Black Ops: Some Ideas


  • Black Ops: Some Ideas

    So over the past few days I was thinking about the Black Ops and several thoughts came to mind.

    (The warhead)
    When they detached the warhead in the chapter Friendly Fire why did they load it up to a truck just to transport it to a parking garage. Why not rig it to blow in the hanger where they found the bomb? Was it because the parking garage was more optimal for setting off a nuke? or was it because it was not far from where Race X was building its portal and they wanted to be sure to take it out with the warhead? I'm unsure how it would be best to explain that mystery but perhaps an explanation would be that the warhead and the detonation device was two separate components and they had to go to the parking garage to construct it before going to a extraction point elsewhere in the garage. Its something to think about at least.

    (Escalation of complications)
    Later in the game it might be interesting if we overhear a radio conversation of the Black Ops perhaps expressing some frustrations of the interference of the remaining HECU marines and the unexpected arrival of Race X. Perhaps something along the lines of. "The Briefing said nothing about these creatures." "I don't like unknown opposition. Be they human or not." stuff like that could go a long way into giving the black ops more character and help convey additional information of the events going on in the later hours of the black mesa incident.

    (Hints of Black Ops prior to friendly fire.)
    Perhaps before Shephard runs into the Black Ops in Friendly Fire perhaps we could have a few hints of their presence. Perhaps we hear gunfire and if we reach a room fast enough we catch a glimpse of a female black ops leap up into the shadows of a inaccessible area. Perhaps another point we encounter a room where several HECU marines were clearly ambushed and gunned down. Maybe we reach a room prior to the hanger area of Friendly Fire were a Black Mesa worker was clearly tortured for information in a clearly non-hecu fashion. (Perhaps he was tortured to know where the warhead was located.) Maybe another point we hear footsteps and maybe some radio static but can't see anything except maybe some objects shift aside slightly, as the black ops were using their cloaks as they went past.

    (Black Ops arrival by helicopter)
    Before or during Friendly Fire it would be cool to see more Black Ops arriving in Black Mesa. I remember some old concept art of OBM that showed them landing on the roof on a little bird chopper. Which I thought was a cool contrast to the big bulky Ospreys the marines arrived in. So if possible I would love to see them land on a roof in the distance.

    (Black Ops should have different grenades)
    looking at the black ops model they have different grenades on their belt than their hecu counterparts. I was thinking it would be neat for them to actually use them. perhaps have Flashbang, HE, and Smoke. They could use the HE grenades to try to wipeout your squad with the larger splash damage, the flashbang to disorient the player if they are about to rush Shephard, and the smoke to cover their retreat until they can activate their cloak. I feel that them using different types of grenades could be another detail that makes them different from the marines and could allow them to have a very different style of combat tactics.

    This could lead to a very cool ambush idea for Foxtrot uniform chapter. Everyone remembers the dark and creepy tunnels with Vortigores. Well i think a cool shock for players is if near the end of that sequence the player runs into a Black Ops ambush who star by using a flashbang to blind the player while in nightvision and proceed to open fire. (if it can't work there for reasons any dark hallway in black mesa could do.)
  • For your first point, at least, I think the garage was the better area to plant the bomb. Lambda Sector's location is described once in Half-Life as "on the opposite end of the base" implying that it's on the end. The location you first see Black Ops discussing the bomb is near Lambda Sector, and resembles an entrance to the facility. Presumably that parking lot is more central and a better place to do the most damage.
  • Many great ideas here.

    I think showing a bit more of the Black Ops' progression throughout the facility would be nice. Obviously they can't put too much in - ther's already the Race X, HECU, and original Xenians to establish. It would be cool however to see just a few of those key moments - adding on to your torture scene, perhaps Adrian could even come across an HECU ant farm (communications tent) that was overrun by headcrabs, and you can clearly see specialist equipment attached to the radio. This would signify that their wavelength was being secretly monitored by the Black Ops, which explains how they are able to find out where Adrian will come from and plan their ambush for Worlds Collide.

    Your comments about the grenades and helicopter also sparked some inspiration. As we all know, Black Ops exist in that bad ass world of secret agents and ninjas. One thing that these kinds of stories always focus on, from comic books to video games, are the gadgets they get to use - think 007, Kingsmen, and even Batman. I think it would be very worthwhile to flesh these out a bit more for the Black Ops. A few ideas:

    Advanced Combat Tactics: Black Ops shoot out lights when they launch an ambush, allowing them and forcing you to use Night Vision (some cool visual opportunities for laser sights in the dark)

    Flash Bang and Concussion Grenades: as Banjo said, they should have effective non-lethal technology that would allow them to capture and question targets.

    Knives/Stealth: Adrian rarely found use for his K-Bar combat knife in Opposing Force. I think the best way to give it better exposure would be as a silent option for killing enemies. A great moment to really show this would be in Friendly Fire, as Adrian crawls through the vents and hears the Black Ops discussing casually how they've killed Marines alongside scientists. If you choose to burst through the vents, they will spring into action and take heavy toll on the player. Alternatively, if you work through the vent network, you'll hear more dialogue (a reward for story-focused players like myself) and have different opportunities to pop out and quietly stab most of the agents before fully revealing himself and taking out the two with the warhead. Later in the game, as Adrian comes up against more black ops, they could attempt the same kind of surprise attacks with their own knives (maybe they even attack some of your squad mates, who will die if you don't pay attention and, as they often said, "CHECK IN")
