Top Ten Most Badass Weapons in Gaming History - # 3 The Gravity Gun
by James Fleming on November 19, 2007
There are many definitions for the word weapon. According to dictionary.com, it can be “any instrument or device for use in attack or defense in combat, fighting, or war, as a sword, rifle, or cannon”. Or, “anything used against an opponent, adversary, or victim”. Kirkland, Washington developer Valve clearly prefers the latter classification.
When the creators of Half-Life 2 invented the Zero-Point Energy Manipulator (or Gravity Gun) they transformed every loose piece of material in the game into a weapon, no matter how unassuming. It not only made for some amazing puzzles and showed off the Havok physics engine, but it also opened that Pandora’s Box that hides all our most sinister intensions. Players asked themselves, what is the most interesting method I can use to kill this guy?
And there was a lot of intriguing debris to choose from, because City 17 was practically a cornucopia of litter. For most citizens these pieces of rubbish might have been an annoyance, but for Gordon Freeman it was all just ammunition.
Paint cans, barrels, saw blades, lumber, pipes, washing machines, cars, tires, rocks, grates, fans and even people– anything was fair game when using the Gravity Gun. And the results of launching this refuse at Combine soldiers and other foes were rewarding, disturbing, and at times absolutely hilarious.
Hurtling exploding barrels into Antlions, or flinging detached rotary blades through the abdomens of mumbling Headcrabs, are the priceless moments that every gamer savors.
Thank you, Valve, for finally putting Sir Isaac Newton’s theories concerning physics and gravitation to good use in the field of zombie combat. If only more sciences catered towards discovering new and interesting ways to dismember our enemies.
Top Ten Most Badass Weapons List: 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1
- Top Ten Most Badass Weapons in Gaming History - # 9 The Blades of Chaos
- Top Ten Most Badass Weapons in Gaming History - # 6 The Railgun
- Top Ten Most Badass Weapons in Gaming History - # 4 The BFG 9000
- Top Ten Most Badass Weapons in Gaming History - # 5 The Chainsaw Bayonet
- Top Ten Most Badass Weapons in Gaming History - #7 The Farsight XR-20
- Top Ten Most Badass Weapons in Gaming History - # 1 The Cerebral Bore
- Top Ten Most Badass Weapons in Gaming History - # 8 Cloud’s Sword
- Top Ten Most Badass Weapons in Gaming History - #2 The Darkness
on November 20, 2007 3:29 am
Hey, i don’t know if anyone’ll agree or not, but i wondered if the maker of this list has played Crysis yet. in it there is a hand held gun called the TAC gun than shoots a nuke that blows up in a full on mushroom cloud. there’s also an alien weapon that lets you freeze people, who then break into pieces when anything hits them.
on November 20, 2007 6:32 am
Hey Kevin. Unfortunately this list was completed before the release of Crysis, so that weapon wasn’t up for consideration. It sounds fantastic though. Now let’s hope that my winning lottery ticket comes in and I can finally afford to buy a CPU/GPU capable of playing it.
on March 11, 2008 9:26 am
Wow, I’ve got to say, that was a pretty cool list; I really had a good read there. The rail gun in Red Faction is very similar to the Farsight XR-20 that you mentioned. I’ve been playing FF7 to get back in touch with one of gaming’s greats and happened to stumble upon this entry. Really nice work indeed; perhaps you’d think about creating a new and updated version sometime!