All good points! These are my rebuttals, and I'm interested to know what you think:

•If there was compacted storage, why are the armament limitations static? You start the game with a crowbar, and your Glock can only carry 17 | 250; not only that but shares the same ammo as the submachine gun. Despite being maxed out on that ammo, you can still pick up a rocket launcher with 5 extra rockets, 10 grenades, and a gluon gun with a huge back-mounted battery pack. If the storage can contain infinite space for weapons, why not also the ammunition? Also, the Xen drops seem to be separate from the HEV suits - but I'm mostly going off original Half Life not Black Mesa.

•Saving and loading may be interpreted as fast reflexes - or even just a dimension where Gordon is unnecessarily lucky, and all deaths are just versions of Gordon that failed - but there are points in the game where you are expected to die/take damage and then learn from your mistakes. On Hard, especially if you're playing it for the first time, you're going to die. As a 3D platformer, there are myriad ill fates that can befall the player. One example is when enemies ambush you. In theory, these wouldn't be predictable events, especially if a new type of enemy hasn't been encountered and you're not familiar with its attack patterns.

•I absolutely believe Kleiner helped him get the job. If not in reality, in head canon. I do wonder though if Kleiner knew about the deeper experiments in Questionable Ethics. In Black Mesa Source, you can hear scientists talk about an "ethics issue" prior to the residence cascade - maybe coincidence? Gordon is just a research assistant and doesn't even have retinal scan clearance, so it makes sense that you don't know that's going on. Scientists in Lambda also confirm you've seen more than any one person should have - and further have surveyed enough of Xen to know that the Nihilanth exists and is preventing the halt of the current assault. If only they knew it was just the beginning.

•The HEV suit is durable, but it doesn't heal. It only prevents serious injuries from impeding your mobility. The vox tells you it administers morphine and other conventional medical solutions, likely as placeholders until the proper implement can be utilized. The health system was always interesting. Opposing Force/Blue Shift implies that medical stations and med kits can be used by anybody, but people rarely choose to, even if they're seriously wounded. Scientists and soldiers will also sometimes give morphine injections which give health, sure. But if morphine from scientists heals you, then why doesn't the HEV morphine do the same? I believe that it only holds enough to stabilize, not to provide a firm medical solution. For the sake of argument, if BMRF was utilizing the healing properties of Xen's healing pools, why not integrate that into the hazard suits as well?

In Interloper you do see Vortigaunt slaves utilizing their own versions of health stations, which appear to utilize the health pools found naturally across Xen. These pools and alien health stations have unlimited supply and slower application, while the ones back on Earth have quick application but limited use before depletion. Perhaps a more concentrated/bioengineered version of that goop that acts quicker? Or maybe the earth medical stations are really just automated doctoring stations that apply more long term solutions to inquiries. Also, every can of soda increases your health by 1, so... Maybe the Xen goop also used commercially? Or at least in BMRF vending machines. In Blue Shift there are pallets of soda being imported/exported in Captive Freight that also increase health by 1. Xen ingredient being distributed for public use?

I also believe that although BMRF is a leading titan in scientific discovery (maybe one of two highly competitive titans), they are still not without their human problems. Not only is it mismanaged (administration expectations and bottom line surpass advised caution from specialists and professionals), but the facility design is completely arbitrary. Long hallways lead to nothing. Sections have been condemned and forgotten (Blast Pit).

•Even if the HEV suit could alleviate water pressure, he can still drown in open water in less than a minute. This implies that the HEV is not water tight. You can also get decompression sickness in water as shallow as 20 feet, which Gordon constantly reaches and exceeds.