Why I liked “On a rail” HECU: Ha ha freeman will never get through our defenses. Freeman: *has already quietly gone around and now begins to maliciously load shotgun* Pretty much the entire thing is about being smart and resourceful. You can’t rush straight into the enemies defenses so going around and killing then from behind is usually a way better idea. Even if you can’t quickly kill them, they’re usually left open with no cover. It’s even better when they’re already fighting aliens as now they have to defend themselves from 2 sides.
@@your_fathers not exactly stealth. Just You see a place where some baddies are prob stationed You see what the best angle would be to attack them from You sneak or sometimes run to that angle You then go in guns blazing and now don’t have to deal with the cover and turrets n stuff
The one time I was able to utilize stealth in the chapter was when the military were still fighting the vortigaunts so I let them kill each other and picked off the ones that survived. The rest, I was running for my life desperately trying to run from corner to corner
9:51 Many believe and its a theory that I some what agreed that the sounds of screams from all the victims from all over Black Mesa being echoed through Xen's astral plane space and time from both past, present and future.
OR, it's the screams of players all over the world realizing that they have to play on a rail again. Just kidding, I actually don't have a problem with on a rail.
For me it's more of a sign that Gordon is traumatized for what he did. He keeps hearing these screams of pain in his head and also the title ''Sirens in the Distance'' also have the same explanation he only hears sirens and screams.
My theory concerning the screams heard at the beginning of "On A Rail" is that they are the distorted echoes of the hums and screeches of other carts running elsewhere on the distant rail system. They're intended to sound like screaming, as I'm sure at this point that's how a battle-weary and on-edge scientist would initially interpret them. Compare it to the sounds of real life underground metros and subways. It puts us in Gordon's shoes, filling us with dread as we descend into the maze.
This is a very interesting theory, and you could be right. But i think, that these screams are from a bunch of young grunts, that are (maybe under influence of something) getting ready to hunt in a sinister area for aliens, or even for Gordon. When i've played it as an 12 yo i've always thought, yikes, they are on the hunt for me! These screams or maybe dissorted cheers remind me a bit of the lunatics that were partying inside the last days of the Führerbunker, when they knew that they would die in there with a lot of alcohol beeing surrounded by the red army. Maybe the grunts where that desperate knowing they would die, that they got drunk to make it easier for them to battle something that likely would kill these young men.
@Mr. Ten Thirteen Perhaps that's Gordon's subconscious echoing the same fear he felt during On A Rail - or even the Nihilanth telepathically resurging that fear in Gordon to deter him.
2:52 I personally believe it's an air circulation fan; with how vast of an underground network the BMRF is, ensuring sufficient airflow for all the personnel is crucial, especially in areas where a lot of combustion is used, such as of course the rocket silos and refuse incineration.
I loved this...so good. The screams....my south American friend at work, Alfonso, told me about how the natives of the Amazon jungle believe spirits live inside the mesas, almost like a home for their ancestors, maybe Black Mesa was built directly where the spirits dwell...
Ross Scott (as Gordon Freeman in 'Freeman's Mind') said it best: "Alright, I'm not an expert in the field, but that sounds like to me the cries of the damned."
@@garden0fstone736 they weren't there, BM opted to have a melancholy moment with the music- good direction but I will always love the original and am really fortunate to have played it first.
Ngl i kinda like the "ride the cart/caravan" aspect of the chapter, feels kinda like a quest, with some occasional stops, sorta feels worldbuild-y, perhaps better than Water Hazard because it's not as "rush-y". It's also dope how in Black Mesa you can put spare supplies on the cart and carry/use them as you need, which reinforces the "quest"-like feel (and personally made me feel like a 1000iq boi). Btw, great video!
I interpretated the mysterious screams as Gordon experiencing paranoia/trauma after witnessing the previous events. Imagine going through the horrors he did up to this point only to be left alone to wander a lonely, silent maze. I'd be hearing things too.
Brain shuts off some of its parts when hardship comes. Fear and fatigue don't effect you. Considering how HEV suit inject adrenaline and morphine, it seems unlikely that Freeman heard things. (though these screams are always welcomed lol) As an ex military, I think about all the horrors and glory I been through and sometimes I'm scared shitless when I think about it, but also reaize that it was never scary when I was there.
well, most of the staff was in the rooms seen before the black mesa incident occured, and the people that built the entire facility would eventually get tired from having to work so much so as a result, many safety hazards end up unnoticed.
i mean, the security guard says "be quite, that "thing" hear us", which should be obvious that its blind, and u can just walk by it to avoid detection.
Honestly, I hate Residue Processing more than On a Rail. It's just filled with a lot of big rooms that you'd expect to have something, ESPECIALLY after you just lost everything you had, but they're all just empty space. Everything before you get the revolver is just uneventful platforming.
@@peppermillers8361 play mmod, you wanna zombies? Here you go, and oh boy they are a lot, also, half life is the only game where i love the platforming, the movement are so smooth, you are so fast, and bunny hopping is incredible in this game, damn i love half life, best game ever
Honestly, maybe I'm the odd person here, but I kinda wish there was a segment of it that was just... Driving a train without having to stop every 5 seconds? (The game INFRA has a lot of stuff where once you solve the train puzzle, you can just ride for a while and it's so satisfying to me)
I always liked On A Rail, and that final rocket launch felt so rewarding. I get a very cold feel from the tunnels, and can smell the humidity due to the tunnels being flooded and abandoned.
You nailed everything I liked about this chapter, all the chapters before were all high energy (apart from sneaking around the tentacle in Blast Pit) I still remember this chapter In my first ever playthrough and for me It was the one that sold me on the fact that this game is awesome, Valve showed me how well they told their story with the "Show-Don't-Tell" with all the grafittis that threaten or mock Freeman, the aliens and HECU killing each other which makes the world even more believable, and the cherry on top, when you get outside and hear the conversations between the marines, that moment was so memorable to me because it showed me that these marins are not just some random goons, they have their own motivations and are just following order, and the music that starts playing after launching the rocket coupled with the fact that I just survived that tunnel and slipped through the marined finger just made feel like a badass who's surviving against all odds. I Really love this chapter.
7:30 this is something so many people forget about Half Life is that when you don’t know where to go it’s a very tough game. Going from modern games to Half Life is a real change of pace in that regard and how it directs the player doesn’t really hold up in my opinion.
I cannot play any other FPS game after Half Life. I loved Black Mesa and appreciate Crowbar Collective, but my ultimate game will forever be Half Life.
@@peppermillers8361 Yeah, '90s players weren't expecting anyone to hold our hand or tell us exactly where to go. Half-Life 1 is even unusually linear for a shooter of the time.
@@peppermillers8361 Of course it's a generalisation. But major and influential pre-HL shooters like Doom, Quake 1/2, Duke Nukem 3D, Dark Forces etc were all less linear and required more exploration from the player. Some, like Wolfenstein 3D, were downright mazelike.
I'm pretty sure the rocket had something to do with all the teleportation stuff on Xen. It was *suppose* to close the portal between Earth and Xen but the Nihilanth was still holding it open with its sheer power. The rift was (I think) closed from Earth's side but not Xen's side. Which is probably also why you encounter alot less wildlife after that part of the game, the resonance cascade had stabilized somewhat.
The rocket is required for the Resonance Reversal performed in Half-Life: Decay, from which point forward the only Xen forces teleporting into the facility are the ones deliberately deployed by the Nihilanth. The Resonance Reversal closed Earth's side of the portal. Killing the Nihilanth closed Xen's. Then portal storms or whatever idk that all got retconned to hell so the Combine could exist.
It would be interesting if you could try to theorize where these screams of terror could come from in On the Rail. And maybe some attempt to more logicly map out the entiriety of Black Mesa bascing it off HL1, Opposing force and blueshift bits, and trying to sort out some of the "spacial insanity" that is typical for valve's levels
@@XanderNiles The screams weren't from Uplink. Uplink began development after Half-Life had already shipped. You shouldn't go around telling people things as if you know what you're talking about when you clearly don't.
Fun fact: all 4 of those horror screams were present in many S.T.A.L.K.E.R. builds up until release as one of the ambient soundscape sounds. As far as I remeber whole "random soundscape" system was cutted during development and never came back as the tone of the game shifted, which is sad - hearing far away mumbled gunshots, screams and obscure sounds was really what brought Zone to life. (You can check out how it sounded by searching "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Oblivion Lost Ambience" here on YT)
@@bazooka93 I personally recommend Vector of Alienation mod 10 times over OLR 2.5 since the latter is unfinished and has many placeholders. More over the literature story (it is the only eng-translated mod based on OG literature script by Sergei Ivanov) and supreme static renderer (I think VoA is the most beautiful shadowmap-based game overall). My only complain is the lack of content - you can 100% it in ~15 hours - but "quality over quantity" mantra stands still. So for now (until the final OLR 3.0 release) VoA is go-to mod for anyone who want to check out what was the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Oblivion Lost back in 2004.
@@cycleoffire2220 I'll check it out, but OLR2.5 seemed rather finished for me. Sure, it's crude, but that gives it the authentic alpha feel. I like the fact it bases on earlier builds too, rather than 1935 and above. 2002-2003 was more interesting era. And ffs I'll take anything that doesn't involve Dezodor's bush fetish.
What's funny is even if it was cut down, SoC still has better ambient sounds than 90% of games just by virtue of being positional instead of having them play in mono
These screams also randomly play in various Stalker mods (like Anomaly) If I remember correctly, these screams play in Stalker soc, when the in game clock hits 6 pm
When I first heard those scream sound files in a HL trivia video, not so long ago, I've immediately recognised them because several zombie servers back on CS 1.6 used them and only now years later I've realized how haunting they actually sound
Maybe the screams at the end are from the future, from the 7-hour war, to be exact. Time travel is a thing in the HL universe, as shown by the G-Man. The teleporter before the Nihilanth also plays scientist lines from the resonance cascade which had happened hours before, so I don't see a reason why it couldn't show you things yet to come.
I always thought it was echos down a hallway or something, though this probably makes more sense as the sounds are a little too “echo-ey”. Love ur content btw
G-Man is an unusual case (and it wasn't shown that he could necessarily time travel in the original, just move around dimensions), and the teleporter before the Nihilanth... is a teleporter with strange qualities. On a Rail just takes place in an old ass rail system. And obviously the 7-Hour War hadn't even been thought up yet, and HL1 certainly never alludes to HL2 at any other time, so this just isn't a very good theory.
That was the plan of the scientists But then the NIHILANTH keeps the portals open and previously the aliens where teleportimg in seemingly at random After the rocket launch the portals are more targeted and precise As if they try to telefrag Gordon or something
The chapters in the original Half-Life, to me were fine, when I played them at first, even Xen; At first with Xen, I got a little confused (as I was younger) but I got the hang of it later on. Great video.
I think one of the biggest problem for me with this level is the damn electrical rails, it keeps draining your health points so quick that by the time you jump out, you'll get killed by the millitary
7:14 To me who also played hl since 2000, and i still dive into the hl universe atleast once am month for a few days, this is one of the best explanations ive heard, not only for on a rail, but for the whole universe, and since i've heard you saying these sentences, i play HL from an whole other perspective. I don't play to feel like it was me wandering through the BMRF anymore, but like i would be Gordon with his desperation to figure a way out of this hell. It hits even more, that while time passed in real life, i am already quite older than Gordon was. From the perspective of my age, Gordon is still a young guy, overwhelmed by to complexity of the BMRF, and because i was something like 12 when i played it the first time and felt like Gordon was "some wise older adult" i kept having that feeling, even when i passed that age. But after seeing some other videos of on a rail, i had to come back here, to tell you how right and valuable your video is for an hardcore fan and i've also learned to understand and value on a rail much better. You've did a great job with this video. But still, i can't get rid if that, is that it still doesn't work to give an immersion of the size of the BMRF. The Layout of the tracks feel cramped to a small squared sector, not able to give an feel of how huge BM is compared to the personel Transit System. But maybe it is because some parts have been cut and should pasted together in short time while late developing.
you can still play cs1.6, GO or cs2 (now) is not the only cs in the world, cs1.6 is the best counter strike, it has so many different modded servers, zombies deathrun surf and deathmatches being the best ones
Honestly, it's just the movement. The tram is a nuisance to use. If you decide to say screw it and go by foot, then the rails get in the way the whole time. If you remove the tram and just make it regular hallways, suddenly it's a good chapter. Problem then is that it's no different from any other.
I played Half-Life for the first time this year, and "On a Rail" was actually my favorite chapter lol. I love the atmosphere and the eerie industrial look of the environment. There is a good sense of apprehension every time you clear an area, board your cart, and start once again creeping through the tunnels, not sure what kind of alien or military ambush lies ahead. I'm playing through Half-Life 2 for the first time currently (On the Ravenhome level right now), and "Water Hazard" was my favorite chapter so far in that game too, so maybe I have a type lol
Tbh I never had too much issue with it, however when I would play Sven Co-op with friends they would complain how it's too long andrepetitive for what it is aswell as having no clear direction. Love the video.
Didn't know a lot of people had no idea to shoot signs to switch tracks. Back when I first played On A Rail, my mind quickly connected them to the shooting range attraction: aim and hit a brightly colored object, it flips over and that counts as a score. Also didn't know that some pricks hate Water Hazard. It's a great change of pace and literally a breath of fresh air after crawling through sewers having to deal with enemies with no way around them. You fly through the game world that opens wider allowing you to *speed* from one set piece to another, plowing through enemies withought bothering to get off your ride, and only a huge water gate or a supply hideout can slow you down. And who could forget that heli chase! This chapter along with Highway-17 made me realize I love vehicle sections (the only reason On A Rail aren't quite doing the same is that it goes through same narrow tunnels), which is prbbly why I like Scrap Mechanic survival: Drive down a road, deviate into more desolate/foresty areas if you want, pull over next to an outpost of some sort, check if there're any goodies to find or baddies to fight, then get back on the wheels towards where you eyes aim at. Good game. Do recommend.
It's the lack of player choice for me as no using the train takes so long but using is jank and boring, I don't skip it cus it's charming, but anytime I get lost in the endless hallways it's always the worst part of a play through
It's actually faster just to go on foot. I also genuinely get confused when people say they get lost in these hallways. I have a pretty damn bad sense of direction, but I don't think I've ever gotten lost in it, especially not past the first playthrough. It's not a maze by any stretch of the imagination.
I love this chapter. Lots of fun combat encounters, some optional areas and great atmosphere with plenty of little details and things going on. Such as the the small room with a dead grunt next to some graffiti and a spray can, or the area beneath the satellite rocket where another grunt is getting flooded by headcrabs jumping out of the walls. As a kid I amused the screaming was a crowd of zombies somewhere in the tunnels. The same sound effects are also used in the area you can access via a vent in the final part of the Xen manufacturing facility of Interloper. It kind of feels like Valve added this for effect but I always preferred to just immerse myself into the game and accept everything going on as actual events that took place during those 4 days. Kind of hard to change your view on a game like this when it had a big impact on you as a 10 year old.
tbh, the reason why i love blast pit, on a rail, and apprehension is because, why not? i love decommissioned and industrial areas, the atmosphere and design was just beautiful despite being vitrified and abandoned, still my type of ambience
@@steyraug772I don't think on a Rail is abandoned, it's implied to be used to traverse the underground. You're probably thinking of Old Black Mesa from Blue Shift, which is basically unused and nearly abandoned.
wait there are people who don't know you have to sneak around the tenticle!? The guard at the airlock literaly tells it to you, and then they show you what happened to someone who made too much noise. Figuring out that you can use grenades would be a litle more difficult i'd imagine, but the game gives you lots of those, so i imagine that eventualy you'd put one and one together since it's atracted by sound, but even if you don't, it's not as vital to geting past it as sneaking is
I always felt like On a Rail was a prelude to Surface Tension. It's meant to be a long chapter with lots of soldiers. It's meant to test your endurance. Plus I do like trains, personally. I never found it too difficult to master the train cart. For me, the worst pre-Xen chapter by far is Residue Processing.
@@ElkAndTurt Unfair platforming, scarcity of ammo, you don't really fight anything, and some of the paths you need to take seem random and counterintuitive. I can't see any redeeming qualities in Residue Processing.
@@RainingMetal Could you elaborate on unfair platforming? I don't know where platforming even comes into play in RP. Also 'random and counterintuitive'? You literally go straight forward the first half and walk in a single circle the second. Every time you fail it brings you back so you can try again. I also thinkn the break in the combat is a good thing especially after the long combat section with the invisible ninjas at the end of apprehension, the icthyosaur before that, and the long combat sections in on a rail before that.
@@ElkAndTurt It may be due to my dislike of how it was in the original game, with many a case of a door to before being present in the stage, despite there not being any purpose to it (you aren't escorting anyone or backtracking). With the many conveyor belts in one section one could easily get lost and go in circles. There's one part in which I believe you need to go through a furnace and take burning damage, despite common sense indicating that you shouldn't go that way. One other conveyor belt leading to the way forward is protected by a tripmine, which is nigh-impossible to avoid. If you don't have any satchel charges (which of there are only two in the stage), you can't avoid them, as one of the tripmines is around a corner that you can't shoot from a distance. I can understand that a break from hard combat isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I always disliked the nature of platforming in non-platforming centric games. A lot of the time you end up jumping short and falling, or jumping too far and falling, with no means of controlling a mistaken jump, leading to a vicious cycle (though I will admit that I overestimated my memory of actually doing this in Residue Processing). Thankfully Black Mesa's version of Residue Processing is a lot fairer with a few more ammo drops and I don't think you need to burn yourself intentionally.
Valve prioritized player experience over realism in Half-Life 2. The trip to Kleiner's lab was going to be much longer including the factories and Manhack Arcade, but that's too long to go without any combat, so the lab was made close to the train station despite that not making sense.
these screams are the screams of those who feel a sense of dread when playing on a rail. /s anyways, this is my fav chapter. the atmosphere is strong and the combat racks up, keeping the player engaged is a constant focus as for the ending, man it feels so satisfying after all you go through. btw, keep up the great content, you got a sub
I recently loaded up HL and specifically played this section and I'm in the like it quite a bit group. It's a lot of fun fighting your way thru a large section of Black Mesa. Makes sense that Lambda would be far from Anomalous Materials and the only realistic way to get there would be through the lesser traveled and service pathways.
I love this chapter because it shows that you started using the abandoned rusty railway system because there is no chance to progress on the surface and it feels like a safe bunker down the facility until you find out that the military thought of that and sent troops down there to hunt down anyone who tries to use it to escape.
My theory about the screams it that they originally belong to a cut enemy. You'd hear them in the distance via a trigger before you engage a nest of them in combat for the first time. If I remember correctly they where supposed to be flying/floating enemies similar to cacademons from Doom (but much smaller).
I find it hilarious that On A Rail can actually be completely faster by just going on foot normally. No speedrunning tricks, just walk like a normal person and occasionally take some shortcuts.
One of my favorite parts about Half-Life were the short times you were on the surface and battling the HECU if I'm correct. But I absolutely love opossing force, I can play it over and never get tired. I even found myself playing it more than the main story.
I love every single part of Half-Life. It's such a unique experience that every part of it makes it what it is and what it'll forever be in my mind and heart. Never EVER in my playthrough was I ever like "oh man this part again...". Exploring maps and nooks and crannies of the maps is always a joy. Immersing yourself in the world building is just beautiful. Long live Half-Life.
I like on a rail. The one chapter I've never liked was gonarchs lair. When I first played it I felt like I was endlessly shooting it with no indication I was accomplishing anything other than wasting my bullets. The fight just feels confusing and janky and is plain annoying.
Powerful enemies around tons of blind corners, carts that drive off without me telling them to, elevators that kill me just because I was standing, a lot of walking around without the cart...
I really like this chapter because it tests my stealth skills + you don’t need the cart + rocket launch good + if you get stuck on a loop you are a certified dumb dumb
The worst part of the whole chapter is the stupid green box you have to crouch jump over, I spent 40 minutes trying to get over it and looking for the next part of the game without riding on the cart. Eventually I looked at a walkthrough and immediately felt stupid, the ending of on a rail is honestly one of my favorite moments in the game, so calm
On my first playthrough back in 2008 when I was 9 years old I absolutely hated On a Rail. It seemed all too long and hard for the little me, I didn't even know how to deal with the turrets and all other stuff. However every time I revisited the chapter I started loving it more and more to the point where it's my 2nd favorite chapter after Surface Tension which by the way, little 9 year old me also hated to the bone for being long and hard.
Great video bro About water hazard it’s literally one of the best chapters for me I don’t think that it does slow the flow or the gameplay of the game actually some parts of that chapter are literally filled with adrenaline and I enjoy it so much!!! A little long but a cool chapter! While for on a rail....I used to hate it…but after watching this video..well.. I don’t hate or love it so much… it I think yes…it wasn’t that bad
7:27 this part right here is your hint that you need to shoot the signs, the houndeye is positioned deliberately so that when you try to shoot it you most likely shoot the sign instead
Even with cheats and god mode i took 9 hours to finish that Wait, you where supposed to kill the gargantuar in the electricity things? I just shot him and passed the chapter
the 3 horror.wavs i actually either heard them from cs 1.6 zombie mode servers or l4d1 (maybe even l4d2) kinda crazy that i actually never knew they actually exist in half life
Rewatching the video and hearing the screams gave me ptsd, When i first played half life 1 and went thru apprehension, i was playing at night and i was a kiddo, the damn screams haunted me for the rest of the night and if i remember correctly, you can also hear them in blue shift
My issue with on the rail is that soldiers have traps and ambushes set up if you use the cart, so I avoided using the cart as much as possible and sneak along the rail looking out for ambushes.
I will take On A Rail over Lambda Core or Interloper any day. The former being a bit more complex and I find myself always "where to go" and the latter for being way too tough. In hard mode you struggle a lot in Xen. Interesting that you pointed out the screams. As far as I'm concerned, those screams where made for Half-Life: Uplink. The part where the bodies were dragged. Same screams can be heard as well in the Interloper chapter.
There can be no realism in on a rail because this underground rail system doesn't actually connect to any of the base except where you get on, and where you get off. Neither does the monorail. Like every half life level it's just a pipe the player goes down with some greebles to make it resemble somewhere.
for blast pit with the tenticle monster, if you throw a grenade into the black pit, itll "harm" the monster and it will withdraw into the hole momentarily, giving you enough time to run to the next room you need to
the problem I have with blast pit is there's nothing telling you to kill the monster, and nothing telling you to back-track to kill it, I got stuck for so long before giving up and watching a walkthrough
Well, now that Radhaz has done his neutral point for On A Rail and PurpleColonel has done his video *for* it, I guess I need to do my devil's advocate video against On A Rail, now, huh? Eh, well I'm busy these days, so perhaps a comment analysis of the chapter would do better. The main problem I find with On A Rail comes from its maze-like setup. I wouldn't have much of a problem with this in isolation, but the fact that it immediately follows multiple chapters based around backtracking (Power Up's hub with the train, Blast Pit's silo, and We've Got Hostile's silo door) makes the issue of the level being so non-linear incredibly apparent incredibly quickly. There's very little to distinguish the levels apart from one another, most of the visuals are the same all throughout the chapter. This is an excellent way to confuse a player, especially one who has gotten used to backtracking at this point. There's a sort of cognitive dissonance between the thoughts of "This is a linear track, that means there's one direction to go in" and "Wait... have I been here before?" What absolutely does not help is that, in many cases for On A Rail, this is an intentional design choice. I don't see why confusing players is an intentional choice here, but I digress, Half-Life 1's non-linearity remains a strong suite in a lot of areas. The combat is fun throughout the chapter, but even it gets samey after just a few encounters. There are some attempts to spice things up here and there with the introduction of turrets and rockets, et cetera, but in the end, it all starts to blur together anyway. After the third or fourth pit stop of shooting soldiers hiding behind a sandbag barricade and tanking some damage from a rapid firing turret that needs grenades lobbed into it to stop, things just sort of start to feel uninspired. I know this is a loaded statement to make, but hear me out. Whereas the rest of the game places the player in new and varied environments with the same enemies (fighting soldiers during We've Got Hostiles versus fighting them in Questionable Ethics or Surface Tension, for example,) The cramped nature of On a Rail really starts to wear on the player much more quickly since, for a lot of On A Rail, there is very little cover for either the player or the enemies, turning the fights into fish-in-a-barrel sequences. Another big issue with On A Rail stems from what was cut from the game due to a lack of time. On A Rail was supposed to feature Stukabats, a type of flying enemy that would perch on ceilings like bats and attack by swinging its claws, as well as flocking floaters, floating enemies who were cut due to a lack of time during development. Personally, I feel as though some extra enemy variation could have done some more justice to the chapter. One more thing I wanted to mention is how there's just no real time to rest. I guess there isn't much of that anywhere in the game, but even sequences like the start of Residue Processing give the player some time to breathe. Even at the end of On A Rail, once the player has gotten out of the tunnels and killed the two conversing soldiers, there's that damned sniper that will randomly start shooting after an amount of time. I hate that guy so much! Why is he there!? Not to mention that the launch site repopulates with soldiers after the rocket is launched. This is another thing they changed from the beta, where, back then, in the very least, there was a room of living scientists for the player to rescue. In the final game they're just all dead. TL;DR On a Rail bad because the levels look the same, there are areas that don't lead anywhere, there's no time to rest, and the gameplay gets boring quickly.
Does the sniper just eventually decide to start firing? Last I played, I noticed he spawned and started firing only after I picked up a health kit on top of some power box or whatever. If you don't pick that up, then I don't think he kicks in until after you've launched the satellite.
Fun fact: The second scream sound effect would later be reused as the "Alerted the horde" sound for the Left 4 Dead games.
I also remember them from CS1.6 zombie mode servers
The origin of it is Half-Life Uplink. It was also used for STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl.
Where it is in the Uplink? Once you enter the sewers under the transmitter dome?
How the fuck have I never noticed that before
@@CrazyKosai yes, it can be heard in the sewers when the bodies were getting dragged by zombies.
Why I liked “On a rail”
HECU: Ha ha freeman will never get through our defenses.
Freeman: *has already quietly gone around and now begins to maliciously load shotgun*
Pretty much the entire thing is about being smart and resourceful. You can’t rush straight into the enemies defenses so going around and killing then from behind is usually a way better idea. Even if you can’t quickly kill them, they’re usually left open with no cover. It’s even better when they’re already fighting aliens as now they have to defend themselves from 2 sides.
you were supposed to do this entire thing with stealth? wtf
@@your_fathers not exactly stealth. Just
You see a place where some baddies are prob stationed
You see what the best angle would be to attack them from
You sneak or sometimes run to that angle
You then go in guns blazing and now don’t have to deal with the cover and turrets n stuff
@@legogoka-boomstudio1838 oh yeah I did that sometimes, some areas in the chapter you can't really do that so probably forgot
My main problem is when I had to replay it
The one time I was able to utilize stealth in the chapter was when the military were still fighting the vortigaunts so I let them kill each other and picked off the ones that survived. The rest, I was running for my life desperately trying to run from corner to corner
9:51 Many believe and its a theory that I some what agreed that the sounds of screams from all the victims from all over Black Mesa being echoed through Xen's astral plane space and time from both past, present and future.
Bro reading this gave me fucking goosebumpbs
OR, it's the screams of players all over the world realizing that they have to play on a rail again. Just kidding, I actually don't have a problem with on a rail.
For me it's more of a sign that Gordon is traumatized for what he did. He keeps hearing these screams of pain in his head and also the title ''Sirens in the Distance'' also have the same explanation he only hears sirens and screams.
@@Half-Bad-Goodman gordon did nothing other than follow orders
I've heard a theory that the screams might be Houndeyes howling.
Wait are players supposed to use the cart? I thought this chapter was created to test speed runner's bhop capabilities
thats at least how i play the game!
@@sam-sp5zk nah I'm not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@sam-sp5zk you must be new to jokes
@@sam-sp5zk how to tell if someone's very young:
they type like that and dont get obvious jokes
@@sam-sp5zk You Must Be New To Typing Or Spelling, You Aren’t Supposed To Capitalize Every Word. Only The Start Of Sentences Or Proper Nouns.
My theory concerning the screams heard at the beginning of "On A Rail" is that they are the distorted echoes of the hums and screeches of other carts running elsewhere on the distant rail system. They're intended to sound like screaming, as I'm sure at this point that's how a battle-weary and on-edge scientist would initially interpret them. Compare it to the sounds of real life underground metros and subways. It puts us in Gordon's shoes, filling us with dread as we descend into the maze.
That's a very good guess tbh, the screams look very similar to the sounds you have mentioned
Its the boids
Then why you hear this in the Nihilanth's portal before the final boss?
This is a very interesting theory, and you could be right. But i think, that these screams are from a bunch of young grunts, that are (maybe under influence of something) getting ready to hunt in a sinister area for aliens, or even for Gordon. When i've played it as an 12 yo i've always thought, yikes, they are on the hunt for me!
These screams or maybe dissorted cheers remind me a bit of the lunatics that were partying inside the last days of the Führerbunker, when they knew that they would die in there with a lot of alcohol beeing surrounded by the red army. Maybe the grunts where that desperate knowing they would die, that they got drunk to make it easier for them to battle something that likely would kill these young men.
@Mr. Ten Thirteen Perhaps that's Gordon's subconscious echoing the same fear he felt during On A Rail - or even the Nihilanth telepathically resurging that fear in Gordon to deter him.
Well I mean, for Sven coop it’s a completely different kind of brisket, the cart is usually a great antic.
so many memories of sending that thing into tripmines
bruh you gave me memories of getting blasted by the rocket turret guy
Sven-Coop
ah yes, i missed that server.
Yeah, that thing crushed everyone around itself when making turns. One-shot machine gun turrets. And the rocket guy. Good times.
I love getting randomly gibbed for no reason constantly throughout the entire chapter as well as throughout the Interloper chapter by elevators.
2:52 I personally believe it's an air circulation fan; with how vast of an underground network the BMRF is, ensuring sufficient airflow for all the personnel is crucial, especially in areas where a lot of combustion is used, such as of course the rocket silos and refuse incineration.
I thought the same.
The instruction manual has concept art that shows the big fan is an exhaust system for the rocket engine.
I loved this...so good. The screams....my south American friend at work, Alfonso, told me about how the natives of the Amazon jungle believe spirits live inside the mesas, almost like a home for their ancestors, maybe Black Mesa was built directly where the spirits dwell...
Ross Scott (as Gordon Freeman in 'Freeman's Mind') said it best: "Alright, I'm not an expert in the field, but that sounds like to me the cries of the damned."
I didn’t notice the screams in black Mesa I wonder if they removed them or I just wasn’t paying attention
@@garden0fstone736 they weren't there, BM opted to have a melancholy moment with the music- good direction but I will always love the original and am really fortunate to have played it first.
Ngl i kinda like the "ride the cart/caravan" aspect of the chapter, feels kinda like a quest, with some occasional stops, sorta feels worldbuild-y, perhaps better than Water Hazard because it's not as "rush-y". It's also dope how in Black Mesa you can put spare supplies on the cart and carry/use them as you need, which reinforces the "quest"-like feel (and personally made me feel like a 1000iq boi).
Btw, great video!
Oh my god I need to do that the next time I try to play through Black Mesa.
@@TinyDeskEngineer Black mesa is a different game than Half life. it's how a Half Life should have been if Valve have source engine in 1997
Oh UwU
I never have much of these spare supplies when I play this game on hard
@@houghwhite411 Black Mesa is nothing like any version of Half-Life Valve would've made, lol.
I interpretated the mysterious screams as Gordon experiencing paranoia/trauma after witnessing the previous events. Imagine going through the horrors he did up to this point only to be left alone to wander a lonely, silent maze. I'd be hearing things too.
Brain shuts off some of its parts when hardship comes. Fear and fatigue don't effect you. Considering how HEV suit inject adrenaline and morphine, it seems unlikely that Freeman heard things. (though these screams are always welcomed lol) As an ex military, I think about all the horrors and glory I been through and sometimes I'm scared shitless when I think about it, but also reaize that it was never scary when I was there.
Notice how he didn't even talk about how much of a safety hazard that enormous fan is? The switch to turn it on and off is BELOW the blades!
well, most of the staff was in the rooms seen before the black mesa incident occured, and the people that built the entire facility would eventually get tired from having to work so much so as a result, many safety hazards end up unnoticed.
@@dylanzlol7293 "Oh dang bro, sorry, I didn't notice that we'd put the switch under the blades of death until after we'd done it."
"i'll say it right off the bat and trigger a bunch of people - i love this chapter"
wait... people hate blast pit?
I do
On a Rail is one of my favorites, alongside Questionable Ethics and Surface Tension.
you have right, for me too and power up
WAIT, YOU CAN SHIFT WALK OYUR WAY THROUGH THE TENTACLE MONSTER? WHY DO I ONLY FIND OUT ABOUT THIS NOW
oh hello there Aleks. i never expected to find you on a half life video of all places.
i mean, the security guard says "be quite, that "thing" hear us", which should be obvious that its blind, and u can just walk by it to avoid detection.
"Be quiet that thing only hear us" - Barney.
Shift walk, aka.. walk
@@JuanxDlol "Be quiet that thing only hear us" - The guy that was next to the guy who started to shooting at the thing.
Honestly, I hate Residue Processing more than On a Rail. It's just filled with a lot of big rooms that you'd expect to have something, ESPECIALLY after you just lost everything you had, but they're all just empty space. Everything before you get the revolver is just uneventful platforming.
I personally like the platforming, but it is weird how there's no zombies (besides a few headcrabs) to keep the player on their toes.
@@peppermillers8361 play mmod, you wanna zombies? Here you go, and oh boy they are a lot, also, half life is the only game where i love the platforming, the movement are so smooth, you are so fast, and bunny hopping is incredible in this game, damn i love half life, best game ever
Honestly, maybe I'm the odd person here, but I kinda wish there was a segment of it that was just... Driving a train without having to stop every 5 seconds?
(The game INFRA has a lot of stuff where once you solve the train puzzle, you can just ride for a while and it's so satisfying to me)
9:51 "Ok I'm not expert in the field, but that sounds to me the cries of the damned."
I always liked On A Rail, and that final rocket launch felt so rewarding. I get a very cold feel from the tunnels, and can smell the humidity due to the tunnels being flooded and abandoned.
You nailed everything I liked about this chapter, all the chapters before were all high energy (apart from sneaking around the tentacle in Blast Pit) I still remember this chapter In my first ever playthrough and for me It was the one that sold me on the fact that this game is awesome, Valve showed me how well they told their story with the "Show-Don't-Tell" with all the grafittis that threaten or mock Freeman, the aliens and HECU killing each other which makes the world even more believable, and the cherry on top, when you get outside and hear the conversations between the marines, that moment was so memorable to me because it showed me that these marins are not just some random goons, they have their own motivations and are just following order, and the music that starts playing after launching the rocket coupled with the fact that I just survived that tunnel and slipped through the marined finger just made feel like a badass who's surviving against all odds. I Really love this chapter.
People don't like Blast Pit?
Yeah, that really confused me. I thought everyone loved it.
I bet I'm the only one in this world who hates Blast Pit
@@sonicdash9652 GUYS, IT'S HIM, IT'S THE GUY WHO HATES BLAST PIT, GET HIM!
I mean, i just kinda, you know, do it. I don't really care alot for it.
@@Awesomeness-iz3dh HEY STAY AWAY FROM THAT GUY US BLAST PIT HATERS ARE JUST TOO IMPATIENT TO CRAWL
7:30 this is something so many people forget about Half Life is that when you don’t know where to go it’s a very tough game. Going from modern games to Half Life is a real change of pace in that regard and how it directs the player doesn’t really hold up in my opinion.
I cannot play any other FPS game after Half Life. I loved Black Mesa and appreciate Crowbar Collective, but my ultimate game will forever be Half Life.
I think it directs players fine, the problem is that it's a 90s game, and gamey elements like shooting the signs were prevalent back then.
@@peppermillers8361 Yeah, '90s players weren't expecting anyone to hold our hand or tell us exactly where to go. Half-Life 1 is even unusually linear for a shooter of the time.
@@todesziege depends on the game, I feel.
@@peppermillers8361 Of course it's a generalisation. But major and influential pre-HL shooters like Doom, Quake 1/2, Duke Nukem 3D, Dark Forces etc were all less linear and required more exploration from the player. Some, like Wolfenstein 3D, were downright mazelike.
I dislike it because I can’t do a backflip on the cart
I'm pretty sure the rocket had something to do with all the teleportation stuff on Xen. It was *suppose* to close the portal between Earth and Xen but the Nihilanth was still holding it open with its sheer power. The rift was (I think) closed from Earth's side but not Xen's side. Which is probably also why you encounter alot less wildlife after that part of the game, the resonance cascade had stabilized somewhat.
The rocket is required for the Resonance Reversal performed in Half-Life: Decay, from which point forward the only Xen forces teleporting into the facility are the ones deliberately deployed by the Nihilanth. The Resonance Reversal closed Earth's side of the portal. Killing the Nihilanth closed Xen's. Then portal storms or whatever idk that all got retconned to hell so the Combine could exist.
It would be interesting if you could try to theorize where these screams of terror could come from in On the Rail. And maybe some attempt to more logicly map out the entiriety of Black Mesa bascing it off HL1, Opposing force and blueshift bits, and trying to sort out some of the "spacial insanity" that is typical for valve's levels
They can be heard in Interloper too. They come from HL Uplink.
i think they are headcrab zombies, the screams sound similar to those zombies' screams in HL2
@@XanderNiles The screams weren't from Uplink. Uplink began development after Half-Life had already shipped. You shouldn't go around telling people things as if you know what you're talking about when you clearly don't.
@@The_Butt_Cracker The screams are from Blue Shift.
@@danielasbjrnsson7500 No, they aren't. They're from the original Half-Life.
Fun fact: all 4 of those horror screams were present in many S.T.A.L.K.E.R. builds up until release as one of the ambient soundscape sounds. As far as I remeber whole "random soundscape" system was cutted during development and never came back as the tone of the game shifted, which is sad - hearing far away mumbled gunshots, screams and obscure sounds was really what brought Zone to life.
(You can check out how it sounded by searching "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Oblivion Lost Ambience" here on YT)
Or just play some alpha-flavoured mods like OLR2.5 (we don't talk about LA)
@@bazooka93 I personally recommend Vector of Alienation mod 10 times over OLR 2.5 since the latter is unfinished and has many placeholders. More over the literature story (it is the only eng-translated mod based on OG literature script by Sergei Ivanov) and supreme static renderer (I think VoA is the most beautiful shadowmap-based game overall).
My only complain is the lack of content - you can 100% it in ~15 hours - but "quality over quantity" mantra stands still.
So for now (until the final OLR 3.0 release) VoA is go-to mod for anyone who want to check out what was the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Oblivion Lost back in 2004.
@@cycleoffire2220 I'll check it out, but OLR2.5 seemed rather finished for me. Sure, it's crude, but that gives it the authentic alpha feel. I like the fact it bases on earlier builds too, rather than 1935 and above. 2002-2003 was more interesting era. And ffs I'll take anything that doesn't involve Dezodor's bush fetish.
What's funny is even if it was cut down, SoC still has better ambient sounds than 90% of games just by virtue of being positional instead of having them play in mono
These screams also randomly play in various Stalker mods (like Anomaly)
If I remember correctly, these screams play in Stalker soc, when the in game clock hits 6 pm
Cart...people just like some action
8:52 HE SAID THE THING!
When I first heard those scream sound files in a HL trivia video, not so long ago, I've immediately recognised them because several zombie servers back on CS 1.6 used them and only now years later I've realized how haunting they actually sound
Maybe the screams at the end are from the future, from the 7-hour war, to be exact. Time travel is a thing in the HL universe, as shown by the G-Man. The teleporter before the Nihilanth also plays scientist lines from the resonance cascade which had happened hours before, so I don't see a reason why it couldn't show you things yet to come.
I always thought it was echos down a hallway or something, though this probably makes more sense as the sounds are a little too “echo-ey”. Love ur content btw
I don't think they were intended that way, the 7 hour war wasn't thought and put into HL lore until they remade the HL2 history of the betas
G-Man is an unusual case (and it wasn't shown that he could necessarily time travel in the original, just move around dimensions), and the teleporter before the Nihilanth... is a teleporter with strange qualities. On a Rail just takes place in an old ass rail system. And obviously the 7-Hour War hadn't even been thought up yet, and HL1 certainly never alludes to HL2 at any other time, so this just isn't a very good theory.
You launch the rocket to stop the resonance cascades.
That was the plan of the scientists
But then the NIHILANTH keeps the portals open and previously the aliens where teleportimg in seemingly at random
After the rocket launch the portals are more targeted and precise
As if they try to telefrag Gordon or something
The chapters in the original Half-Life, to me were fine, when I played them at first, even Xen; At first with Xen, I got a little confused (as I was younger) but I got the hang of it later on. Great video.
Normal player: god damn, not this again...
Speedrunners: *YYYEAAAAAHHH*
I think one of the biggest problem for me with this level is the damn electrical rails, it keeps draining your health points so quick that by the time you jump out, you'll get killed by the millitary
“ *wait, there was a train car?* ”
7:14 To me who also played hl since 2000, and i still dive into the hl universe atleast once am month for a few days, this is one of the best explanations ive heard, not only for on a rail, but for the whole universe, and since i've heard you saying these sentences, i play HL from an whole other perspective. I don't play to feel like it was me wandering through the BMRF anymore, but like i would be Gordon with his desperation to figure a way out of this hell. It hits even more, that while time passed in real life, i am already quite older than Gordon was. From the perspective of my age, Gordon is still a young guy, overwhelmed by to complexity of the BMRF, and because i was something like 12 when i played it the first time and felt like Gordon was "some wise older adult" i kept having that feeling, even when i passed that age. But after seeing some other videos of on a rail, i had to come back here, to tell you how right and valuable your video is for an hardcore fan and i've also learned to understand and value on a rail much better. You've did a great job with this video.
But still, i can't get rid if that, is that it still doesn't work to give an immersion of the size of the BMRF. The Layout of the tracks feel cramped to a small squared sector, not able to give an feel of how huge BM is compared to the personel Transit System. But maybe it is because some parts have been cut and should pasted together in short time while late developing.
fun fact
the screams are actually used in most of the zombie mods in counter strike 1.6
rip dat good old era.
p sure its the old horde sound in L4D1 as well
you can still play cs1.6, GO or cs2 (now) is not the only cs in the world, cs1.6 is the best counter strike, it has so many different modded servers, zombies deathrun surf and deathmatches being the best ones
Honestly, it's just the movement. The tram is a nuisance to use. If you decide to say screw it and go by foot, then the rails get in the way the whole time. If you remove the tram and just make it regular hallways, suddenly it's a good chapter. Problem then is that it's no different from any other.
I enjoyed that level, but that's only because I ignored the rail car completely and simply sprinted through
I played Half-Life for the first time this year, and "On a Rail" was actually my favorite chapter lol. I love the atmosphere and the eerie industrial look of the environment. There is a good sense of apprehension every time you clear an area, board your cart, and start once again creeping through the tunnels, not sure what kind of alien or military ambush lies ahead.
I'm playing through Half-Life 2 for the first time currently (On the Ravenhome level right now), and "Water Hazard" was my favorite chapter so far in that game too, so maybe I have a type lol
I luv water hazard
older sound files of the scream sound refer to it as a houndeye pack
Tbh I never had too much issue with it, however when I would play Sven Co-op with friends they would complain how it's too long andrepetitive for what it is aswell as having no clear direction. Love the video.
Didn't know a lot of people had no idea to shoot signs to switch tracks. Back when I first played On A Rail, my mind quickly connected them to the shooting range attraction: aim and hit a brightly colored object, it flips over and that counts as a score.
Also didn't know that some pricks hate Water Hazard. It's a great change of pace and literally a breath of fresh air after crawling through sewers having to deal with enemies with no way around them. You fly through the game world that opens wider allowing you to *speed* from one set piece to another, plowing through enemies withought bothering to get off your ride, and only a huge water gate or a supply hideout can slow you down. And who could forget that heli chase!
This chapter along with Highway-17 made me realize I love vehicle sections (the only reason On A Rail aren't quite doing the same is that it goes through same narrow tunnels), which is prbbly why I like Scrap Mechanic survival:
Drive down a road, deviate into more desolate/foresty areas if you want, pull over next to an outpost of some sort, check if there're any goodies to find or baddies to fight, then get back on the wheels towards where you eyes aim at. Good game. Do recommend.
It's the lack of player choice for me as no using the train takes so long but using is jank and boring, I don't skip it cus it's charming, but anytime I get lost in the endless hallways it's always the worst part of a play through
It's actually faster just to go on foot. I also genuinely get confused when people say they get lost in these hallways. I have a pretty damn bad sense of direction, but I don't think I've ever gotten lost in it, especially not past the first playthrough. It's not a maze by any stretch of the imagination.
I love this chapter. Lots of fun combat encounters, some optional areas and great atmosphere with plenty of little details and things going on. Such as the the small room with a dead grunt next to some graffiti and a spray can, or the area beneath the satellite rocket where another grunt is getting flooded by headcrabs jumping out of the walls.
As a kid I amused the screaming was a crowd of zombies somewhere in the tunnels. The same sound effects are also used in the area you can access via a vent in the final part of the Xen manufacturing facility of Interloper. It kind of feels like Valve added this for effect but I always preferred to just immerse myself into the game and accept everything going on as actual events that took place during those 4 days. Kind of hard to change your view on a game like this when it had a big impact on you as a 10 year old.
tbh, the reason why i love blast pit, on a rail, and apprehension is because, why not? i love decommissioned and industrial areas, the atmosphere and design was just beautiful despite being vitrified and abandoned, still my type of ambience
correct me if im wrong if on a rail is abandoned or what, i know black mesa was once rocket testing center or sort
@@steyraug772I don't think on a Rail is abandoned, it's implied to be used to traverse the underground. You're probably thinking of Old Black Mesa from Blue Shift, which is basically unused and nearly abandoned.
Radiation Hazard deserves 100 times more subscribers just from the effort he puts in to these videos. Most underrated youtuber ever!
wait there are people who don't know you have to sneak around the tenticle!? The guard at the airlock literaly tells it to you, and then they show you what happened to someone who made too much noise. Figuring out that you can use grenades would be a litle more difficult i'd imagine, but the game gives you lots of those, so i imagine that eventualy you'd put one and one together since it's atracted by sound, but even if you don't, it's not as vital to geting past it as sneaking is
I always felt like On a Rail was a prelude to Surface Tension. It's meant to be a long chapter with lots of soldiers. It's meant to test your endurance. Plus I do like trains, personally. I never found it too difficult to master the train cart.
For me, the worst pre-Xen chapter by far is Residue Processing.
why does everyone hate residue processing? it's literally my #1 favourite chapter.
@@ElkAndTurt Unfair platforming, scarcity of ammo, you don't really fight anything, and some of the paths you need to take seem random and counterintuitive. I can't see any redeeming qualities in Residue Processing.
@@RainingMetal Could you elaborate on unfair platforming? I don't know where platforming even comes into play in RP.
Also 'random and counterintuitive'? You literally go straight forward the first half and walk in a single circle the second. Every time you fail it brings you back so you can try again. I also thinkn the break in the combat is a good thing especially after the long combat section with the invisible ninjas at the end of apprehension, the icthyosaur before that, and the long combat sections in on a rail before that.
I do completwely understand ammo scarcity though. I see how that can be frustrating especially with questionable ethics just around the corner.
@@ElkAndTurt It may be due to my dislike of how it was in the original game, with many a case of a door to before being present in the stage, despite there not being any purpose to it (you aren't escorting anyone or backtracking). With the many conveyor belts in one section one could easily get lost and go in circles. There's one part in which I believe you need to go through a furnace and take burning damage, despite common sense indicating that you shouldn't go that way. One other conveyor belt leading to the way forward is protected by a tripmine, which is nigh-impossible to avoid. If you don't have any satchel charges (which of there are only two in the stage), you can't avoid them, as one of the tripmines is around a corner that you can't shoot from a distance.
I can understand that a break from hard combat isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I always disliked the nature of platforming in non-platforming centric games. A lot of the time you end up jumping short and falling, or jumping too far and falling, with no means of controlling a mistaken jump, leading to a vicious cycle (though I will admit that I overestimated my memory of actually doing this in Residue Processing). Thankfully Black Mesa's version of Residue Processing is a lot fairer with a few more ammo drops and I don't think you need to burn yourself intentionally.
Valve prioritized player experience over realism in Half-Life 2. The trip to Kleiner's lab was going to be much longer including the factories and Manhack Arcade, but that's too long to go without any combat, so the lab was made close to the train station despite that not making sense.
The chapter is shortened in Black Mesa the Half Life 1 remake.
9:29 those are testers of Black mesa sweet voice
these screams are the screams of those who feel a sense of dread when playing on a rail. /s
anyways, this is my fav chapter. the atmosphere is strong and the combat racks up, keeping the player engaged is a constant focus as for the ending, man it feels so satisfying after all you go through. btw, keep up the great content, you got a sub
The purpose of the rocket is to close the holes that are technically entrances to xen from earth which none of it makes sence
The nihilanth kept the portals open
I recently loaded up HL and specifically played this section and I'm in the like it quite a bit group. It's a lot of fun fighting your way thru a large section of Black Mesa. Makes sense that Lambda would be far from Anomalous Materials and the only realistic way to get there would be through the lesser traveled and service pathways.
Blast Pit was an absolute blast.
I love this chapter because it shows that you started using the abandoned rusty railway system because there is no chance to progress on the surface and it feels like a safe bunker down the facility until you find out that the military thought of that and sent troops down there to hunt down anyone who tries to use it to escape.
My theory about the screams it that they originally belong to a cut enemy. You'd hear them in the distance via a trigger before you engage a nest of them in combat for the first time. If I remember correctly they where supposed to be flying/floating enemies similar to cacademons from Doom (but much smaller).
The Flocking Floater?
I don’t think flocking floaters where supposed to make that sound.
Some say it was supposed to be mr Friendly cut enemy from Half Life. But i don't know how they make that conclusion?
I heard some people theorize that theae were Houndeyes in the distance.
I find it hilarious that On A Rail can actually be completely faster by just going on foot normally. No speedrunning tricks, just walk like a normal person and occasionally take some shortcuts.
First time I played I just walked along the side of the tracks for most of the level lol
i like it because the music fit very well whit the chapter and the exploration whit the train and see how the H.E.C.U fighting whit the aliens
One of my favorite parts about Half-Life were the short times you were on the surface and battling the HECU if I'm correct.
But I absolutely love opossing force, I can play it over and never get tired. I even found myself playing it more than the main story.
Oh damn... Never noticed those screams when I played the chapter. It's been a while now, but that's really creepy! I love it!
i didnt know people disliked this and water hazard, i dont know why, in fact they are probably my personal favorites
I love every single part of Half-Life. It's such a unique experience that every part of it makes it what it is and what it'll forever be in my mind and heart. Never EVER in my playthrough was I ever like "oh man this part again...". Exploring maps and nooks and crannies of the maps is always a joy. Immersing yourself in the world building is just beautiful.
Long live Half-Life.
heck yeah love your videos~ another great one
I will probably say 95% of this chapter can be completed without the tram.
I actually love On a Rail. I enjoyed the explorative aspect of it, it feels very large and sprawling.
I like that we have some shortcuts if we don't use cart
4:29
Radiation hazard you are a gamer, At heart *are one of us*
I like on a rail. The one chapter I've never liked was gonarchs lair. When I first played it I felt like I was endlessly shooting it with no indication I was accomplishing anything other than wasting my bullets. The fight just feels confusing and janky and is plain annoying.
Powerful enemies around tons of blind corners, carts that drive off without me telling them to, elevators that kill me just because I was standing, a lot of walking around without the cart...
I really like this chapter because it tests my stealth skills + you don’t need the cart + rocket launch good + if you get stuck on a loop you are a certified dumb dumb
The worst part of the whole chapter is the stupid green box you have to crouch jump over, I spent 40 minutes trying to get over it and looking for the next part of the game without riding on the cart. Eventually I looked at a walkthrough and immediately felt stupid, the ending of on a rail is honestly one of my favorite moments in the game, so calm
ON A RAIL IS THE HIGHWAY 17 OF HL1
But more locked and less free
@@MinorLife10 INDEED
@Oni32 🤯🤯🤯
8:52 dark and gritty
Gwiddy
9:52 I like to imagine that the players who hate the level are the ones screaming in those sound clips
On the Screams part, the_horror3.wav is used in Interloper especially at the portal to the Nihilanth. the_horror4.wav is never used.
At "Interloper", it's the screams of the humans kidnapped and held on Xen. Y'can hear them in the red side chamber too.
On my first playthrough back in 2008 when I was 9 years old I absolutely hated On a Rail. It seemed all too long and hard for the little me, I didn't even know how to deal with the turrets and all other stuff. However every time I revisited the chapter I started loving it more and more to the point where it's my 2nd favorite chapter after Surface Tension which by the way, little 9 year old me also hated to the bone for being long and hard.
i actually find on a rail quite unsettling. the music, the screams, the feel of the entire abandoned railway system, and the fact it's so huge.
Great video bro
About water hazard it’s literally one of the best chapters for me I don’t think that it does slow the flow or the gameplay of the game actually some parts of that chapter are literally filled with adrenaline and I enjoy it so much!!!
A little long but a cool chapter!
While for on a rail....I used to hate it…but after watching this video..well.. I don’t hate or love it so much… it I think yes…it wasn’t that bad
I think Water Hazard flows greatly (pun intended).
i personally don't like on a rail because it's really fucking creepy
7:27 this part right here is your hint that you need to shoot the signs, the houndeye is positioned deliberately so that when you try to shoot it you most likely shoot the sign instead
The screams are theorized to be a threat from the nihlenth to freeman
Even with cheats and god mode i took 9 hours to finish that
Wait, you where supposed to kill the gargantuar in the electricity things? I just shot him and passed the chapter
I like on a rail, it might be one of my favorites, but I'd have to replay
the 3 horror.wavs i actually either heard them from cs 1.6 zombie mode servers or l4d1 (maybe even l4d2) kinda crazy that i actually never knew they actually exist in half life
I honestly have always loved this level. It might be one of my favorites. I can see where some may find it tedious, but I really enjoy it, personally.
Rewatching the video and hearing the screams gave me ptsd, When i first played half life 1 and went thru apprehension, i was playing at night and i was a kiddo, the damn screams haunted me for the rest of the night and if i remember correctly, you can also hear them in blue shift
Love your videos man, keep it up!
When you said some players took forever to realize you could shot the sign to change the rail carts direction..... I felt that
My issue with on the rail is that soldiers have traps and ambushes set up if you use the cart, so I avoided using the cart as much as possible and sneak along the rail looking out for ambushes.
Of course Rad Haz had to say Dark and gritty TM.
Amazing video! You should make more when you analyze levels from HL games.
I will take On A Rail over Lambda Core or Interloper any day. The former being a bit more complex and I find myself always "where to go" and the latter for being way too tough. In hard mode you struggle a lot in Xen.
Interesting that you pointed out the screams. As far as I'm concerned, those screams where made for Half-Life: Uplink. The part where the bodies were dragged. Same screams can be heard as well in the Interloper chapter.
There can be no realism in on a rail because this underground rail system doesn't actually connect to any of the base except where you get on, and where you get off. Neither does the monorail. Like every half life level it's just a pipe the player goes down with some greebles to make it resemble somewhere.
2:58 probably the blast ventilation fan
I love how the_horror_2 is reused in l4d1
Its always for me like "WHERE DID I GO"
"How did i change the position of the rail wtf ?" And sometimes its too much that make the chapter hard
for blast pit with the tenticle monster, if you throw a grenade into the black pit, itll "harm" the monster and it will withdraw into the hole momentarily, giving you enough time to run to the next room you need to
I hated On a Rail because not only was it so long, it is so fucking complicated.
the problem I have with blast pit is there's nothing telling you to kill the monster, and nothing telling you to back-track to kill it, I got stuck for so long before giving up and watching a walkthrough
Well, now that Radhaz has done his neutral point for On A Rail and PurpleColonel has done his video *for* it, I guess I need to do my devil's advocate video against On A Rail, now, huh? Eh, well I'm busy these days, so perhaps a comment analysis of the chapter would do better.
The main problem I find with On A Rail comes from its maze-like setup. I wouldn't have much of a problem with this in isolation, but the fact that it immediately follows multiple chapters based around backtracking (Power Up's hub with the train, Blast Pit's silo, and We've Got Hostile's silo door) makes the issue of the level being so non-linear incredibly apparent incredibly quickly. There's very little to distinguish the levels apart from one another, most of the visuals are the same all throughout the chapter. This is an excellent way to confuse a player, especially one who has gotten used to backtracking at this point. There's a sort of cognitive dissonance between the thoughts of "This is a linear track, that means there's one direction to go in" and "Wait... have I been here before?" What absolutely does not help is that, in many cases for On A Rail, this is an intentional design choice. I don't see why confusing players is an intentional choice here, but I digress, Half-Life 1's non-linearity remains a strong suite in a lot of areas.
The combat is fun throughout the chapter, but even it gets samey after just a few encounters. There are some attempts to spice things up here and there with the introduction of turrets and rockets, et cetera, but in the end, it all starts to blur together anyway. After the third or fourth pit stop of shooting soldiers hiding behind a sandbag barricade and tanking some damage from a rapid firing turret that needs grenades lobbed into it to stop, things just sort of start to feel uninspired. I know this is a loaded statement to make, but hear me out. Whereas the rest of the game places the player in new and varied environments with the same enemies (fighting soldiers during We've Got Hostiles versus fighting them in Questionable Ethics or Surface Tension, for example,) The cramped nature of On a Rail really starts to wear on the player much more quickly since, for a lot of On A Rail, there is very little cover for either the player or the enemies, turning the fights into fish-in-a-barrel sequences.
Another big issue with On A Rail stems from what was cut from the game due to a lack of time. On A Rail was supposed to feature Stukabats, a type of flying enemy that would perch on ceilings like bats and attack by swinging its claws, as well as flocking floaters, floating enemies who were cut due to a lack of time during development. Personally, I feel as though some extra enemy variation could have done some more justice to the chapter.
One more thing I wanted to mention is how there's just no real time to rest. I guess there isn't much of that anywhere in the game, but even sequences like the start of Residue Processing give the player some time to breathe. Even at the end of On A Rail, once the player has gotten out of the tunnels and killed the two conversing soldiers, there's that damned sniper that will randomly start shooting after an amount of time. I hate that guy so much! Why is he there!? Not to mention that the launch site repopulates with soldiers after the rocket is launched. This is another thing they changed from the beta, where, back then, in the very least, there was a room of living scientists for the player to rescue. In the final game they're just all dead.
TL;DR On a Rail bad because the levels look the same, there are areas that don't lead anywhere, there's no time to rest, and the gameplay gets boring quickly.
Does the sniper just eventually decide to start firing? Last I played, I noticed he spawned and started firing only after I picked up a health kit on top of some power box or whatever. If you don't pick that up, then I don't think he kicks in until after you've launched the satellite.