Do Whatever You Like in Garry’s Mod
(Rate this game! 1,963 votes, average: 4.24 out of 5)
Loading...Garry’s Mod began as an independent mod for Half-Life 2. The mod was created by Garry Newman as a more direct way to interact and play with the physics of Half-Life 2. Since its initial release the mod has gained in popularity and moved through multiple versions until it has become what it is today: a pay-ware mod distributed through Valve’s Steam client.
[Note: Check the official site for more videos.]
Sandbox Gameplay
Garry’s Mod is a sandbox game with no goals or expectations. Players are given a huge variety of objects to spawn (ranging from coffee mugs to freight trains) as well as ragdolls and a list of various ways in which to interact with these objects. For example, ropes, pulleys, welds, and different physical properties can all be applied to objects. The game is viewed from the first-person and has both single-player and multi-player modes, each offering different experiences.
Intuitive Interaction
The primary method of interacting with objects in the game world is “the physics gun.” The physics gun, a beam weapon comparable to the proton gun from the movie Ghostbusters, is an intuitive way to interact with objects, and it allows you to move and rotate objects, as well as freeze them in place with ease. This gun behaves exactly how you want it to, and once you’ve gotten used to it, its presence will seem transparent. A second gun, “the tool gun” is used to weld objects together, attach wheels and thrusters, and generally do the majority of the building process.
Garry’s Mod has enough tools and options that there’s no conceivable limit to the things you can make. Even if you run out of things to build, or want to try something different, you can always play with ragdolls, which is inherently fun. Attach them to things, pose them, throw them off of buildings, whatever you want to do with a ragdoll.
User-made Content
It will probably be a long time before you do run out of things to keep yourself occupied, as one of Garry’s Mod’s great strengths is its user expandability. Thanks to the Source SDK, anyone can make new objects, levels, items, and game modes. Garry’s Mod also features Lua scripting, so the amount of new game modes and content is nearly limitless. There are also websites where you can download content from other players. One such website is garrysmod.org. Featuring nearly 10,000 files, it’s seemingly impossible not to find something of interest. One of my personal favorites is the PHX Premium Pack which adds a ton of new spawn items and tools to help further realize your creative visions.
Multi-player
You never know exactly what you’re going to find when you join a multi-player server. From simple building games to stat-based role-playing games to watermelon racing, the experience changes drastically in the multi-player game. It can be extremely rewarding collaborating with others to build a roller coaster, or robot, or whatever else your imaginations dream up. There are, however, downsides to multi-player. First there is no real way to save the game, as there is in single-player. That alone can be a huge problem as servers crash or people leave. More annoying still are people who intentionally crash servers by spawning large objects repeatedly or destroy others’ creations with the remover gun. Many servers have object spawn limits, or Lua scripts to prevent people from interacting with each others’ objects, but this can be detrimental to creativity, when you find yourself unable to spawn enough objects to finish a machine, or unable to work together because of inability to interface your objects with another’s.
Single-Player
While the multi-player mode is a lot of fun, single-player is ultimately where the most of my time was spent. In single-player there are no real limits to what can be done, you don’t have to worry about other people messing with your things, and you can save the game whenever you want. It’s also very rewarding to spend hours building a contraption and be able to save it so you can view it later, or show it off to your friends, or even upload it to the Internet for others to play around with. And you can spend hours and hours just playing with other peoples’ save games and enjoying their hard work. It’s this freedom of play and rewarding feeling you get when you finally finish and get to share with the world that gigantic walking robot, or battle tank, or roller coaster, or whatever you can dream up, that I believe keeps people coming back for more.
(Garry’s Mod Game Screenshots)
Overall
In short, whether you play Garry’s Mod online or offline, there is never a shortage of things to do. If you can remember spending hours building with Legos, you have some idea of the sense of accomplishment that can come from building things in Garry’s Mod. Only this time you’ll be able to experience what it feels like to crash into walls in the firetruck you’ve just spent hours building, or fly through the sky in the airplane you’ve just perfected, rather than just trying to imagine yourself as the little Lego man in the cockpit.
Garry’s Mod costs $9.95 and is available to purchase through Steam.
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My name is Matthew Wegner, and this site is dedicated to physics games.
on July 14th, 2007 at 10:31 am
I only wish I had Half-Life 2, this mod and a decent rig =| .
on July 14th, 2007 at 10:37 am
I can’t believe this game has not been reviewed yet. It’s the ultimate physics game. Mark my words that within a few weeks, this game will be #1 on Fun-Motion’s Top games.
on July 14th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Oh wow, you’re just now reviewing GMod?
on July 14th, 2007 at 11:19 am
One reason I didn’t personally review Garry’s Mod earlier was because it’s so well known. An early goal of Fun-Motion was to spread the word on obscure physics titles. The new writers will be filling in a lot of the gaps from now on, though.
on July 14th, 2007 at 11:20 am
isn’t gmod 10 playable without Half-life 2?
on July 14th, 2007 at 11:46 am
Gmod 10, the bought version, is it’s own game. No HL2 is required. However,for earlier versions,9 and earlier(which are free), hl2 is needed.
on July 14th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Right you guys are! I corrected the article.
on July 14th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Hmm MoonWolf, never knew that, thanks for that, because Steam say you need at least one Steam game, and you can use Counter Strike or DoD. Maybe they´re trying to get money out of us :p!
Nah……
Anyway, I was about to put this in Suggest a Game, (I never post on the forums, only browse) but didn´t really feel the need because I knew you would have to do it.
I agree on the best prop mod being PHX though, millions of stuff that helps you build.
on July 14th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
I dont like Garrys mod.
on July 14th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
I actually heard of Gmod through Fun-Motion’s forum, since then, I fell in love with it. ^_^ It’s a REALLY fun game, and like what’s saidd before, the possibilities are ENDLESS.
on July 14th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
I heard of it through a friend and had to have it. There’s acctually a hollywood grade movie made using gmod called war of the servers,you can download it at “waroftheservers.com”
on July 14th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
casey said,
on July 14th, 2007 at 11:20 am
isn’t gmod 10 playable without Half-life 2?
Well….You need Half lfie 2 to see mostly all models. Counter strike will work but…You get a bunch of errors for models. Besides Half life 2 pwns. Anfter u play that game you will have the urge to buy Episdoe 1 then after it comes out Episdoe 2!
on July 15th, 2007 at 2:40 am
The game rules. End of story.
Also, for people into other things too, you can play Wiremod, which lets you spawn gates and basically make electronics in GMod. Like someone made a working OS, by using the CPU chip which uses Z80 Assembler.
Also, it’s already #1 in the top score list. >.>
on July 15th, 2007 at 7:51 am
Ggh, this game used to be free.
Think it’s BS that you gotta pay for it now…
on July 15th, 2007 at 8:01 am
It’s only 10 dollars and is a vast improvement over version 9
on July 15th, 2007 at 9:05 am
Garry’s Mod 9 is free. But Garry does not update any of the old versions anymore.
The big thing out now is Garry’s Mod 10. With its new LUA scripting, many more mods and gamemodes can be created using this widely expandable language.
Garry’s Mod 9 requires Half-Life: 2 to run. Although, Garry’s Mod 10 just needs one game that uses the Source engine (Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life: 2, Day of Defeat: Source).
You will not get all the content if you just have one game. Having all of those Source games allows you to spawn everything in the menu.
I would recommend getting Half-Life: 2 as the Source game, as MANY of the props used to build things are from this game. The other games, such as Counter-Strike: Source has just stuff you’d see in a average home. Things such as a plasma T.V., furniture, decorative plants, and things of that nature.
on July 15th, 2007 at 11:13 am
According to http://www.steampowered.com´s support section you can still see the HL2 models if you only have Counter Strike. It was one of the questions on it the last time I checked.
on July 15th, 2007 at 11:42 am
I already have half-life 2 & episode 1 matt I just wanted to know if it was possible, although I have to keep episode 1 at my friends house because my dvd rom drive is stuck shut, and I’m unable to change the graphics options on half-life 2 to fit my crappy computer so I don’t play them much.
on July 15th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
LOL…that suck’s…heres a tip…when your going to buy a game see if they have that game on Steam. (A game client Downloader) When you buy a game that way it cheaper becasue U have to wait download time.
And Matthew…Did you pick pout job’s yet?
on July 15th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
I just checked the FAQ on GMod 10. Apparently you can use GMod 10 with something other than HL2, (As long as it’s a Source game) and it will have all the items.
on July 15th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Ok, sorry for double post but… here’s the link to the FAQ.
http://www.garrysmod.com/faq/
on July 15th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
Yes you can…Counter Strike Source. Its $20 on steam and $30 in a store.
on July 15th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Garrysmod is kickass!
on July 15th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
This game is the best, I just logged off playing it. Have you tried Zombie survial on the official Noxiousnet server? That is the best.
on July 15th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Wow, He’s just now reviewing this awsome game? >.>
Alright the gamemodes aren’t limited to how many can be made. It’s the awsome people that are limited. :)
Yes this is ALOT like legos, Only much more possiblities.
And another thing, YOU HAVE TO HAVE A SOURCE ENGINE GAME TO PLAY ANY! GARRYS MOD! Half-life 2 is required to see the important weapons, And CS:S for most of the models. No Steam isnt doing this becuase they want money, THEY ARE DOING IT SO YOU CAN HAVE FUN ON GMOD!
Do not be fooled.
on July 15th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
I’ve been playing Garrysmod for a couple of years, and I really suggest that you people buy it! I love it and it kicks arse! do it… do it… :)
on July 15th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
It is an awesome game. The only way you couldn’t like garrys mod is if you didn’t have an imagination or just didn’t really give it a chance. It is still my most favorite game since i discovered it last december. I play it a lot and often and I can’t even express how good of a game it is. The only way you could do that is if you played it yourself.
on July 16th, 2007 at 4:52 am
GMod is really awesome, I have 10 since December and I play it regularily.
It’d be really awesome if its forums weren’t fiddled with unfriendly assholes and stupid 4chan memes.
on July 16th, 2007 at 5:32 am
I wouldn’t really call Garry’s Mod a sandbox game. It is more like a full playground. The different gamemodes allow for far more variety than you get from your typical sandbox.
on July 16th, 2007 at 6:11 am
@Tankmaster: So if you wanna see the HL2 weapons then you need HL2?
Does somebody here only have CS:S and has the game as well? I want to hear it straight from the horses mouth.
on July 16th, 2007 at 6:13 am
Correction: You DO need Half-Life 2 / Counter-Strike: Source or Day of Defeat: Source.
http://steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=game&AppId=4000
“This game requires that you own a Source engine game such as Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life 2, or Day of Defeat: Source. Click here for a full list of games that meet this requirement.”
on July 16th, 2007 at 6:53 am
A friend of me has only CS:S and GMod 10, I haven’t tried its game but he says that it sucks. You have to use CS:S SWEPs always, and there aren’t many good props to mess with. The maps are good though. So definitely I’d recommend getting at least HL2.
Well, if it sucks only with CS:S what about DoD:S?
on July 16th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
I need Half life 2, some spare change AND a overclocked PC to enjoy this game. Oh well, still looks like fun.
Games For Windows reviewed it and gave it a 8/10.
on July 16th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Kurrus, your friend is stupid, and he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, HL2, and CS:S props rule in Gmod, and DoD props rule also, you can goto http://www.garrysmod.org and get different maps, models, and otherthing for Gmod, and it’s a really fun game.
on July 16th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
So… I don’t need HL2 to see HL2 Props?
on July 18th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
No becasue Countstrike Source Uses those props and so does DODS (Day of Defeat source) But to see the Half life 2 Episode 1 Props you need Episode 1. And same when Half life Episode 2 comes out!
on July 18th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
I just bought HL2 yesterday, and grabbed GMod 9. I may never need another physics game. :D (until I buy GMod 10, that is)
on July 19th, 2007 at 9:04 am
I just bought Counter-Strike: Source and Garry’s Mod yesterday. Best 25 bucks I’ve ever spent.
on July 23rd, 2007 at 12:59 am
If you’re into the source engine, get this. Now.
As for the sandbox part of the game, I’d recommend getting into
Second Life, since it’s like a gigantic sandbox with physics, a 3D modeling system, real-time texture uploading, everything is user-created.
I kindof like the HL2 part of Gmod tho, It’s like exploring the possibilities of the source engine :S
on July 23rd, 2007 at 7:42 am
Dude, what is the name of the song? :P
on July 23rd, 2007 at 5:03 pm
Song is:
The Flashbang – Our Furry Past Life
on July 24th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Don’t you mean the flashBULB? ^^
on July 24th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Whoops, yup. “The Flashbulb” is correct. I type Flashbang way too much for work…
on July 25th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Haha, yeah I can Imagine that :P
on July 31st, 2007 at 2:19 am
Gmod is definatly worth your time. Make sure you get PHX, PHXtended, smartsnap, nocollide multi and Wiremod SVN. I find myself using……no default props myself, all my creations are wire and PHX. It’s still awesome without, dont get me wrong, but those mods just quadruple the fun and replayability.
on August 20th, 2007 at 10:08 am
To play gmod properly, you REALLY need adv.duplicator, although i think its already in 10. Type it in in garrysmod.org for ships, cars, destructo-bots, traps, tanks and everything else that can be built!
on August 24th, 2007 at 7:20 am
Hey guys, I just got the game and let me answer a question that I had that other people had been asking.
Q: If I get GMod with CS:S will it have the props from HL2?
A: Yes, it will. You will also have the scenes, props, and maps from CS:S.
on September 3rd, 2007 at 9:24 am
THIS GAME KICKS ARSE!! It has to be the best game i ever played, and that i ever paid for! I once made a giant robot octopus, and challenged a giant robot. And a group we formed fought a thousand combine and 23 players, we kicked their ass with the redeemer (nuke). SO BUY IT NOW!!!!
on September 3rd, 2007 at 9:27 am
get everything to do with phx, get the adv. duplicator, and any 2 extra models. Phx to help you build, adv. duplicator to SAVE YOUR INVENTIONS ON MULTIPLAYER, and extra models for posing on single player. maybe the grim reaper. lol.
on February 27th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
I am a huge Gmod fan , and absoloutely crave it.
Wire Mod is another mod for Gmod ( Mod for a mod ) Which allows the ability of Logic ( expressions , arith , range , trig etc. ) and with various inputs and outputs ( Button , ranger , screens , graphics tablets etc. etc. )
If you own HL2 then GMOD 10 Is a must-buy
on August 10th, 2009 at 6:50 am
Dah…i know a game that beats this, it will soon be on this website, and it will shoot to #1