#Half life walkthrough surface tension series

The resulting crisis is seen from several points of view in Half-Life and its expansions. The G-Man references this event later in Half-Life 2: Episode 2 saying that 'their only experience of humanity was a crowbar coming at them down a steel corridor'. As a result, Xen creatures are teleported into the facility and prey on its human inhabitants. At the beginning of Half-Life, one such crystal, revealed in Half-Life 2: Episode Two to have been provided by the G-Man, is put through an anti-mass spectrometer and causes a resonance cascade, tearing the spacetime continuum. Creatures and crystals from Xen are subsequently brought back to the facility for testing. Prior to the beginning of Half-Life, scientists experimenting on teleportation discover Xen, a border dimension somehow intrinsically involved in the teleportation process. Over the course of the series, Black Mesa is revealed to be conducting top-secret research into various fields, such as teleportation and experimental weapons research.

#Half life walkthrough surface tension series

This facility is depicted as a vast series of underground research laboratories as well as surface constructions such as offices, chemical waste disposal plants, and personnel dormitories (even cafeterias, where Gordon Freeman can destroy Doctor Magnusson's microwave casserole), all powered by a hydroelectric dam and connected by an advanced tram system. Black Mesa is a distinctive landmark visible from NM502 a few miles outside Los Alamos. The base is a decommissioned ICBM launch complex at an undisclosed New Mexico desert location which has been converted into a scientific research facility and bears a number of similarities to Los Alamos National Laboratory and Area 51.

The Black Mesa Research Facility is the primary setting for Half-Life and its three expansions: Opposing Force, Blue Shift, and Decay. The Anomalous Materials test chamber in Half-Life, during the experiment which results in the resonance cascade