Desert Eagle

The Desert Eagle is a weapon in Half-Life: Opposing Force. It is the standard side-arm for HECU soldiers.

Overview
The Desert Eagle is a powerful sidearm that holds seven rounds of .357 Magnum. While somewhat similar to the .357 Magnum revolver at first glance, there is a major difference between it and the revolver; the Desert Eagle has two firing modes. The first one, automatic, is the primary firing mode. It fires much faster than the .357, but it has much worse accuracy than the .357. The second mode is activated by hitting the alternate fire key. This activates a laser that makes the weapon as accurate as the .357, but decreases the rate of fire to approximately the .357's. In addition to HECU soldiers, the Desert Eagle can be seen wielded by security guards such as Otis.

This weapon is first obtained in the middle of We Are Pulling Out. If not obtained there, it can found by killing one of the friendly Medics scattered throughout the game. They will drop one if killed.

Tactics

 * The Desert Eagle can kill anything weaker than a Bullsquid in one shot. While this may sound tempting, it is better to conserve Desert Eagle ammo for foes that require multiple Desert Eagle shots to take down, such as the Voltigore and Pit Drone. All of the enemies that can be killed with one Desert Eagle shot can also be killed with one double Shotgun blast, which has much more ammo scattered throughout the game than the Desert Eagle does.


 * The Desert Eagle works best at long range, so the player should have the laser sight on at all times.


 * If the player is very close to an enemy, then he/she should turn the laser sight off. Rapid-firing does more damage at close range than taking timed shots with secondary fire mode does.


 * In Hard mode, it takes around two shots to down enemies that used to take one, so headshots are essential for conserving ammo if playing in Hard mode.


 * This weapon is extremely effective against Black Ops. It usually takes about two aimed shots from this weapon to down one Black Ops soldier in Normal mode, and the Desert Eagle can engage them at long range, a range that Black Ops' weapons have major accuracy dropoff.

Behind the scenes

 * The Desert Eagle is also a major pistol in the Counter-Strike series, capable of killing a player in one or two shots to the head.

List of appearances

 * Half-Life: Opposing Force