How do you turn an everyman into an unstoppable action hero who can absorb bullet blasts like spitwads and deal more damage than should be possible? Give that man a suit of armor! But not just any armor, mind you: we're talking about power suits that have been built to boost reflexes, speed, strength, and maybe incorporate a few extra surprises under the hood. In the gaming world, only the strongest-or best-suited-will survive, which is why we've built our own list of the most iconic power armor in PC games.
The bubble-helmeted space marine armor used in StarCraft is the prototypical "big armored dude" outfit, and seems to have been heavily influenced by Warhammer's Space Marine armor. Designed mainly for protection and life support on hostile alien worlds, the basic model seems built for scaring the crap out of alien races with its formidable size. Like most power suits, it also offers some strength and speed augmentation, but the suit essentially makes the wearer a walking tank. However, it doesn't seem to do much by way of keeping the wearer from melting into goo when Banelings are bursting nearby. They're also known colloquially as "hardskins."
Crysis' Nanosuit looks like something a near-future soldier might actually wear in the field, and as such is arguably one of the most realistic suits on this list. Relatively lightweight and highly maneuverable, the suit's CryFibril fibers not only work to greatly augment the wearer's speed, strength, and damage absorption, but also lets him jump long distances and become practically invisible when cloaking mode is enabled. The catch? These extra abilities can only be triggered one at a time (or two at a time in Crysis 2) and the battery needs to recharge between uses. Additionally, the Nanosuit's visor, built-in supercomputer, and oxygen supply allows for features like night vision, data integration with the HUD to present maps and objectives, and prolonged underwater diving.
This bulky battlesuit isn't nearly as versatile as the Nanosuit, but through the sheer popularity of the Halo franchise it's become one of the most iconic armors in gaming. Its extensively padded layers and circuitry shield the augmented human inside from heavy impacts and automatically administer a medical gel to seal wounds (an auto-regeneration design choice which forever changed the first-person shooter world), while the helmet's HUD can automatically identify equipment and enemies and includes thermal and motion sensors, communications, and imaging and video gear. The suit also augments strength, speed, and leaping distance for better run-and-gun and melee fighting, not to mention being able to lift a flipped-over Warthog.
Even theoretical physicists like Gordon Freeman need a little extra help when an alien invasion hits, and the Hazardous Environment suits he wears in the Half-Life series are just the boosts Gordon needs. Stylish in black and orange, this power suit protects Gordon from injury, administers morphine for injuries, increases jumping distances, has a built-in flashlight (which famously used the same energy meter as Gordon's oxygen supply in the first game) and Geiger counter, and contains a HUD that monitors his health and manages weapons. The later model in Half-Life 2 also enhances run speed. What's weird is that the suit lacks a helmet…which means that either Gordon's head doesn't need protection or he's wearing "power glasses."
Lower-tech than some of the other suits on this list, the T-51b power armor was designed mainly for protecting infantry units in the Great War of 2077, with just enough juice and hydraulics to allow a human to carry its own bulky weight plus a few extra pounds of gear. Unlike most others, it does nothing to make the wearer move faster -- in fact, it'll slow you down a bit. The good news here is that pre-Great War weapons masters built these babies to last: each unit carries enough fuel in its microfusion pack to last for 10,000 years. After the apocalypse the T-51b became the standard-issue equipment for knights of the Brotherhood of Steel, and remained way cooler-looking than the Enclave's slightly superior bug-eyed Advanced Power Armor.
Little more than a humongous diving suit with a scary-looking drill attached to one arm, the recognizable Big Daddy "Bouncer" armor is less a suit than an extension of the wearer's body. It's been grafted onto the skin and organs of its genetically enhanced host, making him capable of surviving the underwater dystopia of Rapture even after it was overrun by mutated Splicer freaks. What it lacks in gadgets and doodads, it makes up for in practicality and menacing aesthetics -- that mechanical drill is pretty handy for breaking through walls or skewering enemies with a sudden invasive procedure, and the added bulk makes a Big Daddy an unstoppable force when charging. He's also an excellent piggy-back ride giver for Little Sisters.
The least powerful (but arguably the most iconic) entry on the list, Darth Vader's shiny black ensemble was built just to keep the guy inside alive after he suffered terrible injuries at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar. Yep, it's a mobile iron lung, retrofitted to look intimidating and make Imperial underlings crap spacebricks in fear. Despite its primary function as a way to regulate Vader's health, the suit did also provide actual physical protection, as the durasteel plating on his upper body was capable of shrugging off explosive damage and even the occasional glancing blow from a lightsaber. But you know why it's really on the list? Because it's friggin' Darth Vader, and underneath it is a guy with all the Force power he ever needs.
Though there are many different suits and upgrades that can be acquired in the latter two Dead Space games, the most iconic is the basic Engineering Resource Integration Gear that Isaac Clarke first dons. Other than basic life support functionality for extra-vehicular engineering work, the RIG offers minimal protection against damage (until upgraded), but is uniquely stylish with its ridged armor plating and distinctive horizontal glowing blue slits on the helmet. Overkill for a glorified space mechanic? Perhaps, but it's a lifesaver when you're facing off against a room of Necromorphs. Later in the various titles, it's upgraded with some better toys, like the Gravity Gun-like Kenisis module that lets Isaac manipulate things without touching them and the Stasis module that freezes time in a small area.
When Jet Bradley, the son of the original movie's Alan Bradley, is digitized onto the game grid to hunt for his kidnapped father, he shows up wearing a glowing blue power armor that makes the original TRON unitard seem downright wimpy. The suit itself doesn't appear to have any special abilities except azure illumination, but it can be upgraded with "subroutines" that decrease damage taken, increase weapons damage, increase jump heights, and reduces movement noise, along with other abilities. Jet also uses his suit's attached Identity Disc as an offensive weapon, throwing it at enemies with aplomb.
Designed with all the subtlety of a '70s-era pimpmobile, the Space Marine power armor in Warhammer 40K is, to put it mildly, a bit busy. Everything about it screams excess -- garbage can-sized shoulder guards; cloth groin sashes that cover...well, nothing save a slight metal bulge; with relics and insignias plastered anywhere there's free space. That doesn't mean that the suits aren't functional, though: the Space Marine armor acts as completely sealed environment (i.e. the wearer can survive in space), and also greatly adds to the wearer's durability and strength. StarCraft's Terran Space Marine armor owes as much to this as the Zerg owe to the Tyranids, but Blizzard deserves some credit for toning down the bling a bit.
Who wins in a fight? I'm gonna go with Vader. Vader always wins. But if I could have just one of these suits for my non-Sith Lord self, I'd probably have to go with the Nanosuit... provided it comes in green. What's your power armor pick?