We will see you up ahead."

** Stukabats, cut enemies from the ''Half-Life 1'' beta, can also pop up from the Xen Grenades in certain areas of the game.

** Bad Cop also has a unique response if you play the game with GodMode.

** The [[EliteZombie Gonomes]] from ''VideoGame/HalfLifeOpposingForce'' make a return in the game. As usual, they're [[LightningBruiser stronger, faster and far tankier]] than your average Headcrab Zombie. One of them even serves as the ArcVillain for the chapter "Chamber Catacomb."
** Also joining the lines of the Headcrab Zombies is the "Zombiegaunt," the game's response to ''Episode One'''s Zombines. They're capable of doing what a regular Vort can, with the addition of being passive to the Zombie faction and keeping their smarter pathfinding in contrast with their peers.

* FaustianRebellion: If you so choose. [[spoiler:In the final stage of the game, the advisor instructs you to surrender your consciousness, submit to a total memory wipe, and become the template for a clone army of Overwatch soldiers. The game prompts you to comply. You can refuse this and shoot the advisor in the face, thus initiating a boss battle and the "There Will Be Pain" ending.]]

* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: Similar to the first game:

** [[DownerEnding "There Will Be Pain"]]: [[spoiler:Bad Cop defies the Advisor, kills it, and then boards the Borealis after activating the bootstrap device. He then encounters the G-Man, who in exchange for his work in stopping the City 10 uprising during the first game, allows him to destroy his own imprint in the Combine's mind repository, preventing them from ever making more copies of him. This ultimately falls through, as the Combine manage to overpower the G-Man and capture Bad Cop in an attempt to use him as a template once more...]]

* SpiritualAntithesis: The similarities to ''VideoGame/HuntDownTheFreeman'' haven't gone unnoticed by fans. Both games are about [[VillainProtagonist being in the shoes of one of the enemy soldiers]] [[BreakoutMookCharacter you gun down by the dozen]] in the ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' series, the plots of both involve hunting down a major character from the original game, and both plots run concurrently with the original games' plots. However:

* TitleDrop: In a CallBack to the first game, once the Entropic Control reactor is stabilized following Clone Cop's attempt to override it, the AI announcer declares "Core entropy: zero".
* TrashLanding: During "Venture Ghost", while up on a certain catwalk with no way down but to jump, you can aim for an open dumpster below to break your fall. The game even provides a tooltip encouraging you to "dumpster dive".

* UniqueEnemy: There are only two rebel snipers in the entire game, both of whom show up in the Arbeit 1 warehouse.

* VillainDecay: The Vortigaunts were elite enemies in the first game, not to mention a powerful antagonist group who were a key factor in the Resistance’s control of City 10. Here, they’re little more than cannon fodder found among the ranks of the rebels defending the Arbeit facilities, as well as the occasional victim teleported to Earth by the Xen Grenades.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: Several of these are implemented to make carrying Wilson around less of an annoying task.
** During Venture Ghost, should you somehow lose your APC, Bad Cop will sheepishly request a replacement from Overwatch.

** Unrelated to Wilson; rebels can now throw grenades. To ensure that you don't mistake them for your allies' grenades in the heat of combat, the trailing light on rebel grenades is coloured yellow. The same goes for whenever rebel snipers appear; their laser sight is colored yellow as well.

** One of the enemies that can pop up from the Xen Grenades are HEV Zombies; a RecurringFanonCharacter appearing in several other mods such ''Field Intensity'' and ''VideoGame/HalfLifeZombieEdition'', though the garbled HEV Suit voice sounds they produce are evidently meant to evoke ''Black Mesa'''s [=ZEVs=]. Curiously, ''Entropy : Zero 2'''s HEV Zombies sport a suit more visually similar to Gordon's Mark V HEV Suit, rather than the original Mark IV Suit seen in ''Half-Life''.

** The [[EliteZombie Gonomes]] from ''VideoGame/HalfLifeOpposingForce'' make a return in the game. As usual, they're stronger, faster and far tankier than your average Headcrab Zombie. One of them even serves as the ArcVillain for the chapter "Chamber Catacomb."

** The cabin that Bad Cop comes across during "Exhumation Zone", described by Wilson as having belonged to the CEO, and features a large portrait of [[VideoGame/Portal2 Cave Johnson]] above the fireplace.

** Chapter 5, aside from being named "Apprehension" just like a similar chapter in the first ''Half-Life'', opens up with the Combine's perspective of Mossman's message from ''Episode One'', including the Hunter attack. It can also be seen as a nod to ''Opposing Force's'' "We Are Not Alone", which also shows a familiar scene from the point of view from a "bad guy."

* CanonImmigrant: One of the enemies that can pop up from the Xen Grenades are ''VideoGame/BlackMesa''[='s=] HEV Zombies[[note]]The HEV Zombies are a RecurringFanonCharacter, appearing in a several mods before ''Black Mesa'', namely ''Field Intensity'' and ''VideoGame/HalfLifeZombieEdition''. However, given the ''Black Mesa''-like sound cues these drop, it's evident that they're meant to be akin to these.[[/note]] (though sporting a suit more visually similar to Gordon's Mark V HEV than either the original ''Half-Life'' or ''Black Mesa''[='s=] [=HEVs=]). Similarly, the Stukabats, cut-enemies from the ''Half-Life 1'' beta, can also pop up from the Xen Grenades in certain areas of the game.

*** If a grenade lands near him while his health is low: [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy "Heh heh heh...]] [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons I'm in danger!"]]

*** When killing enemies coming from the Xen Grenades: [[Film/IndependenceDay "Welcome to Earth!"]]

* CanonImmigrant: One of the enemies that can pop up from the Xen Grenades are ''VideoGame/BlackMesa''[='s=] HEV Zombies (though sporting a suit more visually similar to Gordon's Mark V HEV than either the original ''Half-Life'' or ''Black Mesa''[='s=] [=HEVs=]). Similarly, the Stukabats, cut-enemies from the ''Half-Life 1'' beta, can also pop up from the Xen Grenades in certain areas of the game.

* {{Expy}}: Temporal Crabs are these to the Revivers from ''VideoGame/HalfLifeAlyx''. They're both blue, around the size of a headcrab, have the ability to teleport, appear in only a few encounters, and are significantly hardier than your typical cat-sized Xen creature.

This sequel once again follows the wise-cracking sociopath Bad Cop -- more precisely, Unit 3650, the last of the Overwatch soldiers copied from Bad Cop after his consciousness was uploaded to the Combine's repository at the end of the first game. After awakening in the ruins of Nova Prospekt, he's briefed by a Combine Advisor on the current state of affairs: the Administrator is dead, and the Combine on Earth has been cut off from the Overworld. The Advisor then gives Bad Cop new orders to capture Judith Mossman, the double agent who helped undermine the Combine's grasp on the planet and uncover the secret project she and her team were trying to find. With this, Bad Cop falls in with an Overwatch regiment heading north to track down Mossman at the Arbeit Communications facility, showing no mercy to the rebel and alien forces who stand in the way of his goals.

* AwesomePersonnelCarrier: Bad Cop is given his own Combine [=APC=] by Overwatch at the beginning of ''Venture Ghost.'' While it can't carry other squadmates within it, Wilson can be mounted in the back to make carting him around the wastes much easier.

* CanonImmigrant: One of the enemies that can pop up from the Xen Grenades are ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'''s HEV Zombies (though sporting a suit more visually similar to Gordon's Mark V HEV than either the original ''Half-Life'''s or ''BlackMesa'''s HEVs). Similarly, the Stukabats, cut-enemies from the ''Half-Life 1'' beta, can also pop up from the Xen Grenades in certain areas of the game.

'''Bad Cop''': [[VideoGame/{{Doom}} Rip & tear, bitches!.

This sequel once again follows the wise-cracking sociopath Bad Cop -- more precisely, the last of the Overwatch soldiers copied from Bad Cop after his consciousness was uploaded to the Combine's repository at the end of the first game. After awakening in the ruins of Nova Prospekt, he's briefed by a Combine Advisor on the current state of affairs: the Administrator is dead, and the Combine on Earth have been cut off from the Overworld. The Advisor then gives Bad Cop new orders to capture Judith Mossman, the double agent who helped undermine the Combine's grasp on the planet, and uncover the secret project she and her team were trying to find. With this, Bad Cop falls in with an Overwatch regiment heading north to track down Mossman at the Arbeit Communications facility, showing no mercy to the rebel and alien forces who stand in the way of his goals.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: Several are implemented to make carrying Wilson around less of an annoying task.
** Multiple conveniences are made so that you don't have to bring Wilson with you (or are made aware, at least, that you don't need to) when you're inevitably going to backtrack, such as a weight-limited elevator or supply closets he can't open immediately. In a similar vein, playload transport platforms are available to transport him to a spot further along so that you don't need to lug him around during intense firefights or up ladders.

** Unrelated to Wilson; rebels can now throw grenades. To ensure that you don't mistake them for your allies' grenades in the heat of combat, the trailing light on rebel grenades is colored yellow. The same goes for whenever rebel snipers appear; their laser sight is colored yellow as well.

** In the prologue, one of Bad Cop's colleagues screws up the targeting mechanisms of a Manhack, causing it to fly into a nearby vent. When Bad Cop is crawling through the vents some time later to exterminate the headcrabs nesting inside, the same Manhack pops out from a nearby shaft and attacks him.
** In a conversation with Wilson, Bad Cop will mention that he can't feel anything from his waist down. Later in the game, once Bad Cop enters in contact with a Xen Healing Pool, he will gleefully exclaim that he can feel his legs again.

* CanonImmigrant: One of the enemies that can pop up from the Xen Grenades are ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'''s HEV Zombies. Similarly, the Stukabats, cut-enemies from the ''Half-Life 1'' beta, can also pop up from the Xen Grenades in certain areas of the game.

* ContinuityCavalcade: The introduction of the Xen Grenades is this, with Hazardous Enviroments (arguably the most recognizable ''Half-Life 1'' song) playing as you see iconic elements, such as enemies and HEV batteries, from the first ''Half-Life'' pop out from the Xen portals created by the grenade.
* CovertGroupWithMundaneFront: Through a partnership with Aperture Science formed some time before the Black Mesa incident, Arbeit Communications would go on to become a front for Aperture's research in the Arctic.

** During "Contact Aberration", on the off chance that you backtrack all the way to the courtyard after reaching the warehouse, you'll be met with a pack of bullsquids who have taken to feasting on the rebels you killed earlier.

** The developers counted on players trying to stay right on Mossman's tail during the chase leading to the Satellite Comms facility, and placed a [[https://youtu.be/yYR5oMbGH5E?t=20 teleportation effect]] to justify her sudden disappearance before the level change.
* DialogDuringGameplay: Bad Cop will occasionally engage in conversation with Wilson while carrying him around. Their discussions start out apprehensive, but eventually Bad Cop opens up about his past and the two of them come to understand each other more.

* EarlyBirdCameo: The image of a mysterious Combine Elite can be seen flashing briefly on the monitors around the Arbeit 1 warehouse. Said Elite is Clone Cop, who gets introduced in the very next level.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:You're guaranteed to land in a DownerEnding of some capacity unless you go to the trouble of taking Wilson all the way to the AI upload station. Carrying him around is less frustrating than doing the same with the Gnome in ''Episode Two'', as he can be attached to the roof of Bad Cop's APC (no such accomodation existed with the Gnome and the Muscle Car) and can unlock otherwise inaccessible supply caches all throughout the Arbeit complex, but an extra amount of effort is still required to lug him around and make sure you don't lose him or let him get destroyed. Even after getting Wilson to the upload station, you'll have to endure one last boss fight against the Advisor to get that good ending.]]

** The [[EliteZombie Gonomes]] from ''VideoGame/HalfLifeOpposingForce'' make a return in the game. As usual, they're stronger, faster and far more tanky than your average Headcrab Zombie. One of them even serves as the ArcVillain for the chapter "Chamber Catacomb."

* EquivalentExchange: The sizes of enemies spawned by the Xen Grenades are directly proportional to the mass of what the grenades suck up. Absorbing small props may spawn in a few headcrabs and zombies, for instance, while larger objects like cars can summon Antlion Guards in exchange.

* MeleeATrois: The story is centered around a three-way conflict between the Combine, the Resistance, and Clone Cop. You can also invoke this during any given battle using the Xen Grenades, which have a side effect of spawning in alien lifeforms with each use.

* NewWeaponTargetRange: The rooms following where you first pick up the Xen Grenades are occupied by zombies you can test the grenades on. There's also a weighted cube on the other side of a door, with said door being held shut by a button the cube is resting on. The cube can only be removed by throwing a Xen Grenade into an opening above the door.

* PensieveFlashback: Temporal overlays, an anomaly which allows Bad Cop to observe past (and possibly future) events due to temporal disturbances.

*** When crawing through an AirVentPassageway in the prologue: [[Film/DieHard "Ugh, I feel like a TV dinner."]]

** Some of the achievement names are references too, like [[VideoGame/HalfLifeAlyx "Overwatch Says Stop Kicking It"]], awarded for [[spoiler:kicking the Advisor at the end]], [[Film/DirtyHarry "Dirty Harry"]] for killing 18 rebels with the Magnum, and [[Film/ThePhantomMenace "Now there are two of them!"]] for killing the two Gonomes in the Xentarium.
** Using the Xen Grenade to absorb skeletons can summon an enemy resembling the Lost Souls from ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''.

* TrashLanding: During "Venture Ghost", while up on a certain catwalk with no way down but to jump, you can aim for an open dumpster below to break your fall. The game even provides a tool tip encouraging you to "dumpster dive".

* WeaponizedTeleportation: The Xen Grenades, which create a vacuum upon detonation that sucks in anything nearby and teleports it to the Borderworld. Each use of the grenade is guaranteed to also teleport things from Xen to your position, whether they be supplies or alien creatures, so it should be used with care.

** If the player jumps into the dumpster, they'll be unable to climb out. The screen then fades to black and says "The rebels have bested you."

** [[DeathOfPersonality "There Will Be Darkness"]]: [[spoiler:Bad Cop doesn't resist the Advisor relieving him of his memories, proceeding afterwards to assist the Combine in securing the Borealis. The Resistance storms the Borealis just as Mossman is being led onto the ship, and Bad Cop gets cornered by Dog.]]

* PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo: An easily missable temporal overlay in the Arbeit monitoring station features none other than Gordon Freeman.

** [[DeathOfPersonality "There Will Be Darkness"]]: [[spoiler:Bad Cop doesn't resist the Advisor relieving him of his memories, proceeding afterwards to assist the Combine in securing the Borealis. The Resistance storms the Borealis just as Mossman is being led onto the ship, and Bad Cop gets cornered and and Dog.]]

** [[DeathOfPersonality "There Will Be Darkness"]]: [[spoiler:Bad Cop doesn't resist the Advisor relieving him of his memories, proceeding afterwards to assist the Combine in securing the Borealis. The Resistance storms the Borealis just as Mossman is being led onto the ship, and Bad Cop gets cornered and killed by Gordon and Dog.]]

* PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo: An easily missable temporal overlay in the Arbeit monitoring station features none other than Gordon Freeman. [[spoiler:He also shows up in the "There Will Be Darkness" ending, where he and Dog spring an ambush on the Borealis and kill Bad Cop. While Gordon is never seen directly here, the effects of his [[IconicItem Gravity Gun]] are [[MookHorrorShow clear as day]].]]

* NonStandardGameover: As per ''Half-Life'' tradition, letting important people die will lead to an early game over. Examples include:
** Running outside the elevator to exit Arebit 1 will cause it to lock you out, with an Overwatch message that the elevator buttons stopped working for some reason.

--[[spoiler:'''Bad Cop''': '''I GAVE EVERYTHING FOR YOU!''']]

* SpiritualAntithesis: The similarities to ''VideoGame/HuntDownTheFreeman'' haven't gone unnoticed by fans. Both games are about [[VillainProtagonist being in the shoes of one of the enemy soldiers]] [[BreakoutMookCharacter you gun down by the dozen]] in the ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' series, the plots of both involve hunting down a major character from the original game, and both plots run concurrently with the original games' plots. But whereas Mitchell is driven forward by a petty revenge quest [[spoiler:which ends with him getting double-crossed by the G-Man and killing one of his closest friends]], Bad Cop is instead motivated by the prospect of finding his [[MissingChild missing daughter]] [[spoiler:and can end up gaining a new friend and getting help from the G-Man]]. Mitchell's mission to hunt down Gordon Freeman [[spoiler:is ultimately a farce, as it was his acquaintance Adam who really beat him into unconsciousness at Black Mesa and never actually confronts the real Gordon Freeman]] but Bad Cop [[spoiler:succeeds in capturing Judith Mossman]]. While ''Hunt Down the Freeman'' has a price, both chapters of ''Entropy Zero'' are free.

* SpiritualAntithesis: The similarities to ''VideoGame/HuntDownTheFreeman'' haven't gone unnoticed by fans. Both games are about [[VillainProtagonist being in the shoes of one of the enemy soldiers]] [[BreakoutMookCharacter you gun down by the dozen]] in the ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' series, the plots of both involve hunting down a major character from the original game, and both plots run concurrently with the original games' plots. But whereas Mitchell is driven forward by a petty revenge quest [[spoiler:which ends with him getting double-crossed by the G-Man and killing one of his closest friends]], Bad Cop is instead motivated by the prospect of finding his [[MissingChild missing daughter]] [[spoiler:and can end up gaining a new friend and getting help from the G-Man]]. Mitchell's mission to hunt down Gordon Freeman [[spoiler:is ultimately a farce, as it was his acquaintance Adam who really beat him into unconsciousness at Black Mesa and never actually confronts the real Gordon Freeman]] but Bad Cop [[spoiler:succeeds in capturing Judith Mossman]].