They subsisted in pods during this time, reliant on life support systems. During the Combine control of Earth, a number of them lived within the Citadel and ruled the planet through Dr. Breen. Under normal circumstances, the Advisors seem content to live in artificial seclusion. They are able to communicate with others telepathically as well. Besides their technological prowess, they also appear to possess incredible psychic and telekinetic powers. They also have an appendage similar to a tongue in appearance, which is used similarly to a proboscis and is plunged into a weak point, such as the human neck as shown from a scene in Half-Life 2: Episode Two.Ĭombine Advisors have a wide range of odd vocalizations, from robotic growls and groans to loud shouting noises and screeching. If you don't have them, then that would mean you haven't yet bought The Orange Box, and that you are an idiot.Each Advisor wears a skin-tight olive-green body suit that covers all but the ends of their bodies, with a collar adorned with golden glyphs around their "necks." They also have a pair of thin black robotic arms implanted to their backs, capable of grabbing and lifting an adult human as well as moving the weight of the Advisor. You'll need Hl2 and Episode One to run it. It's very, very early, with a lot of work to go - just two rather sparse levels, with minimal AI and no base-building as yet - but it's a ton of fun to see the familiar in such a different, and well-considered, format. I can't believe no-one's done this already. Zombies play the part of the neutral factions you'd find in Warcraft III or Age of Empires III - easily-aggravated beasts guarding useful assets. Combine Elites cost more to build than Combine Soldiers. Setting up base defences? The turrets and landmines we know from HL2 are your turtling repertoire. Need to take down a Combine gunship? Then you'll have to build a Rebel soldier with an RPG. The nuts and bolts of RTSdom are there - the minimap, dragging boxes to select multiple units, build queues, capture points - but what's really impressive is how neatly existing Half-Life 2 elements fit an RTS. I shall be monitoring its development closely. It's barely past tech demo stage at the moment, but it's really lovely, a smart and pure celebration of the House That Valve Built. It's an RTS in the Half-Life 2 engine, documenting the Rebel versus Combine conflict in the same way the Xbox 360's upcoming Halo Wars converts Halo from fratboy shooter to armchair general strategising. Or tribute to all those brave, er, mentally-enslaved Combine Soldiers who butchered half of humanity at the behest of a sinister alien power, depending on who you play as. Half-Life 2 Wars pays tribute to all those brave men and women who held off the Combine long enough for Freeman to break into Citadel 17 and randomly chuck some energy orbs at the walls. Of course he was going to win - but you can't discount the guys who fought hard to get him to the right place at the right time. Tibbets had the Enola Gay and the first Atomic bomb - Freeman had the HEV suit and the Gravity Gun. Really, saying Gordon Freeman toppled the Combine is like saying Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr won the war in the Pacific.