Players found themselves in the role of a Black Mesa researcher, the ever-silent Gordon Freeman.
The original Half-Life was released for PC on Novemby fledgling studio Valve. It proceeded to change the landscape of video games forever by wrapping revolutionary mechanics and graphics in an exhilarating sci-fi/horror shooter.
For most gamers, a mention of Half-Life conjures the image of a bespectacled, goatee-fancying scientist with a crowbar in hand, combatting alien headcrabs with his weapon of choice. The crowbar is associated heavily with the series’ primary protagonist, Gordon Freeman, and both are emblematic of the franchise as a whole. The release of Half-Life: Alyx offers a perfect excuse to take a look back and celebrate the Half-Life franchise’s most enduring weapon.Īlyx does not wield the crowbar herself in the new VR game, though that’s not to say it isn't mentioned at all. But there is only one weapon, one instrument of doom, that, when placed in the hands of a certain MIT-educated Theoretical Physicist, rises above the others to true greatness: Gordon Freeman’s crowbar. There are plenty of worthy and iconic melee weapons in the pantheon of video games - Link’s Master Sword, the Assassins’ Hidden Blade, Sora’s Keyblade, Cloud’s Buster Sword.
