Gaming's most facepalm-worthy heroes

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When the hero's mistakes end the world instead of saving it

The list of heroic failures is a long and turgid one. Here are twelve of the most prominent incompetents.

Gordon Freeman (Half-Life)

Gordon Freeman, hero of the resistance. The one free man. An unkillable messianic combat-bastard, boffin extraordinare and owner of the finest beard in gaming. All round chap, right?

Well consider that it was his experiment which caused the Black Mesa incident in the first place. Not too bad maybe. He did at least travel over to Xen to kill the portal-controlling alien necro-baby. But now consider that by destabilising the Nilianth’s control over the Black Mesa portal storms he then opened up the way for the Combine invasion. Good job he was in stasis for 20 years immediately afterwards. Given that he still had two good legs at the time, Eli would have kicked the shit out of him.

Facepalm rating: 2/5 Picards

Facilitating global domination is pretty high on the screw-up scale, but the G-Man's influence was the real cause.Or was it?

Facepalm rating: 3/5 Picards

Facepalm rating: 3/5 Picards

Facepalm rating: 3/5 Picards

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David Houghton
David Houghton
Long-time GR+ writer Dave has been gaming with immense dedication ever since he failed dismally at some '80s arcade racer on a childhood day at the seaside (due to being too small to reach the controls without help). These days he's an enigmatic blend of beard-stroking narrative discussion and hard-hitting Psycho Crushers.