History Videogame / HalfLife

* ActionGirl: Alyx and the female rebels, who fight just as well and hard as the men.
* AirVentPassageway: This game is famous for its heavy use of this.

%%* BadassPreacher: Father Grigori.

%%* BilingualBonus
%%* BilingualDialogue

%%* VideogameSetpiece

%%* BlockPuzzle

%%* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Gordon, thanks to his HEV Suit.

%%* ConspicuouslySelectivePerception

%%* CrateExpectations: There's too many examples to list here, honestly.

%%* DiscardAndDraw

%%* ExplodingBarrels

%%* ExpositionBreak

%%* OneManArmy: Oh, boy.
%%* OntologicalMystery
%%* OurZombiesAreDifferent: And terrifying.
* OutrunTheFireball: A grunt throws in a satchel charge in a tunnel you're crawling through in the first game. Better run [[labelnote:*]]In either direction, since the hatch is only a few feet away and [[GoodBadBugs the explosion doesn't damage you if you're right where the satchel charge is]][[/labelnote]].

** The ExpansionPack ''Opposing Force'' has a trash compactor that looks even ''more'' like the ''StarWars'' one.

** [[invoked]] Remember Adrian Shephard? The protagonist in Half-Life: Opposing Force? What happened to that guy? If we believe Gabe Newell, Valve is itching to get him into the main storyline, but he still has yet to be seen. Amusingly, in VideoGame/{{Portal}}, there's an EasterEgg in which all keyboards have the letters A,S,H,P, and D colored yellow, referencing the [[FunWithAcronyms Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device]]. When someone inside Valve realized that it looked like 'Adrian Shephard', they decided [[ThrowItIn it'd be funny to have every letter that makes up 'Adrian Shephard' be yellow.]]

* MookBouncer: The Nihilanth has an attack that does this. Thankfully, he only does it four times. Unfortunately, the places he teleports you to get progressively worse. On the fourth, he simply teleports you to the third room with an [[strike:unkillable]] extremely tough boss monster.

** The Striders' autocannons might not look all that [[BuffySpeak dakkalicious]] alone, but when you encounter more than one... Same goes for Gunships, whice are using a similar autocannon model.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Hey, dude, remember that big baby that you slayed in the first game? Alright, you had to kill him because he kept the hole between Xen and the Earth open, but it turns that he was also the only thing keeping the Combine at bay, and his death gave them the opportunity they needed to invade Earth.
** The Black Mesa incident.

* WeaponOfChoice: Gordon is always depicted carrying the red crowbar.

* GoodBadBugs: The laser guidance system on the rocket launcher doesn't just control *your* rockets. It can also [[https://youtu.be/PRUaP0HNt9U?t=1675 contol the rockets fired by the enemy tanks.]]

* NoodleIncident: It's never explained exactly what the experiment at the beginning that causes the resonance cascade was ostensibly ''supposed'' to do. The second game implies Dr. Breen and the other higher ups knew full well it would cause the RC but it's pretty obviously Freeman and the other scientists had no knowledge of this.

In the sequel, ''Half-Life 2'', Freeman [[SealedGoodInACan is dropped into reality]] TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture [[BadFuture years after the events of]] ''Half-Life''. This takes place in what resembles an [[{{Ruritania}} Eastern European setting]] where [[TheBadGuyWins the interdimensional powers-that-be have already invaded]] and [[VillainWorld rule the entire planet]]. [[ANaziByAnyOtherName "The Combine"]] are everywhere to be found, [[EvilTowerOfOminousness "The Citadel"]] looms in the distance, and Freeman is TheOnlyOne who can stop them.

** The second game has them as resistance fighting the Combine. They'll charge in and gun down enemies with an [=MP5=] before running to Gordon to patch him up.

** In ''Episode Two'', You can find ''Series/{{Lost}}'' references - a Dharma Initiative Style Logo and a computer with the numbers on it.

** In ''Opposing Force'', two are mentioned from ''Film/StarWars''. First, A security guard asks a scientist if he has seen the new IG-88. Second, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHU8tU2DbGI&feature=related at the end of this segment, you see doors that look like they were from the trash compactor room]] in ''Film/ANewHope''.

** In ''Opposing Force'', two are mentioned from ''StarWars''. First, A security guard asks a scientist if he has seen the new IG-88. Second, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHU8tU2DbGI&feature=related at the end of this segment, you see doors that look like they were from the trash compactor room]] in ''Film/ANewHope''.

* IconicLogo: Lambda-in-a-circle. Shown as orange in the main games (and the first game's box art), but the first game's expansions each have a uniquely colored variant on their covers: blue for ''Blue Shift'', green for ''Opposing Force'', grey for ''VideoGame/TeamFortressClassic'', and yellow for ''VideoGame/CounterStrike''. The lambda is the most commonly-used symbol for the decay constant of a radioactive element, so it's appropriate to the title, even though it isn't a perfect match (for reference, there isn't a commonly accepted symbol for half-life in physics). It also happens to look like an arm holding a crowbar...

* ImplacableMan: Gordon Freeman himself, having mowed down countless Xen aliens, US Marines, and Combine shock troops. He even destroys Nova Prospect (one of the Combine's most heavily defended military base/prison on Earth) ''[[UpToEleven and]]'' the Citadel (the Combine's '''headquarters''' on Earth).

* JustTrainWrong: [[UpToEleven So many examples to point out]]:

** ''Half-Life 2: Episode 1'' (2006)
** ''Half-Life 2: Episode 2'' (2007)

* AbandonedMine: Towards the end of Ravenholm and much of the early setting in Episode 2.

** More or less justified in every case: The G-Man took away all your weapons at the end of Half-Life[[labelnote:*]]He said most of them were government property[[/labelnote]], and having your HEV suit would make it harder to get through the train station. In Episode One, you had already been stripped of everything but the gravity gun and your HEV suit very late in ''Half-Life 2''. In Episode Two, all of your weapons had been thrown from the train when it derailed, and only the gravity gun was close enough for Alyx to find.

** The first game began and ended in a tram. Also interesting is that this seems to slightly carry over to the next game, where the player starts off in a train and also ends the game on a train, albeit the G-Man's metaphysical one. Episode One also ends with Gordon on a train, and Episode Two starts with you on a ''crashed'' train.

** In the very first game, you can repeatedly mess with a microwave until someone's lunch explodes and you get a WhatTheHellPlayer from a nearby scientist. The brick doesn't come crashing down for 3 sequels, 10 real-life years, and roughly 20 in-series years until you meet Dr. Magnusson, the owner of that lunch, in Episode Two. He's still annoyed about it.

** The major WhamLine in Episode 2, which is even more obscure because [[spoiler:the words are the name of a level in the first game, that only appears as a caption and never spoken by anyone]].
* BrokenBridge: Dozens of them. {{Lampshaded}} in Episode 2 by the Vortigaunt, who declares, "Pity the generator that requires a Vortigaunt to activate it."

** In several of the battles with Antlion Guards, normal antlions back them up. In 2 of these battles, they continue to spawn: In episode one they keep coming until you block the holes in the ground, and in the episode 2 double guard battle they don't stop spawning until after the Guards are killed. In the latter circumstance, you have a powerful ally Vort who can easily dispatch the normal Antlions for you, allowing you to focus on the boss.

** The FinalBattle with an army of Striders at the end of Episode II has you taking out 2 dozen striders, each of which is backed up by 1-3 Hunters. Though at this point, they're more like MiniBoss creatures that [[WolfpackBoss all attack at once.]]

** [[spoiler:In Episode Two, Eli Vance, as it is written somewhere on this page, is about to divulge critical information on the true nature of the Combine and the G-Man, before a pair of advisors literally break into the place and suck his brains out.]]

* IvyLeagueForEveryone: Justified in the first game being set in a top secret research facility. {{Lampshaded}} by an NPC in [=HL2=]: Episode 1 who can be overheard saying "Sometimes it seems like everyone is a Doctor but me."

** At the end of Episode One you'll encounter an inversion of the problem with the main station's platforms. These platforms are too tall and again there is a descending set of stairs at the end which enables you to enter the caboose passenger car.

** At the end of Half-Life 2 in the Citadel in one of the Breencasts, which is replayed once in Episode 1: " Tell me, Dr. Freeman, if you can. You have destroyed so much. What is it, exactly, that you have created? Can you name even one thing? I thought not".

** Sort of. You just can't get achievements in Episode Two with cheat mode on.

** Practically your objective throughout Episode One. [[spoiler:You pretty much succeed, but not entirely.]]

** A safer version of this is used in Episode Two to reach the rocket cache, using a grenade and a metal 'catapult' on hinges. The achievement is aptly named 'Gordon Propelled Rocket', which is also an inversion of 'RPG'.

** Not really a positive shout-out, but during the Antlion defense portion early in Episode 2, Griggs mentions that he [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush "misunderestimated"]] the size of the Antlion force.

** Used again in ''Episode 2'' by Kleiner when observing a eight-and-a-half pound weight difference in the rocket they're planning to launch. [[spoiler: It's Kleiner's pet headcrab, Lamarr. And a garden gnome, if you did the achievement.]]

* GameMod: ''Lots''. The original [=GoldSrc=] engine and its successor Source are popular for modding in part because the SDK, which comes free with every game, is capable of effectively producing full standalone games. Even for [=GoldSrc=], despite its age, people are still making mods and map packs ''to this day''. A major reason for that is the relative ease of creating maps - due to the low PolygonCeiling and the brush-based map system used in [=GoldSrc=], detailed architecture can be built exclusively in [[LevelEditor Hammer]] without having to use a 3D modelling application. Furthermore, all of the assets from the base game are available for use, so one can get pretty far without having to touch an external content creation application at all.

** The monorails in the first game are made in really crude fashion probably due to the PolygonCeiling. They don't have anything that would resemble wheels, they just hover above the rail. The cab type can function both as classic and suspended monorail yet it also doesn't have any device on its roof to hang onto the rail. The door is only on one side but there is no second rail for the other direction so it cannot possibly operate as your average streetcar.

* SortingAlgorithmOfWeaponEffectiveness: The games tend to hand you the [[CrowbarCombatant crowbar]] first (Or the [[KnifeNut knife]] and [[WrenchWhack pipe wrench]] in ''Opposing Force''), then give you a [[{{Handguns}} 9mm pistol]], [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter shotgun]], [[MoreDakka submachine gun]], [[StuffBlowingUp explosives]], [[HandCannon Magnum]], [[{{BFG}} rocket launcher]] and maybe some of the more exotic weapons either midgame or towards the end, depending on how powerful it is. ''Opposing Force'' plays around with this trope by giving you a [[HandCannon Desert Eagle]] ''before'' the 9mm.

->''You can't even walk down the street of your own planet anymore! I remember the good old days when I didn't have to bring a gun to work, my coworkers weren't space bugs, I had a salary, I wasn't wanted by the government...''\\
[spots a [[PunyEarthlings Vortigaunt]]]\\
''Then'' YOU ''happened!''
-->-- '''Gordon Freeman''', ''Machinima/FreemansMind''

** One of the worst is a giant fan near the silo area. The ''only'' way to turn it on is by climbing down a ladder onto a narrow catwalk beneath the blades and pressing a button. The catch is that the fan blades touch the area anyone climbing the ladder up would be, so in order to survive the task, you have to press the button and then haul ass and hope the fan doesn't catch you on the way out. One episode of the "Machinima/FreemansMind" machinima openly gripes about this.

** There's also the fact that literally everything is apparently structurally comprised, from solid concrete ceilings and walls to steel catwalks. Even most of the elevators don't work. Pretty much the only things in the entire Black Mesa facility that are able to withstand any sort of damage whatsoever are the exit doors, ''and they're all locked''. Freeman's Mind explains away the latter by stating that aliens could be teleporting into the walls. The abandoned areas (the cliff face and the old missile silo) have the excuse of no longer being maintained, but for some areas there really is no excuse. There is no reason that the two generators that run the tram to the surface should be allowed to launch giant arcs of electricity everywhere.

* PathOfGreatestResistance: In Freeman's Mind he often says that when he gets lost, the best bet seems to be to follow the trail of corpses and bloodstains, and that the more dangerous the situation, the more he seems to be on the right track.

* SurprisinglyHappyEnding: [[spoiler: At the end of Blue Shift, you manage to escape.]]

* ToiletHumor: not really in the game, but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0SI7MYwPv4 this]] fan-video will [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments make you hurt]].

* UnusableEnemyEquipment: Averted. Even if it's alive. Even if it tries to bite your face off. Also played straight with the Combine Sniper Rifle. Also, even though they are allies, not enemies, Alyx's Machine Pistol and Father Grigori's Winchester Rifle are unique to them.

*** In addition to this, the Pulse Rifle weapon's alt-fire shoots an energy ball projectile that ricochets off solid surfaces and disintigrates targets on contact.

* AlienBlood: Just about every lifeform orginating from Xen has yellow blood.

* BadassNormal: While Freeman, Shepard, Green and Cross have special powered armor suits, Barney Calhoun was able to survive the Black Mesa incident and even travelling to Xen only wearing a common helmet and kevlar vest equipment. Extra points for Alyx for having no special protection at all and being able to fight alongside Gordon.

* NoodleIncident: It's never explained exactly what the experement at the beginning that causes the resonance cascade was ostensibly ''supposed'' to do. The second game implies Dr.Breen and the other higher ups knew full well it would cause the RC but it's pretty obviousy Freeman and the other scientists had no knowledge of this.

* PunchClockVillain: The HECU Marines are just as confused as to why they're killing the Black Mesa workers as the workers themselves. Well, ''some'' of them are,at least.

* AliensAndMonsters: Primarily featured in the first game; by the second, one of the alien species had joined our side, all the others except for the headcrabs have mysteriously vanished, and most of the enemies are human cops and transhuman soldiers working for the unseen Combine, an interstellar and apparently multidimensional empire bent on universal conquest.

[[caption-width-right:350:A story about the [[TheHero Right Man]] in all the [[AlienInvasion Wrong]] [[VichyEarth Places]].]]

[[caption-width-right:350:A story about [[TheHero the Right Man]] in all the [[AlienInvasion Wrong]] [[VichyEarth Places]].]]

[[caption-width-right:350:A Story about [[TheHero the Right Man]] in all the [[AlienInvasion Wrong]] [[VichyEarth Places]].]]