Blast Pit - Half-Life Guide - IGN (2024)

Whack through the barrier and continue on. Press the button in the control room to summon the elevator, then climb down and press the button to ride the elevator back down into the bowels of Black Mesa.

Fun with fire: the side room next to the controls have lots of high explosives. See what happens for yourself.

Hop on the little train that you find and press the use button to activate the controls. When you see big big yellow arrows, press forward to go forward and backward to go back. Not too complicated.

Zoom down the track but be careful when you reach the end.

Olympic hopefuls: practice your Greg Louganis impression by seeing how far you can launch into the slime pit.

Hop up on top of the now-stopped train to reach the ledge which circles around the slime pit. Climb up the ladder on the other side and drop down into the big open pipe up there.

Jump out of the pipe again, and go to the left to climb up a ladder. Run on top of the pipes around and to the right, then jump off, over the rail, back onto solid ground. Go down and to the left, then jump off into the slime. Run quickly over the the slanted pipe, run up it onto the big lift, then press the button to start the long journey upwards.

Travel around the outside edge of the big deep pit, killing monsters along the way. Those small canisters you see lying around can put some hurt into an alien if you shoot them, but they can put some hurt into a walkway too, so be careful.

Use the switch to open the airlock, then step inside. Use the switch inside to travel through to the other side.

What's all this banging you hear? Listen to what this poor dying scientist has to say, then keep going.

HOLY CRAP!

Trying test-firing the rocket. Damn.

These three tentacle things don't seem to have any eyes, but they have some very acute hearing, as the scientist up a ladder on the other side of the control room will tell you. They will hear your footsteps you if move too fast, they will hear your landings if you jump, they will hear you fire your gun or bang your crowbar. And then they will squish you.

I hope you have some grenades left... since the tentacles are attracted to sound, make some big booms to throw them off by tossing a grenade away from you. The tentacles will go after that noise, giving you some time to haul ass.

Make your way down to the second level of the test chamber and whack your way through the boarded door while the tentacles are distracted.

Go through the airlocks, and then across the catwalk. If it's been destroyed, you'll have to walk the balance beam on the pipes to the right.

Go down the hallways, then down the ladder you'll find. Smash the grating in the floor and crawl down the long ladder.

Thrill seekers: see how far down the shaft you can fall before grabbing the ladder. I've gotten to about three feet from the ground before.

Run along the pipe and go to the left. Climb up the ladder you'll find.

Smash the grating above you and go through the doorway to a room with a ginatic fan. Climb down the ladders to the switch below the fan blades.

More ladder fun: test your mettle and try leaping from the top walkway all the way down to the ladder underneath the fan. How Gordon Freeman manages from having his arms torn off escapes my understanding.

Here's a nice test of agility. You have to turn on the fan and then get above it before the blades start spinning too fast, otherwise you'll be knocked down into the chasm (one wonders who designed this.) Press the switch then run back to the ladder, and try to time it just right so you miss the fan blades as you climb up.

Now that the fan is on, take advantage of all the moving air and jump above the fan. You can fly! Smash the wood with the crowbar and maneuver your way down into another ventilation shaft. (One notices that the wood, which must be exceptionally heavy, falls straight down.)

Crawl through the shafts, whacking where necessary, until you fall out and make your way to the Oxygen/Fuel control room. Turn on the oxygen and the fuel by pressing the respective buttons. You'll notice that little air bubbles start moving through the pipes, indicating the flow has been restored.

Follow the bubbles back to where you came from.

Back at the tentacles, move down to ground level and smash your way out another doorway. I hope you have grenades to spare, since you still have the long trek back up.

You'll have to make a few big leaps here, so be careful. Go through the airlock and across the catwalk, then turn the corner to the right.

Walk out onto the catwalk and press the elevator button. Down comes the elevator. Hop in, and press the button to descend. On the way down the elevator will experience technical difficulties. You'll have to jump out and latch onto the ladder to the left, again showing off Freeman's arms of steel.

Climb down the ladder and go over to the scientist, who is too scared to go turn on the power himself. Luckily you're more courageous.

Go over to the big power room. Press the button to summon the spinning-platform thing, then ride it to the other side and climb the ladder. Be careful not to let the spinning-platform things knock you off and into the pit; that would be bad.

Once you make it up to the top, press the switch to start up the generator, then jump on top of it and down the other side to press the other switch. The generator will start sparking and shooting beams of electricity, which is a good thing. Make your way back down, and then go climb back up the long ladder.

That water puddle you crossed earlier is now electrified. You'll have to drag some boxes which are lying around over to the water, and shove them across. Make a bridge as far as you can, then jump up on then and leap across. Make your way back to the tentacles, hopping gaps in the floor where needed.

Use your grenades and your stealth to climb back up to the top of the test chamber, then go down to the control room. If everything is turned on like it should be, go ahead and press the "Test Fire" button. It's like burning up ants with a magnifying glass, only about a thousand times bigger.

Reenter the now-empty test chamber and climb down into the pit previously occupied by the tentacles. You'll continue down a bit and then end up in a big pool of water.

Take a deep breath and swim down, then over to the side of the pool. You'll see that you can swim up and out.

You could try hitching a ride on top of one of those floating barrels if you really wanted, or you could just hop on top of the pipes instead. Follow them along, jumping from pipe to pipe, until you come to a wheel that you have to turn to extend a section that's missing. Jump down inside one of the big pipes and run along it.

Watch out for the big fall here. You can go down the the breaking pipe and take damage, or try and set it off carefully without falling down, and then getting down along the side route. Either way, there are a lot of health packs at the bottom (along with some new toys).