Zombine

"Hmmm. A Combine zombie. That's, that's like a...a.. Zombine! Right? Heh... Zombine, get it? Heh heh. Okay."

- Alyx Vance

The Zombine, a portmanteau (coined by Alyx Vance) of Combine and Zombie, is the result of a Standard Headcrab attaching to the head of an Overwatch Soldier.

The appearance of the Zombine is taken as evidence that the Combine were losing control of City 17 following the near-destruction of the Citadel. Prior to the human uprising, there were very few headcrabs in the city, only found in areas that had fallen into disrepair. However, thanks to the prolific use of headcrab shells against rebel safehouses before and during the uprising, headcrabs came to infest large areas of the city, particularly its underground sections. Zombines are first encountered in Half-Life 2: Episode One, when Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance stumble upon a troop train in the severely headcrab infested City 17 underground, in the chapter Lowlife.

Overview


Zombines are Commonly found alongside other Standard Zombies, Zombines walk slower than the average Zombie; however, they are capable of short sprints which allow them to quickly close in on their prey.

Like the traditional Zombies, Zombines attack with their claws. However, because Overwatch Soldiers are normally equipped with grenades, a Zombine will often take out a live grenade and attempt a kamikaze-style attack on the player, rushing towards them until the grenade explodes, killing the zombine and doing quite a bit of damage to the player. Players with quick reflexes can steal the live grenade from the Zombine by grabbing it with the Gravity Gun, backpedaling, then hurling it back for a quick, easy kill. Grabbing a Zombine's grenade will unlock the "Grave Robber" achievement. When Zombines attempt to use their grenade attack, they will start to walk when their grenade is stolen from them. It is possible that the Headcrab's host is somewhat conscious, and is attempting to destroy perceived threats (themselves and resistance members) using their grenades. However, it may also be true that the controlling Headcrab is unaware of the grenade's functionality as the Zombine will attempt to club the player with it if they are within reach. Zombines also have significantly more health points because of the relatively intact body armor retained from the host, in addition to a Headcrab's ability to give the host body increased damage resistance. It is also worth noting that the Zombine's body armor is colored differently than the soldier's body armor and missing some parts of its clothing; however, this could be explained by simple headcrab mutations and blood smearing.

Zombine groans are filtered through the soldier's vocoder. This "speech" consists not only of zombie growls but also Combine soldier reports, such as "Necrotics inbound" or "Sector is not secure". Zombines may also say things like: "Contact," "Biotic over-run," and "Infestation". This may be a sign that the host combine is aware of the infection, and is warning surrounding soldiers or the vocoder is stuck on the last report the soldier was trying to make before being attacked.

It is interesting to note that the removal of a Zombine's headcrab reveals that, aside from the lower jaw and a small lower portion of skull, there doesn't appear to be a head on the soldier's corpse. It is unknown how a Zombine makes its radio transmissions due the absence of most speech organs (and, more importantly, no head); One possible explanation is the radio chatter heard is not from the Zombine but actually from other Combine soldiers and might be muffled by the loss of a radio antenna that could be placed in the skull. This is unless the Combine Soldiers had their speech vocoder replace natural speech organs, as one instance in the Half-Life 2 chapter Nova Prospekt a Combine Overwatch soldier is seen without his shirt on an operating table through a security camera with what appears to be a metallic larynx. The decapitated Zombie model found in the Half-Life 2 Beta files is quite similar. This explanation is also unlikely due to the fact of how slow the radio chatter is spoken compared to regular Combine Soldiers. For example, when a Zombine says "Sector is not secure", it first says "Sector is", gasps for air, and then says "not secure". It is also possible that the head is intact while the Zombine is hosting the headcrab, while removal of the headcrab tears off the head.

Another interesting fact about the Zombine is that it can be chopped in half while the original Combine Soldier cannot. This could be due to the muscle tissue (that hasn't been replaced with combine technology) has degraded and worn due to the headcrab's presence.

Only Zombines mutated by standard headcrabs are found in any of the Half-Life games. It is possible that Fast or Poison Headcrabs are unable to mutate Combine soldiers for biological reasons, or simply that no Fast or Poison Zombines were planned.

Tactics

 * The best way to handle a Zombine is to shoot from a distance. The Colt Python and the shotgun are the most effective guns against it. Players should keep in mind that the Python's ammo is very scarce and that it reloads somewhat slowly. Also, to use the SPAS-12, one must be fairly close to the Zombine to actually get a good hit.


 * If the Zombine pulls out a grenade, it is best to run back and allow it to explode. However, this may not be the most effective tactic, as they will generally run after the player. Alternatively, taking the grenade with the Gravity Gun and either tossing it back to them or into the distance can be useful in preventing damage.


 * If caught up with multiple zombie types, the Zombine should be targeted first, due to their ability to run and deal high damage with their grenades. Other zombies can be taken out later, due to their slow hobble (with the exception of the Fast Zombie)


 * A Zombine's grenade can be used to kill multiple targets if they are in a small space or in a cluster.


 * Zombines can be more of a threat when in larger groups. The most favorable tactic is to keep a good distance from the group and deal with them one at a time.

Trivia

 * Using the Gravity Gun to steal a Zombine's grenade unlocks the "Grave Robber" achievement.


 * A minor discrepancy between the Zombine's uniform and that of a regular Overwatch Soldier is present in the colors of the padding on their arms and legs. The padding on Overwatch Soldiers is dark gray while that of a Zombine match the lighter colors of the rest of its uniform.


 * Zombines are not as severely mutated as standard zombies, likely due to the fact they have presumably only recently been infected, following the fall of the Citadel. Zombines are still in their Overwatch uniform, with the only physical differences being the mutated, skeletal "claws" that all zombies receive, a few tears and blood stains on their uniform, and lack a skull. They do however have a headcrab where their head should be.


 * The Combine Autogun will not target Zombines, even if all other enemies have been killed. This may be due to an error in the Autogun's targeting system, be it on the Combine's programming or the game developers', which renders it unable to distinguish zombified Combine units from living ones. This may also be intentional, due to the fact that no Zombines show up near the Autogun without the use of console commands.


 * Heightening the pitch of the Zombines screams will make the player be able to hear possibly the Zombines last moments of life. They can be heard saying something like: "Biotics....overrun....infestation....move.....target....contact!"

List of appearances

 * Half-Life 2: Episode One
 * Half-Life 2: Episode Two