Airboat
|
This article would greatly benefit from the addition of one or more new images. |  |
|---|---|---|
Please upload one or several relevant images (from canonical / official sources) and place it here. Once finished, this notice may be removed. |
| |
| Airboat | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Faction | |
| Type | |
| Health |
Indestructible |
| Passengers |
1 |
| Used by | |
| Weapon(s) |
Gauss Cannon (originally none) |
| Game information | |
| Entity |
|
| Designer(s) | |
The Airboat, also referred to as the Mudskipper,[2][3][4] is a Resistance vessel apparently built from scrap and spare parts. Nimble, fast, and capable of traveling over both water and land, it is ideal for navigating the City 17 Canals. It is unarmed at first but is later retrofitted with a Gauss Cannon salvaged from a Hunter-Chopper, making it a very deadly threat to Combine forces.
Contents
Appearances[edit]
Half-Life 2[edit]
The Airboat is introduced to the player towards the end of the chapter Route Kanal at Station 6, which is destroyed by a Headcrab Shell bombardment as Gordon passes through it. There, Gordon is given the boat by Arlene to reach Black Mesa East faster and more safely. He then makes his way through polluted canals and wetlands and is soon spotted by a City Scanner, prompting nearby Civil Protection units to give chase. Gordon manages to evade them, until eventually a Hunter-Chopper joins the chase.
After being pursued for miles, Gordon temporarily loses the chopper in some tunnels and comes across a hidden Resistance station. There a Vortigaunt mounts a Gauss Cannon on the boat, providing a powerful offensive capability. Gordon is now able to defend himself more easily against the Metrocops, the APCs, and the Xen wildlife swarming the Canals, and destroys the chasing Hunter-Chopper near a dam right before Black Mesa East. When Gordon reaches Eli's facility, he leaves the Airboat behind. It is then presumably captured and/or destroyed by the Combine as they invade the base.
Tactics[edit]
- A fast and compact vehicle, the Airboat is well suited to the high-speed navigation of the Canals. Though unarmed at first, it can be used to ram any CP foolish enough to stand in the way of it. Once the Airboat is armed, however, its lethality increases significantly. The Hunter-Chopper Gauss Cannon is an extremely powerful weapon, capable of punching through the armor of both APCs and Hunter-Choppers. In addition, ammunition supply is not a problem, as the ammo 'recharges' as it is used. However, burst fire is regularly needed or ammo will run out in around two seconds.
- Several puzzles involving Resistance installations are required to be solved to be able to proceed further. Two involve a springboard that must be raised with a counterweight. One has to be filled with any heavy props found around, the other with blue barrels.
Related Achievements[edit]
| Half-Life 2 | |
|---|---|
|
Anchor's Aweigh! (5G) |
| Get the airboat. | |
|
Heavy Weapons (5G) |
| Get the airboat's mounted gun. | |
| Half-Life 2 (cut) | |
|
Catching Air |
| Float five seconds in the air with the airboat. | |
Behind the scenes[edit]
- The Airboat was originally a Jet Ski but did not playtest well. When the Airboat replaced it and was first tested, it caused motion sickness. If the player's view was tightly connected to the vehicle, every slight bump was magnified, making some early playtesters nauseous (Adrian Finol, programmer, even threw up after an extended playtest). A careful redesign of the handlebar, pontoon, and roll cage was subsequently made, ending with the current version.[3]
- The Half-Life 2 leak features an earlier Airboat model, with some differences. Its hull is longer and bears the code WN1422LL, which is blank in the final game. The model's textures, though not entirely complete, are twice the resolution of that of the retail model. They allow reading the brand of the engine, "Jet Power 555".[5]
- The 2023 repository leak revealed a number of gibs for the Airboat, hinting that it may have been destructible (or scripted to be destroyed) at some point. In Half-Life 2, only the broken engine model is used as a miscellaneous prop. The cut models include all the other parts of the vehicle, twisted and mangled.
- The Half-Life 2 20th Anniversary Commentary reveals that the airboat was originally going to be destroyed after the jump of the dam at Black Mesa East, but was scrapped after playtesting. [6]
Trivia[edit]
The Airboat is almost impossible to knock over. Even executing 180° rolls will almost always result in the vessel not flipping itself. This is most likely to prevent players from being stranded with an unusable vehicle since it would be impossible to turn it over by external means, the Gravity Gun being not acquired at that point of the game.
Two Orange Box Achievements, "Anchor's Aweigh!" and "Heavy Weapons", require acquiring the Airboat and having the Gauss Cannon mounted on it, respectively. One cut Achievement, named "Catching Air", was to require floating for at least five seconds in mid-air with the Airboat.
Three Gauss Cannons similar to the one salvaged by the Resistance and added to the Airboat can be found mounted in a small tower near Gate 5 in the Canals. Gordon uses them to fire at a pursuing Hunter-Chopper.
Gallery[edit]
Pre-release[edit]
The Jet Ski.
Early Airboat model.
Half-Life 2 leak model.
The cut gib model for the destroyed base of the vehicle.
Ditto, the fan frame.
Ditto, the driver's seat and main frame.
Ditto, the right pontoon.
Ditto, the nose and steering.
Retail[edit]
Gauss Cannon model.
The broken engine model, used as a prop at various points in the game.
Gordon acquiring the Airboat at the Station 6.
The Vortigaunt is attaching the Gauss Cannon to the Airboat.
A Gauss Cannon is mounted on the Airboat.
A Resistance bridge puzzle needed to be solved to proceed with the Airboat.
Ditto.
Ditto, the ramp.
The airboat near the generating station of Black Mesa East.
Firing with the Airboat in Half-Life 2: Survivor.
List of appearances[edit]
Main games[edit]
- Half-Life 2 (First appearance)
Other[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ RPS Interview: Episode Two’s David Speyrer on Rock, Paper, Shotgun
- ↑ Half-Life 2 closed captions
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar, page 92
- ↑ Half-Life 2 Prima Guide, page 76
- ↑ Half-Life 2 leak
- ↑ cn_111_airboat_wreckage.mp3: "[David Speyrer] Originally, we destroyed the airboat in the jump over the dam, so this level opened with the player amidst the wreckage of their beloved airboat. In a team-wide playtest, people felt disappointed to lose the vehicle they had spent so much time in. There was a lot of internal debate about whether that feeling of loss was a valuable experience or not. Ultimately we decided to leave the airboat intact to allow for the possibility of the player reuniting with it someday. Some say that airboat is still out there waiting for you."
