A little game play with a lot of excitement today. The room where I left off last time was quite a doozy, but I got through it a lot easier than I thought I would. First, some screenshots:











I got through that room with a little luck and what I like to think is some skill that I've picked up. I braced myself against a wall to keep from getting owned by the soldier firing the stationary gun (barracaded). I was able to launch a grenade and take him out. There were some other soldiers in the area and luckily I was able to take them out as well and get some health. Moving on through the path, there was some obstacles involving some more mines that go across the track ... but I was able to take them out without dying. There was another area, two of them in fact with some moving boxes traveling overhead. Some soldiers decided to sneak up from up ahead but the grenades they launched bounced off an overhead box and ended up killing them. I ended in an area where the track ended and a big hole. I went down a big ladder and immediately got owned by some stationary guns some aliens. I don't know if I've entered a new level or not but I hope so.

This will probably be my only post this week as I'm in the middle of a move. But as soon as I'm up and running again I'll have more game play and posts.

Sometimes what seems to be so complicated to me in this game ends up having the easiest solution that if I had just thought about it, instead of getting frustrated, I could have just moved right on through the obstacle. Of course crouch/jump was the way around the boxes in my previous post. After re-learning how to do that I moved right on past the boxes, up the stairs, killed some soldiers, got some more ammo, upgraded my armor, and moved a lever which raised the bar on the tracks below.

Screenshots:









I'm in a bit of a quandary again, I've come upon a large room and another one of those stationary guns with a soldier behind a barricade. My health is only at "3" so it's going to take some tremendous "skill" to get past here with such low health.
(I hope this is that final room that one of the last blog responders mentioned, because I really want out of this level).

Things like crouch/jump and straffing were certainly things I learned in the training room at the beginning of the game, but are not things that I've mastered moving through the game. It was hard enough trying to learn WASD but that seems like second nature now. I guess I just need to force myself to use them and they will become second nature as well. It's like I need to re-play the training course between levels. That probably wouldn't do me any good since it's taking me about 6 weeks to finish each level. Oh well ... at least I'm still playing.

I was hoping I was about to find the end of On a Rail, but I've hit a spot that I can't get out of.

Here are the screenshots:





In the second shot, I'm in an area with a moving cart. I can't move forward because there is a gate that is down and no way to make it go up. From above some soldiers are owning me with ammo and grenades. In the first shot are boxes that I cannot jump over or destroy with grenades or stationary trip mines. On the other side of the boxes is a staircase that I think would somehow lead me up to where the soliders are and perhaps will give me some way to get past the downed gate.

Somebody experienced with Half-Life help me out here please!

I have no screenshots, but I did want to make a post since I did play some this past weekend. However, we are in the process of moving, so my access to the computer and significant play time has been limited.

Still moving through On a Rail, hoping this level will end soon, it's starting to have a Blast Pit type of feeling, but perhaps I'm getting towards the end. There were two particular spots I got bogged down here. The first was involving a soldier firing continuous shots at me from a stationary gun, behind a fortified wall. I used the "det pack" here and although it took me a couple of practice runs, I finally made it through.

After clearing this I got through a big double door into a room with a big rocket which I had run into before. I'm sure this is a key element to this levels storyline, but I haven't quite figured that out yet. After making my way down the ladders around the rocket, I got back on one of the moving carts. This led me down some tracks to another area where I kept getting owned. Another soldier was at this stationary rocket launching station that was shooting some fast moving powerful ammo at me. This was one of those areas that I managed to get past strictly as a fluke. Moving quickly past while ducking I was able to avoid the ammo and kill the solider. I made a post on shacknews about this, concerning whether I should have gone back and figured out how I was supposed to kill that guy, or just move on. I decided to move on. I didn't make it much further due to coming up on a place with several of those "electricity" shooting creatures. I wasn't able to get my shots off fast enough without dying so I stopped there.

I will keep playing this week as I get time. I know 6 months is a long time to devote to a game, but I am determined to get through this. More posts as I play.

I'm still in On a Rail, but I actually had a fun gaming experience tonight as I did some exploration, used techniques I've picked up a long the way, and figured some things out on my own.

Here are tonight's screenshots:













After not playing for over a week, it took me a little while to remember where I left off. I died a few times after encountering some soldiers, but I practiced bracing myself against a wall and shooting around instead of just walking right in front of a soldier and letting him steal my energy while trying to kill him.

I also continued to use alt-fire which is great until you run out of grenades. I picked up a new weapon which the shack has identified as a det-pack. I'll have fun trying to figure out how to use these. After moving around a while I found my way back to a moving cart and took it around. I came upon some of those trip minds, now the old me would have just run right through them and died, but I stopped the cart, stood back at a distance and shot them, detonating them and not dying.

After taking the cart to a dead end, I found three agressive soldiers that I was able to kill with a grenade toss.

I stopped at a point where a solider is barracaded behind a wall and is shooting me with this stationary shooter. Perhaps this would be a good time to use the det-pack?

We shall see.

I hope readers can tell that I'm enjoying the game although my chances to play are few and far between. A lot of my frustration in the beginning was shear in-experience and not really knowing what I was doing. But the more I play and the more I figure out on my own, the more fun the experience is becoming.