Gordon's good old helmet or lack there for of

Does Gordon wear a helmet?


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ríomhaire

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mechagodzilla said:
A folding Helmet is stored inside the suit:

HUD:
The heads-up display is projected on the helmet's visor.
Suit Zoom:
The best explanation is that camera(s) built into the helmet can zoom in, and this camera view is projected on the visor.
Aux. Oxygen:
The suit uses auxilliary power to scrub Oxygen from Carbon Dioxide, allowing for temporary breathing underwater.
Headshots / Swimming in toxic materials:
The helmet protects against these things, minimizing their damage.

Evidence for:
-An early piece of media shows Gordon holding a removable helmet.
-The original HL1 HEV pickup item did not have visible gloves, but Gordon rather clearly has gloves once the suit is on. This indicates that they were stored inside the suit, as a helmet might be.
-HEV suits found on Xen all had attached helmets.
-Gearbox made other mistake(s) on their depictions of Gordon. The lack of helmet may be such a mistake.*
-Gordon can survive surprising amounts of head damage.
-Certain visual elements have been introduced purely as gameplay tweaks and are not actually 'real'.**

Gordon doesn't wear a helmet:

HUD:
The heads-up display is a holographic projection.
Suit Zoom:
As above, camera(s) built into the suit itself can zoom in, and this camera view is projected holographically.
Aux. Oxygen:
The suit uses auxilliary power on the internal medical systems to prolong survival underwater.
Headshots / Swimming in toxic materials:
Assume that most headshots graze but do not connect, and that the toxic materials are simply not fatal after only brief contact. It's a matter of realism being sacrificed to promote more entertainment.**

Evidence for:
-Gordon and his HEV suit are shown without any indication of a helmet in all five Half-life games and every piece of concept art to date (including action scenes) except in a single early piece of media.
-BM Security guards' helmets use holographic HUDs as well.
-Security guards and resistance fighters have no facial protection, but can survive similar head damage.
-Gina is also shown helmet-less while working in all four Half-Life 1 games, showing that a helmet may not be mandatory for routine jobs.


*In Opposing Force, Gordon has no long-jump module. In Blue Shift, he is facing the wrong direction. Also, Barney is shown with armour in HL1, but without it in Blue Shift.

**In Decay, Gina and Colette's orange HEVs are shown in different colours for their third-person models (tan and red, respectively), a difference that only exists in the player's eyes.
(View-modeled hands, depictions of Gina in all other official HL1 games, and character dialogue within Decay itself all say the suit is orange.) This difference from 'reality' shows that some unrealistic things exist in the games simply to make them more fun.


Oh, also, the MP7 in HL2 does have two barrels. the lower one is slightly larger, to fire the small grenades.

Real:


HL2:


Note the lower, thicker secondary barrel

The grenades themselves are shown as larger than they 'actually' are, for gameplay purposes: making them easier to see/pick up/ dodge, etc.
That's another example of a slight visual change made to simplify gameplay, in spite of realism.

Conclusion: Gordon doesn't need to wear a helmet, and since he is shown without one in every game, (and valve's official stance is apparently that he doesn't wear one, judging from concept art) it's most likely that he does not wear one.
If believing he does have a removable helmet makes the game more realistic for you, however, your opinion is entirely valid based on the evidence at hand. Just less likely, overall.
Another reason not to trust Gearbox's view of Gordon:
They didn't show him with a long jump module

Edit:
I think Gordon wears a helmet and maybe takes it off sometimes, like at BME. I know there's no evidence for theat so don't tell me there isn't.
 
As you might have guessed from the quote, I think it could go either way based purely on in-game information.

However, Valve's constant depiction of Gordon fighting without a helmet in all their concept art pushes it over the edge.

Gordon doesn't wear a helmet.

Mechagodzilla said:
Here are the two options, both equally valid if you ask me:

A folding Helmet is stored inside the suit:

HUD:
The heads-up display is projected on the helmet's visor.
Suit Zoom:
The best explanation is that camera(s) built into the helmet can zoom in, and this camera view is projected on the visor.
Aux. Oxygen:
The suit uses auxilliary power to scrub Oxygen from Carbon Dioxide, allowing for temporary breathing underwater.
Headshots / Swimming in toxic materials:
The helmet protects against these things, minimizing their damage.

Evidence for:
-An early piece of media shows Gordon holding a removable helmet.
-The original HL1 HEV pickup item did not have visible gloves, but Gordon rather clearly has gloves once the suit is on. This indicates that they were stored inside the suit, as a helmet might be.
-HEV suits found on Xen all had attached helmets.
-Gearbox made other mistake(s) on their depictions of Gordon. The lack of helmet may be such a mistake.*
-Gordon can survive surprising amounts of head damage.
-Certain visual elements have been introduced purely as gameplay tweaks and are not actually 'real'.**

Gordon doesn't wear a helmet:

HUD:
The heads-up display is a holographic projection.
Suit Zoom:
As above, camera(s) built into the suit itself can zoom in, and this camera view is projected holographically.
Aux. Oxygen:
The suit uses auxilliary power on the internal medical systems to prolong survival underwater.
Headshots / Swimming in toxic materials:
Assume that most headshots graze but do not connect, and that the toxic materials are simply not fatal after only brief contact. It's a matter of realism being sacrificed to promote more entertainment.**

Evidence for:
-Gordon and his HEV suit are shown without any indication of a helmet in all five Half-life games and every piece of concept art to date (including action scenes) except in a single early piece of media.
-BM Security guards' helmets use holographic HUDs as well.
-Security guards and resistance fighters have no facial protection, but can survive similar head damage.
-Gina is also shown helmet-less while working in all four Half-Life 1 games, showing that a helmet may not be mandatory for routine jobs.


*In Opposing Force, Gordon has no long-jump module. In Blue Shift, he is facing the wrong direction. Also, Barney is shown with armour in HL1, but without it in Blue Shift.

**In Decay, Gina and Colette's orange HEVs are shown in different colours for their third-person models (tan and red, respectively), a difference that only exists in the player's eyes.
(View-modeled hands, depictions of Gina in all other official HL1 games, and character dialogue within Decay itself all say the suit is orange.) This difference from 'reality' shows that some unrealistic things exist in the games simply to make them more fun.

Oh, also, the MP7 in HL2 does have two barrels. the lower one is slightly larger, to fire the small grenades.

Real:
mp7-te1.jpg


HL2:
small_mp7.jpg


Note the lower, thicker secondary barrel
The grenades themselves are shown as larger than they 'actually' are, for gameplay purposes: making them easier to see/pick up/ dodge, etc.
That's another example of a slight visual change made to simplify gameplay, in spite of realism.

Conclusion: Gordon doesn't need to wear a helmet, and since he is shown without one in every game, (and valve's official stance is apparently that he doesn't wear one, judging from concept art) it's most likely that he does not wear one.
If believing he does have a removable helmet makes the game more realistic for you, however, your opinion is entirely valid based on the evidence at hand. Just less likely, overall.

Let this thread also serve to point out that the grenade-launching on the MP7 was not a mistake! :p
 
I dont think that he does because of (as said earlier) the concept art. It is just proving that he does not were a helmet
 
Kamikazie said:
I dont think that he does because of (as said earlier) the concept art. It is just proving that he does not were a helmet
Does the concept art prove Alyx has red hair and a blue/black body suit?
 
ríomhaire said:
Does the concept art prove Alyx has red hair and a blue/black body suit?

Nope, because that stuff was a billion years old and not officially released except as a historical reference to what they changed.
In fact, only a handful of character's concept art was released as being representative of actual HL2 content. And all the officially released stuff is nearly identical to the in-game product. Especially the photo-realistic ones. The biggest difference out of all of them is that one metrocop is wearing a trench coat in a very early concept from 2003-ish.
But I don't think you'll find any "do metrocops wear trench coats?" threads. :p

Just look at that one picture of Gordon fighting the barnacle. if that's not an official picture of what Gordon looks like in HL2, i don't know what is.
 
I think that gordon does wear a helmet but when you see him in game (Op4, Blue Shift) he has his helmet removed so that the player can see that it is acctually Gordon and not some random scientist in a HEV suit as we know that there were other such scientists dead on xen and we dont know that there were other scientists in HEV suits that were captured by the marines. So if gordon had been wearing a helmet in those scenes we might be debating weather it was Gordon atall.

Also, regaurding the 'magic' HUD on barney's suit is it so far fetched that the BM security guards had a flip down visor built into their helmets? They may not have had them down when Shepard and Freeman came into contact with them to show that they were acctually who they say they are and not a marine in disguise or somthing else. Or else that they were like that for gameplay purporpsoes so the player doesnt simply go through the game with faceless allies. this could have been to contrast the 'faceless' marines whom you fight in the game because although some of them showed thier face most of them seemed to wear either gas masks or balaclavas in HL. Which is why i thought Op4 was a little odd with most of the marines wore bandanas or berets.

any way Gordon wears a helmet. Because i know that i would if i was running around in the middle of a research facility overrun with aliens and marines and full to the brim with raidoactive matieial, biohazards and nukes/City filled with heavily armed modified humans trying to kill me. to not when you have the option would be just plain silly. and as nuclear phyisist Gordon doesnt seem like the silly type
 
He has a helmet, but I think that he only wears it when he needs it.

Maybe that's why he doesn't talk.... hah
 
I think Gordon has a helmet, the only reason he is never seen with a helmet on in the consept art is that all we would see is a person in a hv suit, its all to show us that it is Gordon and not just some random person in a hv suit.
 
Gordon only takes off his helmet when a photo opportunity arises.

Otherwise there would be a zombie Gordon strolling around Black Mesa ;)
 
The suit zoom + HUD are in his glasses.
 
um HUD is there for gameplay (no such thing as holographic HUD)

and he doesnt wear a helmet (he would look silly)- he avoids headshots, after all he is THE ONE FREE MAN! (man he shuld have some sort of matrix style powers in HL3):D
 
boystupid said:
I think Gordon has a helmet, the only reason he is never seen with a helmet on in the consept art is that all we would see is a person in a hv suit, its all to show us that it is Gordon and not just some random person in a hv suit.
Who else would me imagine standing in an HEV suit in a Half-Life 2 poster/concept??
 
Doesn't matter. Some changes were made for gameplay. Plus Gordon wouldn't be iconic with the helmet.
 
yeah i think he has some kind of "helmet". they just dont picture it in concept art and such because then it would look too much like that crappy halo game :). as for headcrabs, i think that their claws and stuff can peirce through a little bit. the helmet just keeps them from turning gordon into a zombie.
 
All evidence points to Gordon not wearing a helmet.

For one thing, why would he drown if he's been under water too long? Pretty useless helmet there. Also, the idea that Gordon wears special glasses that interact with the HEV suit does make sense. He worked at Black Mesa, he put that suit on every day, why wouldn't he have special glasses? I think the only reasons why the dead suit wearers on Xen wore the helmets was because they were unsure if the air was breathable, which is quite obvious once you stop to think that all the Xen aliens came to Earth without a problem.
 
a helmet wouldnt make him be able to breath underwater forever. it stopps when his aux power runs out.
 
Man I have been an HL fan for a while now and its weird that i NEVER even thought of that.
 
The glases built-into his suit works for me.
 
How do you guys know that his "helmet" could just be invisible?
If it's invisible, then you can't see if he's wearing a helmet or not. You just have to guess.

Was the Marine in Doom 1 and 2 also wearing a helmet? He had a HUD. :)
 
Er.... the whole HUD thing is kind of a poor arugment because Terrorists and Counter Terrorists dont have them yet they do in CS. If you dont beleve me go try putting on a kevlar vest and picking up an MP-5. you should notice that a HUD doesnt magicly appear infront of your eyes. Vurtually every FPS has a HUD no matter when it was set or if the charicter had a helmet of not. Anyway gordon wears a helmet because:
1.Head crabs dont latch onto him.
2.He's not lying dead in black mesa (raidoactive crater) without a head because it has been blown off by a shotgun weilding marine.
3. if the hazard suit didnt have a helmet, or atleast some kind of head protection it would be pretty useless (raidoactive goo + your face = bad combination).
4. He dosnt die instantly when a barnicle tries to eat him.

Im shure there are some others but i thats all i can think of at the moment. as for the "special glasses" argument see point 3. head protection. and the invisible helmet? come on... this HL1 is probubly set in 2009 (which is unlikely due to the fact that the marines use MP-5s/M4s both of which are reaching the end of their operational lives with the USMC. considering this its more like 2006 at the latest) at the latest and I can tell you, an invisible "helmet" is a long ways off.
 
Bob_Marley said:
at the latest and I can tell you, an invisible "helmet" is a long ways off.

But teleporting Gordon to Breen's office IS possible?
 
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