How to Play GunGame in Half-Life

How to Play GunGame in Half-Life

I think many of you have already noticed the new server. At first you might not figure out how to play on it, but it's actually not that hard. It's a weapon-based game mode. The player is simply handed a single weapon, and which weapon it is depends on their level.

Advantages of GunGame over regular DeathMatch servers:

No need to pick up weapons. You get the whole arsenal you need when you spawn. There's no need to hunt for weapons scattered around the map, because there simply aren't any. All you can find are medkits, HEV batteries and the long jump module.
Infinite ammo. All you have to do is reload. The ammo never runs out.
No campers. You just can't sit in one spot in this mode, or you'll never win. A player lying in ambush won't kill many people, because every weapon has its own tactics.
Learn to shoot. In standard DeathMatch, players mostly use the MP5, the gauss and the Egon, and the other weapons are less in demand; in GunGame a Half-Life player doesn't get that option. By switching from powerful weapons to harder ones, a gamer learns to shoot and their skill improves. So later on, in regular Half-Life mode, they'll be unbeatable with many weapons.


How GunGame works
The rules are pretty easy; there's basically nothing hard about it. You spawn and start shooting at everyone. Kill 2-3 players and you get a new weapon. At the very start you get simple weapons (MP5, shotgun, crossbow...) that make killing easy. The further you go, the harder it gets: somewhere in the middle you get the pistol and the revolver, which aren't so easy to shoot and hit with. Then come the snarks, hand grenades and tripmines, which are already tricky to handle: you can blow yourself up and drop a level. And finally the last weapon is the crowbar; it's less trouble than the grenades, but it's still not easy.


Tactics for each weapon

MP5. Even a newbie can handle it. The main thing is to aim for the head. Keep a medium distance from your opponent. At long range the accuracy drops a lot and the bullet spread is quite large; at close range your opponent may kill you faster than you kill them. Unfortunately, you don't get any MP5 grenades with it.

Shotgun. It's also easy to use. Keep the distance as short as possible. From long range it's better to fire single shots at the body. Up close, of course, use the double shot and aim for the head. With this weapon it's better not to wander around open areas, but to run through tighter corridors.

Crossbow. Long range suits it best. The crossbow is a camper's weapon; it's best to sit in ambush with it, somewhere your opponents can't see you. Open areas also work well for it. Up close, aiming with the crossbow is very hard.

Gauss. A pro's weapon. A single shot can seal a player's fate. The most powerful weapon in the game. It's best played in open spaces, jumping and flying up into the air. By shooting through walls into corners, you can easily kill opponents hiding in corridors and behind cover.

Egon. The weapon of Half-Life newbies. It takes no shooting skill at all. You can fire it without even aiming; it's pretty hard to miss. It works at long, medium and short range. Very long and very short range won't work, though, because far away the beam no longer reaches, and up close you can take quite a bit of damage.

RPG. It has a fairly low rate of fire. It's best to fire from cover into open areas. Keep a long distance from your opponent. At short range you can kill yourself and drop your level. Fire using the laser guidance.

Pistol. It has two fire modes: rapid fire and normal. Rapid fire is much less accurate than normal, so it's better used at short range. Normal mode is quite accurate. Against an MP5 at long range, normal mode is good; at close range against it, rapid fire is better, since a single pistol round does much more damage.

.357 Magnum. Works at any range. Only aim for the head. From a distance you can use the scope.

Hornet Gun. From a distance it's better to use the primary attack: the hornets will home in on your opponent wherever they run. Up close, use the alternate fire. It doesn't matter whether you use this weapon in a small space or a big one.

Sticky tripmines. It's best to place them low down in the least noticeable spots, as shown in the screenshot below; that way a player will notice the trap very late. In Gungame you can't shoot other players' tripmines, so you can block passages and force players to blow themselves up on them. The camper approach works too, where you place a huge pile of tripmines in the most visible spots. Hide and switch to the pistol; when a player runs past the pile of tripmines, shoot them right away and blow the player up.



Satchel charges. It's best to throw them next to walls and in corners; players hardly notice them in spots like that, or notice them too late. After laying a bunch of them, it's best to hide right away so you can see when players run past. When throwing satchels at players, it's better to do it mid-jump, since that makes them fly farther and faster.

Rabid bugs. In other words, snarks. You need to be careful with them, since they can also turn on their owner. The closer the player is, the better. It's best to throw them at a player who has come right up to you; that way the snark latches onto the player immediately and they can't move. In open spaces they'll be very hard to use; the tighter the corridor, the better.

Hand grenades. It's best to throw grenades at players who can't see you. It's also better to hold a grenade for 2-4 seconds, so it explodes sooner after the throw. Don't hold it for more than 5 seconds, or the grenade will blow up right in your hands and kill you. With grenades, the tactic of running away from your opponent works well, when they're chasing you. While running, throw grenades ahead of you and run in the direction you threw them; your opponent, shooting at you, is bound to get blown up on one, even if they see it, because they'll notice it too late. Admittedly, it's a very risky tactic, since you can easily blow yourself up.
Crowbar. The last weapon in GunGame. Once you've got it, go straight into battle against any player with any weapon. The crowbar also comes with the long jump module, so it's unlikely anyone will get away from you. Kill an opponent and you win.



More things to know about GunGame

In HL GunGame mode it's better to play for yourself. There shouldn't be any allies; that makes it more fun and gives you a better chance of winning. So agree with your ally in advance that you'll kill each other, so there are no hard feelings later.

Play maps from the start. It's best to play from the moment when all players have the starting weapon. If you join the server and the game is nearing its end, don't leave; better warm up and let your opponent win, the map will change, and you'll start GunGame on equal terms with everyone else.

Play to the end. If you see that you're losing and someone is already a level or two ahead of you, that doesn't mean they'll be the winner. In GunGame, players often get stuck on a certain weapon level and can't get a kill with it for a long time. For example, the leader might be bad with grenades and keep blowing themselves up, dropping down a level. That will be your advantage in GunGame.

You can suggest new ideas for Gungame on the forum. Discuss the Gungame mode with other players.