So… Why are people complaining about the final fight in Questionable Ethics? I did that entire chapter in one life after taking damage for being an idiot and not killing the Houndeyes at the start immediately. The finale of that chapter is a beautiful example of the kind of tactics a real military squad would use to corner an opponent who’s proven exceedingly dangerous, namely: cut him off from friendlies, send in a flanking ground-force and have soldiers rappel in from above, ready to fire, if they tank it then send in another flanking force from the far side and make sure to have the arresting soldiers up top be ready to open fire as soon as the target pops out into their line of sight.
Beautifully executed and just difficult enough to make it worrying, but not so much so that it got frustrating. I didn’t even die -once- and walked out with about 70 or so health and 20 or so armour before I used the charging stations in the same room. I even managed to arrange a badass motif moment as the scientists and security guard came up from the door as Gordon reloaded the crossbow. It was perfect, and really made the dialouge from the scientists/security guard fit, especially after the frantic action just before and the difficulty thereof. It also further cements the reasoning behind the reactions of the Resistance in Half-Life 2 being so pleased/amazed/ecstatic for at least some of the scientists/security guards to have seen Gordon Freeman completely obliterate amazing odds without taking much damage from it.
I figure I should include a bit of synopsis of how I got past this section so simply. So! Coming in from the door after the scientists let me in, I immediately used the Shotgun’s alt-fire to kill the two rappelling soldiers, then booked it over to the crates to the right-side rear of the desk for the two ammo dumps from the soldiers that you can kill in that room. Then, sprinted to the exit door by the charging stations. I used the minor unidirectional cover there to get an easier bead on the soldiers who enter from the left side (from the door you come into that room from) and killed them with the MP5 and a shot from it’s alt. Then I killed the others across the room with the MP5 from the same spot. To finish I ran back to the center of the room to cover behind one of the two big pillars, readied a shot, then stepped out from the side and killed the two up top with a quick pair of shots from the crossbow, I even missed the first shot. Finally, I moved back to stand at the top of the entrance ramp, reloading the crossbow as the door finished rising. In come the scientists to see a bloodstained, reloading, scowling Gordon Freeman with lifeless Marine Grunt corpses littering the floor around the room.