Template:HL2 nav Anticitizen One is the tenth chapter of Half-Life 2. In this chapter, Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance, having been stuck in a teleport 'loop' for a week's time, return to City 17 to find that the destruction of Nova Prospekt has triggered an uprising against the Combine.
Walkthrough
Once you've jumped down the elevator shaft, Dog will follow faithfully behind you. Proceed outside into the ruined city and under the collapsed highway. You'll soon meet Combine troopers - but don't worry, Dog will take care of them with aplomb, starting by hurling a van at the two on the ramp and moving on to trash the entire street. It's best to stay out of his way. Once it's all clear, Dog will prise open the gate for you. When you enter, however, a Combine drop ship flies in and after a short scripted fight Dog will sail away atop the enemy craft. To your left, a chain-link fence has been bent down allowing you to climb over it. Through the hole in the wall and past the ruins you'll emerge into the bottom landing of an apartment building. To your left is the way forward, but if you go along the corridor and turn right, you might spot the G-Man on a TV screen. Continue through the passage left of the elevator, jump over the rubble, and into the loading zone.
When you emerge from the dark corridor, you'll find yourself right back at the playground from the start of the game - only this time it's in flames. The battle scanners flying past are a new enemy but it's the same old solution to the same old problem - shoot them. You can pick up power packs from their remains. A resistance member will greet you and follow you. Move through the alleyways and out onto the street, which you may find very familiar. Directly ahead, a group of rebels are pulling down the Breen screen outside the steps of the train station - yes, the same train station you came in on in the first level. Approach and they'll agree to join you in your fight. It's now that you get a short tutorial on squad command. Point your crosshair at a location and press C' to send your troops there. They'll stay put until you double tap C to recall them to you. Follow the instructions on screen and a couple of Metrocops will enter from a small door.
It's not a battle you're likely to lose so take them out any way you like, then move on through the place where they came in. Don't forget to pick up the supply crate nearby. Through the metal door, around the chain link fence, up the stairs and into the next loading zone.
The next section contains quite possibly the most annoying enemy in the game - hoppers. As you walk out onto a balcony overlooking a small grassy area, a nearby rebel will warn you of the danger. Observe as a headcrab moves down the stairs opposite and is blown up - see why they're called hoppers? DO NOT drop down the hole in the floor. The hoppers will turn red if you approach them, but only if you practically step on them will they explode. Use the manipulator's secondary fire to uproot them. Once you've grabbed them, they won't be a danger. You can lay them down and use them against the Combine, or, more effectively, you can launch them into the air - they explode on impact. After you pull up all the hoppers from the hole in the floor, tell your squaddies to stay back and drop down yourself. Carefully pull up all the hoppers, either dropping them in a corner or flinging them at walls to explosive effect. Once they're dealt with, call your squad to you and enter the hut at the top of the stairs, which contains some useful supplies and a Breencast televsion.
Watch out for more hoppers around the corner to the left, and head right, through the dark tunnel and out into the street. As soon as you approach, the car in front of you will suddenly explode in a ball of flame. Behold, the mighty Strider. Don't bother shooting it, but instead turn left and head up the slope. A metrocop will snipe at you from a rooftop platform - I recommend you snipe him back. Try to shoot the scanners before they drop their payload of thumpers, but be wary of headcrabs as you near the end of the street. Watch out for the thumper in the back of the blue truck. Turn right at the barricade but don't rush forward - the assorted furniture dumped in the alleyway conceals two hoppers.
As you move onwards, a Metrocop will pop up in the window ahead, and another will enter from the left. Once dispatched, proceed with caution. The area is heavily mined with hoppers. On your right, a hut contains supplies, but entering it will attract another cop.
Directly next to the place where you entered is a small hut with the Lambda symbol sprayed nearby which seems to be inaccessible. However, if you take the piece of metal leaning against the wall and move it aside, you'll discover a cubby-hole full of goodies.
Go down the stairs and Metrocops will attack from the hut opposite, using an upturned desk for cover. Use the explosive barrels to splatter them or, alternatively, shoot them with guns. Scanners will also attack from on high. One cop will usually remain in the shed, so enter with caution.
Take the supplies inside and move round to the side of the hut. To your left will be a corridor that curves round into the next loading zone.
Another apartment building. Up the stairs, there is nothing but a wrecked flat, floor slick with blood. As you enter the sitting room a zombie will burst from the kitchen and another will appear from a backroom in the hallway to the eerie sound of the Breencast. The only supplies are a few magnum shells in the backroom where a zombie appeared, so unless you need magnum ammo or just feel killing some zombies, there isn't much point climbing the stairs at all. Back on the ground floor, step out into the street. Ignore the Strider which strolls leisurely past in the distance and concentrate on the two scanners approaching from the left. Don't try to get across the rift in the road and instead head right, under the motorway, and round towards the fire. A medic is tending to an injured rebel. Just ahead, a small dark doorway leads down to a basement with supplies and a headcrab nestled within a pile of boxes.
Just left of you when you go down the stairs, another staircase leads upwards an onwards. Climb the stairwell. Ahead of you, ribbed glass will blur the ominous shapes of two Metrocops moving past. The next few rooms are crawling with them - both to your left and to your right. Head left first, through two glass doors, and take out the two cops inside. Then charge back and take the right passage. You should be able to take out the three cops - who will now be rushing to investigate the gunfire - in close quarters without too much trouble - the shotgun is preferable. Don't forget to search all the rooms thoroughly for supplies (there's a health terminal in the room left of the stairwell) before moving on into the wrecked room overlooking the street. Nail the two cops on the road and drop down into the room below.
Swiftly knock the two turrets on either side of you over using the manipulator, make use of the health terminal if you need it, and then move out onto the street. The Metrocops will open up with a hail of gunfire from the barricade. Charge forward, using the cars for cover and shooting as you go. The Combine will keep respawning so get across the street as quickly as you can. You can't get across the hole in the road so blast your way through the shop windows on your right then blast your way out again once past the hole. Double-time it across the street, past the explosive barrel, and into the ruined building.
As you enter, be ready for the Metrocops waiting inside, one on the ground and one up above you on a ledge. Watch for the hoppers as well. Up the stairwell you'll find three supply crates and a nice big hole in the floor. At the bottom you can open the door to the base of the stairwell, before heading outside. You'll find yourself on the other side of the barricade. There's a Metrocop sniping from the roof to your left but your main priority will be taking out the cluster of cops manning the barricade. Use the car for cover. Then climb the stairs and along the walkway, where a switch will open the barricade (not strictly necessary) and a health terminal awaits. Let your rebels deal with the cops that appear on the street if you open the gate and head on up the stairway, into the next building.
The two rooms contain one cop each and a useful power terminal. Up the stairs a turret lies in wait, so instead descend the spiral steps, grab the supply crates, and ready your squad. The corridor ahead breaks off into multiple small rooms, most of them containing Metrocops. Clear the rooms one at a time and smoke the occupants. Down the stairs is another similar corridor, except this time you'll be accosted by manhacks as well. Use your manipulator to catch them and throw them at the cops. The filing cabinets also make excellent projectiles. Once you're sure it's clear, check every nook and cranny for supplies. Down another set of stairs and you'll come to a health terminal and a dimly-lit basement. Enter with caution for a turret lies just around the corner to your left. Once that's dealt with, it's plain sailing to knock over the other two and collect the supplies. There is a hole in the wall and a two-foot or so drop. You may consider the enormous pile of bodies deeply suspicious, and rightly so - there's a half a zombie lying in wait under the ledge you're standing on. Once you kill it, don't immediately head down the corridor. Instead, take the stairway to your right and turn right again at the top. There are some supply crates behind a metal grating with the Lambda symbol painted nearby. You should be able to smash the crates (or shoot them, whatever) through the bars and then pull the supplies to you with the manipulator gun. Finally, go back down the stairs and along the corridor into the next zone.
Down the stairs to your left and you'll emerge into a lonely, wreckage-filled underground tunnel. As you go forward, manhacks will begin pouring in through the roof. Don't waste any time in leading your squad onwards, whilst using your manipulator to grab the hacks and throw them against walls. Soon the air will be full of their buzzing, and they don't stop coming. Above all, keep your squad moving and try to get to the other end of the tunnel. The path through the wreckage zigzags first left, then right round the edge of the tanker truck (even though it looks like you should go through the hole in the side, don't), then left again to a chain-link enclosure. You'll have to shoot the padlock on the door, and once everybody is through close the door to stop the hacks following you.
Along the corridor and more manhacks will fly in through the windows. Destroy them all and then jump out through the window, using the crossbow to shoot any Combine you can see at the other end of the tunnel. As you move forward the two machineguns will open up on you. Shoot the explosive barrels and try to snipe the gunners with your crossbow, staying in the middle of the road where you can use the pillars for cover. A useful tactic is to pick up one of the metal (non-explosive) barrels and use it as a riot shield. Once you get to the far end and take out both the gunners, get the supplies and head for the hole in the wall ahead. A rebel will appear, greet you, and begin to plant charges in order to blow the wall open and let you in. Combine will drop in behind you from the roof, so quickly man the gun turrets and get your squad in a good position. They'll be joined by a whining cloud of manhacks, but try to concentrate on the soldiers. If you can't get a good firing angle, swap turrets. Once you hear a loud explodey-sounding noise it's likely that the rebel has blown you an exit, so order your squad through the hole and beat a hasty retreat.
The door onwards is locked, so you'll have to find another way through to open it from the other side. And wouldn't you know it, the only alternative route is through a tunnel full of random wreckage, toxic waste and zombies. There's a small vent just opposite the hole you came through, so get on your knees and start crawling. After you emerge into the mess, head to the left and use the car as a stepping stone (don't worry when it starts to sink - it's safe) and the jump on the boxes to your right. The large wooden wheels are your best bet. Get on top of the flatbed truck and dump the wooden wheels flat in the mire. Jump on one, the pick up the other, place it in front of you, jump onto it, repeat and so on.
There's a little island of concrete between two pillars but zombies will begin to rise up from beneath the waste. It's best to get onto the tiny concrete ledge on the right side of the tunnel, beneath the famous ape-man-combine graffiti. This way you'll have your pack to the wall when the zombies start shuffling towards you. With the living dead sent back where they came from, jump back onto the central island and onto the red car on the left side. From there, you should be able to leap onto the ledge to the right, next to the wreck of a people carrier.
Another two zombies will attack. With care, jump up onto the van. From there, it's an easy task to get up onto the pipes and out of the tunnel.
It doesn't matter which vent you take, just drop down into the corridor. Go down the stairs ahead where three crates await, and then the rebel will call out to you. Open the door on your left, gather your squad, and then move up the dark staircase and into the next zone.
The street outside seems clear but no sooner than you step forward then headcrab canisters will start raining down on you. Be prepared for the fast headcrabs that come scuttling from the rocket, then move through the tunnel on the left. You'll meet a resistance member through the grating. Turn around and go through up the stairs on the right, killing the headcrab at the top. Break through the boarded-up door and you'll see soldiers out in the yard below through the windows. You can shoot them if you want, but there's a lot of them and you don't actually need to. Then again, you might want to just shoot them for fun. Your choice. Turn right through the apartment and up into a hallway. To your left, you'll see the rebels beating a hasty retreat across a bridge between two buildings. Move onwards and you'll again see Combine troops fighting the resistance down the the street. You can try to help them but they'll just get killed by a Strider that comes loping along the road. Turn right into a severely ruined building with a hole in the floor. Below, you'll find a quartet of crates and a familiar couple you might recognise from the apartment block you had to escape in Point Insertion.
Head down the staircase to your left and you'll come to a small courtyard between the two buildings. Above you the battle rages on. The rebel you saw before will let you in to one of the buildings, so enter. You'll hear someone shout 'run for your life!' - that's the man being chased down the stairwell by a Combine soldier. He's likely to get shot in the back, but it is possible to save him. Check the dark room on the right for some supply crates, and climb the stairs. Near the top of the stairwell. you'll see a women trying to escape from a pair of troopers. This time it's almost impossible to save her. Once you've dealt with the forces of oppression and gotten to the top, drop a grenade through the hole in the floor. It'll take out the trooper waiting there. Drop down yourself and head down the corridor - just ahead of you there will be a room with a combine soldier. He'll have his back to you, so he should be easy pickings. Once he's gone the rebels in the opposite building will drop the bridge for you. As you cross it, watch out for the soldier who will appear behind you. When everyone is safely across the bridge, don't forget to raise it again. Okay, so you don't strictly need to, but it's what you'd do in real life isn't? Go down the yellow-lit hallway until you reach the end, then head for the stairs on the left.
Notice the headcrab canister upon entering the stairwell - it means this place is infested. Fast headcrabs will come scuttling around the corner when you reach the top of the steps. The next room is full of headcrabs and there's a fast zombie hiding round a corner to the right (guarding a health pack in a bathroom). When you drop down through the floor have your shotgun ready, because as soon as you do a flaming fast zombie will jump up and try to eat your face off. The next drop is safe, but a zombie is waiting below the one after. You can't get up the stairs in the next room so instead turn right, watching for the fast crabs. There's a mountain of supply crates round the next corner but it's guarded by two more crabs.
Make sure you get all the supplies. As you go out the door, there's a hopper on your left and Combine will attack from the rooftops all around. Throw a grenade onto the ledge in front of you when you come out. Keep moving and try to kill the troops swiftly before they can throw grenades. Try to get your squad inside the building as quickly as possible, but be careful of the thumpers and the sniping troops.
Once you get inside, there's a headcrab to kill. Go to the far side of the room and climb onto the roof. At this point multiple troops will attack from the rooftops all around and from the balcony opposite the raised bridge. Take them all out as quickly as possible while staying in cover.
Having dealt with them, drop the bridge and carry on across. A Combine soldier will charge you but he should pose no great problem. Be careful when going through the door - a soldier is waiting and another will drop from the roof. Throw a couple of grenades through the hole in the floor - the level below is full of soldiers. When the grenades go off, jump down and shotgun any survivors. There are Combine to the left, Combine to the right, and Combine straight ahead. To the right is a passage you can use to flank the ones in the room ahead. It'll give you a perfect firing position on the other soldiers who'll come rushing through the far end of the building, but watch out for hostiles coming down the stairs.
Barnacles lurk in the stairway. At the top, turning left, you'll be attacked by a fast zombie, and if you haven't already killed the troops in the room below, do it now. Then drop down through the floor. Upon entering the dim corridor you'll sight a soldier at the end but he'll quickly be attacked by a flaming zombie. Ignore them and concentrate on the zombie that's about to jump out right in front of you from the left. It's a good idea to simply lob a grenade right down the corridor and wait until the dust clears. As you move forward you'll be hearing a lot of gunfire; approach the hole in the floor with extreme caution - there's a hell of a lot of zombies down there. Then throw a grenade down it, and mop up any survivors BEFORE going down. As you drop, turn around immediately in case any Combine troops are coming up the stairs. Before you go up the stairway on the left, head for the Lambda symbol that marks yet another little cache of supply crates. Again, they're behind a metal grate to your left, so drag the crates towards you with the manipulator, smash them, and pull in the supplies. Then head up the staircase to the next zone.
Beyond the corridor, there'll be another ominous hole in the floor, and again the best tactic is to simply lob a grenade. There's zombies, headcrabs, and a pair of turrets down there. Once you've descended and cleared the room, Alyx will make an explosive entrance. Be sure to make good use of the health and power terminals before following her out of the room. Alyx will lead you through a cluttered and Combine-infested building. As soon as you enter, troops will attack from the long corridor to the left. The rooms to the right of the corridor contain some troops but also plenty of cover, and can allow you to flank the enemy.
Beware of soldiers hiding in the rooms on the left of the corridor, and once you've cleared the place, you can use the terminals at the end of the hallway. Go past the terminals and shoot the soldier waiting at the bottom of the stairs, then get a grenade ready. There are three Combine soldiers inside the next room and since there are two entrances it's a good idea to send your squad in through one then come in through the other. However you choose to clear it, Alyx will then begin hacking a control panel to open the door. You'll soon come to a large open courtyard, with a metrocop outside and another on a rooftop platform ahead and slightly to the left. Once you get outside the man on the roof will send up a signal flare and it's time to start preparing yourself for a hectic defence. While Alyx begins hacking into the core, you can pick up the hoppers and use them as mines, placing them on likely avenues of attack. It's a far better idea, however to save them for use as projectiles. Open the supply crates and collect everything you can, before putting your squad in a good position and getting read for the assault.
It starts off easy. A Metrocop will appear on a balcony above where you entered. When the drop ships start landing, try to stay in the central triangle where there's plenty of cover for most of the battle, only sallying forth to meet the rush of troops when you're forced to or if you want to throw grenades at them. Make use of the terminals when you need to. Keep your squad back so they can give you support, and when more troops start assaulting your position en masse, do all you can to take them down while absorbing as little damage as possible. Use grenades and hoppers to take out big groups as they charge through the shields, then pepper the remains with machinegun fire. As elites start to swarm in and the battle becomes even more frantic, Alyx will finish hacking the core. Race to it and dislodge the big glowing ball with a single shot from your manipulator gun. With that done, Alyx will open the gates. Send your squad through and then leg it from the mass of Combine troops. The gates will close behind you, sealing you off safely. Breathe a sigh of relief.
But the bridge you were meant to cross has been destroyed. Alyx will start to climb up a building to get a better view. Catch your breath, get any medics left alive to heal you, and reload all your weapons. Alyx says she's spotted a way across when suddenly a drop ship lands on the roof. There's nothing you can do as the Combine capture her and drag her into their ship before taking off. With Alyx captured, the only thing to do is drop down into the canal and head left, down the stairs and into the next zone.
Welcome to the sewers. Jump down the hole. To get through the door, you'll need to use the manipulator to lift the wooden latch through the bars. When you clear the barricade and come out into the next passage, manhacks will attack from the left. Either deal with them or just leg it. The way forward is behind you (if you're facing down the corridor to where the manhacks came from), where a pile of barrels supports a metal walkway. Blasting them out will cause the walkway to drop down and you can use it as an impromptu ramp. Climb the walkway and then run along the pipes, but watch out for manhacks coming through the window on your left. Smash the grate and enter the vent. When you drop down on the other side, more manhacks will come at your from the hallway on your left (at the end of which lies some useful supplies). The passage on the right leads to a deep shaft with Combine at the top. They'll be distracted by the zombie so if you're quick you should be able to drop down onto the stairs below and then escape. Two Combine soldiers will come running from the little doorway on the right at the bottom of the shaft. If you're not in a great rush, there's a small ledge below the bottom walkway which holds two supply crates - drag them towards you with the manipulator. Through the doorway is a locked door - to unlock it, you'll have to open the doorway on the right. Beware - a poison headcrab lurks within, just behind the door. Use the manipulator to lift the latch through the window to open it.
If the manhacks are still after you, you can close the door behind you and latch it again with your gravity gun. That should keep them at bay. Just ahead and round the corner, a Combine trooper is fending off headcrabs with his back to you. There's a poison headcrab nearby so be careful. Once the trooper is down, you can watch as two more rappel down from the roof and try to stem the tide of zombies and headcrabs (usually one will get eaten by a barnacle). You might as well let them grind each other down and then pick off the survivors. Turn right and head left down the log tunnel, which happens to be crawling with headcrabs. The first left turn is the way forward, but go straight ahead for some goodies (a Combine soldier will rush you as you turn the corner but he'll usually get caught by the barnacle) that you'll have to drag towards you with the manipulator, guarded only by a single poision headcrab at the top of the stairs.
To move onward you'll have to drop down into the canal, so use the boxes to distract the barnacle and take out any monsters from above. There's a health pack at the far end. Go down the passage (there's only one) and watch for several headcrabs and a zombie as you turn the corner. There's a ladder to your right and that's the way to go. However, straight ahead you'll see the Lambda symbol, alerting you to nearby supplies, and that's because there's a hole in the wall on the right side that's stuffed with goodies you can pull towards you. As soon as you grab them, a poison headcrab zombie will lurch round the corner ahead of you. There are also more supply crates at the far end of the passage, past the metal toadstool thingies. Whenever you choose to go up the ladder, there are two poison headcrabs waiting for you. Best tactic is to pop up, roll a grenade, and jump down again. With the headcrabs taken out, turn the corner left and continue along the walkway to the end of the canal, where a small set of stairs on your left will lead to a couple of headcrabs (one poison) a supply crate, and a walkway with rubble at the end.
Jump over the rubble and you'll find yourself in a towering warehouse of some kind. Go up the wide concrete slope. Climb onto the pipes at the top and a small wooden ramp will admit you to the gantry. Head left. As soon as you take a few steps onto the walkway a Combine soldier will attack from above, throwing a grenade - so either run forward or backwards as fast as you possibly can (or even grab it and throw it away). When the grenade detonates, it will collapse the walkway but you'll still be able to run across the sloping concrete. A barnacle has draped its tongue over the half-collapsed door so make sure to blast it before you jump over. Head left into the red hut, use the terminals, and pull the lever on the control panel to call down the freight elevator.
As soon as you pull the switch, three soldiers will attack from above and straight ahead. The lift may take a while to get to you so take your time as you snipe them off the walkways. When the lift arrives, press the switch again and jump onto the elevator. Careful though - it's a little unstable. As you ascend, more combine will start shooting at you from behind. Once you get to the top, turn left and climb the ladder on the nearby tower. As you do, two Elites will drop through the roof onto the topmost walkway and a soldier will run out as well. You'll be in an awkward position when they do so it might be best to drop back down the ladder and take them out from where there's more cover. Once they're done, walk along the pipes until you get to the yellow top of the elevator. Facing the far end of the warehouse, careful walk out onto the girder on the RIGHT side. As you move along the beam, watch out for a soldier below who sets the lift moving again. Duck under the walkway, and the girder will slope upwards, allowing you to jump onto the walkway at your left. Follow the walkway towards the ladder on your left. Again, when you climb up the ladder, multiple Combine will attack from the roof and from the balcony on the other side of the warehouse. This time the best tactic is to climb upwards as quickly as possible and get to the top, where there are some barrels for cover and they won't have a height advantage. There are also some explosive barrels to use as projectiles.
When the dust settles, move down to the level below and cross the walkway. There are some supply crates littered around and another is hidden just around the edge of the red building on the left - reachable by a thin ledge. There's a balcony just below the walkway; pull up the thumper and then drop down. Head forward into the passage, right down the stairs, deal with the thumper and follow the corridors into the next level: Follow Freeman. Be prepared for some very large battles - and some very large three-legged biomechanical walking tanks.
| Preceded by Entanglement |
 Half-Life 2 chapter walkthrough |
Succeeded by "Follow Freeman!" |