Zero-Point Energy Field Manipulator

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Rough depiction of how the gravity gun would be used to launch Magnusson Devices.
Rough depiction of how the gravity gun would be used to launch Magnusson Devices.

The Zero-Point Energy Field Manipulator, or "Gravity Gun" is a fictional weapon from the video game Half-Life 2. The weapon is given to Gordon Freeman by Alyx Vance in the Black Mesa East facility.[1] Although it is designed for handling hazardous materials, the lab personnel use it mainly for heavy lifting.

Able to drag, pick up, carry, throw, or smash objects, the gravity gun is one of the core tools of Half-Life 2[2] and a demonstration of the interaction possible in the Source physics engine (its engine name is weapon_physcannon).[3] Possible uses include hurling large metal saw blades through enemies, knocking over or uprighting vehicles, dislodging sticky mines or picking up a filing cabinet and using it as a battering ram. It is considered one of the defining features of Half-Life 2's entertainment value.[2]

The gun does have a limit, as certain objects are too large and heavy for the device to carry, though they can still be pushed around by its primary fire. The gun is also unable to manipulate most biological entities in its standard form, though it can repel headcrabs and antlions.

Contents

[edit] Operation

The Gravity Gun has two triggers. The primary trigger causes the gun to emit a small discharge which knocks back the affected object. The distance is dependent on the object's weight.

The secondary trigger projects a narrow gravity beam which pulls the targeted object toward it. Once the object is close enough, the gun will hold it a few inches away in a localized zero-gravity field, negating its weight and allowing the player to carry it with them. Using the secondary trigger again will deactivate the field, while the primary will launch the object with considerable force. In this manner, the gravity gun can turn innocuous debris into potentially deadly projectiles. If the object leaves the field through outside means (e.g. hitting hard into a wall), the gun will deactivate the field.

The principle behind the gun is unknown. When the gun is brought inside a confiscation field (see below), Overwatch says "Warning. Counter-resonance singularity device detected. Confiscation field failure." This might imply that the Gravity Gun works by encasing a micro black hole, using directed gravitons to pull and gravity waves to repel.

[edit] Dark Energy Field Manipulator

During Gordon's infiltration of the Citadel, he is dropped into a weapon confiscation field, which removes and destroys all of his weapons. The field destroys all of his weapons, but when it tries to destroy the Gravity Gun, it draws dark energy from the field and becomes the Dark Energy Field Manipulator. The result is a modified Gravity Gun, which glows bright blue and white, shakes and twitches about, and is able to manipulate objects the normal gun cannot (such as objects otherwise too heavy for the normal, orange gravity gun); it is regarded as the ultimate weapon of destruction. It can easily tear monitors and consoles out of the wall and hold them, and can also kill soldiers with one "punt"; picking the soldiers up results in their instant death, apparently by electrocution. The gun is transformed a second time, in Half-Life 2: Episode One by another confiscation field, but returns to its normal state after leaving the Citadel. The reason that the Gravity Gun returns to it's normal state is due to Gordon re-activating the containment field of the Citadels core, which in turn sucks away all electricity on the player including the bright blue modified Gravity Gun and any suit power. The modified gun is coloquially referred to as the Super Gravity Gun.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Gravity Gun: The Nextevel in Interactive Gaming. Planet Half-Life (2007-07-03). Retrieved on 2007-12-17.
  2. ^ a b "Half-Life 2 review" (December 2004). Edge (143). “Tearing a radiator from a wall and using it to swat a parasitic headcrab, while all the furniture in a room goes tumbling around you, is truly a gaming epiphany.” 
  3. ^ "Half-Life 2 preview" (June 2003). Edge (124). “The physics engine within Source is derived from Havok, which opens up a wealth of possibilities for object interaction – particularly when you consider that later in the game, Freeman receives an energy-beam weapon that lets him move huge objects...”