Zombie

From Black Mesa: Wiki

The Zombie Scientist variant.

Overview

The Zombie is a fictional creature in the Half-Life and Black Mesa universe. A Zombie is created when a Headcrab latches onto the head of a human host. A poorly understood transformation follows, transforming the host's fingers into claws and splitting open their torso, revealing their internal organs.

The Zombie closely resembles its human host in height, though it commonly appears hunched, with its claws displayed in a threatening manner. The most distinctive feature of a Zombie is the Xenian parasite, the Headcrab, which remains latched over the victim's head. The victim of the transformation retains most of his or her clothing, though it appears torn or bloodied, perhaps from a previous struggle or as a result of the transformation. Despite the Zombie's grotesque appearance, it is a relatively simple enemy for the player to deal with, as it mostly shambles slowly towards its prey. However, Zombies can be quite dangerous in close-quarters combat and also have the ability to 'bash' objects towards the player.

Zombies will normally make their presence known with low, guttural groans. Upon death, a Zombie will release a sharp gurgling sound.

Unless met with a headshot, the Headcrab will survive its host's death, and is likely to attack within an instant of the Zombie hitting the ground. Also worth noting are the disfigured remains of the host's head, which suggest that the Headcrab feeds from the host or that it is the result of the transformation.

Behaviour

Often found stalking the hallways of the Black Mesa Research Facility, the Zombie typically shambles towards its target, bashing any physical object out of its way (and generally towards the player). Using its powerful, elongated claws, the Zombie can break through many barriers, including wooden doors and windows. A direct hit temporarily causes the player's view to become disorientated.

When they kill an enemy, Zombies can be found pulling flesh from its corpse and stuffing it into their open chest cavity [1].

A new variant of the Zombie, the Security Guard

Variants

Unlike the original Half-Life, Black Mesa promises more than one variety of Zombie. Though the common Scientist variant will make an appearance, a Media Release revealed a second variant in the form of a Security Guard Zombie.

A HECU Zombie variant has been mentioned by the Black Mesa Development Team, but will not be included [2]. The changes to these new variants will be cosmetic only.