I think the HECU are such meaningful characters of the game that they deserved their own thread, for people to express their thoughts over their gameplay and character.
So I’ll start by expressing some thoughts and ideas I had over them myself. (Watch out for the wall of text)
The non-human developer’s idea
The developers “apparently” wanted the grunts to seem quite inhuman for people not to feel sympathy over them, but this is quite an odd statement, as when you hear the soldier’s speeches, they do seem human (even though they may be a bit cartoony), especially how they respond to the player’s actions. And them feeling more human shouldn’t really be the main reason for players to feel sympathy towards the grunts, if that’s what the team really wants to achieve, it’s their character, but I’ll discuss their character later. However I do wish to point out that their idle speeches should be improved, I mean they have ONLY 4 idle speeches in which 2 are the famous lines “Do iiit” (Do what?) and “I’m tired of playing games” (Is this supposed to make them sound badass? Like “Bring the fight” kind of thing, I never got this one) , this 2 lines along the “Agh he got me” should be considered to be removed. They should also use their “mission” speeches more often, since they are rarely heard. In fact, I think they could have predetermined idle speeches, for certain parts of the game, eg. In parts were you are constantly battling them, maybe after taking down a squad, you could hear: “We lost contact with zulu, moving in to investigate” while they head to your direction, or maybe in some others as you approach them hear: “Deliah 3 is not responding, should we investigate? HQ: Negative Romeo you’re to hold your position Roger HQ, Squad hold positions!” This could also show professionalism in a little way, since people complain about them not feeling very professional.
Now gameplay wise, yes they seem very inhuman due to their reaction and aim, but we already know that, and the devs are probably doing their best to fix this. But aside from that I thought that their Ai could also see a great improvement if they also reacted to other things than the player. For example: When barrels or any other explosive material blows up near them but does not kill them, they could tumble from the blast and get back up from the ground to continue fighting; or you could see them sometimes patrolling areas, not just waiting for the player; also after battling aliens and some surviving, they should regroup, this one could be applied to the scene in the second map of default on a rail, when after killing the vorts, they just go idle in the positions they were during the fight, instead they could regroup in the middle of the zone if they haven’t seen freeman and if their squad leader is still alive, you could see him head in first, and use his “regroup” animation while the rest of the soldiers head to him. Aside from that maybe they should give them also more idle animations, some to be maybe in predetermined parts of the game and some others to be ramdom. I have made some possible candidates in SFM (Forgive me for not being the best quality as my SFM was constantly crashing and limiting my improvements):
Idle 1: Which is the Deafault by Black mesa
Idle 2: (for the hl fans 
)To be random along idle 1 (yes I know, he’s holding it with the wrong hand)
Idle 3: (Sitting down) maybe in certain parts were the HECU is keeping a look out and may be tired from battle (possibly in on a rail since its nighttime) or where they control an area which they believe to be of low risk (Maybe around QE and the beginning of ST, I could totally see them like this in c2a5b and C2a5d)
Idle 4: (Resting mp5 in arm) to be random too (Yes, wrong hand again)
Idle 5: (Fatigued) To be seen in places where the HECU has battled aliens, near their corpses, could also be seen along 3
Idle 6: (Resting) To be like 3, I think at some points of the game hatless soldiers could be seen too, to imply they were not expecting an attack
The HECU’s character
(My post has already been huge, I don’t know if this should have a thread on its own, as its almost as big as the first one)
Now many people conflict towards the Dev’s decision over the HECU’s character decision and I can see where they’re coming from. In half life, the HECU’s character was not really touched that much aside from them seeming to be professional and that they were there to kill you. However this did bring a sense of moral ambiguity as the player would imagine them being just or unjust mainly due to game progression. In current black mesa this is no longer there because their characters have been touched more than in the original half-life, which is not a bad thing, especially by the fact that they no longer feel like robots and feel more human (irony for the dev’s original idea uh?). But sadly this sense of moral ambiguity is gone because the player gets to hear more informal speeches from them, and they feel overall like plain assholes, now let me explain my reasoning behind this: At the beginning its ok that they feel like that with the “no one’s fought back” speech, and that the player then questions himself with the “I didn’t sign up for this shit” speech and QE, but then the “rape” speech reminds you that they’re assholes again, this one’s the killer as it takes away the Questionable from “Questionable ethics”. But I think this can be corrected by adding more speeches at certain parts of the game, I’ve thought of 2 scenes that could maybe do the trick:
- 2 HECU’s talking during QE (could probably be added around the beginning or be the 2 that are walking the hallway before the Agrunts)
[COLOR=‘DarkGreen’]You know, when I first heard the objectives I thought HQ had gone insane, but now that I see all this…
[COLOR=‘Lime’]Yeah, these guys were playing with fire and got what they deserved.
[COLOR=‘DarkGreen’]I guess I can see why the aliens are so pissed, well if they can think anyways
(amused)[COLOR=‘lime’] Yeah sure, try talking to frankensquid.
- 3 HECU’s discuss over freeman, 2 which are taking a break (For this one I think the best spot for it to happen is if the player takes the first pipe exit at the right of the first tank battle, at C2a5d, I think even idle 3 and 6 could be used for this 2 soldiers at the scene)
[COLOR=‘Cyan’]What are you two doing? This is no time for breaks; uglies can strike at any moment
[COLOR=‘Lime’]Relax, just look around, there’s no way anything is getting past us
[COLOR=‘Green’]Yeah! Any alien that comes this way will get his ass royally boned
[COLOR=‘Cyan’]It’s not the aliens I’m worried about, is this freeman guy
[COLOR=‘Lime’]You really believe in this freeman crap, I mean one guy doing all this by himself…
[COLOR=‘Green’]Yeah HQ must be confusing BMRF resistance with him, I mean didn’t some guys capture him already?
[COLOR=‘Cyan’]Don’t think so, I heard radio chatter about him reappearing again and taking down Sierra and Quebec. Hell I heard he took down a helo!
[COLOR=‘Lime’]Ok that’s just ridiculous
[COLOR=‘Cyan’]How are you sure? I heard an explosion not so long ago, like a crash, what if that’s the helo? What if he is here?
[COLOR=‘Lime’]There are explosions everywhere! I’m surprised this place hasn’t blown up already!
[COLOR=‘Green’]He is not coming here don’t worry
(When freeman is already partly out of the pipe)
All three turn around and look at you Huh? IT’S FREEEMAN!
I also think maybe hearing more lines from HQ, as it was in the missile launch scene, would also be a nice feature, to remind the player that the soldiers are taking orders, and are not just gunning people down for fun, also this could show some professionalism as well. I also thought about a possible last speech if the HQ voice was included:
There’s a dead hecu next to the door’s switch leading to the Lambda complex, just behind the sentrys, as the player approaches static is heard from his helmet This is HQ, the operation is over, the last birds have already lift off, if you have evacuated, congratulations, if you haven’t, your sacrifice shall be honored… HQ out.