9:51 Many believe and its a theory that I some what agreed that the sounds of screams from all the victims from all over Black Mesa being echoed through Xen's astral plane space and time from both past, present and future.
OR, it's the screams of players all over the world realizing that they have to play on a rail again. Just kidding, I actually don't have a problem with on a rail.
For me it's more of a sign that Gordon is traumatized for what he did. He keeps hearing these screams of pain in his head and also the title ''Sirens in the Distance'' also have the same explanation he only hears sirens and screams.
Why I liked “On a rail” HECU: Ha ha freeman will never get through our defenses. Freeman: *has already quietly gone around and now begins to maliciously load shotgun* Pretty much the entire thing is about being smart and resourceful. You can’t rush straight into the enemies defenses so going around and killing then from behind is usually a way better idea. Even if you can’t quickly kill them, they’re usually left open with no cover. It’s even better when they’re already fighting aliens as now they have to defend themselves from 2 sides.
@@your_fathers not exactly stealth. Just You see a place where some baddies are prob stationed You see what the best angle would be to attack them from You sneak or sometimes run to that angle You then go in guns blazing and now don’t have to deal with the cover and turrets n stuff
The one time I was able to utilize stealth in the chapter was when the military were still fighting the vortigaunts so I let them kill each other and picked off the ones that survived. The rest, I was running for my life desperately trying to run from corner to corner
My theory concerning the screams heard at the beginning of "On A Rail" is that they are the distorted echoes of the hums and screeches of other carts running elsewhere on the distant rail system. They're intended to sound like screaming, as I'm sure at this point that's how a battle-weary and on-edge scientist would initially interpret them. Compare it to the sounds of real life underground metros and subways. It puts us in Gordon's shoes, filling us with dread as we descend into the maze.
This is a very interesting theory, and you could be right. But i think, that these screams are from a bunch of young grunts, that are (maybe under influence of something) getting ready to hunt in a sinister area for aliens, or even for Gordon. When i've played it as an 12 yo i've always thought, yikes, they are on the hunt for me! These screams or maybe dissorted cheers remind me a bit of the lunatics that were partying inside the last days of the Führerbunker, when they knew that they would die in there with a lot of alcohol beeing surrounded by the red army. Maybe the grunts where that desperate knowing they would die, that they got drunk to make it easier for them to battle something that likely would kill these young men.
@Mr. Ten Thirteen Perhaps that's Gordon's subconscious echoing the same fear he felt during On A Rail - or even the Nihilanth telepathically resurging that fear in Gordon to deter him.
well, most of the staff was in the rooms seen before the black mesa incident occured, and the people that built the entire facility would eventually get tired from having to work so much so as a result, many safety hazards end up unnoticed.
I loved this...so good. The screams....my south American friend at work, Alfonso, told me about how the natives of the Amazon jungle believe spirits live inside the mesas, almost like a home for their ancestors, maybe Black Mesa was built directly where the spirits dwell...
Ross Scott (as Gordon Freeman in 'Freeman's Mind') said it best: "Alright, I'm not an expert in the field, but that sounds like to me the cries of the damned."
@@garden0fstone736 they weren't there, BM opted to have a melancholy moment with the music- good direction but I will always love the original and am really fortunate to have played it first.
Ngl i kinda like the "ride the cart/caravan" aspect of the chapter, feels kinda like a quest, with some occasional stops, sorta feels worldbuild-y, perhaps better than Water Hazard because it's not as "rush-y". It's also dope how in Black Mesa you can put spare supplies on the cart and carry/use them as you need, which reinforces the "quest"-like feel (and personally made me feel like a 1000iq boi). Btw, great video!
Honestly, I hate Residue Processing more than On a Rail. It's just filled with a lot of big rooms that you'd expect to have something, ESPECIALLY after you just lost everything you had, but they're all just empty space. Everything before you get the revolver is just uneventful platforming.
@@peppermillers8361 play mmod, you wanna zombies? Here you go, and oh boy they are a lot, also, half life is the only game where i love the platforming, the movement are so smooth, you are so fast, and bunny hopping is incredible in this game, damn i love half life, best game ever
I always liked On A Rail, and that final rocket launch felt so rewarding. I get a very cold feel from the tunnels, and can smell the humidity due to the tunnels being flooded and abandoned.
i mean, the security guard says "be quite, that "thing" hear us", which should be obvious that its blind, and u can just walk by it to avoid detection.
7:30 this is something so many people forget about Half Life is that when you don’t know where to go it’s a very tough game. Going from modern games to Half Life is a real change of pace in that regard and how it directs the player doesn’t really hold up in my opinion.
I cannot play any other FPS game after Half Life. I loved Black Mesa and appreciate Crowbar Collective, but my ultimate game will forever be Half Life.
I'm pretty sure the rocket had something to do with all the teleportation stuff on Xen. It was *suppose* to close the portal between Earth and Xen but the Nihilanth was still holding it open with its sheer power. The rift was (I think) closed from Earth's side but not Xen's side. Which is probably also why you encounter alot less wildlife after that part of the game, the resonance cascade had stabilized somewhat.
The rocket is required for the Resonance Reversal performed in Half-Life: Decay, from which point forward the only Xen forces teleporting into the facility are the ones deliberately deployed by the Nihilanth. The Resonance Reversal closed Earth's side of the portal. Killing the Nihilanth closed Xen's. Then portal storms or whatever idk that all got retconned to hell so the Combine could exist.
It would be interesting if you could try to theorize where these screams of terror could come from in On the Rail. And maybe some attempt to more logicly map out the entiriety of Black Mesa bascing it off HL1, Opposing force and blueshift bits, and trying to sort out some of the "spacial insanity" that is typical for valve's levels
@@XanderNiles The screams weren't from Uplink. Uplink began development after Half-Life had already shipped. You shouldn't go around telling people things as if you know what you're talking about when you clearly don't.
Fun fact: all 4 of those horror screams were present in many S.T.A.L.K.E.R. builds up until release as one of the ambient soundscape sounds. As far as I remeber whole "random soundscape" system was cutted during development and never came back as the tone of the game shifted, which is sad - hearing far away mumbled gunshots, screams and obscure sounds was really what brought Zone to life. (You can check out how it sounded by searching "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Oblivion Lost Ambience" here on YT)
@@bazooka93 I personally recommend Vector of Alienation mod 10 times over OLR 2.5 since the latter is unfinished and has many placeholders. More over the literature story (it is the only eng-translated mod based on OG literature script by Sergei Ivanov) and supreme static renderer (I think VoA is the most beautiful shadowmap-based game overall). My only complain is the lack of content - you can 100% it in ~15 hours - but "quality over quantity" mantra stands still. So for now (until the final OLR 3.0 release) VoA is go-to mod for anyone who want to check out what was the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Oblivion Lost back in 2004.
@@cycleoffire2220 I'll check it out, but OLR2.5 seemed rather finished for me. Sure, it's crude, but that gives it the authentic alpha feel. I like the fact it bases on earlier builds too, rather than 1935 and above. 2002-2003 was more interesting era. And ffs I'll take anything that doesn't involve Dezodor's bush fetish.
What's funny is even if it was cut down, SoC still has better ambient sounds than 90% of games just by virtue of being positional instead of having them play in mono
When I first heard those scream sound files in a HL trivia video, not so long ago, I've immediately recognised them because several zombie servers back on CS 1.6 used them and only now years later I've realized how haunting they actually sound
Honestly, maybe I'm the odd person here, but I kinda wish there was a segment of it that was just... Driving a train without having to stop every 5 seconds? (The game INFRA has a lot of stuff where once you solve the train puzzle, you can just ride for a while and it's so satisfying to me)
I always felt like On a Rail was a prelude to Surface Tension. It's meant to be a long chapter with lots of soldiers. It's meant to test your endurance. Plus I do like trains, personally. I never found it too difficult to master the train cart. For me, the worst pre-Xen chapter by far is Residue Processing.
you can still play cs1.6, GO or cs2 (now) is not the only cs in the world, cs1.6 is the best counter strike, it has so many different modded servers, zombies deathrun surf and deathmatches being the best ones
You nailed everything I liked about this chapter, all the chapters before were all high energy (apart from sneaking around the tentacle in Blast Pit) I still remember this chapter In my first ever playthrough and for me It was the one that sold me on the fact that this game is awesome, Valve showed me how well they told their story with the "Show-Don't-Tell" with all the grafittis that threaten or mock Freeman, the aliens and HECU killing each other which makes the world even more believable, and the cherry on top, when you get outside and hear the conversations between the marines, that moment was so memorable to me because it showed me that these marins are not just some random goons, they have their own motivations and are just following order, and the music that starts playing after launching the rocket coupled with the fact that I just survived that tunnel and slipped through the marined finger just made feel like a badass who's surviving against all odds. I Really love this chapter.
I like on a rail. The one chapter I've never liked was gonarchs lair. When I first played it I felt like I was endlessly shooting it with no indication I was accomplishing anything other than wasting my bullets. The fight just feels confusing and janky and is plain annoying.
Maybe the screams at the end are from the future, from the 7-hour war, to be exact. Time travel is a thing in the HL universe, as shown by the G-Man. The teleporter before the Nihilanth also plays scientist lines from the resonance cascade which had happened hours before, so I don't see a reason why it couldn't show you things yet to come.
I always thought it was echos down a hallway or something, though this probably makes more sense as the sounds are a little too “echo-ey”. Love ur content btw
G-Man is an unusual case (and it wasn't shown that he could necessarily time travel in the original, just move around dimensions), and the teleporter before the Nihilanth... is a teleporter with strange qualities. On a Rail just takes place in an old ass rail system. And obviously the 7-Hour War hadn't even been thought up yet, and HL1 certainly never alludes to HL2 at any other time, so this just isn't a very good theory.
Didn't know a lot of people had no idea to shoot signs to switch tracks. Back when I first played On A Rail, my mind quickly connected them to the shooting range attraction: aim and hit a brightly colored object, it flips over and that counts as a score. Also didn't know that some pricks hate Water Hazard. It's a great change of pace and literally a breath of fresh air after crawling through sewers having to deal with enemies with no way around them. You fly through the game world that opens wider allowing you to *speed* from one set piece to another, plowing through enemies withought bothering to get off your ride, and only a huge water gate or a supply hideout can slow you down. And who could forget that heli chase! This chapter along with Highway-17 made me realize I love vehicle sections (the only reason On A Rail aren't quite doing the same is that it goes through same narrow tunnels), which is prbbly why I like Scrap Mechanic survival: Drive down a road, deviate into more desolate/foresty areas if you want, pull over next to an outpost of some sort, check if there're any goodies to find or baddies to fight, then get back on the wheels towards where you eyes aim at. Good game. Do recommend.
I played Half-Life for the first time this year, and "On a Rail" was actually my favorite chapter lol. I love the atmosphere and the eerie industrial look of the environment. There is a good sense of apprehension every time you clear an area, board your cart, and start once again creeping through the tunnels, not sure what kind of alien or military ambush lies ahead. I'm playing through Half-Life 2 for the first time currently (On the Ravenhome level right now), and "Water Hazard" was my favorite chapter so far in that game too, so maybe I have a type lol
I love this chapter. Lots of fun combat encounters, some optional areas and great atmosphere with plenty of little details and things going on. Such as the the small room with a dead grunt next to some graffiti and a spray can, or the area beneath the satellite rocket where another grunt is getting flooded by headcrabs jumping out of the walls. As a kid I amused the screaming was a crowd of zombies somewhere in the tunnels. The same sound effects are also used in the area you can access via a vent in the final part of the Xen manufacturing facility of Interloper. It kind of feels like Valve added this for effect but I always preferred to just immerse myself into the game and accept everything going on as actual events that took place during those 4 days. Kind of hard to change your view on a game like this when it had a big impact on you as a 10 year old.
It's the lack of player choice for me as no using the train takes so long but using is jank and boring, I don't skip it cus it's charming, but anytime I get lost in the endless hallways it's always the worst part of a play through
It's actually faster just to go on foot. I also genuinely get confused when people say they get lost in these hallways. I have a pretty damn bad sense of direction, but I don't think I've ever gotten lost in it, especially not past the first playthrough. It's not a maze by any stretch of the imagination.
I love this chapter because it shows that you started using the abandoned rusty railway system because there is no chance to progress on the surface and it feels like a safe bunker down the facility until you find out that the military thought of that and sent troops down there to hunt down anyone who tries to use it to escape.
Tbh I never had too much issue with it, however when I would play Sven Co-op with friends they would complain how it's too long andrepetitive for what it is aswell as having no clear direction. Love the video.
tbh, the reason why i love blast pit, on a rail, and apprehension is because, why not? i love decommissioned and industrial areas, the atmosphere and design was just beautiful despite being vitrified and abandoned, still my type of ambience
@@steyraug772I don't think on a Rail is abandoned, it's implied to be used to traverse the underground. You're probably thinking of Old Black Mesa from Blue Shift, which is basically unused and nearly abandoned.
I find it hilarious that On A Rail can actually be completely faster by just going on foot normally. No speedrunning tricks, just walk like a normal person and occasionally take some shortcuts.
I'm pretty sure having to shoot the signs to switch tracks is a reference to the second Indiana Jones movie. Like Indy does that exact thing during the part where he's in the minecart.
7:14 To me who also played hl since 2000, and i still dive into the hl universe atleast once am month for a few days, this is one of the best explanations ive heard, not only for on a rail, but for the whole universe, and since i've heard you saying these sentences, i play HL from an whole other perspective. I don't play to feel like it was me wandering through the BMRF anymore, but like i would be Gordon with his desperation to figure a way out of this hell. It hits even more, that while time passed in real life, i am already quite older than Gordon was. From the perspective of my age, Gordon is still a young guy, overwhelmed by to complexity of the BMRF, and because i was something like 12 when i played it the first time and felt like Gordon was "some wise older adult" i kept having that feeling, even when i passed that age. But after seeing some other videos of on a rail, i had to come back here, to tell you how right and valuable your video is for an hardcore fan and i've also learned to understand and value on a rail much better. You've did a great job with this video. But still, i can't get rid if that, is that it still doesn't work to give an immersion of the size of the BMRF. The Layout of the tracks feel cramped to a small squared sector, not able to give an feel of how huge BM is compared to the personel Transit System. But maybe it is because some parts have been cut and should pasted together in short time while late developing.
I recently loaded up HL and specifically played this section and I'm in the like it quite a bit group. It's a lot of fun fighting your way thru a large section of Black Mesa. Makes sense that Lambda would be far from Anomalous Materials and the only realistic way to get there would be through the lesser traveled and service pathways.
One of my favorite parts about Half-Life were the short times you were on the surface and battling the HECU if I'm correct. But I absolutely love opossing force, I can play it over and never get tired. I even found myself playing it more than the main story.
The worst part of the whole chapter is the stupid green box you have to crouch jump over, I spent 40 minutes trying to get over it and looking for the next part of the game without riding on the cart. Eventually I looked at a walkthrough and immediately felt stupid, the ending of on a rail is honestly one of my favorite moments in the game, so calm
the 3 horror.wavs i actually either heard them from cs 1.6 zombie mode servers or l4d1 (maybe even l4d2) kinda crazy that i actually never knew they actually exist in half life
On my first playthrough back in 2008 when I was 9 years old I absolutely hated On a Rail. It seemed all too long and hard for the little me, I didn't even know how to deal with the turrets and all other stuff. However every time I revisited the chapter I started loving it more and more to the point where it's my 2nd favorite chapter after Surface Tension which by the way, little 9 year old me also hated to the bone for being long and hard.
I'm going through half life for the first time. I got stuck on the tentacle monster level because I couldn't figure out that you needed the fan to blow you upwards.
the problem I have with blast pit is there's nothing telling you to kill the monster, and nothing telling you to back-track to kill it, I got stuck for so long before giving up and watching a walkthrough
I really like this chapter because it tests my stealth skills + you don’t need the cart + rocket launch good + if you get stuck on a loop you are a certified dumb dumb
I swear I never heard the screams when I played the original Half-Life for some reason. It wasn't until Freeman's Mind got to that part and I thought Ross had edited them in as a joke...
I will take On A Rail over Lambda Core or Interloper any day. The former being a bit more complex and I find myself always "where to go" and the latter for being way too tough. In hard mode you struggle a lot in Xen. Interesting that you pointed out the screams. As far as I'm concerned, those screams where made for Half-Life: Uplink. The part where the bodies were dragged. Same screams can be heard as well in the Interloper chapter.
There can be no realism in on a rail because this underground rail system doesn't actually connect to any of the base except where you get on, and where you get off. Neither does the monorail. Like every half life level it's just a pipe the player goes down with some greebles to make it resemble somewhere.
I think Black Mesa was a bit of an overcorrection. They shortened and simplified the tedious railway stuff, even doing away with the railway-switching mechanic altogether but so many good on-foot combat sections are gone. The armored turrets are missing entirely!
The Guys at Valve were probably fans of the Simpsons: *Radioactive green goo everywere *A Monorail *Apes with bees in their hands, so when they attack, they shoot bees at you.
In my opinion on a rail being so long and confusing is intentional. It's meant to be this long journey though an abandoned maze-like rail system. Yes it overstays it's welcome, but that makes going outside and hearing the crickets, and finaly launching the rocket at the end with the music, protentialy having saved all of humanity, o so satisfying
The screams I think are from the vortigaunts, houndeyes and bullsquids you encounter throughout the tunnels. They sound that way I'm assuming because it's supposed to be a far away sound echoing throughout the tunnels.
mentioning how quickly he beat power up makes me mad, I died so many times in a row having to back-track and heal myself to full every single time I died, the soldiers that come down the elevator after you turn on the power gave me the most trouble because they do so much damage if you get too close
The hardest part of half life is there was no google to quickly search the part you are stuck at. At least not as easy. And most of us were kids. I’m not even sure if cheat code central was around back then
when i first played this chapter i accidentally skipped an entire section and lost my cart. i only realized it when i questioned why i was being forced to make difficult jumps over rails and stuff constantly.
I thought launching the rocket was for roughly the same reason for launching the rocket in Half-Life 2: Ch. 2. A satellite was prepared to be launched into orbit to cease the Resonance Cascade like how a Satellite needed to be launched to disrupt the Combine super portal. Only the plan for Black Mesa turned out to be a bust later on because the Nihilanth had been keeping the connection from Xen to Earth open.
Not sure if anyone else sucked as bad as I did but at about 3 mins in I was ready to fight that cart on the playground. Sometimes I could walk away from the controls without slowing the cart down and it automatically stop. Sometimes I would be locked in position an had to manually bring the cart to a stop before I could get off which screwed me over countless times. Then there were those times where I stepped away from the controls thinking the cart would stop just to have it continue at full speed down the track. The way HL1 handled vehicles and turrets never clicked with me. This level didn't help with that. Also forgot to add this. If I remember correctly that rocket had a satellite on it that was supposed to close the dimensional rift.
Maybe there was the 3 boss in this game after tanticle monster and gargantula who player will fight in on a rail .In the beggining in this chapter you can find a room where you can see the bottom of the rocket, in the hallway to this room there are 2 squads of HECU dead and maybe in the room where you can see bottom of the rocket there was supposted to be 3 bossfight after tenticle monster and gargantula that explains the screams, who knows maybe the mr.friendly wasn't deleted completely from the game maybe the screams are him killing HECU marines.But in thes room in the actual game now you can find 1 solider shooting headcrabs who spawn from the infinite spowner the whole think with headcrabs is like not complited like why this room exists why there is infinite spawner of headcrabs with one marine shooting them the whole thing looks unfinished maybe thats why on a rail chapter looks so confusing for players the full chapter is to get to the surface and launch the rocket withaut explaining why, maybe there was something supposted to happend before launching the rocket who will explain to player why they are launching the rocket and where these screams come from.
There's a weird optional part of On A Rail you can find during the first obstacle, and it just leads to a dead end. The only thing you get for going here is a bunch of satchel charges, which I guess is your reward for exploring? The path ends on a broken elevator door, near where you collect the satchel charges, it feels weird to just put a dead end here. And supposedly this at the bottom of the Rocket Silo, but the part where you find the midsection of the rocket was a totally different map.
Is it possible the screams could be linked to the aliens? Some nihilinth broadcast to try and scare off any remaining sciencemen/bootboys? Definitely sounds otherworldly and has a reverb effect similar to his lines.
Fun fact: The second scream sound effect would later be reused as the "Alerted the horde" sound for the Left 4 Dead games.
I also remember them from CS1.6 zombie mode servers
The origin of it is Half-Life Uplink. It was also used for STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl.
Where it is in the Uplink? Once you enter the sewers under the transmitter dome?
How the fuck have I never noticed that before
@@CrazyKosai yes, it can be heard in the sewers when the bodies were getting dragged by zombies.
9:51 Many believe and its a theory that I some what agreed that the sounds of screams from all the victims from all over Black Mesa being echoed through Xen's astral plane space and time from both past, present and future.
Bro reading this gave me fucking goosebumpbs
OR, it's the screams of players all over the world realizing that they have to play on a rail again. Just kidding, I actually don't have a problem with on a rail.
For me it's more of a sign that Gordon is traumatized for what he did. He keeps hearing these screams of pain in his head and also the title ''Sirens in the Distance'' also have the same explanation he only hears sirens and screams.
@@Half-Bad-Goodman gordon did nothing other than follow orders
I've heard a theory that the screams might be Houndeyes howling.
Why I liked “On a rail”
HECU: Ha ha freeman will never get through our defenses.
Freeman: *has already quietly gone around and now begins to maliciously load shotgun*
Pretty much the entire thing is about being smart and resourceful. You can’t rush straight into the enemies defenses so going around and killing then from behind is usually a way better idea. Even if you can’t quickly kill them, they’re usually left open with no cover. It’s even better when they’re already fighting aliens as now they have to defend themselves from 2 sides.
you were supposed to do this entire thing with stealth? wtf
@@your_fathers not exactly stealth. Just
You see a place where some baddies are prob stationed
You see what the best angle would be to attack them from
You sneak or sometimes run to that angle
You then go in guns blazing and now don’t have to deal with the cover and turrets n stuff
@@legogoka-boomstudio1838 oh yeah I did that sometimes, some areas in the chapter you can't really do that so probably forgot
My main problem is when I had to replay it
The one time I was able to utilize stealth in the chapter was when the military were still fighting the vortigaunts so I let them kill each other and picked off the ones that survived. The rest, I was running for my life desperately trying to run from corner to corner
My theory concerning the screams heard at the beginning of "On A Rail" is that they are the distorted echoes of the hums and screeches of other carts running elsewhere on the distant rail system. They're intended to sound like screaming, as I'm sure at this point that's how a battle-weary and on-edge scientist would initially interpret them. Compare it to the sounds of real life underground metros and subways. It puts us in Gordon's shoes, filling us with dread as we descend into the maze.
That's a very good guess tbh, the screams look very similar to the sounds you have mentioned
Its the boids
Then why you hear this in the Nihilanth's portal before the final boss?
This is a very interesting theory, and you could be right. But i think, that these screams are from a bunch of young grunts, that are (maybe under influence of something) getting ready to hunt in a sinister area for aliens, or even for Gordon. When i've played it as an 12 yo i've always thought, yikes, they are on the hunt for me!
These screams or maybe dissorted cheers remind me a bit of the lunatics that were partying inside the last days of the Führerbunker, when they knew that they would die in there with a lot of alcohol beeing surrounded by the red army. Maybe the grunts where that desperate knowing they would die, that they got drunk to make it easier for them to battle something that likely would kill these young men.
@Mr. Ten Thirteen Perhaps that's Gordon's subconscious echoing the same fear he felt during On A Rail - or even the Nihilanth telepathically resurging that fear in Gordon to deter him.
Well I mean, for Sven coop it’s a completely different kind of brisket, the cart is usually a great antic.
so many memories of sending that thing into tripmines
bruh you gave me memories of getting blasted by the rocket turret guy
Sven-Coop
ah yes, i missed that server.
Yeah, that thing crushed everyone around itself when making turns. One-shot machine gun turrets. And the rocket guy. Good times.
I love getting randomly gibbed for no reason constantly throughout the entire chapter as well as throughout the Interloper chapter by elevators.
Wait are players supposed to use the cart? I thought this chapter was created to test speed runner's bhop capabilities
thats at least how i play the game!
@@sam-sp5zk nah I'm not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@sam-sp5zk you must be new to jokes
@@sam-sp5zk how to tell if someone's very young:
they type like that and dont get obvious jokes
@@sam-sp5zk You Must Be New To Typing Or Spelling, You Aren’t Supposed To Capitalize Every Word. Only The Start Of Sentences Or Proper Nouns.
Notice how he didn't even talk about how much of a safety hazard that enormous fan is? The switch to turn it on and off is BELOW the blades!
well, most of the staff was in the rooms seen before the black mesa incident occured, and the people that built the entire facility would eventually get tired from having to work so much so as a result, many safety hazards end up unnoticed.
I loved this...so good. The screams....my south American friend at work, Alfonso, told me about how the natives of the Amazon jungle believe spirits live inside the mesas, almost like a home for their ancestors, maybe Black Mesa was built directly where the spirits dwell...
Ross Scott (as Gordon Freeman in 'Freeman's Mind') said it best: "Alright, I'm not an expert in the field, but that sounds like to me the cries of the damned."
I didn’t notice the screams in black Mesa I wonder if they removed them or I just wasn’t paying attention
@@garden0fstone736 they weren't there, BM opted to have a melancholy moment with the music- good direction but I will always love the original and am really fortunate to have played it first.
On a Rail is one of my favorites, alongside Questionable Ethics and Surface Tension.
you have right, for me too and power up
Ngl i kinda like the "ride the cart/caravan" aspect of the chapter, feels kinda like a quest, with some occasional stops, sorta feels worldbuild-y, perhaps better than Water Hazard because it's not as "rush-y". It's also dope how in Black Mesa you can put spare supplies on the cart and carry/use them as you need, which reinforces the "quest"-like feel (and personally made me feel like a 1000iq boi).
Btw, great video!
Oh my god I need to do that the next time I try to play through Black Mesa.
@@TinyDeskEngineer Black mesa is a different game than Half life. it's how a Half Life should have been if Valve have source engine in 1997
Oh UwU
I never have much of these spare supplies when I play this game on hard
@@houghwhite411 Black Mesa is nothing like any version of Half-Life Valve would've made, lol.
Honestly, I hate Residue Processing more than On a Rail. It's just filled with a lot of big rooms that you'd expect to have something, ESPECIALLY after you just lost everything you had, but they're all just empty space. Everything before you get the revolver is just uneventful platforming.
I personally like the platforming, but it is weird how there's no zombies (besides a few headcrabs) to keep the player on their toes.
@@peppermillers8361 play mmod, you wanna zombies? Here you go, and oh boy they are a lot, also, half life is the only game where i love the platforming, the movement are so smooth, you are so fast, and bunny hopping is incredible in this game, damn i love half life, best game ever
I always liked On A Rail, and that final rocket launch felt so rewarding. I get a very cold feel from the tunnels, and can smell the humidity due to the tunnels being flooded and abandoned.
WAIT, YOU CAN SHIFT WALK OYUR WAY THROUGH THE TENTACLE MONSTER? WHY DO I ONLY FIND OUT ABOUT THIS NOW
oh hello there Aleks. i never expected to find you on a half life video of all places.
i mean, the security guard says "be quite, that "thing" hear us", which should be obvious that its blind, and u can just walk by it to avoid detection.
"Be quiet that thing only hear us" - Barney.
Shift walk, aka.. walk
@@JuanxDlol "Be quiet that thing only hear us" - The guy that was next to the guy who started to shooting at the thing.
7:30 this is something so many people forget about Half Life is that when you don’t know where to go it’s a very tough game. Going from modern games to Half Life is a real change of pace in that regard and how it directs the player doesn’t really hold up in my opinion.
I cannot play any other FPS game after Half Life. I loved Black Mesa and appreciate Crowbar Collective, but my ultimate game will forever be Half Life.
I think it directs players fine, the problem is that it's a 90s game, and gamey elements like shooting the signs were prevalent back then.
I'm pretty sure the rocket had something to do with all the teleportation stuff on Xen. It was *suppose* to close the portal between Earth and Xen but the Nihilanth was still holding it open with its sheer power. The rift was (I think) closed from Earth's side but not Xen's side. Which is probably also why you encounter alot less wildlife after that part of the game, the resonance cascade had stabilized somewhat.
The rocket is required for the Resonance Reversal performed in Half-Life: Decay, from which point forward the only Xen forces teleporting into the facility are the ones deliberately deployed by the Nihilanth. The Resonance Reversal closed Earth's side of the portal. Killing the Nihilanth closed Xen's. Then portal storms or whatever idk that all got retconned to hell so the Combine could exist.
I dislike it because I can’t do a backflip on the cart
People don't like Blast Pit?
Yeah, that really confused me. I thought everyone loved it.
I bet I'm the only one in this world who hates Blast Pit
@@sonicdash9652 GUYS, IT'S HIM, IT'S THE GUY WHO HATES BLAST PIT, GET HIM!
I mean, i just kinda, you know, do it. I don't really care alot for it.
@@Awesomeness-iz3dh HEY STAY AWAY FROM THAT GUY US BLAST PIT HATERS ARE JUST TOO IMPATIENT TO CRAWL
It would be interesting if you could try to theorize where these screams of terror could come from in On the Rail. And maybe some attempt to more logicly map out the entiriety of Black Mesa bascing it off HL1, Opposing force and blueshift bits, and trying to sort out some of the "spacial insanity" that is typical for valve's levels
They can be heard in Interloper too. They come from HL Uplink.
i think they are headcrab zombies, the screams sound similar to those zombies' screams in HL2
@@XanderNiles The screams weren't from Uplink. Uplink began development after Half-Life had already shipped. You shouldn't go around telling people things as if you know what you're talking about when you clearly don't.
@@The_Butt_Cracker The screams are from Blue Shift.
@@danielasbjrnsson7500 No, they aren't. They're from the original Half-Life.
Fun fact: all 4 of those horror screams were present in many S.T.A.L.K.E.R. builds up until release as one of the ambient soundscape sounds. As far as I remeber whole "random soundscape" system was cutted during development and never came back as the tone of the game shifted, which is sad - hearing far away mumbled gunshots, screams and obscure sounds was really what brought Zone to life.
(You can check out how it sounded by searching "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Oblivion Lost Ambience" here on YT)
Or just play some alpha-flavoured mods like OLR2.5 (we don't talk about LA)
@@bazooka93 I personally recommend Vector of Alienation mod 10 times over OLR 2.5 since the latter is unfinished and has many placeholders. More over the literature story (it is the only eng-translated mod based on OG literature script by Sergei Ivanov) and supreme static renderer (I think VoA is the most beautiful shadowmap-based game overall).
My only complain is the lack of content - you can 100% it in ~15 hours - but "quality over quantity" mantra stands still.
So for now (until the final OLR 3.0 release) VoA is go-to mod for anyone who want to check out what was the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Oblivion Lost back in 2004.
@@cycleoffire2220 I'll check it out, but OLR2.5 seemed rather finished for me. Sure, it's crude, but that gives it the authentic alpha feel. I like the fact it bases on earlier builds too, rather than 1935 and above. 2002-2003 was more interesting era. And ffs I'll take anything that doesn't involve Dezodor's bush fetish.
What's funny is even if it was cut down, SoC still has better ambient sounds than 90% of games just by virtue of being positional instead of having them play in mono
When I first heard those scream sound files in a HL trivia video, not so long ago, I've immediately recognised them because several zombie servers back on CS 1.6 used them and only now years later I've realized how haunting they actually sound
Honestly, maybe I'm the odd person here, but I kinda wish there was a segment of it that was just... Driving a train without having to stop every 5 seconds?
(The game INFRA has a lot of stuff where once you solve the train puzzle, you can just ride for a while and it's so satisfying to me)
I always felt like On a Rail was a prelude to Surface Tension. It's meant to be a long chapter with lots of soldiers. It's meant to test your endurance. Plus I do like trains, personally. I never found it too difficult to master the train cart.
For me, the worst pre-Xen chapter by far is Residue Processing.
fun fact
the screams are actually used in most of the zombie mods in counter strike 1.6
rip dat good old era.
p sure its the old horde sound in L4D1 as well
you can still play cs1.6, GO or cs2 (now) is not the only cs in the world, cs1.6 is the best counter strike, it has so many different modded servers, zombies deathrun surf and deathmatches being the best ones
You nailed everything I liked about this chapter, all the chapters before were all high energy (apart from sneaking around the tentacle in Blast Pit) I still remember this chapter In my first ever playthrough and for me It was the one that sold me on the fact that this game is awesome, Valve showed me how well they told their story with the "Show-Don't-Tell" with all the grafittis that threaten or mock Freeman, the aliens and HECU killing each other which makes the world even more believable, and the cherry on top, when you get outside and hear the conversations between the marines, that moment was so memorable to me because it showed me that these marins are not just some random goons, they have their own motivations and are just following order, and the music that starts playing after launching the rocket coupled with the fact that I just survived that tunnel and slipped through the marined finger just made feel like a badass who's surviving against all odds. I Really love this chapter.
I like on a rail. The one chapter I've never liked was gonarchs lair. When I first played it I felt like I was endlessly shooting it with no indication I was accomplishing anything other than wasting my bullets. The fight just feels confusing and janky and is plain annoying.
Maybe the screams at the end are from the future, from the 7-hour war, to be exact. Time travel is a thing in the HL universe, as shown by the G-Man. The teleporter before the Nihilanth also plays scientist lines from the resonance cascade which had happened hours before, so I don't see a reason why it couldn't show you things yet to come.
I always thought it was echos down a hallway or something, though this probably makes more sense as the sounds are a little too “echo-ey”. Love ur content btw
I don't think they were intended that way, the 7 hour war wasn't thought and put into HL lore until they remade the HL2 history of the betas
G-Man is an unusual case (and it wasn't shown that he could necessarily time travel in the original, just move around dimensions), and the teleporter before the Nihilanth... is a teleporter with strange qualities. On a Rail just takes place in an old ass rail system. And obviously the 7-Hour War hadn't even been thought up yet, and HL1 certainly never alludes to HL2 at any other time, so this just isn't a very good theory.
Didn't know a lot of people had no idea to shoot signs to switch tracks. Back when I first played On A Rail, my mind quickly connected them to the shooting range attraction: aim and hit a brightly colored object, it flips over and that counts as a score.
Also didn't know that some pricks hate Water Hazard. It's a great change of pace and literally a breath of fresh air after crawling through sewers having to deal with enemies with no way around them. You fly through the game world that opens wider allowing you to *speed* from one set piece to another, plowing through enemies withought bothering to get off your ride, and only a huge water gate or a supply hideout can slow you down. And who could forget that heli chase!
This chapter along with Highway-17 made me realize I love vehicle sections (the only reason On A Rail aren't quite doing the same is that it goes through same narrow tunnels), which is prbbly why I like Scrap Mechanic survival:
Drive down a road, deviate into more desolate/foresty areas if you want, pull over next to an outpost of some sort, check if there're any goodies to find or baddies to fight, then get back on the wheels towards where you eyes aim at. Good game. Do recommend.
I played Half-Life for the first time this year, and "On a Rail" was actually my favorite chapter lol. I love the atmosphere and the eerie industrial look of the environment. There is a good sense of apprehension every time you clear an area, board your cart, and start once again creeping through the tunnels, not sure what kind of alien or military ambush lies ahead.
I'm playing through Half-Life 2 for the first time currently (On the Ravenhome level right now), and "Water Hazard" was my favorite chapter so far in that game too, so maybe I have a type lol
I luv water hazard
I love this chapter. Lots of fun combat encounters, some optional areas and great atmosphere with plenty of little details and things going on. Such as the the small room with a dead grunt next to some graffiti and a spray can, or the area beneath the satellite rocket where another grunt is getting flooded by headcrabs jumping out of the walls.
As a kid I amused the screaming was a crowd of zombies somewhere in the tunnels. The same sound effects are also used in the area you can access via a vent in the final part of the Xen manufacturing facility of Interloper. It kind of feels like Valve added this for effect but I always preferred to just immerse myself into the game and accept everything going on as actual events that took place during those 4 days. Kind of hard to change your view on a game like this when it had a big impact on you as a 10 year old.
It's the lack of player choice for me as no using the train takes so long but using is jank and boring, I don't skip it cus it's charming, but anytime I get lost in the endless hallways it's always the worst part of a play through
It's actually faster just to go on foot. I also genuinely get confused when people say they get lost in these hallways. I have a pretty damn bad sense of direction, but I don't think I've ever gotten lost in it, especially not past the first playthrough. It's not a maze by any stretch of the imagination.
I love this chapter because it shows that you started using the abandoned rusty railway system because there is no chance to progress on the surface and it feels like a safe bunker down the facility until you find out that the military thought of that and sent troops down there to hunt down anyone who tries to use it to escape.
Tbh I never had too much issue with it, however when I would play Sven Co-op with friends they would complain how it's too long andrepetitive for what it is aswell as having no clear direction. Love the video.
tbh, the reason why i love blast pit, on a rail, and apprehension is because, why not? i love decommissioned and industrial areas, the atmosphere and design was just beautiful despite being vitrified and abandoned, still my type of ambience
correct me if im wrong if on a rail is abandoned or what, i know black mesa was once rocket testing center or sort
@@steyraug772I don't think on a Rail is abandoned, it's implied to be used to traverse the underground. You're probably thinking of Old Black Mesa from Blue Shift, which is basically unused and nearly abandoned.
9:29 those are testers of Black mesa sweet voice
I find it hilarious that On A Rail can actually be completely faster by just going on foot normally. No speedrunning tricks, just walk like a normal person and occasionally take some shortcuts.
i like it because the music fit very well whit the chapter and the exploration whit the train and see how the H.E.C.U fighting whit the aliens
older sound files of the scream sound refer to it as a houndeye pack
I'm pretty sure having to shoot the signs to switch tracks is a reference to the second Indiana Jones movie.
Like Indy does that exact thing during the part where he's in the minecart.
7:14 To me who also played hl since 2000, and i still dive into the hl universe atleast once am month for a few days, this is one of the best explanations ive heard, not only for on a rail, but for the whole universe, and since i've heard you saying these sentences, i play HL from an whole other perspective. I don't play to feel like it was me wandering through the BMRF anymore, but like i would be Gordon with his desperation to figure a way out of this hell. It hits even more, that while time passed in real life, i am already quite older than Gordon was. From the perspective of my age, Gordon is still a young guy, overwhelmed by to complexity of the BMRF, and because i was something like 12 when i played it the first time and felt like Gordon was "some wise older adult" i kept having that feeling, even when i passed that age. But after seeing some other videos of on a rail, i had to come back here, to tell you how right and valuable your video is for an hardcore fan and i've also learned to understand and value on a rail much better. You've did a great job with this video.
But still, i can't get rid if that, is that it still doesn't work to give an immersion of the size of the BMRF. The Layout of the tracks feel cramped to a small squared sector, not able to give an feel of how huge BM is compared to the personel Transit System. But maybe it is because some parts have been cut and should pasted together in short time while late developing.
I recently loaded up HL and specifically played this section and I'm in the like it quite a bit group. It's a lot of fun fighting your way thru a large section of Black Mesa. Makes sense that Lambda would be far from Anomalous Materials and the only realistic way to get there would be through the lesser traveled and service pathways.
I enjoyed that level, but that's only because I ignored the rail car completely and simply sprinted through
One of my favorite parts about Half-Life were the short times you were on the surface and battling the HECU if I'm correct.
But I absolutely love opossing force, I can play it over and never get tired. I even found myself playing it more than the main story.
I love how the_horror_2 is reused in l4d1
i actually find on a rail quite unsettling. the music, the screams, the feel of the entire abandoned railway system, and the fact it's so huge.
ON A RAIL IS THE HIGHWAY 17 OF HL1
But more locked and less free
@@MinorLife10 INDEED
@Oni32 🤯🤯🤯
The worst part of the whole chapter is the stupid green box you have to crouch jump over, I spent 40 minutes trying to get over it and looking for the next part of the game without riding on the cart. Eventually I looked at a walkthrough and immediately felt stupid, the ending of on a rail is honestly one of my favorite moments in the game, so calm
Oh damn... Never noticed those screams when I played the chapter. It's been a while now, but that's really creepy! I love it!
the 3 horror.wavs i actually either heard them from cs 1.6 zombie mode servers or l4d1 (maybe even l4d2) kinda crazy that i actually never knew they actually exist in half life
The screams are probably Gordon's ptds since he saw many of his fellows scientist die.
On my first playthrough back in 2008 when I was 9 years old I absolutely hated On a Rail. It seemed all too long and hard for the little me, I didn't even know how to deal with the turrets and all other stuff. However every time I revisited the chapter I started loving it more and more to the point where it's my 2nd favorite chapter after Surface Tension which by the way, little 9 year old me also hated to the bone for being long and hard.
I'm going through half life for the first time. I got stuck on the tentacle monster level because I couldn't figure out that you needed the fan to blow you upwards.
2:58 probably the blast ventilation fan
The screams are theorized to be a threat from the nihlenth to freeman
Radiation Hazard deserves 100 times more subscribers just from the effort he puts in to these videos. Most underrated youtuber ever!
the problem I have with blast pit is there's nothing telling you to kill the monster, and nothing telling you to back-track to kill it, I got stuck for so long before giving up and watching a walkthrough
I really like this chapter because it tests my stealth skills + you don’t need the cart + rocket launch good + if you get stuck on a loop you are a certified dumb dumb
I swear I never heard the screams when I played the original Half-Life for some reason. It wasn't until Freeman's Mind got to that part and I thought Ross had edited them in as a joke...
I will take On A Rail over Lambda Core or Interloper any day. The former being a bit more complex and I find myself always "where to go" and the latter for being way too tough. In hard mode you struggle a lot in Xen.
Interesting that you pointed out the screams. As far as I'm concerned, those screams where made for Half-Life: Uplink. The part where the bodies were dragged. Same screams can be heard as well in the Interloper chapter.
There can be no realism in on a rail because this underground rail system doesn't actually connect to any of the base except where you get on, and where you get off. Neither does the monorail. Like every half life level it's just a pipe the player goes down with some greebles to make it resemble somewhere.
Honestly always have been indifferent about it. It has it's moments, but having to tug around the train the whole time can get a bit annoying.
I never had a problem with On The Rail. The only chapter I remember hating was Interloper.
i feel like the screams are some easter eggs made for fun and the sound origin are just the death sound of tentacle with different pitch and speeds
4:29
Radiation hazard you are a gamer, At heart *are one of us*
I think Black Mesa was a bit of an overcorrection. They shortened and simplified the tedious railway stuff, even doing away with the railway-switching mechanic altogether but so many good on-foot combat sections are gone. The armored turrets are missing entirely!
Normal player: god damn, not this again...
Speedrunners: *YYYEAAAAAHHH*
On a Rail showcases the brutality of the Marines. It's to give the player a feeling that they're constantly being tracked and tried to hunt down.
Played the game quite a few times. Never noticed those screams beams before. Damn...
The rocket is launched in an attempt to close the portal.
the first time i played this level, i was so lost I was walking around taking th same path and not knowing where to go 💀
Because A. there's not really much stuff to run and interact with and B. alot of soldiers and vortigaunts
I like on a rail, it might be one of my favorites, but I'd have to replay
The Guys at Valve were probably fans of the Simpsons:
*Radioactive green goo everywere
*A Monorail
*Apes with bees in their hands, so when they attack, they shoot bees at you.
It took me two hours to find out that I had to crouch jump over that stupid green box
In my opinion on a rail being so long and confusing is intentional. It's meant to be this long journey though an abandoned maze-like rail system. Yes it overstays it's welcome, but that makes going outside and hearing the crickets, and finaly launching the rocket at the end with the music, protentialy having saved all of humanity, o so satisfying
The screams I think are from the vortigaunts, houndeyes and bullsquids you encounter throughout the tunnels. They sound that way I'm assuming because it's supposed to be a far away sound echoing throughout the tunnels.
I thought I heard somewhere the the first scream sound was a pack of houndeyes.
I got super motion sick for no reason here.
The horror noise sounds like zombie screams
You launch the rocket to stop the resonance cascades.
Just stack the tripmines and switch the lever
So many years later and hl fans are still making bomb content
mentioning how quickly he beat power up makes me mad, I died so many times in a row having to back-track and heal myself to full every single time I died, the soldiers that come down the elevator after you turn on the power gave me the most trouble because they do so much damage if you get too close
The hardest part of half life is there was no google to quickly search the part you are stuck at. At least not as easy. And most of us were kids. I’m not even sure if cheat code central was around back then
The purpose of the rocket is to close the holes that are technically entrances to xen from earth which none of it makes sence
You cannot make an Half Life storyline without dark corridors, trams and linear paths. So there is On a Rail.
I love how HL TH-camrs are talking about On A Rail. I kind of wanna make my own video talking about how I'd make it
when i first played this chapter i accidentally skipped an entire section and lost my cart. i only realized it when i questioned why i was being forced to make difficult jumps over rails and stuff constantly.
The purpose of the rocket is to try to close the portals from where the aliens are coming from, btw.
1:45 Rad what are you doing? Are you feeling alright? Why are you shooting a bullsquid with a shotgun from 20 meters away?
I thought launching the rocket was for roughly the same reason for launching the rocket in Half-Life 2: Ch. 2. A satellite was prepared to be launched into orbit to cease the Resonance Cascade like how a Satellite needed to be launched to disrupt the Combine super portal. Only the plan for Black Mesa turned out to be a bust later on because the Nihilanth had been keeping the connection from Xen to Earth open.
When you said some players took forever to realize you could shot the sign to change the rail carts direction..... I felt that
Not sure if anyone else sucked as bad as I did but at about 3 mins in I was ready to fight that cart on the playground.
Sometimes I could walk away from the controls without slowing the cart down and it automatically stop.
Sometimes I would be locked in position an had to manually bring the cart to a stop before I could get off which screwed me over countless times.
Then there were those times where I stepped away from the controls thinking the cart would stop just to have it continue at full speed down the track.
The way HL1 handled vehicles and turrets never clicked with me. This level didn't help with that.
Also forgot to add this. If I remember correctly that rocket had a satellite on it that was supposed to close the dimensional rift.
8:52 HE SAID THE THING!
Legend of Freeman: Spirit Tracks
Maybe there was the 3 boss in this game after tanticle monster and gargantula who player will fight in on a rail .In the beggining in this chapter you can find a room where you can see the bottom of the rocket, in the hallway to this room there are 2 squads of HECU dead and maybe in the room where you can see bottom of the rocket there was supposted to be 3 bossfight after tenticle monster and gargantula that explains the screams, who knows maybe the mr.friendly wasn't deleted completely from the game maybe the screams are him killing HECU marines.But in thes room in the actual game now you can find 1 solider shooting headcrabs who spawn from the infinite spowner the whole think with headcrabs is like not complited like why this room exists why there is infinite spawner of headcrabs with one marine shooting them the whole thing looks unfinished maybe thats why on a rail chapter looks so confusing for players the full chapter is to get to the surface and launch the rocket withaut explaining why, maybe there was something supposted to happend before launching the rocket who will explain to player why they are launching the rocket and where these screams come from.
the horror sounds were later used for the hored sounds in L4D
i didnt know people disliked this and water hazard, i dont know why, in fact they are probably my personal favorites
There's a weird optional part of On A Rail you can find during the first obstacle, and it just leads to a dead end.
The only thing you get for going here is a bunch of satchel charges, which I guess is your reward for exploring?
The path ends on a broken elevator door, near where you collect the satchel charges, it feels weird to just put a dead end here. And supposedly this at the bottom of the Rocket Silo, but the part where you find the midsection of the rocket was a totally different map.
Is it possible the screams could be linked to the aliens? Some nihilinth broadcast to try and scare off any remaining sciencemen/bootboys? Definitely sounds otherworldly and has a reverb effect similar to his lines.
ive played halflife so many times and i still get lost in on a rail sometimes