Gordon Freeman

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Gordon Freeman
Half-Life character
A white man in an armoured suit clutches a shotgun. The man has brown hair, a short beard and mustache, green eyes and thick black glasses. The suit is predominately orange with black trim, the Greek letter Lambda emblazoned on the suit's chest.
Gordon Freeman as he appears in Half-Life 2
First appearanceHalf-Life (1998)
Created byGabe Newell[1]
Designed by
In-universe information
HomeSeattle, Washington
NationalityAmerican

Gordon Freeman is the

UGO[3] and GameSpot.[4]

Character design

An early concept art of Gordon Freeman, wearing a bulkier HEV suit, helmet, and goggles

Valve president and Half-Life director Gabe Newell coined the name "Gordon Freeman" during a conversation with the game's writer Marc Laidlaw in his car. Laidlaw had originally named the character "Dyson Poincaré", combining the names of physicist and philosopher Freeman Dyson and mathematician Henri Poincaré. The texture for Gordon's head was "too big of a job for just one person", so Valve designers combined references from four people. An earlier model of Gordon, known as "Ivan the Space Biker", had a full beard that was subsequently trimmed. Other iterations of Gordon's concept featured different glasses, a ponytail, and a helmet.[5]

Gordon wears a special full-body

heads-up display (HUD) which displays Gordon's health and suit charge level, remaining ammunition, and a crosshair. As a means of immersing the player in the role, Gordon never speaks, and there are no cutscenes or mission briefings—all action is viewed through Gordon's eyes, with the player retaining control of Gordon's actions at nearly all times. The images of Gordon are only seen on the game's cover and menu pages, and also in advertisements, making them marketing tools rather than pictures of what Gordon is "really like". Gabe Newell has stated that Valve sees no reason to give Gordon a voice.[6]

In Half-Life, Gordon wears the Mark IV suit. Later in the game, the suit is equipped with an optional long-jump module so Gordon can leap great distances. It is charged using power modules throughout Black Mesa. In

crosshair, and has been modified to use Combine
power nodes to charge the suit.

The Mark V initially used a single power source for the flashlight, sprinting, and oxygen supply; in

decay constant of radioactive elements (related to the half-life of an element). As well as appearing on Gordon's suit, the symbol replaces the letter "a" in the game title (Hλlf-Life), and is the name of the complex in the Black Mesa Research Facility
where teleportation experiments are conducted in the first game. The Lambda symbol is also seen in Half-Life 2 as a marking of the human resistance, seen close to hidden supplies and on the arm bands of better equipped resistance fighters.

Appearances

In the Half-Life saga, Gordon Freeman is a silent protagonist who, despite lacking formal weapon training, survives a chaotic inter-dimensional incident at the Black Mesa Research Facility. In Half-Life 2, after being kept in stasis for nearly two decades, Freeman battles the Combine Empire to liberate Earth. He gains legendary status and sparks a rebellion, ultimately destroying the Citadel, a major Combine stronghold. The G-Man rescues Freeman after this critical event, praising his accomplishments and placing him back in stasis.

In Episode One, Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance work to stabilize the Citadel's core to prevent a catastrophic explosion. In Episode Two, they work together to transport crucial data in order to close a forming superportal. After a revelation from the G-Man about saving Alyx, they learn about the Borealis, a research vessel with the potential to cause significant events. The game ends with Alyx mourning her father's death at the hands of a Combine Advisor.

Half-Life: Alyx, set five years before Half-Life 2, follows Alyx Vance trying to locate Gordon. In the end, Alyx alters the future by killing the Combine Advisor that was about to kill her father, impressing the G-Man. Gordon's first appearance in third-person perspective occurs as he picks up his glasses. The G-Man places Alyx in stasis and assigns her a new mission. In the post-credits scene, players control Gordon Freeman as Eli Vance realizes his daughter's disappearance is linked to the G-Man. Eli then hands Gordon his signature crowbar, signaling a new mission.

Critical reception

Gordon Freeman quickly became and then remained one of the most popular video game characters ever. In 2008,

Empire ranked him as the number one Greatest Video Game Character, commenting that "the character is the quintessential geek fantasy" who "has become a gaming icon, synonymous with the apotheosis of first-person action."[9]

He was also ranked 14th on

1UP.com's Marty Sliva included him among the most unrelatable narrators, stating, "I'm sure some people love the fact that they can become Gordon Freeman -- I just think I'd be a little happier if there was anything there to become."[12]

In 1998, readers of

Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2011.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c "The Top 100 Game Creators of All Time - 16. Gabe Newell". IGN. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Marc Laidlaw". Giant Bomb. Archived from the original on March 1, 2014. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  3. ^ a b "UGO's Top 100 Heroes of All Time". UGO Entertainment. Archived from the original on February 2, 2009. Retrieved October 15, 2009.
  4. ^ a b "TenSpot Readers' Choice: Ten Best Heroes - GameSpot". Archived from the original on June 12, 2009. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
  5. ISBN 0-7615-4364-3
    .
  6. ^ Ingham, Tim (April 4, 2010). "Gabe Newell: Next Half-Life won't change Gordon Freeman". Computer and Video Games. Archived from the original on April 9, 2010. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
  7. ^ "The Top 50 Xbox Characters of All Time". Theage.com.au. Archived from the original on October 6, 2010. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
  8. ^ Mitchell, Richard. (September 23, 2011) Joystiq [dead link]. Gamedaily.com. Retrieved on 2011-09-30.
  9. ^ The 50 Greatest Video Game Characters | 1. Gordon Freeman | Empire Archived March 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. www.empireonline.com. Retrieved on September 30, 2011.
  10. ^ 100 best heroes in video games Archived November 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, GamesRadar, October 19, 2012.
  11. ^ Drea Avellan, The 50 Most Badass Video Game Characters Of All Time Archived February 19, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, Complex.com, February 1, 2013.
  12. ^ "The Most Unrelatable Narrators in Gaming". 1Up.com. Retrieved February 10, 2016.
  13. ^ Park, Andrew (October 15, 2009). "GameSpot's All-Time Greatest Game Hero Draws to a Close. And the Winner Is..." GameSpot. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved October 15, 2009.
  14. ^ "Guinness Names Top 50 Video Game Characters Of All Time - News". www.GameInformer.com. February 16, 2011. Archived from the original on December 10, 2014. Retrieved September 2, 2013.

Further reading

External links

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