Half-Life: Blue Shift - Chapter 1: Living Quarters Outbound
653 views · Published 4 June 2014 · 11:27 · Indexed 10 November 2026
Channel: Ross Mahon · 2014 · Gaming
"This train is inbound from the Area 8 Topside Dormitories to the Central Transit Hub in Area 9"
―Black Mesa Announcement System
As the game begins, Barney Calhoun rides the tram from the Area 8 Topside Dormitories on the surface, into the underground sector of the Black Mesa Research Facility. Along the way many new details about Black Mesa are revealed; Calhoun passes a laundromat and several fast food outlets, suggesting that the facility is very self-sufficient and probably houses many of its workers. While Calhoun is locked outside the door to Area 3 Security Facilities, he is passed by Gordon Freeman riding in another tram heading towards Sector C in a scene that mirrors one in the original game, in which Gordon Freeman sees a guard locked out of a door on the inside of a tunnel.
Trivia
A soccer ball that fell from the basketball terrain above can be seen under the tracks at the very start of the ride. However if the player use console command to get weapons and shoot the ball, it will bleed and if the player launch an explosive to the ball, it will gib them. However, this ball is consider as a NPC, if the player enable "auto-aim" and aim at the ball while having weapon, the red crosshair will appear.
In the laundromat, a scientist and a security guard are playing a fighting arcade video game, named Prax Wars 2: Dante's Revenge; the security guard eventually loses the game. A second scientist is reading The Mesa Times while waiting for his laundry to be done. Prax Wars is a nod to Prax War, an actual canceled game by developer Rebel Boat Rocker, on which Gearbox's Randy Pitchford worked. It was announced at E3 1998 as a very promising game.
This chapter starts just under 5 minutes before the Half-Life chapter Black Mesa Inbound, and ends just as Half-Life begins. Due to the fact that the tram ride lasts less than 5 minutes, Half-Life must begin in late 8:46.
