Creating the vocoder dialogue sound design was an absolute blast! I had so much fun while working and fine tuning them. I'm so blown away by this short. Honored to be a part of this tbh! :D
What gets me the most are the moans and grunts of the soldier in the last fight. Right after the "Its safe" line the absolute inhuman sound of the vocodor just turns the whole scene into a horror movie. Very well done.
I think it would've been a lot creepier if the soldier was able to use it's vocoder to mimic a normal human voice, only to have it distort on the last couple of words.
The way you can't tell, when it turns to shoot the rebel with the MP5, whether the sound it's making is agonized grunts from the bullets, sounds of exertion from moving with that damage being dealt to it, or just expression of anger at being attacked and interrupted during a transmission - there's not enough there to determine what it's thinking. It's impossible to read, making it only the more uncanny and inhuman.
@@TheGraySeed combine soldiers can't talk normally anyway, their vocal cords are linked directly to their radio to still be able to talk even while being out of breathe (since there's no air in their sentences, they don't have a recognizable voice between themselves)
@@Blitzozs Yeah have you ever played Half-Life 2 in VR on hard with no loading saves? Yeah didn't think so. Even Gordon's fucked, he only survives because of the meta-knowledge the player provides him.
They have slightly different voice procedures, too. The CPs is closer to that of IRL cops while those of Overwatch is closer to that of IRL militaries.
CP are human beings, they answer like humans would even after training. Combine soldier however is closer to biocomputer than human. "He" or rather "it" is shaped like human but under that armour there is nothing related to human. Sure there are smaller drones that prolly were engineered from regular people but if I remember correctly mostly if not all responses were preprogrammed into each unit (they dont think what to say but like a program shovel predefined answers that are closest to specific pattern - also vocal cords are expendable so there is only speaker left). Think of it like more of a bioterminator unit.
@@BOTmaster15 You're right in that Overwatch troops can't really be called a humans anymore in the traditional sense, but they are all made from regular humans. Mostly CPs that got "promoted" or actually volunteered. Transhuman soldiers are scary mfers, both in the way they think and look.
@@F.M671 at the start, around 0:13, you can hear the CPs talk. They had several “uhh” and “uhm” in their sentences, probably because they’re not used to it yet. Now skip to the part about the soldier. He speaks fluently and without any problem. Just like a robot.
6:35 I love how the Soldier's lack of humanity also prevents him from formulating a convincing lie. Even when trying to convince the rebels that he won't harm them, he still refers to them as both actively "hostile" and active "targets"!
As soon as I saw the civil protection body language being so good in the armored car I knew this would be another masterpiece, they are all nervous except for the soldier, showing his lack of humanity due to the modifications to which soldiers are subjected, the scenery and the action felt so real, and so brutal holy damn! Makes you realize how scary the Half-Life Universe truly would be... When you are not Gordon Freeman of course
And now imagine you are beeing sent against Anticitizen One. He already took out several squads of soldiers without breaking a sweat, what the fuck are you going to do?
@@jasperzanovich2504 realistically? Shoot him with a pulse round and he bleeds to death since they are insanely powerful and human tech that isn’t the size of an APC wouldn’t do shit to stop it.
I like the little detail at 4:16 showing that rebel's shotgun is loaded with slugs rather than buckshot. Buckshot has low penetration power, and would do very little against the heavy body armour that the Spikewall is wearing, so it makes sense to use a denser and more stable round.
@@FootOfOrion I know, but he's not using a rifle, or at least not THAT kind of rifle (the shotgun might be rifled though), so slug rounds are probably the best thing available given the weapon he has. The rest of the rebels have pistol caliber weapons, and the one guy with an assault rifle was the first to die, so the guy with the shotgun was really their best chance.
The shotgun round looks unusual. Considering we've seen the shotgun guy earlier in Anti-Citizens, he must have took it from the Combine Charger and that's why it worked against the heavily armored soldier
I absolutely love how you portray that even a group of rebels can hardly stand a chance against a single combine soldier. Also nice to see manhacks getting some much needed attention. Those things would be terrifying in real life.
Gordon can chew through combine soldiers because he's experienced (fighting HECU and Xen), well armed and very well armored. I'd guess the average rebel is poorly equipped and armed, without much real combat skill.
Puts the city 17 uprising into some perspective. Imagine what the initial riots were like before it turned into street fighting. You can probably picture wall hammer units acting as riot shield teams against a crowd of citizens, up until some one pulls a trigger on someone. It also goes to show how inspiring Gordon Freeman was during his time in HL2. The guy not only blazed through the city on his way out, but took the fight to the combine itself Given the supernatural nature of his arrival, and no doubt that vortigaunts spoke of it, to the average citizen, Gordon was a godsend
@@nicholastuttle2445 this animation gives gordon an almost legendary stature, id like to think he doesn't chew through soldiers as much as outsmarting them, with him being a scientist and all that. fueled by PTSD and morphine the whole time.
@@nicholastuttle2445 To get a better feeling for realism, play HL2 with 50% capped health, no armor and maximum speed is walking. I once roleplayed in New Vegas with a realistic amount of gear (like completely realistic, what i would actually likely carry in that situation) and compared to a regular playthrough it was extremely hard.
@@nicholastuttle2445 Gordon can chew through Combine soldiers because he's the protagonist of a video game, it wouldn't be much fun if instead of 50 health points soldiers had 200 like Gordon, and could aim worth a damn.
Some of the best "fight coreography" in any animation I've seen. No flashy movement and wasted opportunities left, right and center. Everyone's actually trying.
I really like how, in the vehicle, Spikewall is just sitting there. The metrocops have their nervous ticks, if he were more human that probably would've annoyed him - but he's completely unphased, it's inconsequential. Only the mission directive matters, other things barely even register. It's details like this that make your work a cut above.
He have his orders, and that is matters, since failure is leading to utilisation of failed unit and rebuilding him. So he is not gonna rest till work is done.
Yeah, I always love when SFM animators show off the difference between the Metro Cops (who are just people in the suits) and the other Combine Soldiers who have actually been "upgraded" by the combine
@@Freelancer837 Yeah, that's why I really enjoyed the police station segment from the beginning of Entropy Zero 2; it was cool just seeing what these guys get up to when they aren't out on duty.
Dude the sheer PUNCH of the Spikewall's bullets is so damn sexy. Every shot fired pierces every plywood wall sending a piece of raw unfiltered "FUCK YOU" energy to whoever is sorry enough to be in the Spikewall's line of sight. The scene where he just spams the shotgun through the wall suppressing the rebel as much as he can, its so brutal. I LOVE IT.
Uhh, half life happens in Europe mostly, I forgot which country, but it's not any kind of wood, apartments made either of brick or concrete, but since most of the apartments are mostly old here it's a bricks. Even the inner walls, is like 1 brick thick at least. So that shit is very hard punch.
I think the thing that scares me the most about the soldier is the way everything just cuts off after it dies. There’s clear agony, it reaches for its missing “eye”, it wheezes in pain clearly not completely dead yet, and then lights out. It’s just gone. Like it got unplugged. Like Overwatch realized the unit was beyond repair so it just switched it off. It just dies so unnaturally and machine-like.
State of malfunction and panic, death can hit humans the same way. But for something to be half machine half man... The kinetic factor is what draws out the "wiry abrubt death"
@@peterprokai1329 Though this is more of a positive sideeffect more than anything. If anything overwatch pulls the killswitch so that no information can be forcefully extracted.
iirc they're actually still dying and drowning in blood, but Overwatch just recognizes the sound as unuseful radio noise so they're just wailing in agony, all sound being drown out by the screech of their vitals monitors flatlining, while their transponders are remotely shut off by her to clear the air waves. as heavily modified and twisted by metal and wires as they are, they're still largely living beings. despite the surgeries replacing their eyes, ears, vital organs, digestive tracts, the combine has yet to find a suitable and convenient artificial replacement for blood, bones, sinew and brains. anything alive still takes a minute to turn off after you pull the plug.
Did NOT expect this to be so violent. God, the screams as that one rebel had his arm blown off were visceral. Absolutely love it. 10/10 work, as usual.
I loved that scene too! The violence is on point👌 The second shot going through the wall and making a bigger hole also shows that the soldier takes no prisoners and instead makes sure everyone in his wake is dead.
Reminds me of sandstorm, the groans, screams and cries of your enemies is a sudden break from the carnage and gunfight that makes the game a fantastic one.
The camera angles the colour correction the expected door switch the close ups mise en scene and cinematography is outstanding, top notch high quality stuff.
I am so extraordinarily grateful that you use your skills in part to bring us such high quality content, and don't sequester your talent. Hope you continue making these studio level edits for months to come.
One detail I really liked about this is just how heavy the soldier is. He towers over the CPUs, he's wearing heavy plate armor, and it shows in how he moves. He doesn't change direction quickly when running, he breaks down a door just by body-slamming it, his footsteps shake the camera, and he takes shot after shot at close range without ever being knocked off balance. He takes a slug to the back almost at point blank, and he STUMBLES. The only thing that really knocked him down was dying.
I absolutely love the transistion at 4:40, making you think that the Combine are breaking down the door to the room the rebels are in, only show us it's a different room, great way to induce tension.
@@iucas7291 You thought they hid in the same room that they planted an explosive…? And even after you saw them walk through the door from the hallway outside? Bro…it’s called framing and expectation subversion, put it together.
I noticed after watching Anti-citizens that the shotgunner is the same guy with the CP mark on his foreheard and that he's wearing Wallhammer's chestplate. Love the attention to detail, makes him seem much more like a badass seeing him survive.
I don't think It's wallhammers chestplate. Wallhammer was way too big for that. Looks more like an ordinal's chestplate. Also we see that he gets captured after anti-citizens in one of his other videos, so if he took it from wallhammer it would have been confiscated. The ordinal chestplate would have to have been acquired after he escapes custody.
6:11 Among many other details others have pointed out, I LOVE the detail of the female rebels actions. She empties the revolver, which barely does any damage to the Combine soldier, but it kept throwing his aim off, making him miss two shots, buying a second of time for the others to get out of the hallway, into cover. If she had dived or ran into the doorway on her right instead of straight forward in panic, she likely would've made it.
another amazing detail is when the combine soldier shot through the wood into the guy, it filled the guy's head with wood splinters, feel like that's something 99% of animators would miss out on
I'm literally scared to re-watch that whole scene just because it was so damn scary. Every shotgun shot made me flinch and I felt exactly how the last rebel did knowing he could end up like the others and not knowing if he could prevent it, also knowing that if he gave up then maybe the death wouldn't be fast.
@@feritye767 That weapon he's using is absolutely vicious too. I mean one hit just rips humans in half, even with a little armor. And these guys have inhuman accuracy and speed
0:40 The contrast between the metrocops and the soldier is frightening. The metrocops are tapping their feet and fidgeting their fingers to mitigate their anxiety, and the soldier sits in complete silence. It shows the difference between a trained human (Civil Protection Team) and a transhuman created for battle (Spikewall).
And as well, the size and stature, and the weight - the metrocops, well, the truck shifts under them as it will, sure. But the soldier makes a dedicated carrier for metrocops and prisoners creak and groan on its suspension as he moves. He's got that front seat not just out of leadership priority and respect from the others, but because he's physically completely different to the point that he'd change the vehicle's handling on a side seat. And it stays apparent later, whether it's his very, _very_ distinct footsteps during the final parts, or just him towering over the others and having a shape that doesn't look quite right at times despite still looking like just a bulky human at others. And his reactions in the other scenes, like when they're all running and he has notably different body language, more controlled than the others.
@@ultmateragnarok8376 Also notice how as soon as the exit the vehicle, the CP´s draw their weapons and nervously scan the area, where as this big motherfucker just gets out of the truck zero F´s given. He doesn´t give a shit if he lives, gets shot or dies in the process. Man´s there on a mission. And he´ll get it done one way or the other.
to be fair they're literally made to be mostly robot with limited sentience for creativity, so it's gonna take some punishment for it to go down and its easier to armor
@@weirdgamer9566 They are not being more robotic in reactions, not slower, but much more faster, augmentation was supposed to make them less humane, no sense of fear, sorrow, or doubts, clean serving of orders, also the elite combines, as we're said in lore, can be respawned via mind keeping shit in citadel or elsewhere. Also part of the augmentation is biotic other is mechanical, they are not cyborgs or mutants, they are very good combination of it, machine and flesh. They still eat and drink since they operating as organic being, what Is more confusing how working synthetic airships, drons and striders?
I believe that most ( if not all ) combine soldiers and up are vat grown with personalities imprinted on them from successful soldiers that were either captured or turned collaborator during the first years of occupation, once the combine got what they thought they needed from the planet they exported most acquired assets offworld to fight in their multiversal wars, after that, they subjected the remaining humans to a slow and painful extinction
One of my favorite details of the short is the brutality of the weapon the soldier uses and his wheezing through the helmet as he runs through the building, hunting the rebels. It's almost as if he's pushing his body to the limit every time he runs in armor that is extremely bulky and heavy. Love your animations, man
@@wll1500 That _is_ pain. Pain isn't something that exists to torment us, it's there to let us know we are sustaining serious damage. So something analogous to it would have to exist even in these heavily modified post-humans. Or perhaps they just left that particular response mostly unchanged. Either way, it is a requirement for a functional soldier
@@wll1500 Considering they have their vocal chords removed and replaced with vocoders, probably wired to respond directly to impulses from the brain, I doubt it. It's smart because even if your supersoldier gets hit in the lungs, he can still call out one more time on the net and let his squad/Overwatch know, before expiring. Anyway, respirations or lack thereof shouldn't effect his "voice" at all. Shock to the nervous system from extreme pain however, that probably would cause the kind of godawful, unintentional racket we hear in this video. Extremely well done
I LOVE how the Combine Soldier is introduced as more of a super soldier compared to the regular human CP cops. There’s honestly nothing better than these beautiful Half Life SFMs.
The Combine commandos like the one here are pretty much super soldier tbh. Modified and programmed to fight, donning enough armor to shrug off most small arms, inhuman strength, reflex and durability. And yet they are just the local militants of the Combine, and not the main forces that defeated Earth in 7 hours. No wonder why only our main characters can stand a chance against them.
They pretty much are - Combine soldiers are modified cyborgs. Your average combine soldier will probably have little issue overpowering the average man.
Yeah, people give the Overwatch soldiers shit for their AI and gameplay, but I've always thought that realistically, they would be quite formidable. More machine than man, with little in the way of emotion, and combat training programmed into their brain. They would be terrifying, not to mention the alien weaponry they use. I mean that plasma shotgun puts any real hand held gun to shame in terms of destructive power.
6:16 I love how you can see how visibly annoyed he is from the gunfire and tries to ignore it at first but just goes "LET ME FINISH MY REPORT ASSHOLE" and just deletes them
That's more than annoyance, it's pain. The Combine had to leave that particular biological response intact. His plates soaked up most, if not all of that burst... But all that energy still has to go somewhere. It'd hurt like hell getting stitched like that, even if we're talking about "only" an intermediate cartridge and your armor stops full penetration. It is also possible at least one _did_ get through the armor or a gap between plates
@@jakeg3733I don't think one got through the armour. Still getting hit by a bullet, even with a bulletproof vest now still hurts a lot. Spikewall was shot *27 TIMES* in a short space of time with multiple types of ammo. He got hit with a hopper mine. Shot 10 times with an AK (I think hit him as it is hard as he's under rubble) 3 times with a Revolver (confirm all hit) 14 times with the MP5 (confirm all hit) and afterwards 2 times with a Shotgun So no wonder he got really mad and will two primal screams as well even with this brainwashing and pain inhibitors. Spikewall's a trooper.
@@thesuperintendent4290 You may be right, and body armor might stop penetration but all that energy has to go somewhere, into it's body in this case. Hurts like hell That said, given the volume of fire it (not human anymore, it's an "it" to me) was subjected to and the design of the armor, I think it's likely one got through. Surely the Combine, with their mastery of human neurology, make use of some type of pain inhibitors to keep their troopers going long as possible. I'd wager only a penetrating shot causing serious damage could push them over the line like that The other thing is body armor is technically only rated for one hit, after that all bets are off although the plates are designed to withstand multiple impacts, and often can depending on a variety of factors. Look up the first MoH in Afghanistan, the guy took a bunch of rounds before his chest plate failed and one got to his heart. And this is high tech alien ballistic plate. Still, they take enough hits and it'll fail
@@jakeg3733the Spikewall’s protective gear is *soft body armour* (seen when it first gets out of the transport and deploys the Manhack - the elbow armour flexes). Despite this, it appears to deflect most shots like it’s hard steel. that’s some crazy alien shit
Man this is so fucking sick. The sheer intensity of the power and force from the Combine soldier's shotgun is absolutely brutal, every single shot holy fuck. _This_ is exactly how intense I want the Combine to be portrayed. Cold, efficient, militant, and very very lethal. Everything felt nice and weighty, solid and heavy. They exude so much strength in this raw, horrifyingly-cruel brutality. Absolutely perfect.
This is one of the best animations I've seen. Is simply amazing and whatever I'm going to say I'm completely sure everybody already said it, it's just amazing.
The sheer fear of the CPU at 5:41, and the repeating "NO, NO NO NO NO!" shows how Human the CPU are. He values his life, to an extent that he begs to not die.
A bit misleading when you refer to the civil protection as CPU, considering how combine soldiers are humans that actually operate with a combine CPU (computer chip) inside their brain. Civil protection being regular humans are referred to as just CP.
1, We don't know what's inside the head of a combine soldier so what you're saying is pure speculation. 2, I wouldn't think a singular person will get confused by the comment as computer parts can't scream in fear to my knowledge. @@PhamvanDong
give this man 50 cans of red bull, a couple million dollars, a super computer and 2 years of time, he'll make a movie better than hollywood, i guarantee it
Now I'm sad he can't realistically do any of this full length without literally sacrificing himself to do so. Unless we crowdfund, but again I don't see it being fruitful I suppose.
You can see at 4:16 that the Rebel's shotgun is loaded with a slug round instead of buckshot, which has better penetrating power compared to the notorious weakness of buckshot to body armor. Makes sense considering how tough combine soldiers are, and additionally is more precise allowing, for that accurate headshot at the end and the (relatively) clean wound. Its a nice little detail that highlights how experienced the shotgun soldier is at combating the combine
It’s cool because in half life alyx the shot gun shells in the game are buckshot and when fighting the charger it takes several hits with it to kill it and seeing how this rebels shot gun got him in two shots was just amazing
With this you can tell why Gordon is very much highly respected in the Rebel alliance. Here a group of them almost got slaughtered by a single Combine Soldier, meanwhile Gordon casually strolls into the Nova Prospekt and Citadel, destroys everyone, then leaves.
@@arthurchadwell9267 it is called the Hazardous Environment suit, HEV suit for short, and it did get upgraded to have a shield generator along with faster movements and reaction time none to dissimilar with what Spartans can do. However to be honest… Spartans have better armor overall and a recharging shield.
0:52 - TheParryGods delicate obsession over the simplest of details is always amazing. The CP's weapon has they combine brand and logo over it. Combine still manufacture products for people
also yeah, definitely. i imagine that by hour 5 they'd most likely obliterated all of Earth's major armies, probably governments too. Though, Doctor Breen could have also had a part in it. I assume being the closest allowed him to communicate better, as well as being the only one willing to give the Combine terms that were agreeable to them. (ie basically slavery but I'm in control) but yeah, 1 day of full on conflict? They'd be lucky if any human buildings at all remained.
the Overwatch establishment on Earth most likely entails very little to almost nothing of what the Combine invasion of Earth was like since most of the policing entities on Earth are post-human troops and reversed engineered human assets/war machines. The Striders & Gunships (Synths) are the most likely to have been in the 7 hour war, yet the overall nature of what left the Overwatch to police Earth is a mystery. The raising the bar book described the Combine (probably in a general term to the collective race as a whole, or even it’s origin) as a “ever evolving synthetic virus”. Which is pretty significant since early concept art of the Combine synths would suggest that these alien entities constantly mimic and adapt technology against what they invade. Also evolving and weaponizing synthesis/biology. For example, the early gunship concept art seemed arachnid-like, with an implanted nose canon that was like a projectile machine gun instead of a pulse canon, which leads me to believe the gunship was a root of Combine synthetic creatures that permanently adapted itself to Earths environment while “mimicking” the tech of a military helicopter to hunt down human resistance. So that’s probably a good idea of what the Combine was like in it’s true nature, at least in the beta, but I’d like to think that its the same in retail, but the Combine influence on Earth suggests that they adapted and absorbed many human forms of medical logic and organization, primarily of course militarism of human characteristics. Which led to everything from the use of advanced A.I, radio connections and codes like a hive mind, and highly advanced armies of trans-humans soldiers to inject and sterilize human “malignants” of the likes. Everything in order with serial numbers, symbology, labels etc. In short, what the Combine was like before all that, most likely may have been very different to the peace keeping influence on Earth 20 years after the invasion. Probably like what the RTB book had described. A hyper-invasive, ever evolving synthetic virus. Evolving, assimilating, adapting… indifferent, brutal reconfiguration from the void… combine… humans were probably the first species that it encountered that were advanced in such a way. (The Combine apparently would rather discard humanity into forgotten extinction but their out of the box thinking is unique to them. The detection of local teleportation technology, & the alleged breakthrough of it would lead to the attempt of extracting it. Which is hard since it seems the only ones who could master the local teleportation is limited to just a few scientist from Black Mesa. The Combine could as easily siphon the entire population of a team of scientists to give them the tech, but with how abstract this situation is, it means the Combine Earth forces have to try and extract it by strangely forward means of hunting them down with infiltrate and destroy teams of post human troops. ironically, until absorbing human logic & intelligence, the Combine behaves like an immune system, while the humans opposing the Combine with their flexible & “magical” thinking is to the Earthbound Combine, a fatal disease that must be annihilated at all cost. An interesting & poetic way to see of how much a horrifying force like the Combine are so much as to be almost afraid of the free will, intellect & tenacity of humans… The Overwatch A.I literally enforces orders to Overwatch troops AND metrocops like as if they were white blood cells… “Sacrifice. coagulate. Clamp…” The cold and unfeeling response to troops being KIA… “Unit deserviced”… The Combines perception to humans unwillingness to be slaves and resist is akin to an immune system detecting the presence of cancer/disease… out of the systems control, spreading rapidly, a danger to the entire body… “amputate” the cancer from the body… Humanities will to be free & resists… their flexible “magical thinking”… to not be apart of the body… to potentially make it fall apart and die… That’s how threatened the Combine influence on Earth are of humanities distinct intellect… they’ve never came across such a species most likely. It’s so thought provoking that a leftover presence/influence of what is literally an inter-dimensional cosmic horror of a viral infection, once revolutionised by human science and logic, resembled the function of what they were supposed to infect and exploit, till it dies… that’s what the Combine presence is doing to earth. A virus that functions like a collective body, sucking a planet dead and dry… risking a deadly infection trying to extract a crucial technology, from something so uncertain and complex, unlike anything the immune system is used to… that’s why they were so brutal in their oppression. removing humanities ability to reproduce, yet the resistance, backed by higher forces could still topple the entire thing… Gordon would be that final nail in the coffin…) The goal to allow humanity to live on so that they could develop local teleportation is what made the Combine ghostly presence on Earth to reconsider some slow & indecisive process.. it’s very clear that the Combine itself is either very unmotivated/careless or unable to commit a heavy process on Earth to extract this alleged local teleportation… probably both. it’s possible the Combine views Earth as a side project handled by a satellite/ghost presence to undertake the slow extraction, given very slim resources to work with… like as if the Combine influence on Earth is really really hard to maintain on Earth, so the larger Combine body would rather focus on other things in its expansion… perhaps the Combine expansion is so large and distant from the Earth frontier that There wasn’t much focus or care for the operation on Earth, and many resources wouldn’t be needed to undertake the process to extract an alleged technology. I personally think the Combine for some reason swept Earth aside in negligence of any real effort to maintain the underfunded outpost, and just gave out the resources that they did for the assumed chance of extracting a critical technology. Back to the main subject. the Combine before Earth probably didn’t even use the concept of fielding a common symbols, since they were probably an inter-dimnsional horde of evolving, synthetic invaders that were more virus-like (that probably looked insect-like than anything else) than a hyper-organized, A.I driven force that resulted of the Combines contact with human logic and technology on Earth.
@@StalinSpokeYiddish this was actually really interesting, now i want more info on the combine before earth.., how their society functioned before arriving on earth. i think the rtb book proposes a really good theory for it.
Its even worse when you learn that all the citadels on earth (at least 24), were dropped from the sky through the portal storms all over the earth at the same time. Not only is dropping a 2 mile high building like a bomb a devastating kinetic attack, the citadels then erupted billions of synths and robots to assimilate everything, and they did this everywhere on the planet. There was no defensive choke point, no corridor to build through defences, earth was blindsided from all directions at once and genocided into submission. The combine you see in game is no more than a tiny security team performing counter-insurection. Earth is of so little value that the combine dont even keep their own soldiers there, they just recruit from the local population instead, just like real life when america sends "advisors" to recruit locals for counter-terrorism and maintain order without hardly any of their own resources. Thats why the advisors are called advisors in-game ;) theoretically they arent even high ranking members themselves, makes you wonder how far up the ladder goes.
6:44 You can feel the desperation of that person and the brutality of the combines here at the same time. This short film is simply spectacular, I have no words to describe it. I stopped dreaming a Half-Life movie would exist a long time ago but the with the last tf2 movie and others animationes like this are giving me that hope back!
I wish Combine mines were introduced earlier in the game before you had the gravity gun so that you actually had to avoid them rather than just use them as ammunition. This scene actually does the mines justice---they're an even more horrific version of the bouncing betty. The rebels had to use risk their lives unearthing the mines and hacking into them while Gordon just has to flick his gravity gun at it.
Well when it came to the hoppers u could just easily dispose of them with a few shots, which is how I dealt with them because I was too lazy to pull out the gg
@@padmanabhanvaidyanathan7182you can get rid of em with explosives in my first playthrough of half life I did not know that the grav gun could pick up roller mines so I used grenades to destroy them
It feels weird though because for me I rooted for the combine here there the bad guys yeah but it feels good to see the combine military win since there usually made a mockery of.
I like how you can see which rebel is relatively inexperienced compared to some of the others. Like Rebel Revolver for example, right before engagement begins. She has her finger on the trigger, which is not proper gun safety. However, Shotgun rebel, who is the one who takes out the Combine soldier, is the one who has his finger off the trigger. Great attention to detail that you don't see in a lot of other places! >:)
Valve don't really understand how dark the world they have created is. They make the characters too cheerful for a world where there is practically no hope for a better future. Here the atmosphere is nailed perfectly.
6:20 the fact he was still alive and let out a second scream was genuinely terrifying. You portrayed the unfiltered brutality of a combine soldier perfectly.
I'm glad but am genuinely surprised he was mercy killed. I genuinely felt bad at the scream. Even the gasps or random dying vocalizations from the CP made me feel bad. Goddamn it SFMs like this aren't added to some kind of art history list I'm gonna be upset cuz this is by all definitions art
It's nice symmetry as well - they're both stuck in the same situation on opposite sides of this. The Combine forced it to be this way, but while one of them joined and the other rebelled, neither can really change anything.
I really like how the two CP units in the truck are visibly scared. They're nervous. They're going to investigate gunfire; they could die that day. But the Combine soldier has no such hang-ups. He doesn't care if he dies or not. He only cares if he finishes the task at hand.
Absolutely fantastic. Very lore-friendly. 6:35 "Attention hostiles targets, you can come out now, it is safe" is a classic thing the combine would say, soldiers try to trick you into thinking they are friendly many times in both Half Life 2 and Alyx.
It’s probably a phrase they are programmed to say when they lose sight, a creepy machine trying to imitate behaviour but failing from never bothering to be sincere p.
Yeah, idk if spikewall is a canon since this is the only time i had ever seen one but it seems to be a wall hammer combined with an ordinal. It has the heavy shotgun but uses cells instead of shells(kinda like the ar1 ordinals uses but a shotgun), Has access to manhack(s), decently mobile, seems to be the Squad leader, good armor(except the head). But minus the shield of WH.
For those that don't know Tom is obviously the cat. (2:37) I actually emailed Parry God directly, and he told me the next film is about Tom and Tattoo escaping by teleporter to the G-Man's party mansion and the Combine isn't allowed in cos they're fucking nerds.
You know what makes a good episode, movie or even a short film? When you know the person and group of people making it has passion for it. You can feel that they love what they do in every animation they make. There's no rush, minimal imperfections (barely any) and the voice acting is art. I love seeing the final stage of any project that was cared for and raised with love and passion. It's rewarding as a person to watch this masterpiece. Thank you for your effort
Oh my god brother. Rarely does anything affect me the way this short story did when I saw it. Whatever it is you're doing or going for; you're doing it damn well my man. Please don’t ever stop. Such an amazing display of depth and detail showing the darkness of their world while having to fight and live through such a traumatic and emotional experience. My mind is still blown.
Love the contrast at the beginning in the transport. Both CP's are fidgeting and restless. The Combine unit is unmoving. He's not human. The CP's scream "NO!" when they're about to die, and the Combine shuts down like a dying machine.
I love how at 6:16, after the combine soldier gets shot, he recoils at first before groaning and locking his shoulders to fire. It really makes the combine seem human, as he gets spooked by the sudden gunfire before getting angry and smoking the rebel. It’s those types of little details that I love. Also, whoever voiced the rebel who gets his arm blown off is an amazing voice actor, from him shouting to get away to him just screaming so convincingly.
I don't think it was angry, due to having everything non-combat related removed from it so emotions would be removed too. It's probably just its body being pumped up with drugs to increase movement speed, awareness, and reflexes so the body has to compensate with harder breathing.
spikewall does not seem too human, you should look at its general body shape at the beginning where its visible from all sides and the joints when it walks
If you run it back frame by frame, at 6:18 when it zooms up to Spikewall before he locks his shoulders and engages the MP5 rebel, you can see blood spurting from gunshot wounds in his lower and upper back. I think the recoiling/hunching was from pain before his biobag got painkillers and stimulants into him.
@@DolphinsAreWeird While the Transhuman soldiers' humanity is heavily suppressed, it still exists to some degree. In the game Alyx, the soldiers can all laugh out of sadism. In Half Life 2, the soldiers can panic and are apparently affected by speeches if that one speech by Breen in Nova Prospeckt indicates anything. The Universal Union may change a lot of an individual, but at a certain point, it's just not feasible to remove all of a subject's humanity, assuming they could at all. It's probably ideal to at least retain a few human traits for optimal performance while suppressing the other ones.
I keep coming back to this video every once and a while and re-watch it. In hopes that we still might see more like this in the future. Your HL2 stuff is just AMAZING.
by the time hl2 happens they've taken all the actual good stuff offworld to fight other wars, leaving only what they thought was necessary to hold earth
6:02 Love the fact that when "Spikewall" shoots blindling through the cupboard he hits the rebel's thorax, and on the other hand when het gets a clear shot on another in the corridor, he aims and hits the rebel right in the head...Truly a killing machine
I love how, as Spikewall gets more injured, he continuously makes audible noises of agony that sound so painful that you'd think it'd be enough to give him pause or some physical hinderance. Yet, due to how utterly modified his body is, he is completely divorced from any human sense of bodily preservation and instead continues to push the enemy no matter what. He vocalizes his debilitating injuries, but his body is completely removed from it as if the two were entirely different beings.
Maybe they vocalize their injuries to let know to other combines they are being attacked or fool the attacker into thinking that they are less capable now.
One mine killed only two of CP units, while 3-rd "Respawned", Spike only lost his manhack drone, barely give a shit to any shot he received, only thing that actually hurt him was the slug shell that was directly shoted at his eye, and still, if he was a bit more durable or wound less lethal, that guy would be another bloodstains on dust covered floor.
@@user-CPU-APF Imagine two Spikewall soldiers like him. *shudder* This rebel squad only fought a literal patrol team yet lose 3/5 (or 4/5 even, given the silence at the end) of it's members. And not even a full team, they were taken out by a single, lone, soldier. Really hammered the fact that if the Combine wanted the rest of mankind dead, they would have done that already.
I love the chilling quiet after the combine falls, and Tom not responding really evokes the feeling of shock and sudden isolation from how quickly everything and everyone fell
Idk if it's been said yet, but I especially love the voice work here. Like, @ 6:58, the soldier's grunts sound so visceral. He sounds pissed and injured at the same time, and it's effectively conveyed even through the vocoding. Fantastic work to everyone involved in this project.
I don't think he was pissed, due to having everything non-combat related removed from it so emotions would be removed too. It's probably just its body being pumped up with drugs to increase movement speed, awareness, and reflexes so the body has to compensate with harder breathing.
I really have no words. Your work is incredible and it's getting better and better. You definitely deserve a reward for your effort. Creating such a video surely takes a lot of time, but I have to say that the wait is worth it. Please continue doing what you're doing, you deserve many more subscribers.
I absolutely love the fact that the rebels in your videos get a wider variety of weapons than they do in the games. Really hammers home the fact that no matter what we use, the combine are just way stronger than us.
Right? I immediately noticed the AKS-74U, it would make sense there would be quite a collection of Soviet arms in City 17, as most reference sources for the art team were straight from Sofia, Bulgaria, a country that was a very loyal satellite state to the USSR. Their army consisted of almost all Soviet equipment even by the 7 hour war.
I have a Google play balance that's expiring, and I love your work so thought I'd pass it on to you. Keep up the Half-Life videos, they are incredible!
IT WAS DONE VERY COOL. God, the sounds, the animation. Everything is at the highest level! You guys have done an amazing job. I wish half life 2 would look so serious.
I've just noticed the guy at 3:09 is the same one from the ANTI-CITIZENS animation, he also fought one of these in that animation. Hence why he said "They don't go down easy, trust me." I would absolutely love a connecting story from these animations and it looks like you're already slyly doing so. Amazing.
I love rewatching this and seeing new details. The rebel shotgunner, who features in a couple other stories, has clearly seen action as his bulletproof vest has a shotgun pellet spread over it, implying either he got lucky taking a hit at one point, or that it was scavenged from the dead, be that fallen Combine or fallen rebels. The metrocops are kind of clueless in some parts; while they know what they're here to do they defer to Spikewall to make decisions of its own or directly relay them from Overwatch. The leaves swirl around the truck in its wake as real leaves do in the air currents caused by large vehicles. And of course the other details I've noticed before remain incredible. So much good stuff is in this.
You did an amazing job man! I have never ever seen anything like this. The shots were so photorealistic, the way you told the story, the way certain shots were taken from certain angles. Your work speak for itself and it speaks volumes. Best of luck for everything man!❤
The deadpan delivery on the "You can come out now. It is safe. (ಠ ‿ ↼)" was amazing 😂 Glad to see the Combine still haven't mastered lying in those 10 years since HL:A
HLA is only 5 years before HL2. This is only a year after that. But yeah, I really like the bad lying, trying to make themselves seem more human than they are.
@@czajkowski2352 I was merely correcting the "10 years since HLA" part (because this video is only 1 year after HLA), not so much how the Combine changed since then. In that regard, you're right.
This is fucking high art. The way the shelf explodes and it penetrates the man, the different stances on each of the soldiers as they walk, the pure tension and atmosphere through the sound, cinematography, lighting, and body language is just top notch. Directors working with tens of millions are struggling to do what you're making dude.
You've really brought the half life alyx universe to life in every one of your videos. It's made me appreciate its visual design more than even the base game managed to. Well done.
This is outstanding cinema. I am astounded that you haven't teamed up with a 'Hollywood Type' producer to make a film or series based on this universe and the myriad of stories and offshoots that are possible. The whole HL thing has been missed by the industry, whilst dudes flying around in capes have been the focus. Honestly, someone needs to look at the obvious potential here. The writing and detailed animation (angles and tension) of this short are phenomenal. The 'jacked up adrenaline' captured in the close-up of the boot at the beginning actually set the stage and gave an insight into the fear, trepidation, and exhilaration felt by soldiers and law enforcement entering a potentially dangerous situation (I'm retired military myself, so I can relate). Thank you very much for taking the time and making the effort to bring together a piece of excellent cinema.
The manhack failing to make the turn in the hallway caught me off-guard. That shotgun to the head was as brutal as the critical headshot in RE2 Remake.
@@Hanfgurkenhasser I love the "realism" of brutality here. Tired of boring movie-like scenes. This is awesome! Shows the reason to fear combine soldiers, to fight them.
I'm a huge fan of everything combine and I loved this. Really great showing the CP seemingly getting "revived" by his suit/drugs after the mine explosion. They're commonly dosed with "anti-fatigue" rations which are most likely some form of stimulants. The Spikewall is an amazing model and I love how he operates. Great work, would enjoy seeing more long videos like this with a focus on certain special types of Combine unit even if they're fan made. I'd die to see a Combine Elite or Assassin short.
Oh holy shit, I feel like the Combine Elite doesnt get enough emphasis of how terrifying they are. I mean sure theres EZ:2, but thats a privileged unit, not the regular souless one.
Absolutely incredible work! I just can't stop watching your animations! Please keep it up! I'm an animator as well, and your content has inspired me to try my hand at a Half-Life animation as well sometime :)
THIS is the type of "adult animation" I think we need more of. there's definitely some other independent shows (that I shan't name) that come to mind when talking about adult animation, and IMO, they're fine*, not to mention that this is already using an existing IP, too, but imagine an animated series using an original IP with a similar tone & atmosphere to this. it would be SO GOOD. I can only wish for so much, but at the very least, I sincerely hope you continue making stuff like this, because the formula you have here is extremely engaging, and as far as I've seen on this platform, entirely unique to your channel. *I am a simple man
Weird noises it makes at the last fight. Is it breathing? Is he in pain? Can he even feel anything? The way he grunts sounds almost as if he's pissed. He might be scared. He is alone there after all. No no I'm imagining things. There is no humanity left in that machine. It's just a tool designed to accomplish a task and it failed to do so. I love how you portrayed the Spikewall. It looks and talks inhuman, like a machine. But under great stress you can see that slight bit of humanity seeping out under his thick armour.
Thank you! These lines were titled "angry grunts" but what I wanted to convey was more of just a vocal reaction to pain that they do both in HLA and HL2 mixed with a tinge of anger. The vocoder does amplify the anger feeling even on lines that were just wheezing.
Oh my god this was absolutely amazing, every single second made me feel like I was watching an Official Valve Animation. They're seriously missing out on a LOT of talent if they don't contact you because of these amazing animations.
@s0nnyburnett as much as I love valve, this is true especially at valve when staff is limited and a lot of the company needs to focus on something in order for it to see the light of day
I love how this gigantic soldier weighed down by the size of his armor is still nimble and maneuverable. You came tell this isn’t a grunt thrown into some armor plates, this thing has been born and trained with the weight in mind
i severly love the fact that you get to see the contrast between the currently human 'civil protection' fellows and the almost inhuman combine soldier. when they passed the doorway the soldier was perfectly calm and didn't do much of anything aside from walk, but the cps all walked by in varying forms of relaxed/stressed the one with his gun at his hip casually walking, the one with a hand on his belt, the one walking almost simmilar to the soldier, and the one nervously checking already swept rooms. 10/10 would remove my memories so i can see it for the first time all over again
id love to see a timelapse of the process, i find it so much harder to animate in s2fm than in blender, especially with striders and other weird legged creatures, it would be awesome seeing the s2fm master showing his process
![PROTECTORS - A Half-Life: Alyx Short [S2FM]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/z7sJfGGs_cU/mqdefault.jpg)
![PROTECTORS - A Half-Life: Alyx Short [S2FM]](/img/tr.png)
![ANTI-CITIZENS - A Half-Life: Alyx Short [S2FM]](/img/n.gif)
Creating the vocoder dialogue sound design was an absolute blast! I had so much fun while working and fine tuning them. I'm so blown away by this short. Honored to be a part of this tbh! :D
Damned good job
Goddamn man, nice iob. You made something comparable to the originals created by Valve.
And a damn good job too, mate! I barely even recognize my own voice (Victor 9-2), I sound like an actual Half-Life character!
Bravo.
Amazing Vocoding
Would you be willing to share a tutorial for the community so people could create their own fan films?
What gets me the most are the moans and grunts of the soldier in the last fight. Right after the "Its safe" line the absolute inhuman sound of the vocodor just turns the whole scene into a horror movie. Very well done.
I like how it also sounds like agonal breathing considering how Combine Soldiers looks like more like a corpse.
I think it would've been a lot creepier if the soldier was able to use it's vocoder to mimic a normal human voice, only to have it distort on the last couple of words.
The way you can't tell, when it turns to shoot the rebel with the MP5, whether the sound it's making is agonized grunts from the bullets, sounds of exertion from moving with that damage being dealt to it, or just expression of anger at being attacked and interrupted during a transmission - there's not enough there to determine what it's thinking. It's impossible to read, making it only the more uncanny and inhuman.
His breathing sounds like it's being done through multiple plastic tubes. It's super fitting, kudos to the sound designer(s)
@@TheGraySeed combine soldiers can't talk normally anyway, their vocal cords are linked directly to their radio to still be able to talk even while being out of breathe (since there's no air in their sentences, they don't have a recognizable voice between themselves)
Hopper mines are actually terrifying. When you aren’t Gordon Freemen everything in the Half-Life universe is a force to be reckoned with
He's the hipster Master Chief!
for real.
even those mines pack a huge punch as Gordon.
even for gordon freemen without a shit ton of luck, respawns, and the player with potential hundreds of hours of pure experience he's basically fucked
@@Blitzozs Yeah have you ever played Half-Life 2 in VR on hard with no loading saves? Yeah didn't think so. Even Gordon's fucked, he only survives because of the meta-knowledge the player provides him.
@@ozvoid1245 the player is basically demigod in games
The contrast of civil protection struggling with combine jargon at the beginning and combine soldier being perfectly fluent in it is amazing.
They have slightly different voice procedures, too. The CPs is closer to that of IRL cops while those of Overwatch is closer to that of IRL militaries.
CP are human beings, they answer like humans would even after training.
Combine soldier however is closer to biocomputer than human. "He" or rather "it" is shaped like human but under that armour there is nothing related to human. Sure there are smaller drones that prolly were engineered from regular people but if I remember correctly mostly if not all responses were preprogrammed into each unit (they dont think what to say but like a program shovel predefined answers that are closest to specific pattern - also vocal cords are expendable so there is only speaker left).
Think of it like more of a bioterminator unit.
@@BOTmaster15 You're right in that Overwatch troops can't really be called a humans anymore in the traditional sense, but they are all made from regular humans. Mostly CPs that got "promoted" or actually volunteered. Transhuman soldiers are scary mfers, both in the way they think and look.
I m sorry but could you provide me with the specific example? I would really like to understand what you meant here
@@F.M671 at the start, around 0:13, you can hear the CPs talk. They had several “uhh” and “uhm” in their sentences, probably because they’re not used to it yet.
Now skip to the part about the soldier. He speaks fluently and without any problem. Just like a robot.
6:35 I love how the Soldier's lack of humanity also prevents him from formulating a convincing lie. Even when trying to convince the rebels that he won't harm them, he still refers to them as both actively "hostile" and active "targets"!
I think that’s why they don’t use the “friend-game” tactic anymore after HL:A (maybe)
"Target is friendly! Hey Alyx!"
I think he's mocking them.
What kind of humanity? He was brainwashed that he himself became a synthesis and a bio machine that would carry out any order of the patrons!
Combines are incapable of that. That thing was a c soldier, pretty much a robot with meat parts.@@captainjeep-eep6180
As soon as I saw the civil protection body language being so good in the armored car I knew this would be another masterpiece, they are all nervous except for the soldier, showing his lack of humanity due to the modifications to which soldiers are subjected, the scenery and the action felt so real, and so brutal holy damn! Makes you realize how scary the Half-Life Universe truly would be... When you are not Gordon Freeman of course
And now imagine you are beeing sent against Anticitizen One.
He already took out several squads of soldiers without breaking a sweat, what the fuck are you going to do?
Ofcourse not freeman with a metal stick
Couldn't agree more!
@@jasperzanovich2504 realistically? Shoot him with a pulse round and he bleeds to death since they are insanely powerful and human tech that isn’t the size of an APC wouldn’t do shit to stop it.
Everyone says Gordon Freeman but forgets he never fought these enemies at all
I like the little detail at 4:16 showing that rebel's shotgun is loaded with slugs rather than buckshot. Buckshot has low penetration power, and would do very little against the heavy body armour that the Spikewall is wearing, so it makes sense to use a denser and more stable round.
Slugs aren’t that great at penetrating compared to something like most rifle calibers, but it’s still the best they’ve got. Good catch.
@@FootOfOrion I know, but he's not using a rifle, or at least not THAT kind of rifle (the shotgun might be rifled though), so slug rounds are probably the best thing available given the weapon he has.
The rest of the rebels have pistol caliber weapons, and the one guy with an assault rifle was the first to die, so the guy with the shotgun was really their best chance.
@@xxfalconarasxx5659 btw that shotgun guy looks like the last survivor from Anti-Citizen.
same model, and have the same tattoos on his face.
@XLINE Ye it's the same dude
The shotgun round looks unusual. Considering we've seen the shotgun guy earlier in Anti-Citizens, he must have took it from the Combine Charger and that's why it worked against the heavily armored soldier
I absolutely love how you portray that even a group of rebels can hardly stand a chance against a single combine soldier. Also nice to see manhacks getting some much needed attention. Those things would be terrifying in real life.
Gordon can chew through combine soldiers because he's experienced (fighting HECU and Xen), well armed and very well armored. I'd guess the average rebel is poorly equipped and armed, without much real combat skill.
Puts the city 17 uprising into some perspective. Imagine what the initial riots were like before it turned into street fighting.
You can probably picture wall hammer units acting as riot shield teams against a crowd of citizens, up until some one pulls a trigger on someone.
It also goes to show how inspiring Gordon Freeman was during his time in HL2. The guy not only blazed through the city on his way out, but took the fight to the combine itself
Given the supernatural nature of his arrival, and no doubt that vortigaunts spoke of it, to the average citizen, Gordon was a godsend
@@nicholastuttle2445 this animation gives gordon an almost legendary stature, id like to think he doesn't chew through soldiers as much as outsmarting them, with him being a scientist and all that. fueled by PTSD and morphine the whole time.
@@nicholastuttle2445 To get a better feeling for realism, play HL2 with 50% capped health, no armor and maximum speed is walking. I once roleplayed in New Vegas with a realistic amount of gear (like completely realistic, what i would actually likely carry in that situation) and compared to a regular playthrough it was extremely hard.
@@nicholastuttle2445 Gordon can chew through Combine soldiers because he's the protagonist of a video game, it wouldn't be much fun if instead of 50 health points soldiers had 200 like Gordon, and could aim worth a damn.
Some of the best "fight coreography" in any animation I've seen. No flashy movement and wasted opportunities left, right and center. Everyone's actually trying.
Everything is on point!
@@nicholashylton6857 Welp, gotta have another watch now to see if you and past-me are right.
(yes we are)
@@Umbra_Nocturnus look at astartes animation you wont regret it its a masterpiece
I really like how, in the vehicle, Spikewall is just sitting there. The metrocops have their nervous ticks, if he were more human that probably would've annoyed him - but he's completely unphased, it's inconsequential. Only the mission directive matters, other things barely even register. It's details like this that make your work a cut above.
I also noticed that.
He have his orders, and that is matters, since failure is leading to utilisation of failed unit and rebuilding him. So he is not gonna rest till work is done.
Yeah, I always love when SFM animators show off the difference between the Metro Cops (who are just people in the suits) and the other Combine Soldiers who have actually been "upgraded" by the combine
@@Freelancer837 Yeah, that's why I really enjoyed the police station segment from the beginning of Entropy Zero 2; it was cool just seeing what these guys get up to when they aren't out on duty.
bro sitting like the fucking black ops logos
The way this ended so abruptly makes me realize how badly I want a Half-Life movie.
Or even a TV show
@@jackdaniels5071 OR ANYTHING THAT IS CONTENT, I LOVE THIS UNIVERSE I NEED TO KNOW MORE!
@@littlefrank90 even a third game if that's too much to ask for
No you don’t. They’ll absolutely ruin it by making Gordon a transgender black person
@@OneFreeMan17oh yeah, i forgot about the *MODERN AUDIENCES*
I need to see how this continues. Absolutetly amazing and, by the way, stunning sound work.
Damn didnt even respond anyway you are very kind for donating
@@bingus1895You got a good point!
@@sirbenedict6635 he usually responds im just surprised the one he didnt respond to was a dono
@@bingus1895 was this not $250? I’m not saying he’s a douch or anything just disappointing a little.
@@sirbenedict6635 250 Argentinian Pesos, or about $1.25 USD / €1.18 EUR.
Dude the sheer PUNCH of the Spikewall's bullets is so damn sexy. Every shot fired pierces every plywood wall sending a piece of raw unfiltered "FUCK YOU" energy to whoever is sorry enough to be in the Spikewall's line of sight. The scene where he just spams the shotgun through the wall suppressing the rebel as much as he can, its so brutal. I LOVE IT.
Damn I should've used my main to comment this, oh well.
Uhh, half life happens in Europe mostly, I forgot which country, but it's not any kind of wood, apartments made either of brick or concrete, but since most of the apartments are mostly old here it's a bricks. Even the inner walls, is like 1 brick thick at least. So that shit is very hard punch.
Its a variant of the HL Alyx Charger Shotgun, basically a Shotgun Version of the Pulse Rifle.
@@BookOfEnchantments pulse rifle shooting slugs, energetic powered up slugs.
Pulse weapons shoot dark energy so you’d better believe that it fucking hurts.
I think the thing that scares me the most about the soldier is the way everything just cuts off after it dies. There’s clear agony, it reaches for its missing “eye”, it wheezes in pain clearly not completely dead yet, and then lights out. It’s just gone. Like it got unplugged. Like Overwatch realized the unit was beyond repair so it just switched it off. It just dies so unnaturally and machine-like.
State of malfunction and panic, death can hit humans the same way. But for something to be half machine half man... The kinetic factor is what draws out the "wiry abrubt death"
Kind of mercifully of overwatch to shut the unit down than have it suffer a long painfull death as its cybernetics struggle to keep it alive.
@@peterprokai1329 basicamente est esto:
ia del cuerpo combine: puede mas? nope? goodbye **sonido de cierre**
@@peterprokai1329 Though this is more of a positive sideeffect more than anything. If anything overwatch pulls the killswitch so that no information can be forcefully extracted.
iirc they're actually still dying and drowning in blood, but Overwatch just recognizes the sound as unuseful radio noise so they're just wailing in agony, all sound being drown out by the screech of their vitals monitors flatlining, while their transponders are remotely shut off by her to clear the air waves. as heavily modified and twisted by metal and wires as they are, they're still largely living beings. despite the surgeries replacing their eyes, ears, vital organs, digestive tracts, the combine has yet to find a suitable and convenient artificial replacement for blood, bones, sinew and brains. anything alive still takes a minute to turn off after you pull the plug.
Did NOT expect this to be so violent. God, the screams as that one rebel had his arm blown off were visceral. Absolutely love it. 10/10 work, as usual.
I loved that scene too! The violence is on point👌
The second shot going through the wall and making a bigger hole also shows that the soldier takes no prisoners and instead makes sure everyone in his wake is dead.
Reminds me of sandstorm, the groans, screams and cries of your enemies is a sudden break from the carnage and gunfight that makes the game a fantastic one.
@@UnknownOps are you refering to insurgency: sandstorm or something else?
@@pixleplays305 yep, I’m referring to Insurgency Sandstorm
The camera angles the colour correction the expected door switch the close ups mise en scene and cinematography is outstanding, top notch high quality stuff.
I am so extraordinarily grateful that you use your skills in part to bring us such high quality content, and don't sequester your talent. Hope you continue making these studio level edits for months to come.
Thank you very much for the kind words and your support! I hope to continue making these for as long as I can.
@@TheParryGod What is your end goal?
@@theturkishbadger No matter the end goal, he's already acheived a lot.
One detail I really liked about this is just how heavy the soldier is. He towers over the CPUs, he's wearing heavy plate armor, and it shows in how he moves. He doesn't change direction quickly when running, he breaks down a door just by body-slamming it, his footsteps shake the camera, and he takes shot after shot at close range without ever being knocked off balance. He takes a slug to the back almost at point blank, and he STUMBLES. The only thing that really knocked him down was dying.
I absolutely love the transistion at 4:40, making you think that the Combine are breaking down the door to the room the rebels are in, only show us it's a different room, great way to induce tension.
it was brilliant
didn't know they were in a different room, thought they just had hidden
@@iucas7291 You thought they hid in the same room that they planted an explosive…? And even after you saw them walk through the door from the hallway outside?
Bro…it’s called framing and expectation subversion, put it together.
@@sbraypaynt Didn't look like that big of an explosion, and they could've exited the room after
I noticed after watching Anti-citizens that the shotgunner is the same guy with the CP mark on his foreheard and that he's wearing Wallhammer's chestplate. Love the attention to detail, makes him seem much more like a badass seeing him survive.
Wait it's the same guy? Goddamn bro survived like 3 videos now lmao
Yeah, I noticed that too! I love these little bits of continuity between the videos. Makes it feel that much more alive.
I don't think It's wallhammers chestplate. Wallhammer was way too big for that. Looks more like an ordinal's chestplate. Also we see that he gets captured after anti-citizens in one of his other videos, so if he took it from wallhammer it would have been confiscated. The ordinal chestplate would have to have been acquired after he escapes custody.
Man's bloody tough then, surviving overwhelming odds with no protective suit nor protection from a superior being is very impressive
@@eyesack6845 didn't they turn him into a stalker? I saw a hint of it in the same video where he was being beaten up by the CP
6:11 Among many other details others have pointed out, I LOVE the detail of the female rebels actions. She empties the revolver, which barely does any damage to the Combine soldier, but it kept throwing his aim off, making him miss two shots, buying a second of time for the others to get out of the hallway, into cover. If she had dived or ran into the doorway on her right instead of straight forward in panic, she likely would've made it.
Damn you’re observant, these SFM projects are no joke when it comes to the little details.
another amazing detail is when the combine soldier shot through the wood into the guy, it filled the guy's head with wood splinters, feel like that's something 99% of animators would miss out on
I love how the guy just stands frozen at the end, shaken with adrenaline, still comprehending he is alive and managed to take down the thicc combine
I'm literally scared to re-watch that whole scene just because it was so damn scary. Every shotgun shot made me flinch and I felt exactly how the last rebel did knowing he could end up like the others and not knowing if he could prevent it, also knowing that if he gave up then maybe the death wouldn't be fast.
@@feritye767 That weapon he's using is absolutely vicious too. I mean one hit just rips humans in half, even with a little armor. And these guys have inhuman accuracy and speed
0:40 The contrast between the metrocops and the soldier is frightening. The metrocops are tapping their feet and fidgeting their fingers to mitigate their anxiety, and the soldier sits in complete silence. It shows the difference between a trained human (Civil Protection Team) and a transhuman created for battle (Spikewall).
And as well, the size and stature, and the weight - the metrocops, well, the truck shifts under them as it will, sure. But the soldier makes a dedicated carrier for metrocops and prisoners creak and groan on its suspension as he moves. He's got that front seat not just out of leadership priority and respect from the others, but because he's physically completely different to the point that he'd change the vehicle's handling on a side seat. And it stays apparent later, whether it's his very, _very_ distinct footsteps during the final parts, or just him towering over the others and having a shape that doesn't look quite right at times despite still looking like just a bulky human at others. And his reactions in the other scenes, like when they're all running and he has notably different body language, more controlled than the others.
@@ultmateragnarok8376 To put it simply, he’s built different
@@TheGamingToaster not simply, literally too lol.
@@ultmateragnarok8376 Also notice how as soon as the exit the vehicle, the CP´s draw their weapons and nervously scan the area, where as this big motherfucker just gets out of the truck zero F´s given. He doesn´t give a shit if he lives, gets shot or dies in the process. Man´s there on a mission. And he´ll get it done one way or the other.
@@ultmateragnarok8376 what’s a spikewall?
Even after taking a slug to the eye, it still went down slowly. Honestly some of the scariest monstrosities that I've ever respected.
to be fair they're literally made to be mostly robot with limited sentience for creativity, so it's gonna take some punishment for it to go down and its easier to armor
@@weirdgamer9566 They are not being more robotic in reactions, not slower, but much more faster, augmentation was supposed to make them less humane, no sense of fear, sorrow, or doubts, clean serving of orders, also the elite combines, as we're said in lore, can be respawned via mind keeping shit in citadel or elsewhere. Also part of the augmentation is biotic other is mechanical, they are not cyborgs or mutants, they are very good combination of it, machine and flesh.
They still eat and drink since they operating as organic being, what Is more confusing how working synthetic airships, drons and striders?
I believe that most ( if not all ) combine soldiers and up are vat grown with personalities imprinted on them from successful soldiers that were either captured or turned collaborator during the first years of occupation, once the combine got what they thought they needed from the planet they exported most acquired assets offworld to fight in their multiversal wars, after that, they subjected the remaining humans to a slow and painful extinction
@@user-CPU-APFSynthetics are like the combine police and soldiers, they're organic animals put on bio-weapons and armour.
"Attention Hostile Targets. You can come out now. It is safe." 😂
Friendgame effective.
That one may be the least convincing deception ever heard lmao
**level up sound**
Speechcraft 2
@@UCannotDefeatMyShmeat still, it is something police would say, may result in panic surrender
@@Haunuva Exactly.
One of my favorite details of the short is the brutality of the weapon the soldier uses and his wheezing through the helmet as he runs through the building, hunting the rebels. It's almost as if he's pushing his body to the limit every time he runs in armor that is extremely bulky and heavy. Love your animations, man
I don't think it's exertion so much as it is pain from the multiple wounds he's sustained by that point
his armor deflected all of the bullets. dont think if he had any pain@@wll1500
@@wll1500 That _is_ pain. Pain isn't something that exists to torment us, it's there to let us know we are sustaining serious damage. So something analogous to it would have to exist even in these heavily modified post-humans. Or perhaps they just left that particular response mostly unchanged. Either way, it is a requirement for a functional soldier
@@jakeg3733 yeah I know that, OP made it sound like the soldier was out of breath from running in his heavy armor or something
@@wll1500 Considering they have their vocal chords removed and replaced with vocoders, probably wired to respond directly to impulses from the brain, I doubt it. It's smart because even if your supersoldier gets hit in the lungs, he can still call out one more time on the net and let his squad/Overwatch know, before expiring. Anyway, respirations or lack thereof shouldn't effect his "voice" at all. Shock to the nervous system from extreme pain however, that probably would cause the kind of godawful, unintentional racket we hear in this video. Extremely well done
I LOVE how the Combine Soldier is introduced as more of a super soldier compared to the regular human CP cops. There’s honestly nothing better than these beautiful Half Life SFMs.
The Combine commandos like the one here are pretty much super soldier tbh. Modified and programmed to fight, donning enough armor to shrug off most small arms, inhuman strength, reflex and durability. And yet they are just the local militants of the Combine, and not the main forces that defeated Earth in 7 hours.
No wonder why only our main characters can stand a chance against them.
Now imagine how scary is Gordon Freeman.
They pretty much are - Combine soldiers are modified cyborgs. Your average combine soldier will probably have little issue overpowering the average man.
Yeah, people give the Overwatch soldiers shit for their AI and gameplay, but I've always thought that realistically, they would be quite formidable. More machine than man, with little in the way of emotion, and combat training programmed into their brain. They would be terrifying, not to mention the alien weaponry they use. I mean that plasma shotgun puts any real hand held gun to shame in terms of destructive power.
OTA are supersoldiers technically.
6:18 bro whoever did that scream after getting hit with a shotgun nailed it. it felt too real.
Sent fucking shivers down my spine. Brutal.
@@Hanfgurkenhasser agreed my brother. agreed.
Definitely
It sounds like Tyler1 :D
@@contrast_editing tyler 1 should play half life alyx, i think it would make for some funny moments, especially when fighting Jeff
6:16 I love how you can see how visibly annoyed he is from the gunfire and tries to ignore it at first but just goes "LET ME FINISH MY REPORT ASSHOLE" and just deletes them
That's more than annoyance, it's pain. The Combine had to leave that particular biological response intact. His plates soaked up most, if not all of that burst... But all that energy still has to go somewhere. It'd hurt like hell getting stitched like that, even if we're talking about "only" an intermediate cartridge and your armor stops full penetration. It is also possible at least one _did_ get through the armor or a gap between plates
He blew off both that dudes arms. You could say he put that guy out of his misery afterwards.
@@jakeg3733I don't think one got through the armour.
Still getting hit by a bullet, even with a bulletproof vest now still hurts a lot.
Spikewall was shot *27 TIMES* in a short space of time with multiple types of ammo.
He got hit with a hopper mine.
Shot 10 times with an AK (I think hit him as it is hard as he's under rubble)
3 times with a Revolver (confirm all hit)
14 times with the MP5 (confirm all hit)
and afterwards
2 times with a Shotgun
So no wonder he got really mad and will two primal screams as well even with this brainwashing and pain inhibitors.
Spikewall's a trooper.
@@thesuperintendent4290 You may be right, and body armor might stop penetration but all that energy has to go somewhere, into it's body in this case. Hurts like hell
That said, given the volume of fire it (not human anymore, it's an "it" to me) was subjected to and the design of the armor, I think it's likely one got through. Surely the Combine, with their mastery of human neurology, make use of some type of pain inhibitors to keep their troopers going long as possible. I'd wager only a penetrating shot causing serious damage could push them over the line like that
The other thing is body armor is technically only rated for one hit, after that all bets are off although the plates are designed to withstand multiple impacts, and often can depending on a variety of factors. Look up the first MoH in Afghanistan, the guy took a bunch of rounds before his chest plate failed and one got to his heart. And this is high tech alien ballistic plate. Still, they take enough hits and it'll fail
@@jakeg3733the Spikewall’s protective gear is *soft body armour* (seen when it first gets out of the transport and deploys the Manhack - the elbow armour flexes). Despite this, it appears to deflect most shots like it’s hard steel. that’s some crazy alien shit
Man this is so fucking sick. The sheer intensity of the power and force from the Combine soldier's shotgun is absolutely brutal, every single shot holy fuck.
_This_ is exactly how intense I want the Combine to be portrayed. Cold, efficient, militant, and very very lethal.
Everything felt nice and weighty, solid and heavy. They exude so much strength in this raw, horrifyingly-cruel brutality.
Absolutely perfect.
You're on another level man. Props to everyone who worked on this. Amazing suspense in this episode!
I'm friends with one of the rebels, I have to say I am so proud of him. Very good job throughout! Splendid!
Hi vaati
I need more...this was just too good...
seeing you here is a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one
Bruh ain't no way
This is one of the best animations I've seen. Is simply amazing and whatever I'm going to say I'm completely sure everybody already said it, it's just amazing.
Doná un poquito mas ratonnnnnn
💯
Thank you so much! Very glad you enjoyed it and I really appreciate the support.
The sheer fear of the CPU at 5:41, and the repeating "NO, NO NO NO NO!" shows how Human the CPU are. He values his life, to an extent that he begs to not die.
Glad my voice performance sold the moment, haha.
@@TheParryGod Absolutely amazing my guy
no, nono NONONO- wait wait wait.. WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT D:
A bit misleading when you refer to the civil protection as CPU, considering how combine soldiers are humans that actually operate with a combine CPU (computer chip) inside their brain. Civil protection being regular humans are referred to as just CP.
1, We don't know what's inside the head of a combine soldier so what you're saying is pure speculation.
2, I wouldn't think a singular person will get confused by the comment as computer parts can't scream in fear to my knowledge. @@PhamvanDong
2:16 I don't know why but i like the idea of the manhack being given instructions like it's got a conscious of its own
give this man 50 cans of red bull, a couple million dollars, a super computer and 2 years of time, he'll make a movie better than hollywood, i guarantee it
Now I'm sad he can't realistically do any of this full length without literally sacrificing himself to do so. Unless we crowdfund, but again I don't see it being fruitful I suppose.
for sure
amazing to see such talent
We are the movie 🤫👣🦘👍
@@greenbean2222 Money wont fix the issue he just needs more people to help
You can see at 4:16 that the Rebel's shotgun is loaded with a slug round instead of buckshot, which has better penetrating power compared to the notorious weakness of buckshot to body armor. Makes sense considering how tough combine soldiers are, and additionally is more precise allowing, for that accurate headshot at the end and the (relatively) clean wound. Its a nice little detail that highlights how experienced the shotgun soldier is at combating the combine
Or he's just lucky he managed to scavenge some slugs instead of buck or bird, haha.
It’s cool because in half life alyx the shot gun shells in the game are buckshot and when fighting the charger it takes several hits with it to kill it and seeing how this rebels shot gun got him in two shots was just amazing
They will have a pressure effect and will deal damage, but they absolutely will not penetrate it in the slightest
@@rewrite1239 Depends on the plates. And depends on the slugs as well. Lead slugs won't pierce the same as AP which are quite rare.
Entropy Zero makes shotgunners fit the "combine killer" description.
With this you can tell why Gordon is very much highly respected in the Rebel alliance. Here a group of them almost got slaughtered by a single Combine Soldier, meanwhile Gordon casually strolls into the Nova Prospekt and Citadel, destroys everyone, then leaves.
That power armor Gordon is wearing must a MJILNOR prototype.... 😉
Good luck out there, Gordan!
@@arthurchadwell9267 it is called the Hazardous Environment suit, HEV suit for short, and it did get upgraded to have a shield generator along with faster movements and reaction time none to dissimilar with what Spartans can do. However to be honest… Spartans have better armor overall and a recharging shield.
@@shcdemolisher they don't have gordons crippling morphine addiction tho
@@conni4518 Morphine A D M I N I S T E R E D
0:52 - TheParryGods delicate obsession over the simplest of details is always amazing. The CP's weapon has they combine brand and logo over it. Combine still manufacture products for people
I don't think he makes the models. It's still a neat detail either way, though.
I just realized the parallel between the two shotgunners. Both experience professionals, leading a group of newbies.
Holy shit your right
Dude I'm glad you pointed that out, that's actually a really cool detail.
You are a certified Valve fan for understanding this
“But maybe we’re both the same” ahh characters
@@Some-q1 "I carved my own path, you followed your wrath"
The more you watch the Combine operate in the way they do, the more you begin to understand the reason Earth surrendered in just 7 hours.
wow, it's you!
and only 18 minutes ago
also yeah, definitely. i imagine that by hour 5 they'd most likely obliterated all of Earth's major armies, probably governments too.
Though, Doctor Breen could have also had a part in it. I assume being the closest allowed him to communicate better, as well as being the only one willing to give the Combine terms that were agreeable to them. (ie basically slavery but I'm in control)
but yeah, 1 day of full on conflict?
They'd be lucky if any human buildings at all remained.
the Overwatch establishment on Earth most likely entails very little to almost nothing of what the Combine invasion of Earth was like since most of the policing entities on Earth are post-human troops and reversed engineered human assets/war machines. The Striders & Gunships (Synths) are the most likely to have been in the 7 hour war, yet the overall nature of what left the Overwatch to police Earth is a mystery.
The raising the bar book described the Combine (probably in a general term to the collective race as a whole, or even it’s origin) as a
“ever evolving synthetic virus”.
Which is pretty significant since early concept art of the Combine synths would suggest that these alien entities constantly mimic and adapt technology against what they invade. Also evolving and weaponizing synthesis/biology.
For example, the early gunship concept art seemed arachnid-like, with an implanted nose canon that was like a projectile machine gun instead of a pulse canon, which leads me to believe the gunship was a root of Combine synthetic creatures that permanently adapted itself to Earths environment while “mimicking” the tech of a military helicopter to hunt down human resistance.
So that’s probably a good idea of what the Combine was like in it’s true nature, at least in the beta, but I’d like to think that its the same in retail, but the Combine influence on Earth suggests that they adapted and absorbed many human forms of medical logic and organization, primarily of course militarism of human characteristics. Which led to everything from the use of advanced A.I, radio connections and codes like a hive mind, and highly advanced armies of trans-humans soldiers to inject and sterilize human “malignants” of the likes. Everything in order with serial numbers, symbology, labels etc.
In short, what the Combine was like before all that, most likely may have been very different to the peace keeping influence on Earth 20 years after the invasion.
Probably like what the RTB book had described.
A hyper-invasive, ever evolving synthetic virus.
Evolving, assimilating, adapting… indifferent, brutal reconfiguration from the void… combine…
humans were probably the first species that it encountered that were advanced in such a way.
(The Combine apparently would rather discard humanity into forgotten extinction but their out of the box thinking is unique to them. The detection of local teleportation technology, & the alleged breakthrough of it would lead to the attempt of extracting it. Which is hard since it seems the only ones who could master the local teleportation is limited to just a few scientist from Black Mesa.
The Combine could as easily siphon the entire population of a team of scientists to give them the tech, but with how abstract this situation is, it means the Combine Earth forces have to try and extract it by strangely forward means of hunting them down with infiltrate and destroy teams of post human troops.
ironically, until absorbing human logic & intelligence, the Combine behaves like an immune system, while the humans opposing the Combine with their flexible & “magical” thinking is to the Earthbound Combine, a fatal disease that must be annihilated at all cost.
An interesting & poetic way to see of how much a horrifying force like the Combine are so much as to be almost afraid of the free will, intellect & tenacity of humans…
The Overwatch A.I literally enforces orders to Overwatch troops AND metrocops like as if they were white blood cells…
“Sacrifice. coagulate. Clamp…”
The cold and unfeeling response to troops being KIA…
“Unit deserviced”…
The Combines perception to humans unwillingness to be slaves and resist is akin to an immune system detecting the presence of cancer/disease… out of the systems control, spreading rapidly, a danger to the entire body…
“amputate” the cancer from the body…
Humanities will to be free & resists… their flexible “magical thinking”… to not be apart of the body… to potentially make it fall apart and die…
That’s how threatened the Combine influence on Earth are of humanities distinct intellect… they’ve never came across such a species most likely.
It’s so thought provoking that a leftover presence/influence of what is literally an inter-dimensional cosmic horror of a viral infection, once revolutionised by human science and logic, resembled the function of what they were supposed to infect and exploit, till it dies… that’s what the Combine presence is doing to earth. A virus that functions like a collective body, sucking a planet dead and dry… risking a deadly infection trying to extract a crucial technology, from something so uncertain and complex, unlike anything the immune system is used to… that’s why they were so brutal in their oppression. removing humanities ability to reproduce, yet the resistance, backed by higher forces could still topple the entire thing… Gordon would be that final nail in the coffin…)
The goal to allow humanity to live on so that they could develop local teleportation is what made the Combine ghostly presence on Earth to reconsider some slow & indecisive process.. it’s very clear that the Combine itself is either very unmotivated/careless or unable to commit a heavy process on Earth to extract this alleged local teleportation… probably both. it’s possible the Combine views Earth as a side project handled by a satellite/ghost presence to undertake the slow extraction, given very slim resources to work with… like as if the Combine influence on Earth is really really hard to maintain on Earth, so the larger Combine body would rather focus on other things in its expansion… perhaps the Combine expansion is so large and distant from the Earth frontier that There wasn’t much focus or care for the operation on Earth, and many resources wouldn’t be needed to undertake the process to extract an alleged technology.
I personally think the Combine for some reason swept Earth aside in negligence of any real effort to maintain the underfunded outpost, and just gave out the resources that they did for the assumed chance of extracting a critical technology.
Back to the main subject. the Combine before Earth probably didn’t even use the concept of fielding a common symbols, since they were probably an inter-dimnsional horde of evolving, synthetic invaders that were more virus-like (that probably looked insect-like than anything else) than a hyper-organized, A.I driven force that resulted of the Combines contact with human logic and technology on Earth.
@@StalinSpokeYiddish this was actually really interesting, now i want more info on the combine before earth.., how their society functioned before arriving on earth. i think the rtb book proposes a really good theory for it.
Its even worse when you learn that all the citadels on earth (at least 24), were dropped from the sky through the portal storms all over the earth at the same time. Not only is dropping a 2 mile high building like a bomb a devastating kinetic attack, the citadels then erupted billions of synths and robots to assimilate everything, and they did this everywhere on the planet. There was no defensive choke point, no corridor to build through defences, earth was blindsided from all directions at once and genocided into submission. The combine you see in game is no more than a tiny security team performing counter-insurection. Earth is of so little value that the combine dont even keep their own soldiers there, they just recruit from the local population instead, just like real life when america sends "advisors" to recruit locals for counter-terrorism and maintain order without hardly any of their own resources. Thats why the advisors are called advisors in-game ;) theoretically they arent even high ranking members themselves, makes you wonder how far up the ladder goes.
6:44 You can feel the desperation of that person and the brutality of the combines here at the same time. This short film is simply spectacular, I have no words to describe it. I stopped dreaming a Half-Life movie would exist a long time ago but the with the last tf2 movie and others animationes like this are giving me that hope back!
What tf2 movie?
@SpizeNice ah
@@notlone7721 Emesis Blue
@@teoborges3949 some one already responded but his comment got deleted for whatever reason
The ending here is just outstanding. Hat's off to you fellers.
I love that skilled animators are bringing life to half life's universe with these sweet animations!
YES!!!
I wish Combine mines were introduced earlier in the game before you had the gravity gun so that you actually had to avoid them rather than just use them as ammunition. This scene actually does the mines justice---they're an even more horrific version of the bouncing betty. The rebels had to use risk their lives unearthing the mines and hacking into them while Gordon just has to flick his gravity gun at it.
The same with those roller mines - without the gravity gun you actually have no way of getting rid of them.
Well when it came to the hoppers u could just easily dispose of them with a few shots, which is how I dealt with them because I was too lazy to pull out the gg
@@padmanabhanvaidyanathan7182you can get rid of em with explosives in my first playthrough of half life I did not know that the grav gun could pick up roller mines so I used grenades to destroy them
@@padmanabhanvaidyanathan7182and you can let them bounce off you until they hit water, in gmod I found out water can destroy them.
I would have added them in water hazard
I love everything about the Shotgunner here. Like a monster.
Those noises it made when dying would fit right in a Little Nightmares game.
Made him sound like nothing more than a dying beast, lacking any humanity whatsoever.
And the weapon blast sound is extremely well done, really feels like it packs a punch. got ptsd from that thing just from watching the video
It feels weird though because for me I rooted for the combine here there the bad guys yeah but it feels good to see the combine military win since there usually made a mockery of.
I like how you can see which rebel is relatively inexperienced compared to some of the others. Like Rebel Revolver for example, right before engagement begins. She has her finger on the trigger, which is not proper gun safety. However, Shotgun rebel, who is the one who takes out the Combine soldier, is the one who has his finger off the trigger. Great attention to detail that you don't see in a lot of other places! >:)
This is literally on Valve's production levels and I'm not hyperbolizing. Amazing work
I'd say it's even a level above what Valve did in HL:A.
Yeah life this is not valve lebel its beyond and far ahead
Valve doesn't even do cutscenes. This is beyond them.
Valve don't really understand how dark the world they have created is. They make the characters too cheerful for a world where there is practically no hope for a better future. Here the atmosphere is nailed perfectly.
@@nsv8613 They understand all things perfectly, they just dilute the atmosphere and do not want to Half Life turned into a horror.
6:20 the fact he was still alive and let out a second scream was genuinely terrifying. You portrayed the unfiltered brutality of a combine soldier perfectly.
I'm glad but am genuinely surprised he was mercy killed. I genuinely felt bad at the scream. Even the gasps or random dying vocalizations from the CP made me feel bad. Goddamn it SFMs like this aren't added to some kind of art history list I'm gonna be upset cuz this is by all definitions art
@@delmuswu-tangbroadnax9056the combine doesn't "mercy kill". They just kill.
Well he would have ultimately died because of blood loss, but yeah that scene really sent chills down my spine
@@wll1500 he would still have died, but it would be more painful and longer
@@rach_66the point is that he eliminated the threat entirely so there was no risk of them surviving long enough to still shoot at him
I like how the CP submachine gun at 0:50 and the Rebel shotgun at 4:44 have the same nervous tick. They're both human.
It's nice symmetry as well - they're both stuck in the same situation on opposite sides of this. The Combine forced it to be this way, but while one of them joined and the other rebelled, neither can really change anything.
Nice catch
@@ultmateragnarok8376 Well said.
Child po-
@@ammielmarcos4947not funny
I really like how the two CP units in the truck are visibly scared. They're nervous. They're going to investigate gunfire; they could die that day. But the Combine soldier has no such hang-ups. He doesn't care if he dies or not. He only cares if he finishes the task at hand.
Absolutely fantastic. Very lore-friendly.
6:35 "Attention hostiles targets, you can come out now, it is safe" is a classic thing the combine would say, soldiers try to trick you into thinking they are friendly many times in both Half Life 2 and Alyx.
They don't in HL2, only Alyx.
ngl even if he really meant it, the voice would be scary enough to keep me hiding lmao
It’s probably a phrase they are programmed to say when they lose sight, a creepy machine trying to imitate behaviour but failing from never bothering to be sincere p.
@@sgt.eclair the hgrunts actually do in HL1 through the VOX announcement system
@@naturesquad9174 Those are humans though tbf
Spikewall is the perfect "enforcer" character he's big, imposing, well armed and worst of all extremely well trained. Just an amazing character!
Yeah, idk if spikewall is a canon since this is the only time i had ever seen one but it seems to be a wall hammer combined with an ordinal. It has the heavy shotgun but uses cells instead of shells(kinda like the ar1 ordinals uses but a shotgun), Has access to manhack(s), decently mobile, seems to be the Squad leader, good armor(except the head). But minus the shield of WH.
@@gront5172 I believe its meant to be a more HL2 like version of the Wallhammer, so like a newer model after HLA.
@@Madvlad-h7q the time this animation is set in is a year after the events of HL:A (but probably different time line). So it would make sense.
Is this part of some game? Ancient geek here. A little help?
@Stefan Schleps The half life franchise
For those that don't know Tom is obviously the cat. (2:37) I actually emailed Parry God directly, and he told me the next film is about Tom and Tattoo escaping by teleporter to the G-Man's party mansion and the Combine isn't allowed in cos they're fucking nerds.
Aww man, I wanted to keep it a secret.
@@TheParryGod Hahaha for real tho these are incredible, man.
E
Stray 2: Combine Forces
I still have nightmares about that cat
You know what makes a good episode, movie or even a short film? When you know the person and group of people making it has passion for it. You can feel that they love what they do in every animation they make. There's no rush, minimal imperfections (barely any) and the voice acting is art. I love seeing the final stage of any project that was cared for and raised with love and passion. It's rewarding as a person to watch this masterpiece. Thank you for your effort
Oh my god brother. Rarely does anything affect me the way this short story did when I saw it.
Whatever it is you're doing or going for; you're doing it damn well my man. Please don’t ever stop.
Such an amazing display of depth and detail showing the darkness of their world while having to fight and live through such a traumatic and emotional experience. My mind is still blown.
I'm very glad it was this impactful for you :) And thank you very much for your support!
Love the contrast at the beginning in the transport. Both CP's are fidgeting and restless. The Combine unit is unmoving. He's not human. The CP's scream "NO!" when they're about to die, and the Combine shuts down like a dying machine.
Es interesante como saben antes de la operación, en qué casos ya saben cuándo van a ganar y cuando van a perder 💀
I love how at 6:16, after the combine soldier gets shot, he recoils at first before groaning and locking his shoulders to fire. It really makes the combine seem human, as he gets spooked by the sudden gunfire before getting angry and smoking the rebel. It’s those types of little details that I love.
Also, whoever voiced the rebel who gets his arm blown off is an amazing voice actor, from him shouting to get away to him just screaming so convincingly.
I don't think it was angry, due to having everything non-combat related removed from it so emotions would be removed too. It's probably just its body being pumped up with drugs to increase movement speed, awareness, and reflexes so the body has to compensate with harder breathing.
@@DolphinsAreWeird Or he just got the wind knocked out of him. I mean, shit hurts.
spikewall does not seem too human, you should look at its general body shape at the beginning where its visible from all sides and the joints when it walks
If you run it back frame by frame, at 6:18 when it zooms up to Spikewall before he locks his shoulders and engages the MP5 rebel, you can see blood spurting from gunshot wounds in his lower and upper back. I think the recoiling/hunching was from pain before his biobag got painkillers and stimulants into him.
@@DolphinsAreWeird While the Transhuman soldiers' humanity is heavily suppressed, it still exists to some degree. In the game Alyx, the soldiers can all laugh out of sadism. In Half Life 2, the soldiers can panic and are apparently affected by speeches if that one speech by Breen in Nova Prospeckt indicates anything. The Universal Union may change a lot of an individual, but at a certain point, it's just not feasible to remove all of a subject's humanity, assuming they could at all. It's probably ideal to at least retain a few human traits for optimal performance while suppressing the other ones.
I keep coming back to this video every once and a while and re-watch it. In hopes that we still might see more like this in the future. Your HL2 stuff is just AMAZING.
That upgraded Charger shotgun now has 0.00001% the power of a SPAS-12 in the hands of a shotgunner from Half-Life 2
by the time hl2 happens they've taken all the actual good stuff offworld to fight other wars, leaving only what they thought was necessary to hold earth
@@MenachemSchmuel we all know that spikewall's shotgun ain't nothing against HEV Suit
@@MenachemSchmuel woosh
@@naturesquad9174 you dont know what a woosh is
@@naturesquad9174 That isn't a whoosh
6:02 Love the fact that when "Spikewall" shoots blindling through the cupboard he hits the rebel's thorax, and on the other hand when het gets a clear shot on another in the corridor, he aims and hits the rebel right in the head...Truly a killing machine
THORAX??? BRUH HE TOOK OFF HALF OF HIS RIBCAGE
bro why did you say thorax like that man a bug?
@@potatolord7284 It is technically accurate. The chest is the Thorax :P
@@creamboyfuengshwei Thorax means ribcage area
@@potatolord7284cuz anti-citizens are an infestation of bugs xD
6:07
the shrapnel getting stuck in his body is an amazing detail, you can see if it you pause at this exact timestamp
The sheer difference between this and SFM is ridiculous and I am very hopeful that this is the future of source films in general. Simply outstanding.
This is absolutely amazing!
Yoooo no way Polenar Tactical
NO WAY!
ZIGA PLAYS HL2?!!
@@Stinger913 I did quite some time ago...
HL is still my favourite single player game of all time
POLENAR!!!!
I love how, as Spikewall gets more injured, he continuously makes audible noises of agony that sound so painful that you'd think it'd be enough to give him pause or some physical hinderance. Yet, due to how utterly modified his body is, he is completely divorced from any human sense of bodily preservation and instead continues to push the enemy no matter what.
He vocalizes his debilitating injuries, but his body is completely removed from it as if the two were entirely different beings.
(human) pitbull
is this short acted or fully animated? - its so good I can't intuitively tell
@@theroyle7098 Animated lol
Also he was panting at 6:53
Maybe they vocalize their injuries to let know to other combines they are being attacked or fool the attacker into thinking that they are less capable now.
Just shows how utterly helpless the resistance must have felt. That much energy to take 3 CPs and a soldier.
One mine killed only two of CP units, while 3-rd "Respawned", Spike only lost his manhack drone, barely give a shit to any shot he received, only thing that actually hurt him was the slug shell that was directly shoted at his eye, and still, if he was a bit more durable or wound less lethal, that guy would be another bloodstains on dust covered floor.
@@user-CPU-APF Imagine two Spikewall soldiers like him. *shudder*
This rebel squad only fought a literal patrol team yet lose 3/5 (or 4/5 even, given the silence at the end) of it's members. And not even a full team, they were taken out by a single, lone, soldier. Really hammered the fact that if the Combine wanted the rest of mankind dead, they would have done that already.
I like the line" Why is there *a soldier* with them?" They already knew a single soldier is a serious issue
@@KoalaTContent An regular soldier, not the elit or heavy armd one! They would just get the hell out of there.
This is why Gordon Freeman is built differently
I love the chilling quiet after the combine falls, and Tom not responding really evokes the feeling of shock and sudden isolation from how quickly everything and everyone fell
Idk if it's been said yet, but I especially love the voice work here. Like, @ 6:58, the soldier's grunts sound so visceral. He sounds pissed and injured at the same time, and it's effectively conveyed even through the vocoding. Fantastic work to everyone involved in this project.
I don't think he was pissed, due to having everything non-combat related removed from it so emotions would be removed too. It's probably just its body being pumped up with drugs to increase movement speed, awareness, and reflexes so the body has to compensate with harder breathing.
I really have no words. Your work is incredible and it's getting better and better. You definitely deserve a reward for your effort. Creating such a video surely takes a lot of time, but I have to say that the wait is worth it. Please continue doing what you're doing, you deserve many more subscribers.
Having an audience to show my work to is as big of an award as I could ever ask for. Thank you very much for the kind words and your support :)
I absolutely love the fact that the rebels in your videos get a wider variety of weapons than they do in the games. Really hammers home the fact that no matter what we use, the combine are just way stronger than us.
Right? I immediately noticed the AKS-74U, it would make sense there would be quite a collection of Soviet arms in City 17, as most reference sources for the art team were straight from Sofia, Bulgaria, a country that was a very loyal satellite state to the USSR. Their army consisted of almost all Soviet equipment even by the 7 hour war.
not to mention the different between height of the CP and the Combine solider.
unless youre alyx and have more plot armor than barney in blue shift
@@dkskcjfjswwwwwws413 The games would be quite infuriating if they played like real life. They are power fantasies.
@@TheParryGod grai+ diabolical mode proves that
Omfg that was one of the best animations I’ve ever seen. Story, lighting, movement, cinematography, voices.
Wow, just wow.
4:42 this shot right here is just absolutely masterful and such a good smooth cut to another room that build suspense and pressure.
Great misdirect in the tradition of the famous one from Silence of the Lambs
I have a Google play balance that's expiring, and I love your work so thought I'd pass it on to you. Keep up the Half-Life videos, they are incredible!
Thank you so much for the support! Really appreciate it :)
Gotta love the custom voices :). Great work, as usual.
IT WAS DONE VERY COOL. God, the sounds, the animation. Everything is at the highest level! You guys have done an amazing job. I wish half life 2 would look so serious.
I've just noticed the guy at 3:09 is the same one from the ANTI-CITIZENS animation, he also fought one of these in that animation. Hence why he said "They don't go down easy, trust me." I would absolutely love a connecting story from these animations and it looks like you're already slyly doing so. Amazing.
in another animation he's shown to have been captured by reinforcing combine troops so sadly they're not the same person.
@@platypipope328 Oh really? What is the name of the animation?
@@Hypoberic it's the music video he did here's the link ua-cam.com/video/XoUmxo5Npow/v-deo.html
@@platypipope328 no, it's actually him
parrygod confirmed it
he managed to escape somehow
Bro gonna die in the next short lol
I love rewatching this and seeing new details. The rebel shotgunner, who features in a couple other stories, has clearly seen action as his bulletproof vest has a shotgun pellet spread over it, implying either he got lucky taking a hit at one point, or that it was scavenged from the dead, be that fallen Combine or fallen rebels. The metrocops are kind of clueless in some parts; while they know what they're here to do they defer to Spikewall to make decisions of its own or directly relay them from Overwatch. The leaves swirl around the truck in its wake as real leaves do in the air currents caused by large vehicles. And of course the other details I've noticed before remain incredible. So much good stuff is in this.
Yup its well done
Actually it's just about perfectly done with the fight, sequencing of the build up prior to..
Very tasteful stuff.
The vest is from the fallen combine Charger the same character killed in the Anti Citizens video
The vest looks like a hecu combat vest to me
You did an amazing job man! I have never ever seen anything like this. The shots were so photorealistic, the way you told the story, the way certain shots were taken from certain angles. Your work speak for itself and it speaks volumes. Best of luck for everything man!❤
The deadpan delivery on the "You can come out now. It is safe. (ಠ ‿ ↼)" was amazing 😂
Glad to see the Combine still haven't mastered lying in those 10 years since HL:A
It feels like the soldier says it out of some twisted sense of humor.
@@ETIL_ Standard procedure to filter out the dumbest targets, probably. Grunts in HL:Alyx do the same thing at one point.
HLA is only 5 years before HL2. This is only a year after that. But yeah, I really like the bad lying, trying to make themselves seem more human than they are.
@@eternal7912 Oh, I thought it was more because of how much the Combine progressed from HL:A to HL2
@@czajkowski2352 I was merely correcting the "10 years since HLA" part (because this video is only 1 year after HLA), not so much how the Combine changed since then. In that regard, you're right.
This dude is truly mastering what telling a compelling story in a short format is.
You gotta have balls of steel to fight the combine, and Freeman kills those soldiers with a crowbar. That suit of his is incredible.
I think it must be a prototype of the MJOLNIR armor the Master Chief uses later.
@@arthurchadwell9267Fun fact: Not every game is connected to eachother.
@@matthewjones39 Is joke
@@shaeby8123 :(
@@matthewjones39He’s right, you know.
Now this is how I imagined the Combine in lore.
This is fucking high art. The way the shelf explodes and it penetrates the man, the different stances on each of the soldiers as they walk, the pure tension and atmosphere through the sound, cinematography, lighting, and body language is just top notch. Directors working with tens of millions are struggling to do what you're making dude.
I LOVED the touch of having the manhack come around the corner too fast and bump into the wall!
These are always so brutal, love how gritty it all is.
Yeah that was so badass. And how half of it sort of lags behind as it turns. Really brilliantly done
You've really brought the half life alyx universe to life in every one of your videos. It's made me appreciate its visual design more than even the base game managed to. Well done.
This is outstanding cinema. I am astounded that you haven't teamed up with a 'Hollywood Type' producer to make a film or series based on this universe and the myriad of stories and offshoots that are possible. The whole HL thing has been missed by the industry, whilst dudes flying around in capes have been the focus. Honestly, someone needs to look at the obvious potential here. The writing and detailed animation (angles and tension) of this short are phenomenal. The 'jacked up adrenaline' captured in the close-up of the boot at the beginning actually set the stage and gave an insight into the fear, trepidation, and exhilaration felt by soldiers and law enforcement entering a potentially dangerous situation (I'm retired military myself, so I can relate). Thank you very much for taking the time and making the effort to bring together a piece of excellent cinema.
The manhack failing to make the turn in the hallway caught me off-guard.
That shotgun to the head was as brutal as the critical headshot in RE2 Remake.
That head model is actually from RE3 remake. Not sure if it's a reused one from RE2 but probably.
@@TheParryGod I was close, nice choice of head models, good sir.
You ever see a fan project that’s so good you consider it canon? Yeah. This is one of those.
This is fan made? 😢 I wanted this to be a real game coming out soon
Oh same. Literally everything theparrygod has made is canon in my mind.
@@johnconnor7501 huh?
Valve should hire him! Perrygod gonna be the next Marc Laidlaw.
The lady getting her head blown apart was so abrupt and gruesome it sent chills up my spine. But the screaming, it was... Harrowing.
I was *not* ready for the levels of brutality shown on display here.
@@Hanfgurkenhasser I love the "realism" of brutality here. Tired of boring movie-like scenes. This is awesome! Shows the reason to fear combine soldiers, to fight them.
went back to watch it several times it was so well done that whole scene
@@Juxtaposed1Nmotion ikr, i fucking love the combine, their design is so fucking cool, the custom vocoder for spikewall is fucking amazing too.
Timestamp?
2:39 I still have nightmares about that cat…
Thank you so much!
@@TheParryGodno problem!
It's scary to even think about how destructive elite soldiers encounter would be.
cant wait for that one!
That combine soldier was an special unit
elites are not canon to HL:A i think
@@DalekEmperor-S.W.The217th ok, so? This is clearly an elite, he has a skull insignia
@@deadlybunzhe isn't an Elite Soldier, pretty sure he's a Spike Wall unit
I'm a huge fan of everything combine and I loved this. Really great showing the CP seemingly getting "revived" by his suit/drugs after the mine explosion. They're commonly dosed with "anti-fatigue" rations which are most likely some form of stimulants. The Spikewall is an amazing model and I love how he operates. Great work, would enjoy seeing more long videos like this with a focus on certain special types of Combine unit even if they're fan made. I'd die to see a Combine Elite or Assassin short.
Oh holy shit, I feel like the Combine Elite doesnt get enough emphasis of how terrifying they are.
I mean sure theres EZ:2, but thats a privileged unit, not the regular souless one.
@DRON STUDIO theyd be scarier if they well, you know, won. but theyre constantly getting schwacked by civilians with revolvers and shit ya know?
@@astartesfanboy5294 The power of the GMan's plot armor
Absolutely incredible work! I just can't stop watching your animations! Please keep it up! I'm an animator as well, and your content has inspired me to try my hand at a Half-Life animation as well sometime :)
Thank you so much for the kind words and the support! Glad to hear these had such an impact on you. Good luck with your future projects!
THIS is the type of "adult animation" I think we need more of.
there's definitely some other independent shows (that I shan't name) that come to mind when talking about adult animation, and IMO, they're fine*, not to mention that this is already using an existing IP, too, but imagine an animated series using an original IP with a similar tone & atmosphere to this. it would be SO GOOD.
I can only wish for so much, but at the very least, I sincerely hope you continue making stuff like this, because the formula you have here is extremely engaging, and as far as I've seen on this platform, entirely unique to your channel.
*I am a simple man
Weird noises it makes at the last fight. Is it breathing? Is he in pain?
Can he even feel anything? The way he grunts sounds almost as if he's pissed.
He might be scared. He is alone there after all.
No no I'm imagining things. There is no humanity left in that machine. It's just a tool designed to accomplish a task and it failed to do so.
I love how you portrayed the Spikewall. It looks and talks inhuman, like a machine. But under great stress you can see that slight bit of humanity seeping out under his thick armour.
Thank you! These lines were titled "angry grunts" but what I wanted to convey was more of just a vocal reaction to pain that they do both in HLA and HL2 mixed with a tinge of anger. The vocoder does amplify the anger feeling even on lines that were just wheezing.
HOLY SHIT! That was SO brutal. Amazing job as usual, really showed the reality and brutality of what Half-Life is.
Guess you can say… its a HALF life.
War is brutal over all hell we don't even need plasma weapons to do some wild shit. This mans animation skill and audio creation is amazing!
Imagine the HL2 city uprising with this level of carnage
I wish i had 4 people I know having free time at the same time. This short would be so much fun to do in live action.
@@Armin2012doom music
Oh my god this was absolutely amazing, every single second made me feel like I was watching an Official Valve Animation.
They're seriously missing out on a LOT of talent if they don't contact you because of these amazing animations.
talent that lives in the wild dies when it joins a company.
@s0nnyburnett as much as I love valve, this is true especially at valve when staff is limited and a lot of the company needs to focus on something in order for it to see the light of day
@@s0nnyburnett yep, they'd probably assign him to making animations for new dota skins or some crap
I love how this gigantic soldier weighed down by the size of his armor is still nimble and maneuverable. You came tell this isn’t a grunt thrown into some armor plates, this thing has been born and trained with the weight in mind
"Attention Hostile Targets you can come out now it's safe..."
*Persuasion 1*
DUDE, can't express my self on how amazing this was, the amount of details and you put into your animations is just incredible.
Faz o L
i severly love the fact that you get to see the contrast between the currently human 'civil protection' fellows and the almost inhuman combine soldier.
when they passed the doorway the soldier was perfectly calm and didn't do much of anything aside from walk, but the cps all walked by in varying forms of relaxed/stressed
the one with his gun at his hip casually walking, the one with a hand on his belt, the one walking almost simmilar to the soldier, and the one nervously checking already swept rooms.
10/10 would remove my memories so i can see it for the first time all over again
Just don't remove too much.
“Reminder: memory replacement is the first step toward rank privileges.”
*Nacrotics*
id love to see a timelapse of the process, i find it so much harder to animate in s2fm than in blender, especially with striders and other weird legged creatures, it would be awesome seeing the s2fm master showing his process