All About Half Life

The game is centered around the adventures of Dr. Gordon Freeman a post graduate in Theoretical Physics from MIT. The game starts with gordon getting into a Hazardous environment suit to conduct an analysis on a "test specimen" in the anamolous experiments lab in black mesa.

The experiment goes terribly wrong, teleporting extraterrestrials from another dimension to the black mesa facility causing massive casualities. Gordon, among the very few survivors of the incident makes his way to the surface to seek help.

The video of the experiment is shown above.

As Gordon makes his way to the surface to seek help he with combatting the HEC - hazardous environment combat unit who have been sent to kill all personnel and aliens to cover up the incident. He is also tasked with facing the aliens have been teleported here as a result of the experiement.

He later learns that a team of scientists at a secretive building called the lambda complex may have a way to solve the problem caused by the experiment.

For much of the first part of the game he is tasked with making his way to the lambda complex where he is told that a creature entity at Xen is holding the teleport open. Gordon, with the help of the black mesa scientists makes his way to Xen and kills the Creature holding the teleport open called Nihilanth.

He is captured by the "Gman" (believed to be short for Government Man), captures Gordon freeman and offers Gordon a hobson's choice for a job. Gordon on accepting the job is put on stasis, "awaiting assignment" and refusing the offer takes him to a area filled with the aliens of the planet Xen whose race he just annihilated.

Thus ending part 1 of the trilogy.

The events following the killing of nihilanth are not so clear. There are 2 versions of what happened immediately afterwards.

First one is that nihilanth's killing resulted in the teleportation storm which resulted in yet another alien race called the Combine being teleported to the earth who enslave the entire planet in just 7 hours in a war called the 7 hour war.

The other version is that the administrator of black mesa - Dr. Breen made a deal with the Combine and orchestrated the entire black mesa incident to facilitate the enslavement of humanity by the Combine. In return the combine offered him global dominance.

Eitherways, humanity was enslaved in just 7 hours in a 7 hour war by the combine. That much is clear from the in-game dialogue.

The Gman is a mysterious character in the game who is spotted multiple times in the game observing the progress of the player from unreachable locations. He is seen in a blue suit holding a briefcase that has the black mesa logo on it.

The Gman was first spotted talking to a scientist in the beginning of the first part prior to the experiment. In later versions it becomes known that he is the one who brought in the crystal specimen that was tested in the experiment that led to the black mesa incident. I guess I can vaguely call him the whole cause of the black mesa mess.

Later on the guy destroys Black mesa to cover up all evidences by detonating a thermo nuclear bomb in the facility as was seen in Opposing Force. This guy suspends Adrian shepherd in stasis indefinitely.

He takes control of the player's life following the killing of the final boss in the first part - nihilanth and offers him a job. Rejecting the offer results in the player entering a area full of alient grunts and other xen creatures who "would like the chance to meet the man responsible for the total annihilation of their race". Gordon on accepting the offer is suspended in stasis "awaiting assignment".

The Gman later inserts the player into the real world 7 years later in a train bound for CIty 17. This would be the first "assignment" following his hiring. He is again spotted monitoring the player in various places in the game. He observes for a few moments and walks away. Again he is spotted in unreachable places.

Gman repeatedly talks to Gordon like he is being hired by somebody and Gman is his "agent" or something. Like in the ending of half life (see video below) and ending of half life 2 (see video below).

The Ultimate Villain?

I have a feeling the guy has a hand in the whole black mesa incident. He mentions in one of the gman moments how he "plucked" Alyx out of Black mesa at the face of objections that "she was a mere child and no practical use to anyone". When he says "i have learnt to ignore such naysayers" the screen flickers to show a distorted picture of Dr.Breen (almost like him). Implying that he has worked or interacted closely with Dr. Breen. That combined with the fact that he brought in the sample adds a lot of weight to a premise that he is the primary villain.

Got a theory? I'd love to hear it :)

Comment Below.

Gordon is awakened from stasis and inserted in a train bound for city 17. The begining of the game features a "Gman Moment" where he gives another cryptic speach. You walk through the city seeing the way the world has changed in 7 years.

The combine have put a suppression field that prevents us from reproducing. Talk about a post apocalyptic world!

There are a last few rebels fighting against the combine who are in hiding. The City 17 has an enormous structure in the center called the citadel. It is largely a metalic "skyscrapper" where much of the enemies in the game are "manufactured".

Gordon makes his way to Dr. Isaac Keliner's Lab. Keiner is the bald headed scientist guy who you see all over Black mesa in part 1. From there he is supposed to teleport to Eli Vance's lab. Eli is the "african-american" scientist you see all over black mesa, and he is Alyx Vance's father. Alyx is the heroine of the story.The tipping point in the game is when gordon tries to teleport to eli vance's lab and in the middle of the teleportation sequence, Dr. Kleiner's pet - lemarr, jumps into the portal causing Freeman to be teleported to random places in the City including Dr. Breen's office.

Dr. Breen is alarmed at finding Gordon Freeman still alive after the incident and puts the combine soldiers on high alert. Following the accident, gordon makes his way to Eli's lab through the canal. On his way out, he gets his first weapon - the crowbar. Which is symbolic in half life as the first weapon the player gets and as the melee weapon in the inventory. He makes much of the way battling the combine soldiers and the alien zombie and head crabs that have infested the earth.

Once at Eli's lab he finds this really cool gun - the gravity gun and plays with Alyx's pet - Dog. Which is actually a really big robot. A really smart one too.

The combine soldiers somehow find gordon in eli's lab and send out soldiers while they gordon is in the middle of learning out to use the gravity gun. While trying to escape them you are seperated by falling debris. You are forced to make your way through the Ravenholm. This level is like a mni-Doom 3 with zombies and cut up bodies all over the place.