Gargantua
From Black Mesa: Wiki
Contents |
Overview
The Gargantua (or "Garg") is an enormous Xenian lifeform which resembles a large, mutated Alien Grunt. It is rarely encountered, but is a large threat to the player. The Gargantua is 6 meters tall [2], blue-skinned, with four arms - two of which it uses to attack with jets of extreme heat, and two with vestigial claws. Gargantua's carapace resembles a pillbug or an armadillo's. The carapace repels all types of small arms fire, making the Gargantua immune to any attack except armor-piercing weapons. It is first encountered in the chapter Power Up.
Behaviour
The Gargantua moves rapidly, faster than a running human character. Small arms fire irritates it, often causing it to attack it's assailant. It uses several varieties of attack, including opening its Hivehand-like appendages to emit jets of heat, attacking directly with melee, throwing objects with extreme force, and stomping on the ground to create a shockwave.
Tactics
Black Mesa's Gargantua is a formidable enemy; it can't be damaged by conventional weaponry from the player's arsenal. The few times you meet this foe, only environment-specific events are able to kill him [3], implying that Gargantuas are vulnerable only to massive explosions and energy/electrical damage. This contrasts with the original Half-Life, in which damage from the player's explosives or energy weapons were able to eventually defeat it.
Because of its heavy weight, the Gargantua emits small quakes after each of its steps in the nearby area [4]. While this proves to be quite intimidating, it also pinpoint its current location and moving direction from a distance, enabling everyone in the surrounding area to be aware of its presence.
Media
 Fictional scene where a Gargantua fights an Apache helicopter. |
 Ditto, few seconds later. |
Redesign History
Model Design
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Animations
It was originally intended for the entrance of the Gargantua in Power Up to feature the Gargantua picking up marines and throwing them across the room, slamming them into walls. It happened in the first iteration, but ended up being way too complicated, way too contrived, took way too long, could be interrupted by the player, and it was obvious the scene was entirely pre-scripted. The developers have since then organized it into a far more simple and less expensive process controlled entirely by the Artificial Intelligence. [5]
When the Gargantua is killed by the environment-specific event, a death animation is triggered for the scene [6].
The Flame Attack [7]
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The Gargantua Flame Attack particle test:
A five minute job to see how well particles would work with the monster. The test failed due to the way particles are updated independently from the entity. After this another method was used for the flame. |  |
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