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List of pop culture references in the Half-Life and Portal series

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This subject is related to a real world perspective.
This subject is related to the Black Mesa Incident era.
This subject is related to the Combine era.
This subject is related to the Portal era.
This subject is related to the Portal 2 era.

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This page contains a list of pop culture references in the Half-Life and Portal series.

Half-Life series[edit]

  • The Vortigaunts are a clear reference to the Vorticons of the Commander Keen series, both in name and premise, as they are a peaceful raced enslaved by a malevolent entity who are forced to act as enemies.

Half-Life[edit]

Half-Life: Opposing Force[edit]

  • The generic Drill Instructor character was inspired by the character Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (played by R. Lee Ermey) from the Stanley Kubrick's film Full Metal Jacket.
  • In "We Are Pulling Out" (map of1a5b), at the point where the Shock Trooper is first introduced, the security guard in the room can be heard saying "Have you seen the new IG-88?". IG-88 is the name of the assassin droid which is one of the six bounty hunters chosen to capture Han Solo in the film Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. A similar line is spoken in Star Wars: A New Hope, in which a stormtrooper asks another "You seen that new BT-16?"
  • In Vicarious Reality (map of4a3), the scientist in the hologram message is speaking to another scientist named Walter, likely a reference to Walter Bennett.
  • In Worlds Collide (map of7a0), during the ending sequence, there is message hidden in the skybox that is hidden to the player. The message says: "HACK HACK HACK ALL DAY LONG. HACK HACK HACK WHILE I SING THIS SONG [sic]". This is a reference to Adam Sandler's comedy track, The Beating of a High School Janitor. This is also a reference to the fact that the developer used a hack that allows both the Earth and Xen to be seen in the same map.

Half-Life 2 leak[edit]

  • There is a reference to Superfly Johnson, one of the sidekicks from the game Daikatana in a temporary voice line recorded by Marc Laidlaw. "Sorry sir, you know I can't let you through here without your good friend Superfly Johnson...Just kidding, Gordon. Go on through."

Half-Life 2[edit]

Half-Life 2: Episode Two[edit]

  • In Our Mutual Fiend (map ep2_outland_11), there is a small room hidden behind a fuel tank in Uriah's office. This room contains a computer monitor that is displaying the numbers sequence from the television show Lost. A cross between the Dharma Initiative logo and the White Forest logo can be seen on the wall.

References[edit]