As the game begins, Barney Calhoun rides the tram from the Area 8 Topside Dormitories on the surface, into the underground sector of the Black Mesa Research Facility.

Along the way many new details about Black Mesa are revealed; Calhoun passes a laundromat and several fast food outlets, suggesting that the facility is very self-sufficient and probably houses many of its workers.

While Calhoun is locked outside the door to Area 3 Security Facilities, he is passed by Gordon Freeman riding in another tram heading towards Sector C in a scene that mirrors one in the original game, in which Gordon Freeman sees a guard locked out of a door on the inside of a tunnel.

The training chapter of Half-Life: Blue Shift set in the Training Facility.

The “Black Mesa Hazard Course for Security Guard Training” trains the player to effectively use their uniform, how to move around and interact with the environment and how to use weapons.

Scientists (such as Rosenberg) can be seen watching the player during the training.