History YMMV / BlackMesa

** The Gonarch is no longer a mere GetBackHereBoss as in the original [[VideoGame/HalfLife1 Half-Life]], but rather a much more credible and active antagonist throughout "Gonarch's Lair", with *two* suitably intense and challenging all-out combat encounters at the mid-point and climax of the level.

* [[AwesomeBosses/VideoGames Awesome Boss]]: In spite of the AntiClimaxBoss entry above, [[spoiler:Nihilanth's direct, mano-a-mano approach to fighting Gordon is a huge spectacle. With Nihilanth no longer cowering behind a series of teleportation attacks to get Gordon away from him, he instead now resorts to throwing ''gigantic'' piles of debris his way, some of it teleported directly from Earth! But luck is on Gordon's side; his friends on the other side still manage to teleport vital supplies his way, feeding him the ammunition he needs to break through Nihilanth's shields and end him once and for all.]] What was once a long, laborious, somewhat [[GuideDangIt cryptic]] puzzle is now a proper boss fight, with only the mightiest becoming the true winner in the end, and Gordon Freeman's victory is made all the more significant with this overhaul.

* ThatOneLevel: Interloper took a huge spike in difficulty. With the levels being larger, additional enemies, and the Alien Controllers being more relentless than ever, Gordon's in for a tough fight. It helps that the much of the ammo provided within is rockets and energy ammo, mainly for the Gluon Gun which is the weapon most suitable for killing Alien Controllers. Of note is [[spoiler:the elevator ride near the end of the chapter; there's barely any cover to use against the enemy's attacks, and the number of enemies presented put ''Videogame/SeriousSam'' to shame.]]

* ThatOneLevel: Interloper took a huge spike in difficulty. With the levels being larger, additional enemies, and the Alien Controllers being more relentless than ever, Gordon's in for a tough fight. It doesn't help that the majority of the ammo provided are solely rockets and energy cells, mainly for the Gluon Gun, which is the weapon most suitable for killing Alien Controllers. Of note is [[spoiler:the elevator ride near the end of the chapter; there's barely any cover to use against the enemy's attacks, and the number of enemies presented put ''Videogame/SeriousSam'' to shame.]]

** The Houndeyes went from being somewhat weak in the original to being quite dangerous in Black Mesa, to the frustration of some players. They attack very quickly, are difficult to escape from, come at you in packs and [[InterfaceScrew mess with your screen/audio]]. This isn't even getting to the [[spoiler:sub-species you encounter in Xen, which include smaller, glowing pups that [[ActionBombs explode upon death]], and the large, crystal-encrusted bulls that have the propensity to ram you like an enraged cattle beast. Making matters worse is that both variants are commonly encountered alongside precarious walkways and paths, meaning it's likely for either one of them to send you careening down into the abyss below]].

* AntiClimaxBoss: Zigzagged with Nihilanth. [[spoiler:He takes a more direct approach to fight you, not bothering to teleport you periodically as you weaken him. Instead, you're meant to break his shield generators (foreshadowed by a similar puzzle regarding some Alien Controllers), then shatter his second shield with direct damage and damage him once there are enough holes in it. Alongside dodging his more lethal attacks and shattering the yellow crystals like in the original game, you attack his exposed cranium from the ground once he's weak enough. There's no need to use the launch pads to gain enough height in order to get a shot at his brain. The supplies that would have been provided from the teleportation sequences are instead teleported into the arena itself as the Nihilanth attempts to summon debris to throw at you in fits of rage.]] To make a long story short, this fight isn't padded out like in the original, and it feels a bit easier than the elevator fight that takes place before this chapter. Nonetheless, the presentation is still top-notch.
* ArcFatigue: While the revamp of the Xen levels has been met with overall critical acclaim, there are some who get bored of it by "Interloper" due to it being ThatOneLevel. Particularly, the length and difficulty that it takes to get through the extended Alien Grunt factory.

** Special mention goes to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtTmiYA5D4k Questionable Ethics 1]], the song that plays during the lobby fight at the end of the eponymous level. Really makes the moment feel a lot more badass.

** Its updated release, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy705nXxMQ8 Resonance]] that plays in the aftermath of the resonance cascade really sells the horror of what has happened as you awake in the ruins of the Anti-Mass Spectrometer. In a few short seconds, what was a normal day turned into a living nightmare.

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jnFgqS5ZgM absolutely epic]] song that plays during Blast Pit once you return from turning on the power and fuel, which really pumps you up to kill that tentacle monster once and for all. It has caused many a player to throw caution to the wind and run right past the monster to activate the rocket.

** Ascension and its reprise, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDB8SQz1xj4 presented here as an in-game mix]] as heard during the final part of Interloper. The most badass elevator music ever put in a game, though it is to be expected when you're also fighting a whole bunch of Alien Controllers on the way to Nihilanth. Really sells the fact that Gordon has fought his way through near-literal Hell.
* BreatherLevel: The Borderworld's introductory chapter, ''Xen'', is largely more focused on puzzle-solving and platforming than the previous combat-focused Earthbound chapters. While there are still enemies and hazards present, they are largely on the level of Zombies, Bullsquids, and Houndeyes as opposed to the Vortigaunts, Alien Grunts, and Alien Controllers that the player just fought at the conclusion of the previous chapter, ''Lambda Core''. And it comes before the Gonarch fight and the absolutely brutal ''Interloper'' chapter.

** Killing the [[BigBad Nihilanth]] counts, considering his enslavement and horrible treatment of the Vortigaunts (which is [[ShowDontTell actually shown in-game]], rather than just mentioned in the backstory like in the original game).

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: A number of weapons have been beefed up, making them far more useful throughout the game. Sure, the (official) ammo reserve counts have been decreased overall, but the increased usability from almost every weapon helps balance things out.

** The impressively-detailed cliffside vista in "Surface Tension" is just as memorable, serving as one of the most iconic parts of the game since its initial reveal in the 2008 trailer.

*** Taken up to eleven with the ''Rarest Specimen'' achievement, which requires you to take the hat all the way to the Nihilanth's chamber. The hat's shape means it's likely to roll off into the abyss of Xen if you aren't keeping a watchful eye on it, and taking it through the chase sequences in Gonarch's Lair and Interloper is far from easy. The worst part is that if you did Rare Specimen before, and made a save with the hat in Lambda Core to save time, you still have to start all the way back at Unforeseen Consequences, as the update to 1.0 ''breaks compatibility with save files.''

** The MeleeATrois in the middle of "Surface Tension". An Osprey will constantly drop half a dozen HECU soldiers on you at a time, and there's a group of Alien Grunts in the mix who can also do pretty good damage. Granted, the section is much easier if you saved rocket launcher ammo or use the ammo around the area, as two good hits on Normal difficulty take the Osprey down.

* WoobieSpecies: While the Vortigaunts were already this as detailed on [[YMMV/HalfLife the orginal Half-Life YMMV page]], this version manages to make it ''even worse'' by showing you how wretched their lives are on Xen. Early in "Interloper", you find a pair of sickly Vorts being beaten bloody by a pair of Alien Grunts, and even after you intervene, they're still quivering and weeping in the corners. Later, you encounter a group living in a slum village, and you can tell just by watching how miserable they all are -- even before a couple of Controllers show up and force them to fight you. Oh, and remember how the [[EliteMooks Grunts]] were implied in the original to be manufactured? Turns out ''they're made from Vortigaunts''. We get to see something of the process, and [[BodyHorror it's not pretty]].

** Although the majority of the fanbase has been completely enamoured by the sheer beauty and scale of the [[SceneryPorn Xen redesign]], there is a small, but ''very'' [[VocalMinority vocal minority]] that are very much not impressed with the rework and prefer the original Xen design from ''Half-Life'', arguing that the rework tries way too hard to be gorgeous by copying from ''VideoGame/{{Subnautica}}'''s aesthetics, and that Xen should look alien and otherworldly [[EldritchLocation in an unsettling way]], not in a pretty way. Because of the long wait, and the sheer [[DoingItForTheArt level of effort]] the developers put into creating the new [[{{Pun}} Xenery]], discussions about this between both sides virtually [[BrokenBase never end well]].

** The scientist in "Anomalous Materials" who's reviewing a research paper written by one Dr Truman bemoans his misuse of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_constant Boltzmann constant]] and misspelling of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrasekhar_limit "Chandrasekhar limit"]].

* ArcFatigue: While the revamp of the Xen levels has been met with overall critical acclaim, there are some who get bored of it by the "Interloper" chapter due to it being ThatOneLevel. Particularly, the length and difficulty that it takes to get through the extended Alien Grunt factory.

** Its updated release, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy705nXxMQ8 Resonance]] that plays in the aftermath of the resonance cascade really sells the horror of what has happened as you awake in the ruins of the Anti-Mass Spectrometer. In a few short seconds, what was a normal day has turned into a living nightmare.

** The Xen soundtrack piece Shadows of Death (V2) is the perfect background music for the terrifying chase sequence in Interloper. The previous tracks perfectly encapsulates the otherworldly beauty of Xen, but this one with its prolonged OneWomanWail mixed with heart-pumping drumming and electronic music truly encapsulates Xen's status as a DeathWorld as you are pursued by not one, not two, but no less than an ''entire pack'' of the nigh-invulnerable Gargantuas, unable to do anything but [[RunOrDie run as fast as you can]] through the mazelike environment of Xen and pray that you don't get cornered by them or ran down the wrong way.
--> '''Youtube Comment:''' All of Xen was of one thought. [[Creator/LordByron And that thought was DEATH.]]

** Killing the [[BigBad Nihilanth]] counts, considering his enslavement and horrible treatment of the vortigaunts (which is [[ShowDontTell actually shown in-game]], rather than just mentioned in the backstory like in the original game).

** Houndeyes can come off like this in ''Black Mesa''; you can run into several packs who are lying on the ground, napping and snuggling without a care for the strange world they now found themselves in. You can [[VideoGameCaringPotential sneak pass them without disturbing and instigating a fight]] - or just [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential blow them all up with a satchel charge or grenade with their guard down]].

** The Marines are a nightmare to fight. They're very tough, headshots are difficult to pull off, they happen to be ''very'' accurate, carry automatic weapons, and there are ''[[ShootTheMedicFirst hospital corpsmen]]'' in every squad. Commanders and Shotgun Soldiers are even worse, with the former having more health and can use their weapon's grenade launcher, and the latter carrying powerful shotguns that can reduce a full health and armor bar to nothing in a few shots. Also, have fun trying to follow usual video game logic and setting up a choke point where you can cut them down as soon as they step into your sights, only to lose the ensuing waiting game. Soldiers won't blindly rush forward into an area where they've lost men, preferring instead to set up defensible positions and wait for you to pop out. Similarly, they'll take cover to reload, and advance if you stop to do the same. The commercial version have balanced it out a bit by making them somewhat less accurate and slightly increasing their reaction time.
** The Houndeyes went from being somewhat weak in the original to be quite dangerous in Black Mesa, to the frustration of some players. They attack very quickly, are difficult to escape from, come at you in packs and [[InterfaceScrew mess with your screen/audio]]. This isn't even getting to the [[spoiler:sub-species you encounter in Xen, which include smaller, glowing pups that [[ActionBombs explode upon death]], and the large, crystal-encrusted bulls that have a propensity to ram you like an enraged cattle beast. Making matters worse is that both variants are commonly encountered alongside precarious walkways and paths, meaning its likely for either one of them to send you careening down into the abyss below]].

** Even nerfed considerably in the retail version, the Black-Ops Assassins remain ludicrously lethal, in particular the second time you meet them in Lambda Core. Have fun taking on 4-5 small, unerringly accurate acrobats that you can barely see in a cramped, dark freight hangar. There is no escaping them, and they will not be led backwards into an area better suiting you.
* EndingFatigue: Arguably even worse than the original. While Xen is much more pleasant to look at this time around, it drags on for ''far'' longer[[note]]During development, the Crowbar Collective advertised Xen as being long enough to be its own full-length game[[/note]] while still leaving the player essentially completely alone. Not helping matters is that most of the puzzles and set pieces in Xen are created from whole cloth, meaning players can't fall back on knowledge of the original game to help them if they get lost or bored.

** The scientist in "Anomalous Materials" who's reviewing a research paper written by one Dr. Truman bemoans his misuse of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_constant Boltzmann constant]] and misspelling of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrasekhar_limit "Chandrasekhar limit"]].

* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: The reveal that the earliest version of the paid release not only added no real new content other than multiplayer but also failed to fix some of the bugs in the mod release while simultaneously introducing several new ones have caused some ire among the fans. This would eventually be averted with the open beta of Xen, which would make the retail version worthy of the price.

** The longjump, as well as the sheer number of platforming sections, were a big part of why so many people disliked Xen in the original game. As such, they took out most of the platforming and made the longjump a lot easier to use (all you have to do is press space twice in succession, while in the first game you had to crouch then quickly press jump while moving forward, which was rather awkward).

* ThatOneAchievement:
** ''Rare Specimen'' is this, ''especially'' in the retail version. The original mod had the hat in a container in Lambda Core, meaning that one must carry the hat throughout the chapter (and it's not easy to bring the hat through the teleporters). In the retail version, the hat is in an alcove during ''Unforeseen Consequences'', meaning that one must carry the hat throughout the ''entire game''. It was inspired by 'Little Rocket Man' from ''VideoGame/HalfLife2: Episode Two'' which required you to do something similar with a garden gnome. The difference is that ''[=HL2E2=]'' is ''much'' shorter than ''Black Mesa.'' In addition, the hat is prone to buggy behavior; carrying it up ladders boils down to arduous trial-and-error, it will sometimes force you to reload a save due to it randomly not being interactable (particularly in On a Rail when it falls off the cart), and carrying it through teleporters in Lambda Core is a frustrating, unpredictable ordeal.
*** Taken up to eleven with the ''Rarest Specimen'' achievement, which requires you to take the hat all the way to the Nihilanth's chamber. The hat's shape means it's likely to roll off into the abyss of Xen if you aren't keeping a watchful eye on it, and taking it through the chases in Gonarch's Lair and Interloper is far from easy. The worst part is that if you did rare specimen before, and made a save with the hat in Lambda Core to save time, you still have to start all the way back at unforeseen consequences, as the update to 1.0 ''breaks compatibility with save files.''
** To a lesser extent, ''Pepperoni Precipitation''. This requires you to take a pizza from Questionable Ethics to the Nihilanth's portal. While it is square, and so less likely to roll, and a lot heavier than the hat, so it's not going to be blown into the stratosphere by a wayward explosion, it's also much bigger. This makes trying to climb ladders (especially the ladders after the Apache boss fight in Surface Tension) somewhat of a chore, as the box is likely to be knocked out of your hands.
** This game ''seriously'' has an obsession with carrying objects from previous chapters to later ones. ''The Plan'' and ''Unquestionably Ethical'' require Gordon to carry an easy-to-miss tank full of lethal chemicals from the labs in Xen to the end of Gonarch's Lair. Thankfully there's a part in the later chapter that has a small teleporter that can be used to transfer this tank past the majority of its duration. Near the end of Gonarch's Lair is a passage that will only open if this tank has been carried to the teleporter. From here, Gordon can either use the gas, killing Gonarch instantly and achieving ''The Plan'', or jump across the rocks from this vantage point to the exit, achieving ''Unquestionably Ethical''. If that wasn't enough, this exclusive area holds both a Protozoan and an HEV corpse for the sake of the ''Prolific Popper'' and ''Post-Mortem Interval'' achievements. Woe be to those who missed these two bits.

** The MeleeATrois in the middle of "Surface Tension". An Osprey will constantly drop half a dozen HECU soldiers on you at a time, and there's a group of Alien Grunts in the mix who can also do pretty good damage. Granted, the section is much easier if you saved rocket launcher ammo or use the ammo around the area, as two good hits on Normal takes the Osprey down.

** The largest debates, however, are over the "On a Rail" and "Surface Tension" chapters, and the vast cuts made to them. The former was subject to practically an entire restructuring of its content with only a few areas from the original game being remade, and the latter had everything between the Marines shooting the vent and the Gargantua chase cut. [[http://steamcommunity.com/games/362890/announcements/detail/604983554167705573 The latter level eventually had its cut sections fully restored in an update patch to the retail version.]]

** Although the majority of the fanbase has been completely enamoured by the sheer beauty and scale of the [[SceneryPorn Xen redesign]], there is a small, but ''very'' [[VocalMinority vocal minority]] that are very much not impressed with the rework and prefer the original Xen design from ''Half-Life'', arguing that the rework tries way too hard to be gorgeous by copying from ''VideoGame/{{Subnautica}}'''s aesthetics, and that Xen should look alien and otherworldly [[EldritchLocation in an unsettling way]], not in a pretty way. Because of the long wait, and the sheer [[DoingItForTheArt level of effort]] the developers put into creating the new [[{{Pun}} Xenery]], discussions about this between both sides virtually [[BrokenBase never ends well]].

** Those poor scientists who are trapped an an elevator in "Unforeseen Consequences", particularly since you can hear one sobbing and saying she doesn't want to die. Even worse, you don't have you crowbar yet in this version, meaning you [[CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption have to push the button and make them fall to their deaths.]]
** The two Vortigaunts receiving a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown at the beginning of "Interloper". While all the Vortigaunts in "Interloper" are mistreated by the more powerful aliens, this scene best shows the [[KickTheDog base cruelty]] of their masters.

* {{Narm}}: The HECU marines' dialogue in the original release was... somewhat forced, to say the least, consisting primarily of villainous one-liners and comedic quips. The developers themselves would later describe them as "80s Action Movie villains." This was addressed in the retail release, which features rewritten and rerecorded dialogue.

* SignatureScene: The first scene in Xen, due to the utterly ''gorgeous'' backgrounds and environments, and made especially notable because Xen in the original ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' was the TropeNamer for DisappointingLastLevel.

** ''Rare Specimen'' is this, ''especially'' in the retail version. The original mod had the hat in a container in Lambda Core, meaning that one must carry the hat throughout the chapter (and it's not easy to bring the hat through the teleporters). In the retail version, the hat is in an alcove during ''Unforeseen Consequences'', meaning that one must carry the hat throughout the ''entire game''. It was inspired by 'Little Rocket Man' from ''VideoGame/HalfLife2: Episode 2'' which required you to do something similar with a garden gnome. The difference is that ''[=HL2E2=]'' is ''much'' shorter than ''Black Mesa.'' In addition, the hat is prone to buggy behavior; carrying it up ladders boils down to arduous trial-and-error, it will sometimes force you to reload a save due to it randomly not being interactable (particularly in On a Rail when it falls off the cart), and carrying it through teleporters in Lambda Core is a frustrating, unpredictable ordeal.

** There is now quite a lot of discontent over some of the changes between the mod and the retail version.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** The HECU Marines' voice acting in the original mod received criticism for being too over-the-top and sounding more like "80s Action Movie villains" than genuine Marines. The developers decided to remedy this for the retail release by re-recording and rewriting them to be "less cheesy," bringing in Michael Tsarouhas of ''Videogame/{{Insurgency}}'' fame, an actual former marine, as a voice actor and script consultant.
** The AI of the HECU themselves was completely rewritten for the 1.0 Update after numerous complaints from the community of their tactics being [[ArtificialStupidity far too simplistic]] and thus not very fun to go up against.
** In the public beta release of "Endgame", G-Man's voice acting received some criticism for sounding too much like Barney Calhoun (since G-Man and the security guards share the same voice actor). For the official 1.0 release, G-Man's lines were rerecorded to be more in line with Mike Shapiro's sinister-sounding performance in ''Half-Life 2''.

* ArcFatigue: While the revamp of Xen has been met with overall critical acclaim, there are some who get bored of it by the "Interloper" chapter due to it being ThatOneLevel. Particularly, the length and difficulty that it takes to get through the extended Alien Grunt factory.

* ArcFatigue: While the revamp of Xen has been met with overall critical acclaim, there are some who get bored of it by the "Interloper" chapter. Particularly, the length and difficulty that it takes to get through the extended Alien Grunt factory.

* AntiClimaxBoss: Zigzagged with Nihilanth. [[spoiler:He takes a more direct approach to fight you, not bothering to teleport you periodically as you weaken him. Instead, you're meant to break his shield generators (foreshadowed by a similar puzzle regarding some Alien Controllers), then shatter his second shield with direct damage and damage him once there are enough holes in it. Alongside dodging his more lethal attacks and shattering the yellow crystals like in the original game, you attack his exposed cranium from the ground once he's weak enough.]] To make a long story short, this fight isn't padded out like in the original, and it feels a bit easier than the elevator fight that takes place before this chapter. Nonetheless, the presentation is still top-notch.

** Killing the [[BigBad Nihilanth]] counts, considering his enslavement and horrible treatment of the vortigaunts (which is [[ShowDontTell actually shown in-game]], rather than just mentioned in the backstory like in the original game.

** The fearfully tense [[https://youtu.be/UaRF-rTsce4 piano track]] that plays while navigating the tripmine maze takes a situation that already has the player on edge and turns the anxiety UpToEleven.

*** Taken UpToEleven with the ''Rarest Specimen'' achievement, which requires you to take the hat all the way to the Nihilanth's chamber. The hat's shape means it's likely to roll off into the abyss of Xen if you aren't keeping a watchful eye on it, and taking it through the chases in Gonarch's Lair and Interloper is far from easy. The worst part is that if you did rare specimen before, and made a save with the hat in Lambda Core to save time, you still have to start all the way back at unforeseen consequences, as the update to 1.0 ''breaks compatibility with save files.''

--> '''Youtube Comment:''' All of Xen was of one thought. [[{{Creator/LordByron}} And that thought was DEATH]].

* BestBossEver: In spite of the AnticlimaxBoss entry above, [[spoiler:Nihilanth's direct, mano-a-mano approach to fighting Gordon is a huge spectacle. With Nihilanth no longer cowering behind a series of teleportation attacks to get Gordon away from him, he instead now resorts to throwing ''gigantic'' piles of debris his way, some of it teleported directly from Earth! But luck is on Gordon's side; his friends on the other side still manage to teleport vital supplies his way, feeding him the ammunition he needs to break through Nihilanth's shields and end him once and for all.]] What was once a long, laborious, somewhat [[GuideDangIt cryptic]] puzzle is now a proper boss fight, with only the mightiest becoming the true winner in the end, and Gordon Freeman's victory is made all the more significant with this overhaul.

** The Houndeyes went from being somewhat weak in the original to be quite dangerous in Black Mesa, to the frustration of some players. They attack very quickly, are difficult to escape from, come at you in packs and [[InterfaceScrew mess with your screen/audio]]. This isn't even getting to the [[spoiler:sub-species you encounter in Xen, which include smaller, glowing pups that [[ActionBombs explode upon death]], and the large, crystal-encrusted bulls that have a propensity to ram you like an enraged cattle beast. Making matters worse is that both variants are commonly encountered alongside precarious walkways and paths, meaning its likely for either one of them to send you careening down into the abyss below.]]

* FriendlyFandoms: After the release of the redesigned Xen, there has been a minor, yet significant overlap between fans of ''Black Mesa'' and fans of ''VideoGame/{{Subnautica}}'', with many fans comparing Xen's new aesthetics and its music tracks to Subnautica's. It also helps that both games feature the same theme of a lone human stranded in a [[DeathWorld dangerous]], but [[SceneryPorn stunningly beautiful]] alien world, while [[spoiler:having to traverse through abandoned and ruined remains of both human and alien habitats]].

* ItsTheSameSoItSucks: The reveal that the earliest version of the paid release not only added no real new content other than multiplayer but also failed to fix some of the bugs in the mod release while simultaneously introducing several new ones have caused some ire among the fans. This would eventually be averted with the open beta of Xen, which would make the retail version worthy of the price.

* BrokenBase: There was some controversy over the Crowbar Collective's decision to cut the [=M4A1=] and [=M9=] skins from the game. These weapons were reskins of the [=MP5=] and Glock, respectively, in the original game's "HD Pack" add-on, and were initially planned to be added as a toggle-able option before being cut altogether. Some fans of the HD Pack were ''quite'' put off by this, though others didn't mind, either because they don't care about weapon models or because they know they can use a GameMod to add them.

** The Tentacles from Blast Pit are much harder to sneak around than in the original. They're much more sensitive to noise, as even the sound of your grenade's trigger being removed is enough to get their attention. This makes actually using grenades to divert their attention almost pointless, because the moment you use one, they'll immediately attack in your direction. And unlike the original, they'll not calm down if you sit still for a few seconds. They'll continue to randomly bash away at the silo platforms hoping to find you, and if they do make contact with you, it'll be a relentless attack until you're dead. Not even the ladders are safe havens this time. Of course, since you get satchel charges a lot earlier this time around (''right before you go into the blast chamber''), you can still sneak past them if you get creative.

** The battle in the middle Surface Tension. An Osprey will constantly drop waves of HECU on you, and there's a group of Alien Grunts who can also do pretty good damage. In the original Half-Life, you just had to reach a turret and kill the Osprey and everyone else with it, but in this mod, you have to [[WreakingHavok physically pick up the missiles]] and carry them to the turret. This is slow and difficult to do while under fire. Though the section is much easier if you saved rocket launcher ammo or use the ammo around the area, as three good hits on Normal takes the Osprey down.

** It's not as much as either the ''On a Rail'' or ''Surface Tension'' debates, but on rare occasions, you'll see a complaint crop up regarding the vent maze being cut out of ''We've got Hostiles.''
** Gargs being completely invulnerable outside of scripted sequences gets some flak, too, as some considered it a fun challenge to kill them with explosives. The console command "sk_gargantua_debug_allow_death 1," which makes explosive attacks kill them in one hit, implies that they planned to make them killable but ultimately scrapped it.

* GeniusBonus: Some of the whiteboards feature actual scientific concepts, such as inorganic chemistry, biology and quantum physics.