The beauty of Surface Tension is the obvious about face the story telling shows you. Back during "We've Got Hostiles" the game makes it clear the Military has taken control of the facility with overwhelming force and presence. The current Alien threat is being dealt with fairly easily. Fast forward to Surface Tension and it becomes clear the situation has gotten horribly out of hand. With a seemingly endless reinforcement of Aliens appearing around every corner the Military becomes overwhelmed and hope of containment is lost. This translates to the hope of keeping the rest of the world safe being lost since the interdimensional breach does nothing but get worse.
Yeah, this is something I loved in Black Mesa's Surface Tension chapter. It's got an entire arc in itself, and is told through scripted sequences, the environment art, and the disturbingly human radio chatter.
It all started with one experiment that went horribly wrong...and we got this. They figured if they send the Military to clean up this mess by killing all the invading Xen creatures and people who know all about the incident, it'll all be over and they can go home. But as this stage proved..it's a lost cause.
In my opinion, this *could* be because of the Lambda Complex being the only place not entirely under military control, especially when it was under total alien invasion which actually succeeded, resulting in more black mesa remnants than anywhere else, and most likely was the last sector attacked and the last sector which holded out, my fact could be confirmed by how protected the lambda complex is, with alot of entrances leading to it and the ability to seal them off to limit the invasion of both sides, with especially it being black mesa's fort knox. Edit: Also take a look on how things would go differently, if the tank at 1:13 wouldnt been destroyed, HECU forces would go into the Lambda Complex itself, with hopes of containment most likely going up which would motivate the now skeptic commanders to send in reinforcements to support the assault, if that would happen, freeman would be holded out at the lambda complex by the HECU soldiers attacking it, and most likely killed (unlikely) or just basically too late to arrive at the portal, especially when the core was unstable and would cause a meltdown, that'd really change up all things if you think about it, because then the Ninhilath wouldnt get killed, Black Mesa would most likely be eradicated due to the core explosion, and the xenians would stop coming to black mesa, or atleast they'd be isolated if they would do that, leading to an asumption that the combine wouldnt attack earth, that's pretty good if you think about it.
Thanks for being a player that actually just watches the AI fighting eachother over just blasting em, part of the greatness of this game is being a silent witness to the carnage. Great playthrough.
Thank you! That's what I strive for - the game has too many details and hard work poured into it to just skip over. I also feel that a lot of players just rush through the levels instead of taking the time to take these details all in, that's why I play the way I do. Thank you for noticing :)
@@Sexy_Nutella i like how you pan over when jets or the Xen manta rays are flying over or just doing a pan across the distance, its gives people who haven't played the game that extra bit of goodness and yeah Valve certainly did put alot of effort into this so its great you can showcase it.
My favorite part here is right after the 6:00 minute mark, when you dodge the fireball like an action movie star, then when looking at the mangled corpse of the guy who hid behind the bulwark, you shake your head in dismay. It's little details like that that make a gameplay clip like this great. Call me weird, too, because whenever an NPC is talking to me I nod Gordon's head in agreement or disagreement, just to make it feel more lively.
Same man it feels good for immersion! I hope games in the future can more seamlessly mix that element in, a blank slate like Gordon Freeman with the options to colour your experience more
Like what one of the marines in the hangar said "There's no frontline with these thing's!" If they knew when and where the Xenian forces were coming from. Would they have won? I don't know but, I do know. The battle wouldn't have taken such a horrible turn for the marines.
@@colbycoolby1592 At first the HECU were able to control the situation because the teleports were random and mainly consisted of xen wildlife or vortigaunts (which the Nihilanth probably sent in as scouts). The situation went FUBAR once the Xen-invaders started tactically teleporting in their more serious units like the Alien Grunts. It wasn't random anymore, they were now being dropped in at specific areas on purpose to take out the HECU and gain more control of the area. The HECU were simply out-matched at this point.
@@colbycoolby1592 Most certainly, the HECU wouldve had to pull out or face extermination anyway even without Freeman's interference or the Black Ops sneaking by everyone while they're busy and blowing the place to hell. If given enough time, the operation would certainly be taken over by the full force of the U.S Military, as they would have more manpower and resources necessary to combat this threat
i love how the tanks just blows the aliens appart, in the last tank part i was hiding in the vent looking at the tank firing, each fire alien grunt pieces would fly away. Also the helicopter part when the APC comes they where actually able to turn the tide on the battle, surviving the APC and several of the squad who came with it, they didnt saved the helicopter tho.
@@Sexy_Nutella I think it's more or less because some enemies and weapons do more damage than others. Especially since this is the Source Engine, not GoldSrc.
1:35 One of the only two "Fucks" (almost censored but not quite) in the HL story. Along with Barney's message to Breen. And both very memorable moments
Yeah. I actually do like how Valve and Crowbar Collective are more tame in their use of swears, so that the hard moments land harder. I do think there's a Black Mesa version of the navy seals copypasta found in one of the multiplayer maps as an easter egg though ;)
I remember at this point, I sorta just ignored the marines and attacked the aliens, I did lose health, and I had to kill a few marines, but the last couple up them just aimed into the sky, completely ignoring me. I chilled with them and aimed where they were aiming and left not long after.
Idk if this came with the last update or it is just me but just after the fight at the LZ if you enter the building trough de door the LAV breaks and look to your right you can see the gargantua who chases you later trough the tunnels (which is probably responsible of destroying the convoy seen at the beginning of the video.
Everybody is talking about the HECU desperate attempt to fend off the alien invasion. But nobody speaks about the horrors the aliens go through when spawning into uncharted territory. Especially the Vortigaunts. Imagine you getting teleported into Black Mesa not knowing what to expect. You popp up in front of a tank and 2 seconds later a tank shell flies right past you and blows up your buddy you dropped in with in millions of pieces.
Something that I've been wondering after all this time. Is were all HECU units equipped with a powered combat vest? Looking at gameplay the HECU are able to take on Xenians.
as a marine who served from 2016-2020 it’s a funny fact that during this engagement, you see the Marine Corps had brought armor. That armor is no longer apart of the marine corps, I think we lost our battalions due to funding around 2017~ So if this went down in more recent times, as useless as the this information is, the HECU would have had significantly less firepower to even battle this threat. More or less just saying this as an interesting “hey that use to exist” thing.
Eu estava jogando o original , o MMOD e o Source nesses dias e adoro jogar o Black Mesa que eles colocaram situações e diálogos novos no jogo, mas quando você o Tensão na Superfície ( Surface Tension ) no original e depois no Black Mesa , nossa como a Crowbar está de parabéns pelo remake , eu via no original e falava : Olha essa parte é aquela no remake e por aí vai , eles contaram a história através dos rádios desde o Complexo de Escritório ( Ofiice Complex ) até o Esqueçam Freeman ! ( About Freeman ) , amei essa pegada do remake e se vocês deixarem o guarda do About Freeman vivo ele fala mais coisas pra você. No caso do Surface Tension adorei tudo e ficava surpresa a cada parte que eu jogava e olha eu deixo os caras se matarem entre si e depois eu entro em cena e balanço a cabeça também e adoro explorar os jogos .
I dont even know why hecu's smg or shotgun is weaker than the same shotgun and smg that gordon picked up from the dead hecus(im not referring to the hev suit since it protects its wearer from hazardous environments) its just they cant even kill an alien grunt easily in scripted sentences
The beauty of Surface Tension is the obvious about face the story telling shows you. Back during "We've Got Hostiles" the game makes it clear the Military has taken control of the facility with overwhelming force and presence. The current Alien threat is being dealt with fairly easily. Fast forward to Surface Tension and it becomes clear the situation has gotten horribly out of hand. With a seemingly endless reinforcement of Aliens appearing around every corner the Military becomes overwhelmed and hope of containment is lost. This translates to the hope of keeping the rest of the world safe being lost since the interdimensional breach does nothing but get worse.
Yeah, this is something I loved in Black Mesa's Surface Tension chapter. It's got an entire arc in itself, and is told through scripted sequences, the environment art, and the disturbingly human radio chatter.
Then the combine comes to fuck things up
The thing i like about surface tension is the hecu and xenians fighting
It all started with one experiment that went horribly wrong...and we got this. They figured if they send the Military to clean up this mess by killing all the invading Xen creatures and people who know all about the incident, it'll all be over and they can go home. But as this stage proved..it's a lost cause.
In my opinion, this *could* be because of the Lambda Complex being the only place not entirely under military control, especially when it was under total alien invasion which actually succeeded, resulting in more black mesa remnants than anywhere else, and most likely was the last sector attacked and the last sector which holded out, my fact could be confirmed by how protected the lambda complex is, with alot of entrances leading to it and the ability to seal them off to limit the invasion of both sides, with especially it being black mesa's fort knox.
Edit: Also take a look on how things would go differently, if the tank at 1:13 wouldnt been destroyed, HECU forces would go into the Lambda Complex itself, with hopes of containment most likely going up which would motivate the now skeptic commanders to send in reinforcements to support the assault, if that would happen, freeman would be holded out at the lambda complex by the HECU soldiers attacking it, and most likely killed (unlikely) or just basically too late to arrive at the portal, especially when the core was unstable and would cause a meltdown, that'd really change up all things if you think about it, because then the Ninhilath wouldnt get killed, Black Mesa would most likely be eradicated due to the core explosion, and the xenians would stop coming to black mesa, or atleast they'd be isolated if they would do that, leading to an asumption that the combine wouldnt attack earth, that's pretty good if you think about it.
Thanks for being a player that actually just watches the AI fighting eachother over just blasting em, part of the greatness of this game is being a silent witness to the carnage. Great playthrough.
Thank you! That's what I strive for - the game has too many details and hard work poured into it to just skip over. I also feel that a lot of players just rush through the levels instead of taking the time to take these details all in, that's why I play the way I do. Thank you for noticing :)
@@Sexy_Nutella i like how you pan over when jets or the Xen manta rays are flying over or just doing a pan across the distance, its gives people who haven't played the game that extra bit of goodness and yeah Valve certainly did put alot of effort into this so its great you can showcase it.
@@Ashguy733 Thanks! Slight correction though, this game is made by the dev team over at Crowbar Collective, not Valve :)
@@Sexy_Nutella lol omg that is right. My mistake.
@@Ashguy733 all good! :D
My favorite part here is right after the 6:00 minute mark, when you dodge the fireball like an action movie star, then when looking at the mangled corpse of the guy who hid behind the bulwark, you shake your head in dismay. It's little details like that that make a gameplay clip like this great.
Call me weird, too, because whenever an NPC is talking to me I nod Gordon's head in agreement or disagreement, just to make it feel more lively.
Haha yeah, that's how I usually play these games, reacting to NPCs and such.
@@Sexy_Nutella yeah i do that too
Same
Same man it feels good for immersion! I hope games in the future can more seamlessly mix that element in, a blank slate like Gordon Freeman with the options to colour your experience more
Awesome me too
I think the hecu didnt lost due to the force of xen, but the amount of xen aliens randomly appearing
That's probably one of the main factors, not being to guess where and when they would teleport in.
Like what one of the marines in the hangar said "There's no frontline with these thing's!" If they knew when and where the Xenian forces were coming from. Would they have won? I don't know but, I do know. The battle wouldn't have taken such a horrible turn for the marines.
@@colbycoolby1592 At first the HECU were able to control the situation because the teleports were random and mainly consisted of xen wildlife or vortigaunts (which the Nihilanth probably sent in as scouts). The situation went FUBAR once the Xen-invaders started tactically teleporting in their more serious units like the Alien Grunts. It wasn't random anymore, they were now being dropped in at specific areas on purpose to take out the HECU and gain more control of the area. The HECU were simply out-matched at this point.
@@colbycoolby1592 Most certainly, the HECU wouldve had to pull out or face extermination anyway even without Freeman's interference or the Black Ops sneaking by everyone while they're busy and blowing the place to hell.
If given enough time, the operation would certainly be taken over by the full force of the U.S Military, as they would have more manpower and resources necessary to combat this threat
AI Battle Intelligence
6:40
Zombie: This barrel is danger, i threw it away from us, to them foes.
6:47
HECU JarHead: I'LL KILL US ALL.
That looked more like a “I won’t die alone!” moment to me.
he probably just suicided because they're surrounded.
@@zandrmandr8300 fr
Press F to pay respect to the guard
F, didn't even survive long enough to get a beer with the other Barneys and Freeman
@@Sexy_Nutella Ultra Mega Uber F
F
F
F
1:54 HECU: Nyeh
Alien Grunt: Bonk!
i love when the ai loses all their IQ
The funny thing was the medic running up to give health to the grunt, which ends up killing them both with one swing
pretty dumb
@@miodragjr didn't know you'd be here
Imagine being one of the scientists or guards or something that survives this mess having to trek halfway across the globe to wherever City 17 is
Couldn't have been an easy journey for Eli, Barney or Kleiner :(
@@Sexy_Nutella Vdd
I like how at 1:18 and 1:58 marines rappel down from the building on the right to join the amazing battle below
Yeah, sucks that they still died though :/ Gotta admire the HECU's fighting spirit for sure
Sexy Nutella@ yeah. They may have been outmanned and outgunned. But they damn well weren’t gonna give up black Mesa without a bloody fight
I really love when they say "Back up Back up Back the FU!-"
i love how the tanks just blows the aliens appart, in the last tank part i was hiding in the vent looking at the tank firing, each fire alien grunt pieces would fly away. Also the helicopter part when the APC comes they where actually able to turn the tide on the battle, surviving the APC and several of the squad who came with it, they didnt saved the helicopter tho.
Yeah, I think the HECU are programmed to not always lose the fight. Although they usually do.
ruclips.net/video/LF-LsDaOsJ8/видео.html save the osprey
Too bad the Osprey can't live. It'd be cool if there was an easter egg where it could fly away or something
@@Sexy_Nutella I think it's more or less because some enemies and weapons do more damage than others. Especially since this is the Source Engine, not GoldSrc.
That tank driver had some slow reaction times
Probably stunned and shocked at the Manta!
the best part was the tank part
The music, the setpiece - everything was awesome about that part
@@Sexy_Nutella it would be cool if there was a guy on the top gunner too
Totally agree with you.
This game is beautiful in every way.
Love the original (actually am currently playing through it) but this is just amazing!
Playing through the original first really made me appreciate Black Mesa more :) All those recreations of sequences from the first game are great.
It almost makes u feel bad for them.
1:35 One of the only two "Fucks" (almost censored but not quite) in the HL story. Along with Barney's message to Breen. And both very memorable moments
Yeah. I actually do like how Valve and Crowbar Collective are more tame in their use of swears, so that the hard moments land harder. I do think there's a Black Mesa version of the navy seals copypasta found in one of the multiplayer maps as an easter egg though ;)
@@Sexy_Nutella There is but it's censored with poorly cut in family friendly words, which makes it much funnier, imo.
I remember at this point, I sorta just ignored the marines and attacked the aliens, I did lose health, and I had to kill a few marines, but the last couple up them just aimed into the sky, completely ignoring me. I chilled with them and aimed where they were aiming and left not long after.
Haha, the AI bugs out in this game pretty frequently
6:34 They should`ve added a marine tripping up by the door and make the marine gunfire incredibly loud as a joke.
Each time I see a fight scene in a half life mod or game between two enemy forces I just watch
Yeah, same here. I love watching scripted fights between AI
Same here
Rest in Peace Chad Guard that had a likeable personality who died for no reason. Amen
Just the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time
I would usually just watch the fights between the HECU and the Xen then just clean up whatever is left that gets in the way of progression.
gameplay meta
Agreed
on my first playthrough i wasted a bunch of rockets on the scripted tank destruction scene
Idk if this came with the last update or it is just me but just after the fight at the LZ if you enter the building trough de door the LAV breaks and look to your right you can see the gargantua who chases you later trough the tunnels (which is probably responsible of destroying the convoy seen at the beginning of the video.
Yup, this was added after this video I believe. Great foreshadowing of the Garg chase at the end like you said
press F to pay respect for the security guard
F
HECU : we can't fight anymore, they're everywhere!!
Vietnam marines veterans : first time?
Great gameplay you are Really there in the game yourself !
Thank you! I try to be :)
@@Sexy_Nutella You do that Really Perfect now :D
@@mythic5256 Thanks so much! Hope I can keep doing it for you guys :)
@@Sexy_Nutella im sure you can ! ^^
Everybody is talking about the HECU desperate attempt to fend off the alien invasion. But nobody speaks about the horrors the aliens go through when spawning into uncharted territory. Especially the Vortigaunts.
Imagine you getting teleported into Black Mesa not knowing what to expect. You popp up in front of a tank and 2 seconds later a tank shell flies right past you and blows up your buddy you dropped in with in millions of pieces.
"BACK UP! BACK THE FU-"
Rip Mastiff-1
Rest in Pieces, fake Barney.
Rip security guard 1989 to 2015
"You just HAD to open your mouth!"
Yep. Poor guy
r.i.p Abrams crew
Put up a good fight for sure
Something that I've been wondering after all this time. Is were all HECU units equipped with a powered combat vest? Looking at gameplay the HECU are able to take on Xenians.
0:23
This man be flyin
as a marine who served from 2016-2020 it’s a funny fact that during this engagement, you see the Marine Corps had brought armor.
That armor is no longer apart of the marine corps, I think we lost our battalions due to funding around 2017~
So if this went down in more recent times, as useless as the this information is, the HECU would have had significantly less firepower to even battle this threat. More or less just saying this as an interesting “hey that use to exist” thing.
That ending though…..
Poor Barney :(
R.I.P GUARD GOD BLESS TO YOU
Eu estava jogando o original , o MMOD e o Source nesses dias e adoro jogar o Black Mesa que eles colocaram situações e diálogos novos no jogo, mas quando você o Tensão na Superfície ( Surface Tension ) no original e depois no Black Mesa , nossa como a Crowbar está de parabéns pelo remake , eu via no original e falava : Olha essa parte é aquela no remake e por aí vai , eles contaram a história através dos rádios desde o Complexo de Escritório ( Ofiice Complex ) até o Esqueçam Freeman ! ( About Freeman ) , amei essa pegada do remake e se vocês deixarem o guarda do About Freeman vivo ele fala mais coisas pra você. No caso do Surface Tension adorei tudo e ficava surpresa a cada parte que eu jogava e olha eu deixo os caras se matarem entre si e depois eu entro em cena e balanço a cabeça também e adoro explorar os jogos .
6:18 😆
Forgot to clear the backblast :P
Ammunition Exploded
Player credited for kill: xXenMantaXx
1 Kill 99999 Assists
War Thunder?
@@lascha2nd199, I think so.
@@lascha2nd199 correct
Is the tank blowing up fucking synced with the best?
Yup the song is timed to that moment
11:58 Oh °>°a...
Very unfortunate
RIP mastiff-1 :(
Pretty sure they would've escaped but they can't just leave their marines right?
Poor HECU. Leaders killed them for nothing.
Yeah, they were just following orders, even to their deaths
poor guard...
I know it was intended to be kind of comical, but it was pretty morbid hearing him get pulverized :(
@@Sexy_Nutella yeah that made me super uncomfortable too
Ngl I felt really bad for that guy and I’m into do some pretty dark humorous stuff
My man had to jinx it...
R.I.P Mastiff-1
BACK UP! BACK THE FU....
Such an epic moment, the voice acting was also 10/10. You can just hear the desperation in that tank operator's voice.
@@Sexy_Nutella yeah I love that we have many HECU vs Xen aliens.
I dont even know why hecu's smg or shotgun is weaker than the same shotgun and smg that gordon picked up from the dead hecus(im not referring to the hev suit since it protects its wearer from hazardous environments) its just they cant even kill an alien grunt easily in scripted sentences
6:19 "Dingbat."
tank crew so sad
is rare in my version, beat xen warrior is hard to kill with just the smg
6:15 jajaj
on my first playthrough i wasted a bunch of rockets on the scripted tank destruction scene
Same lol