10 Things You Didn't Know About Half-Life

9. Gordon Freeman = Ivan The Space Biker

barnacles half life
Valve

While you don't actually see Gordon Freeman at all while you're playing Half-Life, you'll have seen before what he looks like on Half-Life promotional art.

Long before he was his iconic self, wielding his crowbar and wearing his black glasses, Gordon Freeman was an absolutely bizarre-looking, square-haired meat head with a massive, bushy beard.

This beard made him look just like the stereotype of a biker. He wasn't wearing his finest biker jacket though, this version of Gordon had the a green HEV suit on, making him look even weirder.

Due to his appearance, the weird looking model was affectionately dubbed 'Ivan the Space Biker' due to his biker-ish face and his HEV suit looking like a spacesuit.

Some game testers are also quoted with saying that Ivan looked like a 'homeless hobo', which seems a bit harsh. The man's got an expensive space suit for god's sake!

It's probably best for everyone involved that Gordon was redesigned. Would Half-Life still be the massive success it is with Ivan the Space Biker as their cover star?

In this post: 
Half Life
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Dan Curtis is approximately one-half videogame knowledge, and the other half inexplicable Geordie accent. He's also one quarter of the Factory Sealed Retro Gaming podcast.