YMMV / Half-Life: Echoes

• Accidental Innuendo: At one point a Bullsquid attacks a security guard and presses him against the glass. While it can be explained with the creature trying to crush the human with its body mass, the way the two are posed makes it look like something else entirely.
• Demonic Spiders: HECU sentry turrets make a return, and they are just as lethal as before, if not moreso. They litter the areas they've been set up in, and it can be very tricky dodging their aggro whilst dealing with everything else trying to kill you.
• Goddamned Bats: Whilst not particularly damaging, the sole hive of snarks you come across can be particularly aggravating to deal with if you don't have an appropriate weapon to deal with them. The terrain is uneven, disguises them well, and they jump all over the damn place.
• Fan Nickname: The security guard wearing a hazard suit has been dubbed "Chad Barney" by A Jolly Wangcore.
• Funny Moments: Echoes isn't without its moments of levity. A good example is the Cat Scare HEV Barney set up at the security checkpoint.
  • Another example is earlier on, before the Cascade. Follow the scientist who leaves the elevator with you after HEV Barney breaks you out. It's quite something.
    Scientist: Fascinating...
• Narm: The G-Man's speaking animation is very goofy, with his mouth flapping with unrealistic proportions as if he was a dummy.
• Player Punch: The deaths of HEV Barney and the scientist you both rescued are particularly tragic. Later on, Candidate #12 getting caught in the blast of the nuke.
• Special Effects Failure: The Janitor appearing on the TV Screens is clearly just an enlarged Janitor behind a TV-shaped window, as Jolly demonstrates here. To be fair, "render target" cameras weren't a thing in GoldSrc so the only other option would've been an animated texture.
• Underused Game Mechanic:
  • Theres only a couple of times you're able to enjoy the prescence of NPC companions. That said, they do add some welcome brevity in those brief segments.
  • You only get to use the Rocket Launcher and the Gluon Gun in the final arena of the game, the latter of which you can only use on the Gargantua and a handful of weak Xen creatures afterwards, and by then you've probably used up all its ammo. That said, given the Darker and Edgier tone it would probably feel quite out of place.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Say what you will about the dated engine, but the game itself looks fantastic. To say nothing of the attention to detail, the environments are very pleasing to see, especially before the Resonance Cascade. After that, it turns into proper Scenery Gorn.

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