HEV Suit

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In much of the Half-Life series, Freeman wears a special full-body hazard suit, known as the H.E.V. suit, H.E.V. standing for Hazardous EnVironment. The HEV suit was designed by Doctor Gina Cross, one of the main protagonists in Half-Life: Decay. Freeman wears the Mark IV suit in Half-Life, then donning the upgraded Mark V suit in Half-Life 2. Cross was said to have tested a Mark V prototype before the events of the resonance cascade, but it is unknown if this is related to the Mark V suit in Half-Life 2. Designed to protect the user from radiation, energy discharges, and blunt trauma during the handling of hazardous materials, the HEV suit is what allows Gordon, an ordinary human being, to survive the dangers and injuries he faces over the course of his struggles.

The HEV Mark IV suit worn by Freeman in Half-Life has a built-in flashlight, Geiger counter, morphine administrator (which allows Gordon to function normally even after serious injury), anti-toxin delivery system, an optional long-jumping module which allows jumps over large distances, a radio, and a heads-up display (HUD) which tracks health status and weapon ammunition usage, as well as including a weapons management system. The suit contains an on-board computer system that constantly monitors the user's health and vital signs, and reacts to any changes in the user's condition. Additionally, the suit has an electrically hardened armor system that can be charged by power modules throughout Black Mesa. While charged, the suit provides greater protection from injury as the charge absorbs more than two-thirds of any damage or trauma experienced by the wearer. With a fully charged suit, Freeman can survive several dozen bullets of small arms fire or even a direct hit from a rocket propelled grenade (but suffering about sixty percent damage) The suit also features an optional helmet, as seen on various HEV-enclosed corpses dotted around Xen, mainly at the ruined research camp seen in Blue Shift. Freeman dons the suit at the beginning of the first game, and is allowed to keep it at the end of the game by the G-Man. It has been debated on countless forums as to whether Gordon's HEV suit has a helmet as he is usually depicted without one yet is able to survive in hazardous environments, meriting its presence. Headcrabs never attempt to attach directly to Freeman's head either (although, strictly speaking, in the official Half-Life storyline, Freeman never allows a headcrab to attempt to). The HEV suit is not exclusive to Freeman. Many can be seen worn by slain Black Mesa research members on Xen. Two additional (empty) HEV storage units are seen near the start of the game in Sector C, which are said to have been used by the main protagonists of Decay, Gina Cross and Colette Green. The suits also evidently come in different colors. Although many, including Gordon's and ones belonging to the corpses seen on Xen, are orange, Gina wears a tan suit, while Colette wears a maroon suit.

In Half-Life 2, despite being allowed to keep it in the previous game, Freeman starts without the suit. After a visit to Dr. Isaac Kleiner, his former professor, Freeman receives an upgraded HEV suit, Mark V - Kleiner, as well as other characters occasionally refer to this suit as Gordon's "old suit," indicating that it is upgraded from his old Mark IV suit; it isn't explained how Kleiner accquired it as Gordon was placed in stasis wearing it, however, the G-Man releases Gordon wearing "civies" (presumably the blue 'prison' uniform) in Half-Life 2 so it is likely that he 'arranged' it somehow. New features include a visual zooming capability, limited enhanced running (sprint) capability, an injector to administer antidote for neurotoxins such as Poison Headcrab venom, an optional ammo and health counter on the crosshair (enabled by the player in the game's "Mouse" options), and the capability to use Combine power nodes to charge the suit. This design feature would have an unexpected effect later on in the game, when the suit appears to be infused with "Dark Energy" from a Combine weapon confiscation field, allowing the suit to store twice as much energy as normal. This powered version of his suit remains intact for the start of Half-Life 2: Episode One but the effect disappates after being hit with a massive energy pulse as the Dark Energy reactor restabilises, which also reverts the Dark Energy Gravity Gun to normal as well. Unlike the Mark IV, the Mark V uses only one auxiliary power source for flashlight, sprinting and oxygen supply (though, as of the events of Episode 2, the flashlight now has a separate charge meter); in addition, the long-jumping module is no longer a feature.

It should be noted that HEV energy chargers in Half-Life have the trademark (tm) symbol added after the HEV letters, which suggests that the chargers, HEV suit, or both, are produced by a non-government company. An Easter egg in Half-Life 2, however, reveals an old cover of an HEV charger lacking the trademark logo.

The HEV suit is unusual compared to conventional hazard suits like Hazmat, specifically that it was designed with combat in mind (where the environment actively fights back against trespassers) as the suit possesses the ability to track weapons in hand, along with their ammunition. These features may be explained by the visits many Black Mesa personnel made to the border world of Xen which contains many dangerous and hostile forms of life. It is notable that the Powered Combat Vest worn by the player in Opposing Force apparently uses similar technology as it is also able to replenish its power from Black Mesa HEV chargers. It is unclear which technology was invented first, though it would be reasonable to assume that, since the PCV lacked a "mark" designation, the HEV suit was developed first and the design specifications sold to the government.

The symbol on Gordon's HEV suit is the lower case Greek letter Lambda, λ. This symbol is used by scientists to denote the 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. 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.

There appears to be an Easter Egg in Portal which can be seen by noclipping into a conference room that displays a PowerPoint presentation on competing with Black Mesa. Among the clipboards on the table, two of them have a description of the HEV suit. However, this could just be a recycled art asset from Half-Life 2, so as to avoid creating a new clipboard object for a room the player isn't supposed to be able to enter.