Zombie

From Black Mesa: Wiki

The Zombie Scientist variant.

Overview

The Zombie is a fictional creature that exists within the Half-Life and Black Mesa universe. A Zombie is created when a Headcrab latches onto the head of a human host, causing its fingers to elongate and sharpen, and by splitting the host's torso, revealing its 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 'replacement' of the head with the Xenian parasite, a Headcrab. The victim of the transformation retains most of his or her clothing, albeit these appear torn or bloodied, perhaps from a previous struggle or as a result of the transformation. Despite the Zombie's grotesque look, 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, it is common for the Headcrab to survive the host's death and is likely to attack within an instant of the Zombie hitting the ground. Also worth noting is the disfigured remains of the hosts head, which suggests 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 will typically, slowly walk 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 to the player also temporarily causes the players' view to become disorientated.

Sometimes they are also found taking flesh from corpses and stuffing it into their "chest mouth" [1].

A new variant of the Zombie, the Security Guard

Variants

Unlike the original Half-Life, there will be more than one variant of Zombie present in Black Mesa. 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, however it will probably not be included [2]. The changes to these new variants will be cosmetic only.