Physgun

The Physgun, or Physics Gun, is a weapon cut from Half-Life 2. It can be found in the playable Half-Life 2 Beta. It is the predecessor to the Gravity Gun.

Overview



 * The Physgun model is very similar to that of the Gravity Gun. The differences are some texture variations, a red wheel turning when operating in the place of the orange (or blue) glowing parts of the end of the Gravity Gun, and a beige pipe above. The gauge is very similar, and is held with the same tape in both weapons. The pincers are quite different, and simpler.


 * Using its blue beam, the Physgun is useful when the player is unable to reach objects too far to be taken with the Gravity Gun, acting as a long range version of the latter.


 * While holding the primary fire and the Use key, the mouse scroll button can bring the target towards and away from the player.


 * When holding an object, its weight in pounds and kilos is shown.


 * The version of its model is v35, which needs to be converted to v37 appear.


 * The Physgun's beam is also able to kill enemies and allies. It will also push Antlions extremely far.




 * The Physgun's secondary fire (with a red beam) produces a Sticky Bomb-like ball (as it is the same model) that the player can use to "weld" two props together, when throwing a ball on each prop (the balls need to touch each other for the welding to work). When two props are weld together, using the primary fire on one of them will have the ball of the other produce sparks. The ball(s) of a prop will also change its color when the prop is selected. Gameplay wise, this option is very unstable and difficult to use efficiently. Sometimes the red beam will change and attach the prop to the ground after a few seconds. When the attachment is achieved, a flare sound also used by the Flare Gun and the IRifle will be heard. This feature is reminiscent of what can be achieved in Garry's Mod, and hints at a possible sandbox physics feature (even multiplayer) removed from the Half-Life. Indeed, in the playable Half-Life 2 Beta, the Physgun is able to perform simple to complex physics contraptions similar to those featured in Garry's Mod, and without making changes to the game settings. The WC mappack map " " for instance is a sandbox map that the team apparently used for playing with the Physgun. Furthermore, two canister models, "W_WeldTank.mdl" and "W_WeldTank2.mdl", were apparently designed only to be weld to specific objects and make it fly away when ignited, as they contain volatile gas. They we removed from the retail files, hinting at their purpose being nil in the final game.

Trivia

 * The Physgun was first shown to the public at E3 2003.


 * The Physgun has no worldmodel.


 * It is featured in popular mods such as Garry's Mod and SMOD. Its functions remain the same except that it is able to freeze objects. Another Garry's Mod feature is the ability to rotate objects.


 * In the Half-Life 2 files, several texture files for HUD weapon icons can be found, most of which still containing the icons for almost all of the cut weapons. The Physgun is among them.

List of appearances

 * Half-Life 2
 * Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar