MovieChat Forums > Half-Life (1998) Discussion > scariest enemy??

scariest enemy??

posted 18 years ago by poker_i_out
51 replies | jump to latest

OK everyone says that the scarriest enemy/part is either when a headcrab lunges at you in the dark, when the garg chases you to the tranformer/electrical box or when a bullsquid chases you.

However, i found none of these parts very scary, the part that made me have explosive diarhea in my pants (SERIOUSLY) were those ichthyosaurs. I knew it was coming, too. i had that feeling, all that water..... ever since i was little, ive been scared of underwater things. I once avoided playing super mario 64 because of that eel in jolly roger bay. And the icing on the cake was in banjo kazooie when that FREAKING HUGE metal shark appeared after heading through an underwater pipe. He ended up freindly, but that didnt keep me from pissing myself.

Now back to the ichthyosaurs. The first encounter,(where the scientist gets killed) i wasnt paying attention, i cant remember why,(mother or friend talking to me?) but i was looking away from the screen, i walked straight into the water... the sound of it made me jerk my head back to the screen (i strained my neck too, it got all hot up the back and stuff....you know what im talking about). Once i saw it coming at me my fingers cringed and my back went limp. I jumped up and hit esc, then turned off my computer, and walked away in a strange state of terror.

My #2 scary moment was after you kill the tentacles and fall down the hole again, into water. I resurfaced, grabbed the magnum and went under, then i noticed that weird looking thing (I STILL DONT KNOW WHAT IT IS). It sorta looked like a huge dragon head. I was currently on the phone with a friend, at the end of a sentence. I had no breath to scream so i let go of a Hank Hill discustded scream, like: AWUUUUUUH!!!

please feel free to share your scares during your first playthrough of half life as well.

[–] Fear_Street 18 years ago

Well there is actually alot of scary moments if you really think about or at least moments that make me tense..
Like nearly falling off of the Mesa Canyon on Surface Tension...kinda really tense.
Or like you say about the ichthyosaurs...pretty creepy..
And the very tense part where you must get through the building on Surface Tension without setting off the trip mines (correct name for the bombs?).
I will keep posting more and more of the tense or creepy/scary moments in the game and I hope you will too!
Peace*

Check out www.piczo.com/qotsa-site/ my site which is at this moment unfinished

[–] pe_pe13 18 years ago

I think it was in Lambda Core, there was a room with some explosive barrels en two doors, i went trough the first one and suddenly there is an Alien Grunt right in front of you. Now that isn't scary but when i saw it standing right in front of me, i jumped out of my chair!

[–] patrickgh06 16 years ago

I did the same thing! And the Tentacle is imo VERY scary! Man I don't like those things...

[–] cipernal 18 years ago

Definately the Ichthyosaurs. I've been hating all water in all games since Half-Life because of it.

[–] thespread 18 years ago

What about the barnacles? Theres something about their presence that I find very unsettling, and the way they suck you up and eat you alive is a little grim. Theres one point early on in the game where you walk into a room full of them just hanging there... *shivers*

I'm also going to have to repeat what everyone else says: headcrabs are bloody frightening. I think theres one part in blast pit where two jump out from under some darkened stairs. I was so alarmed I freaked out and had Gordon run away, only to run into a freaking barnacle.

[–] Furious_Fenner 18 years ago

The snark (or Ichytsaurus as everyone else seems to call it. I always thought it was called a Snark)

The worst bit with it is when you have to jump across gaps on a metal walkway that goes over some water. Their is slippy water on certain places and if you slide on it, you fall in. It's bad enough that you have to face a snark, but there is a part of the water that is sooo deep it gets dark at the bottom. That always chills me out. Always had a thing about really, really deep water.

"Do you still say that there's nothing to chaos-theory?"

[–] Fear_Street 18 years ago

Maybe you will be lucky to see a Ichytsaurus when swimming in the sea on holiday :) haha

Check out my QOTSA site! www.piczo.com/qotsa-site/

[–] Eggy499 16 years ago

The snark is the one that explodes when you throw it. tThe ichtyosaurs are the underwater things.

"Capitalism is a dirty business"
"What, like war?"
"Not exactly...."
-GTA IV

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] lucio_korn07 15 years ago

I haven't reached an Icthyosaurus yet, but Barnacles, man, early in the game, in that room with a Bullsquid and several Barnacles on the ceiling... I stepped into one of them thinking they were ladders, nd all of a sudden, they eat you up, I HATE getting into them even if it is necessary. I find their presence very unsettling.

[–] jamesdrax 15 years ago

I actually think there's nothing scarier in this game than when you encounter the zombies for the first time. You're climbing up the ladder in the elevator shaft, armed with your crowbar, you hear the scientist get mutilated, and once you emerge from the elevator shaft, you see this grotesque abomination staggering towards you.

Of course, you whack the crap out of it, but playing this for the first time really has you on edge with the adrenaline. As if that wasn't scary enough, there's another one around the corner waiting to attack you!

"Your views are as narrow as your tie."
- Bernard Herrmann

[–] keith123300-1 15 years ago

I had a similar experiance with the barnacles. When I first encountered them I witnessed a scientist being pulled up and I thought it was a rope and he was being pulled to safety so I ran up to the nearest one and 'grabbed it' and it took me a few seconds to realise what was actually happening. Lol

[–] Movie_Guy_87 18 years ago

Hey, I had a good laugh reading your post!
YES those fish creatures were incredibly scary!
YES I know what you mean when you get that "ripped something off the back of my head" feeling!
And YES that eel in Super Mario 64 was scary! That weird facial expression, and I always expected it to eat me. Also, I was always a bit apprehensive about that sea monster (forgot her name) in the bottom of Hazy Maze Cave, because one sign said "Don't become her lunch". She was friendly but that sign put me off for a while.

But what you said about the headcrabs not being scary, when they jump out at you when you go around a corner it freaks you out bad. Plus just knowing what they do to you is awful.

There were heaps of scary bits in the game, and I always hated it when the floor gave way under you or the roof collapsed and headcrabs fell in.

By the way have you played Half Life 2? That Ravenholm part is so incredibly scary, and that bit where you have to go through the sewerage with the creatures lying down in the muck....
I had to muster up my courage before I attempted to do some bits.

Oh yeah, back to the first game, how about Gonarch? *Shudder* I hate spiders!!!!
Also those flying things in Xen which shot orange energy stuff at you were scary with their big heads and the way they'd just come out at you.

Good times.

"I think you'll find one gets more respect as a humble civil servant than a homicidal maniac."

[–] Fear_Street 18 years ago

The black ops creeped me out abit....I mean they jumped around...so quickly...like they are so thin and agile!
I mean there supposed to be humans sent to kill the marines for whatever reason....but how are they so thin? Are they woman? And how can they jump so high.....hmmm....
I kinda get creeped by airstrikes also..lol...its just the noise when a plane is doing an air strike...vrrrrrrrrooooooommmmpaaaasshhhhh.

Nothing creepier than zombie headcrabs....I mean...its spooky.

Check out my QOTSA site! www.piczo.com/qotsa-site/

[–] DoomHK 18 years ago

Yeah the black ops are women ;) unless you have opposing force then there are male Black ops as well.

[–] Fear_Street 18 years ago

I have opposing force...but what do they look like? More stronger and masculine? I can't remember.

Check out my QOTSA site! www.piczo.com/qotsa-site/

[–] jamesrocks5 18 years ago

Black ops are definetly freaky. You dont know were the hell they go and leave you there in the corner waiting till they come up a silence you up the ar.se.
Hard to damn kill aswell.

[–] Fear_Street 18 years ago

Exactly....^^ haha

Check out my QOTSA site! www.piczo.com/qotsa-site/

[–] Fear_Street 18 years ago

Also those green long necked things are creepy...because one hit and your dead...and they hear sound..so they attack sound...you must be quiet!
And the gargantua monster is also kinda scary...but easy to get past and kill..

Check out my QOTSA site! www.piczo.com/qotsa-site/

[–] joaquin602001-1 18 years ago

Hmm... possibly the Gargantua is the scariest thing, or most tense. Damn, I hate the Icthyosaurs, though. I jumped a mile in the air when you see the scientist get killed.

But *the* all-time scariest moment has to be when you're in the vents on "We've Got Hostiles!", you turn a corner... and that little 'friggen Headcrab jumps out! Best jump moment, ever.

BTW, the 'dragon head' is the head of the tentacle.

-----
When there is no more room in hell,
the dead shall walk the earth.

ssaxon is a N00B!!!

[–] kaluthulacult 17 years ago

The most scariest enemies in this for me was:
1: Headcrabs - The whole zombie thing made such a total wimp outta me that I didn't play the game again for [i]daysss[i/], and that was my first time playing it!

2: Icthyosaurs - I hated it when they just launch out at ya when your not expecting it.

3: Voltigores (Op4) - The first time I saw one, I nearly jumped out of my skin. I was all like 'kill it kill it kill it!' w/ my RPG.

ps: the headcrabs seriously freaked me out. for the next few days, I kept getting this odd feeling that one was going to get me in my sleep and turn me into a mindless, shambling zombie!

[–] madgundiease 17 years ago

1. Headcrabs: Whenever your going through a dark vent, and you turn a corner. BAM! There's one that lunges right at you.

2. Ichthyosaurs really freaked me out, i could hear them and i'm thinking oh crap gotta get out of the water ITS JAWS!

3. Voltigore (Opfr) I HATED these things they literally made me stay put. Very hard to kill and SO MANY of them in the sewers.

[–] mooglesrock 17 years ago

to every one, the last boss nihithian is creepy.

and in half life 2
on the level Red letter day when your little teleport trip goes all aury you wind up in water for a few seconds and you see something coming towards you, i didnt know what it was but then i noticed it was and Ichthyosaur and it scared the crap out of me. now imagine if a huge one of those was in loch ness!

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] HuntingWolf193 17 years ago

Those Icthyosaurs genuinely scared me. Then, with the teleport moment in HL2, and the better graphics...

[–] wideeye101 17 years ago

Everybody's forgotten about the G Man, who talks like a human snake and has the haircut of an exceptionally stern 1950s right-wing father. You know, the kind of haircut that you could set your watch to, as Grandpa Simpson puts it.
Nothing is more terrifying.
Apart from this, for me personally its headcrabs all the way. Mainly because with their light-speed jump, they have a bit of a 'Instead of shooting where I was, you should have shot at where I was going to be' thing going on.

[–] masonjamesbliss 17 years ago

I would have to say the Tentacle. And then again, maybe the leeches were pretty bad to.
But my all time scariest part was when the Snarks jump out of a vent!
LOL! Using Snarks are a good way to kill Black Ops, btw.
But yeah, headcrabs made me claustrophobic.

[–] veemee78 17 years ago

Definitely the Icthyosaurs. I never found the headcrabs very scary... they were actually kind of funny with the sounds they made. I always tried to kill them with the crowbar.

[–] joaquin602001-1 17 years ago

I have a bit of a funny story: the other day I was playing through Half-Life again and I go the the bit where you fight two Icthyosaurs (although it's actually much more of an optional battle than anything), and I fell into the water. Needless to say I was nearly attacked.

Now, whenever I get scared in a movie/game, after the initial shock is over I get much, much braver than before.

I went after the Icthyosaurs with a crowbar. The second one got me, though.

:/ Yep, scared means stupid, as well.

-----
When there is no more room in hell,
the dead shall walk the earth.

ssaxon is a N00B!!!

[–] earthjourney-1 17 years ago

Yeah, most of the above posts lists all of the scariest enemies in the game.

Although, however, most of you guys have left out another scary foe. I don't know if any of you remember, but it was on the second level of the XEN universe titled

"Gonarch's Lair". 5 seconds into the level, you hear this really creepy music

and then suddenly out of nowhere, this really huge monster that resembles a

CRAB charges at you like crazy. That is the mother of those headcrabs you guys

were talking about earlier. GONARCH. Hence "Gonarch's Lair". As I recall, I was

in this long dark cave-like tunnel trying to catch up with the freak. It was

so dark I couldn't tell how far I was, or how close I was getting to the exit.

When I turned my flashlight on, THERE SHE WAS, like two feet in front of me.

I totally freaked out, I said HOLY *beep* out loud, and then I turned tail I

ran back to where I entered, and then the next second the roof of the tunnel

collapsed in front of me, blocking my escape attempt. And then when I turned

around, she was charging right at me with those HUGHE four spider-like legs

and gave off this high monstrous sound. I was trapped between the wall and the monster with my flashlight still on, running out of battery power. I

literrally fell off my chair. And that was the end of me. I got killed off so

many times from that creature I had start over from the beginning; never making it through that tunnel.

[–] NFLFilmsFan 17 years ago

Yeah Gonarch is totally scary; I had to turn the sound off when I fought it. But I HATE the barnacles. Absolutely putrid. The sharks scared me too. As for HL 2, the poisonous headcrabs (or "death rattles" as I called them) and those big zombie guys ("Santas") who throw them at you scared me pretty bad.

Approximate number of movies I've seen in the theater: 72.

[–] dirty_harry_84-1 17 years ago

I always found G-Man to be farcking spooky as hell.
The way you'd see him there looking at you, then he's gone.
One instance in Half Life 2 when you get to the end of the 4th chapter and you see him standing on a ledge that you can get to.
When you get there there's nothing-ness, a dead end that he couldn't have bypassed...well without swimming that is.
But the way he looks at you and then walks away...it actually made me scared to play Half Life 2 for a while.

Heh, while I was writing this I got a funny image in my head.
On the level in Half Life 2 when you're being taken through the "Citadel" on the odd "upright stretcher" thing, I had an image of a wide-eyed, crazy-grinned G-man popping out at you from the side of the screen flailing his arms about and going "boogy boogy boogy!" Then disappearing into to thin air.

Wouldn't that just scare the *beep* out of you!

"I broke the chains, so let me be, I've got to be free" - Breaking The Chains, Dokken

[–] val-rogers 17 years ago

1. Head crabs are so creepy. Once your in vents, they just jump at you. They did scare the crap out of me because they jump around and there so god damne ugly alot. The babies are freaky too because there small and fast!

2. Alien slaves are scary because they frickin' use eletricity on you and they have some huge freaky eyeballs.

3. Gargs are really freaky as they look like crazy lazy giant demons like the cyberdemon from doom. When they chase me, i wet my pants and quit the game because there faster than me!

[–] liamhaleuk 17 years ago

The Black ops are really scary, running really fast in the dark. The headcrabs in the vents and when the vortigaunts just appear out of no where

[–] joellloyd-1 15 years ago

yeah the black ops chicks scaried the *beep* out of me and I rarely get frightened playing video games (besides Silent Hill and FEAR). I had like hardly any health and one shot would have killed me so im creaping around in the dark and all i hear is light footsteps running all around me and when you least expect it BAM, she pops up right infront of you and blasts me away, I jumped pretty high

"Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real."
-Tupac Shakur

[–] cuomophobic 14 years ago

gotta say the only thing that really freaked me out was the tentacle monster mainly because for a solid week or so i couldnt figure out what the hell i was supposed to do to kill it, i would unload everything i had and not so much as a scratch and one touch and i was dead.

the ichthiosoaurs were freaky too but if you were quick enough in those areas you could bypass dealing with them for the most part

and any of the soldiers, black ops especially, in any more than groups of three would have me cursing at the screen during the fights and after when i realized i barely had any ammo left, i still think that the marines and black ops had some of the best ai ive played against.