Freeman's Mind | |
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Genre | Comedy [1] |
Created by | Ross Scott |
Based on | Half-Life: Source by Valve |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 71 |
Production | |
Running time | 8 minutes average per episode |
Original release | |
Release | December 4, 2007 – December 31, 2014 |
Related | |
Freeman's Mind 2 |
Freeman's Mind is a machinima series created by Ross Scott, best known for his Stop Killing Games initiative, Freeman's Mind used the Source remake of the 1998 video game Half-Life . [2] It follows the protagonist of the game, Gordon Freeman, also voiced by Scott, who acts as a combination of narrator and running commentary, often criticizing and satirizing the game world's conventions in a style similar to that in Mystery Science Theater 3000 . [3] The series ran from 2007 to 2014 and consisted of 71 episodes. [a] The series was hosted on Machinima until 2014. [4] A sequel series, titled Freeman's Mind 2 set in Half-Life 2, debuted in 2017, [1] and is still ongoing. [5] In 2014, IGN reposted the series. [6]
Ross Scott describes Gordon's personality as having "shifting paranoia, egomania, mild schizophrenia, over-aggressiveness, petty motivations, and immaturity in general", and that "the only hint I thought they gave to his personality was how proficient he immediately was in weaponry for being a physicist." [2]
Emily Rose, writing for Ars Technica , used "neurotic panicked narcissist" to describe the character; this is a depiction she noticed in a similar series— Half-Life VR but the AI Is Self-Aware . [7]
Structurally, Freeman's Mind is filmed from the first person perspective of Gordon Freeman. All of the visuals and most of the animations come from the original game; however, many scenes of the series are manipulated through the use of cheats and mods to the game's engine. [2]
Often in the series, Gordon avoids places where the player is usually forced to go. For example, Gordon performs pull-ups throughout the series to navigate to otherwise inaccessible areas. A typical way to film this is through the use of the noclip mode. [2]
Freeman’s Mind 2 also features modifications to the original maps, adding new or changing existing set pieces and adding entirely new areas. [8]
In 2015, Scott was a voice actor in the Half Life 2 Mod, Half-Life 2: Update. [9] Zack Zwiezen of Kotaku said they were a "huge fan of Freeman’s Mind." [10]