THREAD FUCKING CLOSED

I seem to remember bringing down the citadel, fighting wave after wave of striders in white forest, and fighting may way out of city 17 firing only one bullet.
Gordon Freeman might not be tackling entire armies in one epic confrontation, but he is consistently handing out smack arounds to all those who coming looking for a peice.

He has glasses and a goatee. What more could you possibly ask for? He's like...action hero suave.

Thunderhorse:
I seem to remember bringing down the citadel, fighting wave after wave of striders in white forest, and fighting may way out of city 17 firing only one bullet.

You forgot about getting a degree from MIT

The real reason Gordon kicks so much ass is because he is all of us. Silence says so much. If he had his own voice he would be separate from us and so much less. Master Chief, Duke Nukem, and many others for all their charm will never be us, just various parts of our collective psyche. Plus, he survives and thrives where other do not, with a crow bar no less. The other characters may have a bigger gun or more super powers but they do not have Gordon's wit. The guy is a geek one second and the next learns combat so fast he not only takes out the elite of the army and highly skilled assassins, he stops a inter dimensional alien invasion in its tracks. Its only a matter of time before we as Gordon kick G-man's ass. :D

1. Gordon is Different. You expect a cyborg Spartan II like Master Cheif to kick ass, you dont expect a low-level functionary with a MIT degree in theoretical physics to do so as well. Yeah, he doesnt do much science in game, but i think his education sets him apart somewhat. call me a science fag, but I personally really am a scientist at heart, so I'm biased.

2. Glasses and Goatee, plus green eyes. kind of ties into #1 above, but a hero with glasses sounds very badass. His look is distinctive

3. Gravity Gun. It's simply the most innovative, bitchin sweet, versatile weapon in any video game, even (a point of contention, no doubt, but certainly a front-runner).

4. Messianic reputation. Gordon's arrival (and the destruction of nova prospect) catalyzed the rebellion.

5. crowbar. It's such a odd weapon, which is what makes it cool

6. The Combine. They're so...evil. Just look at a picture of a Stalker and try to tell me you dont hate the combine. Few enemies come close in other games. anybody who fights these bastards wins in my book

7. Alyx. Yes, she's not "that" hot, but she's spunky, exotic, engaging, and kick-ass. Gordon wins points via his proximity to her.

8. HEV suit. It's not a peice of military hardware, it's a souped-up radiation suit. it looks strange and cool, not genericaly military.

9. the half life series is, yes, shoot and run, with physics puzzles. But valve has good game design philosophy, and the story presentation is top-notch. the world of the games is compelling, and has spawned a great community (Concerned, PHW, Litfuse Films, Civil Protection). Gordon Wins because he's the protagonist of a game series that is, quite simply, a work of art in every way. they have taken linear shoot-and-run, with puzzles, and turned it into masterpeice of storytelling, with characters that are a joy to watch (who doesnt love D0g, Grigori, Alyx, Eli, Kleiner, all the vortiguants, Barney, or even Lamar? Who doesnt hate Breen, G-man, or the Hunters? Who doesnt Fear Striders? Who doesnt Pity Stalkers? Who isnt mildly miffed by Magnusson's pomposity and rudeness?)

Gordon is loved because half-life is loved. he is the vessel through which we observe and interact with this world.

Good point with the combine. I think something Valve really touched on is that the combine NEVER seem disrespectable. They're never angry. They're never put in comedic situations. They're rarely "owned". Examples to the contrary:
Halo: When you first hear a grunt say "OVER HERE!" the covenant have lost all their scariness.
Gears of War: "Grenade goes BOOM!"

Even so much as a villain taunting an allied character makes them seem to have some weakness. But the combine barely ever talk to citizens and through the first few maps in Half-Life 2, they well establish their dominance. Comics, machinima, and even entire gamemodes have been inspired from those first few maps, before Gordon is marked as an anticitizen.

i've not got much experience playing half life but i have to say i am good and tired of hearing people praise this guy like he's invincible, he's about as interesting as master cheif from halo, which is not at all. i like characters with some personality, it's kinda the basic idea of anything to give you characters who you can feel for and therefore care enough about to finish the story. the idea of a mute hero died out shortly after the first doom and with good reason. if gordon was an "average joe" like everyone he'd be too terrified not to talk in order to fight the jitters, simply put alot of the tough talk in video games and other combat scenarios originated as a form of whistling in the dark and evolved from there into testosterone driven bravado and competition. there's a reason for it and there's a reason we like it, overall i prefer a video game character i can get behind and generally like as a dude, it gives me a reason to finish a game and push through the difficult parts.

This thread exists. This discussion is unnecessary. Perhaps you could compare Gordon Freeman to someone else so we can better calculate 'bad-ass'ness. Maybe James Bond, or Optimus Prime.

Is it just me? I'm not getting the big picture. I Beat this game on hard mode in 37 hours ( Combination of Half Life 2, episode 1, and episode 2 ), but The only good thing that came out of this was Gary's Mod and I know there is no relation to Valve, but that mod kick's ass!

As others have said, I think it's interesting that he's able to do so much damage to his enemies with something like 10 minutes of actual weapons training. I mean, The average military recruit would get a bit more then that and still probably be fucking dead pretty fast.

So my theory revovles around the fact that Gorden has a degree in Theoretical physics. What are theorectical physics? Relativistic Physics? Quantum Physics? Their application to the grand unified field theory/Theory of Everything? It apparently doesn't factor into his work at black mesa, since his job there was PUSH BUTTON followed by PUSH CART followed by EXPLOSIONWAILFLASHYLIGHTOHMYFUCKINGGODWHATISTHAT.

So I wonder, could it be that a degree in theorectical physics is what made gorden so survivalable? That it allows him to instantly compute the trajectory of incoming blows to avoid them and bullets to make sure they hit every time. Something like the gun-fu in the movie EQUALBRIUM.

Probably not, but it would be amusing.

Gordon Freeman is great, he has the tools for the job (Gravity Gun>All. Especially other FPS characters. NOTHING survives a filing cabinet launched at 500mp/h through your freaking skull.)
He's the retribution of every geek out there. ("Hurr, hurr, he has degree in physics n has glasses. He useless nerd an-HOLYFUCK WATCH OUT FOR THE CROWBAR!") Let the mindless jocks keep their Master Chiefs and Duke Nukems, we nerds have Gordon Freeman.

He's a survivor. Luck and a chance (even if only a sliver of one) has saved his ass from deadly scenarios over and over and over, he should know the grim reaper's coffee preference by all the time the shrouded Death straight out of Ingrid Bergman films stands behind him, snickering. (Surely THIS time he will d- oh for christ's sake! Fine. You there, fifteen combine snipers. Freaking follow me. I'm taking you all to hell. God, why won't he DIE?!)

Freeman has...
Very awesome tools, often improvised to some degree or used in unexpected manners (a tool used to clear minefields used as his most lethal weapon is the primary example, the crowbar is a second).
An iconic appearance, yet his lack of personality allows you to infuse him with one (maybe even your own?). If you think he's lacking in personality, that's because you are, or you're an unimaginative buffoon. Otherwise you'd actually, y'know, put some personality into him.
A messianic reputation, his very presence triggers a full-scale rebellion against a ten year long alien regime.
A stunning track record. He has thwarted two alien invasions, crushed one 1964-esque terror government, launched a garden gnome into space, defeated the US military's special operations best of the best assassins and cleanup crew...AND he's an MIT graduate!

He is the Batman or Punisher of videogames. He's a normal joe who uses smarts, skills and the right tools to overcome the odds, instead of generic superpowers.

I bet even Gordon is tired of breaking boards off of doorways and using his gravity gun to create a pile of boxes to climb up... He's probably like "Hey, God, we've done this can we can something more interesting?" The guy's IQ makes me look like a furry woodland creature I bet he's even less amused than I am with doing the same stuff over and over again.

Nancy boy? I've never been capable of fighting through legions of monsters with naught but a handy dandy wrench with any other person.

Jindrak:
Nancy boy? I've never been capable of fighting through legions of monsters with naught but a handy dandy wrench with any other person.

Oh yea? how about the protagonist from bioshock? that guy actually uses a wrench not a crow bar(Wrenches>crowbars).

propertyofcobra:
He's the retribution of every geek out there. ("Hurr, hurr, he has degree in physics n has glasses. He useless nerd an-HOLYFUCK WATCH OUT FOR THE CROWBAR!") Let the mindless jocks keep their Master Chiefs and Duke Nukems, we nerds have Gordon Freeman.

Freeman has...
Very awesome tools, often improvised to some degree or used in unexpected manners (a tool used to clear minefields used as his most lethal weapon is the primary example, the crowbar is a second).
An iconic appearance, yet his lack of personality allows you to infuse him with one (maybe even your own?). If you think he's lacking in personality, that's because you are, or you're an unimaginative buffoon. Otherwise you'd actually, y'know, put some personality into him.
A messianic reputation, his very presence triggers a full-scale rebellion against a ten year long alien regime.

"just put some personality in him" yeah great solution while i'm at it why don't i just come up with a story to follow as long as i'm doing game designers work for them. no personality works for some people personally i'd rather have a character i can care about, saying that is like saying rei from eva is a good character because she has no personality except that show has no good characters.

oh yeah and PISS ON YOUR CROWBAR crowbars have been used to crush skulls since they were invented infact when was the last time you used a crowbar to pry anything? not original in fact it's kind of cliche. the melee system in every fps has been almost total suck. the chainsaw gun in gow was fun but also almost useless, infact until i played the new turok i figured the reason we played first person shooters was to SHOOT things but hey thats just me.

as for his "defeating waves upon waves of enemies" null and void because it applies to EVERY fps hero even the crappy ones.

i have no real distain for freeman i just think he's plain, and plain is fine as long as you don't surround it with alotta real cool alternatives. which we have, i'll take marcus pheonix or duke nukem over freeman any day and i am a nerd myself but i am also a guy so i enjoy gratuitus violence and trash talking here and there, hell it's the reason i still play duke nukem games because i love watching a total bad ass ruin someone's day.

so gordon is fine he's just not special, nukem is fine and he's a total bad ass.

Wow. So, according to you, The Sims, every MMO, every WRPG and most other games where the user has to add content are all examples of really lazy game design?

But hey, it's your opinion. You're validated to prefer super-generic idiots spouting stupid freaking one liners while flexing their ginormous muscles to something that can genuinely be your own.
Duke Nukem and Marcus Phoenix are identical for every person who plays them, ever. Freeman is unique for everyone who plays as him.
But eh. If you'd prefer to have all characters pre-made for you, with pre-set personalities because you're too lazy to do anything but shoot at whatever happens to be moving, that's your right. I pity you heavily, but it's your right.

We are nerds. Nerds enjoy it when we totally own everybody else. In Half-Life, you see US MARINES getting killed by the aliens. Gordon just blasts them (both aliens and Marines) to death with his shotgun.

Also, the crowbar is a cliche BECAUSE of Half-Life. Half-Life was the first form of media I know of to use the crowbar as a weapon.

I've never played half-life for gordon freeman. He just seems to never be there. He's nothing compared to the depth all the other characters have. They're the ones who give color to the story, and I don't think the game would be as compelling or memorable as it is if you played the entire game doom style (no one else but you, a mute, killing monsters). Personally, I like duke nukem a lot more than gordon freeman.

portuga-man:
I don't think the game would be as compelling or memorable as it is if you played the entire game doom style (no one else but you, a mute, killing monsters).

Alyx Vance
Barney Calhoun
Various rebels in City 17

I am working on my first Half Life 2 mod right now and am trying to replace the crowbar with the fubar. http://www.stanleyfubar.com/

Follow Freeman.

propertyofcobra:
Wow. So, according to you, The Sims, every MMO, every WRPG and most other games where the user has to add content are all examples of really lazy game design?

But hey, it's your opinion. You're validated to prefer super-generic idiots spouting stupid freaking one liners while flexing their ginormous muscles to something that can genuinely be your own.
Duke Nukem and Marcus Phoenix are identical for every person who plays them, ever. Freeman is unique for everyone who plays as him.
But eh. If you'd prefer to have all characters pre-made for you, with pre-set personalities because you're too lazy to do anything but shoot at whatever happens to be moving, that's your right. I pity you heavily, but it's your right.

actually yes, i do think the sims and mmos are lazy and really boring game designs. but getting to my point, FPS are really flat games, no matter what you do it's always the same gameplay with different guns. the dialog of the main character is usually the only break in what is more or less monotony.

i love custamizable features in a game, making something your own is what keeps me playing some games far longer than i should. i like adding my own content when it's really "adding" content. giving a character "personality" when the one programmed for them is the same as the background objects is not customizing, it's covering up flaws. for example, i love oblivion, i love morrowind, you can actually build you're own character, you can make gordon your own so long as your own is named gordon, has facial hair, glasses, and a metal suit,

well as we all know physics puzzles with one solution plays differently for everyone who picks of the game, wonderful logic there, hl is unique, and fps's are not, you genius.

as for the "generic idiots spouting stupid one liners" thats duke nukem your talking about buddy, he's got balls of steel. hey, i grew up with these kind of heroes, i have much more in common with them than i do some mute with thick glasses. i've said it before, if you don't enjoy your work enough to boast a little, find another job, like an accountant, master chief and gordon would be much happier crunching numbers and doing "cost estimates" so why make heroes out of them. they are BORING plain and simple.

"Half-Life was the first form of media I know of to use the crowbar as a weapon."
exept movies, real life, books, and television. but no you're right i'm sure they were the first people to ever think a long metal stick with a hook in the end of it was usefull as a weapon...

Reasons why Gordon has universal appeal:

1 The aforementioned 'Everyman' factor, Gordon isn't some testosterone laced America-as-Grate-and-de-rest-of-uz-is-shit Marine or 'Super soldier', hes some ordinary bloke forced into the situation.

2. He's not distinctly American so that widens his appeal to non US gamers. We Europeans don't get the biggest kick out of killing A-Rabs (or indeed A-Liens)at the behest of the US government.

Larenxis:
This thread exists. This discussion is unnecessary. Perhaps you could compare Gordon Freeman to someone else so we can better calculate 'bad-ass'ness. Maybe Optimus Prime.

Oh, that would be just unfair, poor Gordon could never win that comparison.

The thing about most FPS is that it make me think I'm the protagonist so I look upon myself as the hero rather than the character. In third person games I view someone like Laura or Kratos being the bad ass instead of me, given the perspective and the fact I can actually see them in action.

I would like to be a geek with a PHD from MIT who could take down combine armies with a variety of weapons and enemies to slaughter, and that's exactly what Half-Life brings me. So I don't really acknowledge Gordon as a legitimate character so it's not so much him I see as the bad ass.

The Potato Lord:

Jindrak:
Nancy boy? I've never been capable of fighting through legions of monsters with naught but a handy dandy wrench with any other person.

Oh yea? how about the protagonist from bioshock? that guy actually uses a wrench not a crow bar(Wrenches>crowbars).

That's actually a joke from Half Life: Opposing Forces. Atlas tells you to 'kindly' go pick up a crowbar but you get a wrench instead. Opposing forces is the only game that replaces the crowbar with a wrench.

REDPill357:

portuga-man:
I don't think the game would be as compelling or memorable as it is if you played the entire game doom style (no one else but you, a mute, killing monsters).

Alyx Vance
Barney Calhoun
Various rebels in City 17

omg i worked so hard to make my post understandable to the point that noone understands it.

what i mean is, gordon freeman has no personality. there's nothing compelling about him. if the game WAS like doom (a mute killing monsters), then it WOULDN'T be as fun to play. The other characters (the ones you mentioned, for example) give a lot more life to the game, and if there's any character to like in the game, then gordon comes in last place, simply because he has no personality at all

For me, I see several similarities between myself and Gordon. In fact, I can think of only four reasons why Gordon Freeman couldn't be a future version of me:
1. He's just a few years too old. Half Life is in 200X, but I'll be getting my PhD in the 2010s.
2. He has a goatee. My family has limited facial hair.
3. He has glasses. I have better than perfect vision.
4. I talk a lot.

Everything else fits. Seattle origins? Check. Major in physics? Check. Likes nerdy girls? Check. And while I don't go to MIT now, I might go to grad school there.

It's beyond the everyman. He's not an ordinary guy in a dangerous situation. He's me (or at least an approximation of me) in a dangerous situation. And then he proceeds to kick ass.

Heres my two cents. Im new to these forums but ive heard stories about people getting very worked up over this kind of thing, so please, this is just my opinion, one 22 year old guy sat in his flat in London.

As a medium, computer games have always required the gamer to be like an actor, becoming someone else whether it be Master Chief or that thing from solar jetman that looks like an egg with a wart. Even the games with a create a skater/wrestler/whatever's could only go so far, and ussually replaced your voice with some bland voice actor who says words you would never ever say.

Gordon Freeman, is you. Simple as.

The reason he gets so good at shooting is because you already are. Any criticism for the character such as "he's not that bright" and "how can he be so good with all that stuff?" should surely be cast aside because it is you who is doing it. We only see what he see's, we only feel what he feels. Surely when it comes to story telling and characterisation this is, possible the most advanced the medium has achieved?

Stop thinking of Gordon Freeman as a seperate character. He is all of us, just some nerd.

I remember an argument something along the lines of: Master Chief can eradicate the Covenant and Flood, but Gordon Freeman can save the world with a crowbar.

That alone gives hime +100 MAN points.

Meshakhad:
He's me (or at least an approximation of me) in a dangerous situation.

You can climb ladders at the speed of freefall without using your hands or legs? This I gotta see.

That's like asking: "Why butter?"

Because it's better stupid ;)