Two additional (empty) HEV storage units are seen near the start of the game in Sector C, which are used by the main protagonists of Decay, Gina Cross and Colette Green and three empty HEV storage units can be seen near the end of Lambda Core. Many can be seen worn by slain Black Mesa research members on Xen. The HEV Suit is not exclusive to Freeman. Headcrabs will never attempt to attach directly to Freeman's head either (although, in the official Half-Life manual, Freeman never allows a headcrab to attempt to). Although, when Freeman is spotted in Opposing Force, he enters Xen through the portal without wearing a helmet, such being the situation he would need it the most.
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. With a fully charged suit, Freeman can survive several dozen bullets of small arms fire, continuous fire or even a direct hit from a rocket-propelled grenade (but suffering about sixty percent damage). 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 the exception of fall damage, which is absorbed directly into body-integrity, and oxygen deprivation, caused by swimming without surfacing for long periods of time. The suit contains an on-board computer system that constantly monitors the user's health and vital signs, reacting to any changes in the user's condition with activations in the aforementioned apparatus, and a soothing female-computer voice.Īdditionally, the suit has an electrically hardened armor/energy shield system that can be charged at HEV chargers throughout Black Mesa.
The HEV Mark IV suit worn by Gordon Freeman in Half-Life has a built-in flashlight, Geiger counter, morphine administrator (which allows Gordon to sustain serious injury such as bullet wounds or shrapnel), an optional Long Jump Module which allows jumps over large distances (greatly increased horizontal range vertical distance is elevated only slightly), a radio, tracking devices, and a heads-up display (HUD) which tracks health status and weapon ammunition usage, as well as including a weapons management system.