Chapter 7: Highway 17

Note: In this level, it is obvious the direction you need to head in, for the most part, because there is only one way to go. Because of this, the directions will be simply to follow the path. In areas where it is more obscure, there will be better directions and sometimes a picture to help guide you.

Open the door and step out onto the pier. On your right will be a few health kits 1. Approach the dune buggy in front of you and get in by hitting your "use” key. The buggy drives with your direction keys: straight goes forward, back goes in reverse, left turns left, and right turns right. The mouse is used to look around and aim the tau cannon (basically the gauss gun from Half-Life 1). Fire it with the primary attack button and charge with the secondary. The buggy is also equipped with a handbrake and turbo; the game will prompt you of these keys every time you enter the buggy. You will be lowered to the ground below, but in the process the magnet holding the buggy fails and the car drops. This is unavoidable. You will incur some damage, but don’t worry about that. Quickly get out, select the gravity gun, and flip the buggy over by using the primary fire button 2. Get back in and speed off. You must do this quickly or else you will be eaten by the antlions that spawn. (Take note that there are an infinite number of these). Drive off in a vaguely right direction towards the water 3; follow the dark brown path that will eventually curve left and go up a hill. Once at the top of this hill, hit your turbo key 4 (the game will prompt you to do this and tell you the key you set for this). If all goes well, you’ll be launched over a big gap in the road and land safely on the other side. If you fall, drive back around and try again. Go up the next hill on your right and turn right again, essentially doing a one-eighty. On the left is a little shack that has supplies around it, mainly health.

Continue forward to the end of the tunnel and make an immediate right 5. There is a gap in the guard rail to guide you. Don’t worry, though: the hill slopes downward here to the shore so you’re not simply dropping down. Follow the coast around the decaying dock to the left and head up the hill on your right. Sitting here is a "thumper” 6. This creates massive shock waves in the ground to keep the antlions away. When within its range, you won’t have to worry about those pesky bugs. To your right (or in front of you, depending on how you parked) is a little house. Enter the basement on the right, but stay alert: sometimes antlions will fly up here and attack you. Inside you’ll find supplies, including a crate of grenades. There will be two poison headcrabs crawling along the floor above you. Kill them and climb up one level by hopping on the crate and onto the utility box on the wall. On your right will be a small room and the second headcrab. Kill it and lob grenades into the open door there. Inside is a poison zombie. Once its dead (and the accompanying headcrabs), collect the supplies in the room and return to the buggy. Shoot the fence with the tau cannon 7 and follow the path down and around to the next hill 8.

Here there will be another thumper, which means another save haven from antlions, but don’t let your guard down. Go up the ramp leading to the house and cautiously enter through the door on the right. There will be a combine looking through a telescope. He won’t notice you until you make noise. Outside are two jerry cans filled with gas. Take one with the gravity gun and lob it at this combine, then quickly switch to a gun. Another combine will exit a room on your left. Blast him and enter, ignoring the combine who is currently on fire (he can’t hurt you). Turn around and wait for the next combine to come around the corner from outside. Be quick to shoot him because he’s toting a pulse rifle. Collect the supplies inside (including the one crate from the back room) and return to the dune buggy. If you’re facing forward (i.e. the same direction you came up the hill from), you’ll see a rock off to the left that’s shaped like a ramp 9. Drive over there and up the rock (using turbo isn’t necessary). This will propel you over a small stream. When the buggy lands, head left (the only way you can go).

Be advised: sometimes the buggy doesn’t land right and will flip over. If this happens, get out and shove it back with the gravity gun like you did at the beginning of the chapter.

As you drive on, you’ll see a shack. In front will be a thumper, a combine APC, and three combine. If you time things right, you’ll be able to run over at least one combine. Do a quick handbrake turn and blast the other two with the tau cannon. They may have retreated into the shack, but the tau cannon can shoot through walls. Park near the thumper and get out; there are supplies inside 10. Don’t forget the crate sitting in the boat that’s hanging from the roof. Return to the buggy and turn it around (if you’re facing the way you came from). On the right will be an easy path back near the water 11. Head along the coast until you come across another thumper. This is a small base run by the resistance. Drive into the compound and a civilian will instruct you to go inside to see Colonel Odessa Cubbage. He’s in the basement 12. Listen to his instructional speech on how to use the rocket propelled grenade launcher 13. He will then hand you the launcher and an alarm will go off, signaling a gunship is approaching. Go up to the roof and destroy it 14. It will take three rockets to do the job, but it can shoot down the rockets. If you need ammunition, there are rockets spread throughout the compound, including a few in the room with you. Sometimes a civilian will show up and hand you some rockets if you need them. When the gunship is destroyed, go through every room; every building has supplies. Get back in the buggy, go through the gate, follow the road around, and veer off to the right.

Follow the path around and you’ll encounter a lake with a few boulders in front of it 15. There are supplies here so if you need them, quickly hop out, grab them, get back in, and drive on. Skirt the lake on the right, but don’t drive into the water because the buggy won’t be able to run. If it gets stuck, however, you can push it out with the gravity gun. Also take note that antlions can’t swim so they’ll drown if they try to chase you into the water. As you continue along, you’ll encounter a pier and a thumper that’s turned off. If you can, blast the combine on top of the pier before stopping, then hop out and activate the thumper 16. You’ll most likely be injured by antlions until the thumper starts, but it’s unavoidable, really. Head up the ramp of the pier and blast the combine around. Bust the two supply crates and move around the shack. Climb the ladder and pop the two combine standing there. To your left will be a big magnet crane. There is a combine standing up there, but you’ll waste too much ammo shooting him from that far. Follow the pier to the crane and climb up. Double-tap the combine and climb into the crane. Pay attention to the instructions that appear; they will show you how to operate the magnet 17. After orienting yourself with the controls, pick up the dune buggy. Watch the shadows to know when to pick things up and when to drop them. With the buggy connected to the magnet, rotate left until you can see another section of the pier separated by a raised bridge 18. Drop the buggy on the other side. Three combine will exit a garage and start shooting at you, but you can’t get hurt while in the crane. Kill the combine however you choose. (I suggest picking up one of the big shipping containers and dropping it on them, but they will die simply by dropping the magnet on their heads). Using the magnet, push the raised bridge over and exit the crane. When you climb back up the ramp, you’ll be able to see supplies in the container in front of you. Collect these and cross the bridge cautiously.

When you reach the other side, a grenade will be rolled out from the garage. Run away or toss it aside with the gravity gun. Either way, once the grenade is taken care of, enter the garage on foot and shoot the three combine inside. Stay clear of the explosive barrels, however. With the combine dead, move to the rear of the garage and enter the little shack 19. There are supplies here and a lever. Flip it with your "use” key and a door will open. Exit the garage the way you came in and get in the buggy. Drive it into the garage and exit through the door you just opened. Go right and up the ramp. If you have enough speed, you’ll be able to flatten the combine that walks out in front of you 20. More combine are out in this next area. Kill them all. There will be only one way to go from here: there is a building with an open door and a ramp leading to a big window 21. Make sure you’re far enough back from the building and go full-throttle up the ramp (but don’t use turbo). You’ll crash through the window and land on the other side. There is a supply crate here.

Drive up along the road and you’ll reach a bridge with the middle section missing. To make things worse, a gunship has been called in. There is a ramp on your side of the bridge. Hit the "turbo” key shortly before reaching the ramp and you’ll soar over the gap and the gunship 22. Hit the brakes as soon as you land and with luck you won’t flip over. If you do, quickly right the buggy and follow the road to the roadblock. Get out and destroy the gunship. Again, it takes three hits to do so. This time, however, there is a crate with an unlimited supply of rockets sitting in a busted van 23. Stay alert, though: not only can the gunship’s cannon slice you in half, there are also gas-filled jerry cans on the ground it can blow up. Use the busted cars as cover while you destroy the gunship. Once it’s dead, clear the road and drive on. (Sometimes the destroyed gunship will remain in one piece and land on the road. If this happens, you can push it out of the way with the gravity gun.) Up the road a ways is another van with supplies in it 24.

Continue along the road and through the tunnel. When you exit, you’ll encounter a new, annoying enemy: roller mines. These things are buried in the ground and will chase after you. If they catch up, they’ll latch onto the buggy and continuously shock it. This will hurt you and can knock the buggy off the road. To get rid of them, get out of the buggy and pull them off with the gravity gun. Shoot it off the road into the water. There are seven along the road.

Eventually you’ll come upon a garage-like thing and a house. There are combine and supplies here. Kill the combine outside and enter the house, killing those inside. Climb the stairs for the supplies up there, but be advised that more combine enter the house when you do this and will also try to shoot you through the windows. With the combine around dead, get back in the buggy and head up the road. There is another roadblock. This one consists of a truck, three combine, and several explosive barrels. One barrel is lodged under the truck cab 25. Shoot it with the tau cannon and the truck will fly off the road. Most likely the combine will survive this so you’ll have to atomize them before you can continue. Be careful driving over the rocks in the road: they might cause you to fall off into the water below, which would be bad.

Further along is yet another roadblock. Don’t clear it yet, however. Go up the small hill to your right and collect the crossbow, a new weapon 26 This one is different than what is found in Half-Life 1. It fires a superheated piece of rebar over long distances and will staple the target to something if it’s close enough (i.e. you can stick a combine to a wall if it’s standing next to one). Zoom with the secondary attack button and search for the combine standing on a billboard 27. Aim above him and fire. When you shoot the crossbow over long distances, the projectile will slowly fall due to gravity so if the target is far enough away you’ll have to aim higher than you might expect. Kill any other combine you might see (which usually you won’t) and clear the roadblock. Drive along the road until you reach a blue force field. You can’t drive through this so get out and walk around it. Ahead is a garage on the right with supplies 28. Go around this and there will be three gas pumps, some explosive barrels, and some combine. Stand at a distance and wait for the combine to approach. When they’re close enough to the barrels, shoot the barrels with the crossbow. This will kill the combine and explode a pump. Kill the remaining combine and approach the APC next to the house. Remove the chock blocks with the gravity gun and let the APC roll into the water 29. (If you’re impatient like me, you can push it into the water with the gravity gun.) This will turn off the force field, allowing you to drive on.

As you continue to follow the road, you’ll come across a little house; in the distance will be two transports. Shoot the combine that dashes out of the house and run inside to avoid being turned into Swiss cheese by the transports as they fly overhead. Get back into the buggy and drive on. Shortly down the road you won’t be able to go anymore; you’ll be in a little courtyard with a bunch of buildings around. There are some combine here. Kill them all then go through the buildings gathering supplies. Stand in the middle of the courtyard and face the railing; turn to your right and walk in between the two story house and the one story house 30. Go to the right and follow the path to a ledge. Down here is a poison zombie. Kill it and the headcrabs and then continue following the path forward until you reach a door. Enter and collect the supplies on the table at the end of the room 31. This upcoming part is very tricky so be sure to save often.

Exit the room via the door on the left (it will be on the right if you didn’t collect the supplies). Follow the path and take the stairs up. Go outside and you’ll be standing on a catwalk underneath a massive suspension bridge. If you fall, you die, which is why you need to save often. Go to the right side of the catwalk and you’ll see the path ahead 32. Unfortunately, it’s been damaged. However, you can still make it across this way. Jump forward to the broken bit and you should land with no damage. Approach the shed with caution: there is a headcrab inside waiting to latch onto your head. Crush it and collect the supplies you need. Return to the platform. Now you need to navigate to the next shed by walking along the girders 33. There’s no one way that’s easier than the other, but it will be safer to crouch-walk along them to minimize the risk of falling to your doom. When you reach the end, jump down to the platform below. You won’t incur any damage. Take the ladder down a level if you need health, otherwise climb up into the shed. There’s nothing waiting for you in here, but there will be two pulse rifle-toting combine waiting for you. Shoot them with anything and kill the barnacle. (On this platform there is an RPG crate and some crossbow ammo). Follow the girders and pieces of catwalk that lead to the next shed 34. This one has two headcrabs waiting to eat your brains. One will leap at you from in front, but if you're not inside the doorway it won’t be able to hurt you. Kill it, then turn ninety degrees left and strafe inside. This will allow you to easily kill the headcrab to the left. There are two doorways in this shed. Go out the one at the opposite end. This allows you to walk along the only relatively intact catwalk under the bridge that takes you somewhere 35 (there are sections that go nowhere useful). This is a broken section, however, so you’ll have to jump over that. Follow this to the next section on the bridge and go downstairs.

Exit to the right and follow the path forward. After walking through the second doorway (before entering the superstructure) there will be two combine on the left. Shoot them then enter the superstructure. Above and on the left is an explosive barrel on a platform. When the two combine enter the room, shoot the barrel 36. You’ll receive minimal damage (one or two health points), but it will save you ammunition. Walk the only way you can without going back the way you came and you’ll come upon a ladder. Turn around before climbing it and shoot the combine above you 37. Climb the ladder and enter the next section of the superstructure. There is a combine on your left, on that comes through the doorway to your right, one downstairs in the doorway ahead of you (this leads to a platform with supplies), and two upstairs through the door on the right. Kill them all and go up. Your first gunshots will attract the attention of the two combine upstairs. This room is divided in half by a blue force field 38. On the left is a really big plug. Use the gravity gun to pull it out of the socket, gather all the supplies in the room, and push the button in the left corner. Make your way back the way you came and prepare for a difficult firefight.

As you descend the ladder, two combine will appear below you. Shoot them then run into the lower section of the superstructure because a gunship will be on the way. Note: To make this next bit easier on you, follow my precise instructions. Climb the stairs and save inside the little shack. Walk out on to the catwalk and shoot a rocket at the gunship. If you hit it, save and repeat. If you miss, load (quick load is "F9”) and try again. Keep doing this until you hit the gunship three times, which will kill it. If you don’t do this and you run out of ammo, you’ll have to walk back to the centermost platform to get rockets, which leaves you a sitting duck for the gunship. However, once you reach this there will be a crate with unlimited rockets.

Make your way back the way you came and exit the bridge back onto the ledge where you entered from. Now there will be a zombie fighting two antlions. If the zombie wins, kill it and move on. If the antlions win, kill them and be prepared for more antlions to fly up from the beach below. Return to the courtyard where you left the buggy and kill the combine that are waiting for you. If you didn’t collect all the supplies the first time, get them now and hop into the buggy. Start going the way you came, but make a right through the white pickets 39. Keep turning and you’ll see a path to the bridge’s deck. On the left and sort of below will be a fenced-in area with some supplies and two headcrabs. Collected these and sally forth. I would hope you’ve been playing with the sound on the whole time, but if not, make sure to turn it on now. When you drive onto the deck, save your game 40. This is imperative. As you start driving down the bridge, you’ll hear a train whistle. This means you’re about to become a Freeman pancake because a train is coming. Don’t try to turn around: you won’t be able to and will be squished. Instead, use the mouse to turn your view around and reverse. When you reach the end of the stopped train, quickly slide over there, making sure no part of the buggy is over the opposite tracks. After the train passes, you can continue safely down the bridge. At the end, turn left before the force field. You’ll see broken sections of road and a tunnel. Drive into the tunnel 41.

You’ve now made it out of Highway 17.

Please click here to download the optional screenshots .zip that goes along with this walkthrough chapter.

Chapter Selection