Half Life - Part 2

Welcome back, it's time for the next piece of my Half Life puzzle; hope you've enjoyed it so far.

One of the most common enemies you'll encounter in the game are known as "Barnacles". These creatures attach themselves to an overhead feature, be it a  ceiling or the bottom of some staircase and then, like some giant flytrap, they drop their tongues close to the floor, waiting for anyone unfortunate enough to blunder into their trap. Once they get hold of you, you'd better be a quick shot, or you're toast. A crunch and all they spit out are the bones.
Preferred Weapon: Close range - shotgun or .357magnum. Long range - anything that fires bullets.

A less common enemy, but a very odd one, are the so-called "houndeyes". These incredibly odd creatures look like a beheaded bulldog and they attack you with sonic waves which do quite a bit of damage. You will quickly learn to distinguish the sound they make from any other creature you encounter, because they sound so unique, almost like a hyena. They are very unpredictable; sometimes they'll attack without warning, other times they'll run away from you if confronted.
Preferred Weapon: Anything that fires bullets, but preferably something more powerful than the 9mm.

After these enemies, you will encounter the most daunting enemy in the entire game, namely the "tentacle". This massive creature (nobody knows how big it really is, all you ever see are the tentacles) hunts on sound and is capable of crushing anything it hits to a pulp. No conventional weaponry can hurt it and firing a gun at it is... Unwise. Unfortunately the encounter is unavoidable, so you'll have to stealth it out.
Preferred Weapon: None. This enemy is eliminated (I refrain from saying "killed", since I don't know if you truly "kill" it when you blow its tentacles off) by firing a test rocket in your first encounter and the second one is simply avoided. No hand weapon known to man will harm this beast.

A small, weak enemy which hardly warrants killing is the Hagworm. These tiny, leech-like creatures live underwater and will attack you ferociously with the bite of a guppy. Well, a little more than that, but you get the idea. A crowbar makes short work of them and quite frankly, they're almost not worth wasting time on, let alone bullets.
Preferred Weapon: Crowbar.

Another terrifying creature you'll encounter is the massive Gargantua. And not only once. This creature soaks up ammo like a super-absorbent sponge. It looks like a cybernetic take on the Hulk and if you get into its firing range, you're done for. Where possible, avoid this monster, where not (there are two instances where this happens), you should use whatever means you have at your disposal to kill it, including high-voltage electricity or prototype weaponry.
Preferred Weapon: The most effective weapons against this creature are the Tau Cannon and Gluon Gun. Bullets don't harm this thing.

Tomorrow in Half Life - Part 3: More alien enemies discussed...