Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

Research and Development is a puzzle-centric mod for Half-Life 2: Episode Two featuring an unarmed player but plenty of violent mayhem.

The player has NO weapons and there is no shooting at all. However that doesn’t mean you can’t kill things, but 95% of the mod is about solving the puzzles that are presented to you in a very natural way.

Basic Details
  • Title: Research and Development
  • File Name: hl2-ep2-sp-research-and-development.rar
  • Size : 66.27Mb
  • Author: Marcello Bortolino
  • Date Released: 17 July 2009
PlanetPhillip Download Servers
Installation Instructions
  • Copy the Research and Development folder into your SourceMods folder.
  • Restart or start Steam.
  • Research and Development should now be listed in your Library tab.

If you require help please visit the How To.. guide.

Panoramic View

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3
Please Note: Panoramic images only are available in full screen mode. You can either open one by clicking the image link above or by saving it to your computer and then opening it locally.

How to use: Once the image is open and your cursor is on the image, press and hold your left mouse button and move around the image. Use your mouse wheel to scroll in and out of the panoramic image.

Video Playthroughs

Below is a series of 10 “Let’s Play” videos by sharktamer. At the end of the first video there is a complete list.

Screenshots

Click on the thumbnails below to open a 800 pixel wide image.
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.

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Reader Recommendations
66 recommendations, average score: 4.91 (out of 5), standard deviation: 0.17
Total Downloads

Please note: These statistics are valid from December 2010

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Please Note
This mod is NOT suitable for use with MapTap
Published

18th July 2009

Categories

Half-Life 2: Ep2 HL2-EP2 Mods Single Player Mods and Maps

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133 Comments
  1. planetphillip

    18th July 2009

    Phillip's Favourite

    Some mods should be reviewed and this is one of them. It shouldn’t be reviewed simply because it should be played. You may get a little frustrated with some of the puzzles but they are all quite simple really. Heck, I beat it without any help, so that means you sure can.

    Visuals
    Beautiful, no other word for it. Areas are detailed but I had no performance issues at all. The indoors areas seemed to be well light and outdoors was just perfect.

    Gameplay
    Puzzles, obviously, but they are a lot more involved than what you are used to. The great thing about them is that they are perfectly suited to the environment. I don’t want to spoil anything for you but there is a great one with a fuse. So simple AFTER you see it, you wonder why nobody did it before (maybe they did, I just don’t remember).

    Layout/Design
    This is a masterclass in small areas made to feel very large. I specifically remember playing for 15 minutes and coming back to almost the same point, but across a fence and thinking “IS this all I’ve travelled?” (In a positive sense!)

    The Negatives
    There are some bad things, little bugs like trucks you can walk through and minor points like that, but considering the size that’s understandable, even with a fairly large beta team.

    However, I felt some puzzles were repeated too much, especially the pipe ones. Of course, it’s easy for me to complain when all I can do is make some simple walls etc, but they just felt like fillers.

    Summary
    Can’t wait for the mappers on PP to start discussing this because their view will be particularly interesting to. Clearly, one of the best mods ever made, even if I wish there were some actual shooting.

    I might even replay this on a cold and dark winter night, looking for all the stuff I am sure I missed.

    5 Words Or Less Review

    Superb, amazing, creative and riveting!

    Reply
  2. civanT

    18th July 2009

    Personal Favourite

    Best Half Life 2 mod ever.

    Valve can learn something from this mod.

    Visually amazing. Gameplay is nearly perfect and so much fun. All new puzzle and gameplay mechanics makes you feel you are playing something entirely new.

    This is the mod we all were waiting for.

    Recommended to all HL2 players.

    PS: crosshair 1

    Reply
  3. ~Jazz~

    19th July 2009

    Personal Favourite

    Before I start, there was an updated version of the mod put out on there moddb, I suggest you get it if your having problems with some of the puzzles.. It’s also in a handy Installer for people who don’ t know how to open ZIPS. Moving on,

    I did want to write a review, but seeing as Phillip beat me too it. I said to myself “Skip it” The mod has professionally done mapping, interesting puzzles that will have your head scratching for a bit, And is totally worth the re-play value.. hell I even took out my stopwatch to see how fast I can complete it like portals.. Play it now! you won’t forget it!

    Reply
  4. Jasper

    19th July 2009

    Personal Favourite

    At long last the best mod ever has reached us. I had already downloaded from eleswhere and played three times before the posting here and commented:
    ‘Brilliant, intelligent, hugely imaginative and great game play.
    Normally I dislike puzzle mods but this works – big time.
    From controling an antlion to fighting combine to herding antlion guards(!) to knocking a Strider on the head – literally – in the most innovative ways.
    With a scrapheap (junkyard) challenge thrown in for good measure.
    Superb,Bortolino,the best mod of all time – the best game of all time?
    There is no order of Supreme Merit that is worthy enough of awarding to this masterpiece.’
    Nothing is overdone – it is hard. Yes some things are repeated but only as training for the much harder parts of the mod and definitely not ‘fillers’.
    The fuse puzzle is but a variant of a fairground game – there many and much better ones – keen observation and sound logic required.
    The tag ‘non-combat’ is wrong, wrong wrong.
    There is plenty of combat. You will find out. Eg take out 2 helicopters and a gunship and a a Strider – just examples.
    It is this simple: It is a puzzle mod but the puzzles are mature (ref the infantile ‘very hard mod’).
    It is a combat mod.
    Meanwhile, I have a days work to catch up else the cat won’t get fed.

    Reply
    • Jasper

      19th July 2009

      Sorry, forgot.
      The first HOF worthy of awarding this year – the jury is still out on SM.

      Reply
  5. Kyouryuu

    19th July 2009

    Play It Now!

    It’s great, but far from perfect. As far as “best mod ever” goes, when I put this up against something like Minerva, it’s like comparing apples and oranges. One mod is puzzle-centric, focusing on creating interesting and original scenarios without firing a shot. The other is trying to present a new experience within the familiar gameplay mechanics of the core game.

    R&D is filled with novel ideas that will surely find their way into other mods. Throughout its roughly 2-3 hour run time, it never runs out of new things to do. Just when one mechanic loses steam, another one takes its place.

    The visuals are uniformly excellent, no two ways about it. This is Valve-quality stuff. In many mods of this length, you can tell where the author spent the most time detailing an area. Here, it’s consistent the whole way through. Sound is also used very well as a key to various puzzles. Music is placed skillfully to ramp up the intensity.

    The mod also has a handful of great spots where you are forced to MacGuyver yourself some weapons. These are truly creative moments, hunting for the right parts and assembling them into your tool of destruction. Many games, let alone mods, have tried and failed to create these types of mechanics. To see it done so seamlessly and effortlessly here is a treat.

    So why not a “Personal Favorite” then?

    While most things about the mod are fantastic, there are enough frustrating parts that would deter me from wanting to play it again. In general, it comes down to the author showing some restraint and knowing when “enough is enough.” When using a new gameplay mechanic, it’s common to add layers of complexity on top of it. But you have to know when there’s enough too. Whether it’s the incessant and frustrating grenades on the train ride, the battle with the hard-to-hit gunship, the fuse box puzzle, or the way your car would seem to break down at certain inopportune moments, it just felt excessive.

    That said, it’s very much a mod worth playing and a solid contender for the PP mod of the year. It succeeds in blowing almost everything else released this year out of the water.

    Reply
  6. Kasperg

    19th July 2009

    I’m stuck in the room seen in screenshot number 22. Most of the puzzles so far have been fun and rewarding, but if this is the tone of what’s to come, I’ll probably quit very soon. I do not live inside the author’s head and unintuitive puzzles aren’t my thing.
    I see numbers and colors, but the color sequence doesn’t activate the machine. Using the numbers in order instead of the colors doesn’t have any effect either. Any suggestions?

    Reply
    • enablerbr

      19th July 2009

      did you break open the box with the padlock on it? that has the combination.

      Reply
      • Kasperg

        19th July 2009

        Yes, I opened it. But what I found inside wasn’t an intuitive combination.
        Green + Blue + Yellow + Red is what I found inside, which didn’t work in the keypad. Changing the order to numerical to account for the twisting of the wires (Blue + Red + Yellow + Green) didn’t work either.
        Unless there’s a hidden key for a no-color input, it certainly isn’t something easy or logical.

        Reply
        • Jasper

          19th July 2009

          The box shows you which colours match which numbers.
          Make a note!
          Then at the panel read the colurs left to right and key the numbers in that sequence.
          You will have to do this once more later.

          Reply
          • Kasperg

            19th July 2009

            Thanks, I finally understood what it was asking.
            As beautiful as this mod is, I’m going to pass. Every single explosive barrel I’ve met in the HL2 universe could be picked up until I reached the room with the balancing platform. If the basic rules of HL2 have to be twisted and corrupted in order for these puzzles to work, I say no thanks.
            This is a prime example of how a convincing set of scenarios can be potentially ruined by forced situations and logic-defying elements. A pity because the first few puzzles seemed to be integrated into the maps. It’s the other way around I don’t like.

            Reply
            • Jasper

              19th July 2009

              That’s a great pity. You are one of the commentators I value and read. Some barrels can be moved, the others are stuck down for a purpose. The mod improves as it progresses.
              The train ride is from hell.

              Reply
              • Kasperg

                19th July 2009

                I’ll try again when I’m in a better mood then. There were some interesting things design-wise I wrote down which I do want to put into a little review. :)

                Reply
                • enablerbr

                  19th July 2009

                  i thought the colour equals number was very straight forward and simple. the only prolem i had with that puzzle was me trying to find where the numbers were in the 1st place.

                  i somehow thought the microwave was linked to the padlock box. i felt so stupid when all i had to do was pick up a brick and hit it. :)

                  Reply
                  • Archaic

                    21st July 2009

                    can you give me screenshots of where you were looking to press the correct buttons in the second puzzle.

                    im having a real hard time pressing the right button.

                    im about to try to find and kill this guy for not putting a hud on the damn thing.

                    Reply
  7. MikeS

    19th July 2009

    If ever a mod needed a walkthough it’s this one. I can’t tell if I’m stuck through my own stupidity or whether I’m encountering a bug.

    Reply
    • civanT

      19th July 2009

      Considering this is an “Adventure” game, not an action game, yes this mod needs a walkthrough. All adventure games have one. Also believe me, it’s not the bugs. Try some adventure games and you’ll understand.

      Reply
  8. Len

    19th July 2009

    Play It Now!

    Enormously fun, despite the odd bug. More from this author, please!

    Reply
  9. grabbie

    19th July 2009

    Personal Favourite

    I loved this mod. Some of the puzzles made me stop and think about what needed to be done even if I was staring at the solution the whole time. This mod was a nice change of pace. I did notice the odd bugs esp the truck you can walk right through that was mentioned.

    There was one puzzle that I thought could have used two ways to solve. Spoiler ahead: If you look at pic 69-70, the ladder breaks forcing you to go around. When you get to the door at the new top, the electricity killed me. My first thought was to go back down and climb up the ladder in pic 69. The water is high enough for you to use it but you simply can’t. You should be able to use both ways to get around since the ladder/door led you to the exact same spot. End Spoiler

    Reply
    • Kyouryuu

      19th July 2009

      I agree with that. There was a lot of back-and-forth with that ladder. It’s clearly within reach, but you can’t interact with it. At first I thought there was something wrong with the mod, but then I went back and realized I had to destroy every last pipe – I missed a couple – and then it turns out you don’t use the ladder at all.

      I’d prefer the ladder completely breakaway if we were never intended to use it!

      Reply
  10. Ixon

    19th July 2009

    In the second map whenever i break the green cube with zombie,the game crashes.Did any1 other than me expirience this bug?

    Reply
  11. Francesco Poli

    19th July 2009

    Maybe?

    I’d love nothing more than a great puzzle mod, but the more I play the ones available, the less impressed I am. Clever puzzles only work when they’re well presented and the solution is not just clever but also reliable. R&D has many poorly presented puzzles with unreliable, glitchy solutions.

    While not as bad as Portal Prelude or The Trap, it’s damn time mod developers understood that it’s no fun whatsoever to just randomly mess around with stuff until you stumble upon the puzzle – let alone the solution! It’s even less fun when the solution presents itself, but is difficult to pull off not because of any skill required (but why do I need arcadelike reflexes in a puzzle game? Wasn’t this about using your brain rather than twitch reflexes?), but because of unreliable programming.

    Chapter 4′s final fuse puzzle requires pixel-perfect navigation in an extremely glitchy environment, with very bad collision detection. Thank God for quicksave, or I’d have noclipped through that door but fast! And right afterwards, a crane puzzle that was just frustrating, with no hint or semblance of hint to what to do. Then it was followed by one of the glitchiest puzzles I have ever seen, where the solution seems to be random jumps and gravity pushes, hoping to get to the other side of this pushy floor.

    What about the turrets in Chapter 3? You can easily disarm them with the Gravity Gun, but then an invisible force kills you when you walk in front of where they were, because You Didn’t Do It The Right Way. Are you kidding me?

    But possibly the clearest example of undertesting is the horribly broken button pushing interface right on the second level. This was fixed in a later release, although it’s still not fully reliable, but how could such a significant problem even make it out of pre-alpha testing? It is IMPOSSIBLE, I repeat, IMPOSSIBLE to beat that puzzle without the new interface. (Which required me to restart the game. And chapters don’t even unlock, another old HL2 bug that this mod, like several others, seem to carry over. Thanks a lot!) There is no rhyme nor reason to pressing those buttons without the indicator hand, and even knowing the solution it is impossible to input it.

    That such an issue made it out of alpha, let alone beta, further proves that testing on this mod wasn’t half as stringent as it should’ve been. It’s too bad, because there is plenty of cool action and interesting situations in there! Maybe a sequel…

    PS: while it’s cool to build your very own vehicle of mass destruction (although all you really do is follow strict instructions with no room for improvisation), it’d be a ton more fun if it didn’t handle like a greased pinball on ice.

    Reply
    • civanT

      19th July 2009

      You are wrong, big time. This mod is not broken or unfinished at all. I’m suspecting that there is a problem with your computer, because there is no other explanation. I didn’t see anything that didn’t work or stuck or even hard to do in the mod, let alone using cheats. Only wrong thing was that there was no crosshair while using keypad, but I simply typed “crosshair 1″ to console and the problem is solved.

      I don’t know why you don’t like reflex based puzzle games but it’s not like every game is same. This was reflex based and considering it was HL2 mod, that was pretty predictable.

      Anyway, you have your right to don’t like it, but I don’t find your reasons believable.

      Reply
      • Kyouryuu

        19th July 2009

        I have to agree with the fusebox puzzle’s poor collision detection though. The boundaries of what will destroy your fuse seem to extend well beyond the walls. I found it was important to stand in a particular place to do the puzzle as well, as shown in Phillip’s screenshot, because when you initially grab the fuse, it seems like you have to push it up against something to orient it with your Gravity Gun and it’s something you just can’t do if you’re standing next to the puzzle.

        Either way, it’s far too meticulous and it felt like I was playing a difficult game of Operation. My chief complaint with the mod is the excessive difficulty in some of its design and this is the foremost example of it. Did they really need to have the fuse vanish when you touched the edge? Did someone think that would be fun?

        Reply
    • Jasper

      20th July 2009

      A rant monstrously unfair to the author. It seems to me that this mod is not for you.
      Just be honest and say so and move on.
      If you do not get it right, the mod does not allow you to proceed – quite right and important for this mod.
      You and a very few others, here and elsewhere. whine about the fuse box puzzle – yes you need to be in the right position and then it is a doddle to do.
      The hardest bit was the train ride from hell, great fun when accomplished with a vast sense of achievement.
      It is beyond belief that you are unable to simply state that this mod is not for you and just give one or two stars and have done.

      Reply
      • Kyouryuu

        20th July 2009

        The overarching problem with the train ride, and don’t forget I gave this a “Play it Now,” is that there’s too much chaos in its design.

        If a mod or a game is meant to be hard, the player has to be able to learn something from their failures. That little morsel of information needed to get past the situation on the next go-around. The premise being that if a player essentially repeats what they did before, but makes a minor tweak to avoid what killed them, they’ll be just fine.

        Mostly because of the naturally random nature of the grenades, I felt my passage of that segment was based more on luck than skill, which isn’t a desirable trait to me.

        Reply
        • Archaic

          22nd July 2009

          really? for the most part you just sit there and the grenades miss.

          toss the zombines’ back at them and ignore the soldiers’ thrown ones.

          …and adopt a luxguard sheet, it’ll save you from the sniper.

          Reply
  12. Bluncheonmeat

    19th July 2009

    Personal Favourite

    I went in expecting a somewhat good mod, but came out having played one of the best (if not the best) sp mods I’ve ever seen. People like to compare this to Minerva, but they are really in two different genres. The design quality of both mods are top notch, but if I were to compare, I honestly could say this was more fun. When I was playing my first run through, I simply could not believe my eyes. You can only imagine the creativity that went into making this mod. There were quite a number of pleasant surprises throughout the whole game. What made this great for me was the little little details that were put into everything.

    Even from a design perspective, this is quite impressive. Lots of custom content. I can image how many of the puzzles were created, but many evidently took a lot of skill to pull off. Of course there may be a number of bugs (though the only one I encountered in my play through was the frustrating buttons), but it should be expected in a mod of this complexity with a one man design team.

    Overall, this is a superior mod and everyone should at least give it a try.

    Reply
  13. lalabox

    20th July 2009

    This was really great.

    Though one thing that was absolutely infuriating was that without crosshairs, I found it almost impossible to press the right button or pull the right switch much of the time. Which, if you’ve played it, you will agree that that can be quite vital.

    Reply
    • Jasper

      20th July 2009

      Yup, that is a serious fault. If you know how to use the console then crosshair 1. Others have alluded to this

      Reply
    • Berrie

      20th July 2009

      It’s been fixed in the latest version.

      Reply
  14. tattie

    20th July 2009

    Personal Favourite

    Bladdy hell, this was hard but I enjoyed every minute of it!

    Reply
  15. Zeeek

    20th July 2009

    Play It Now!

    Whatever the issues listed in the previous posts this is still an outstanding piece of work for which the author should be congatulated. I’d rather see some guiding/suggesting comments than people tearing at the issues – remember this is unpaid work. My thanks to the author anway for a very entertaining piece of work.

    Reply
  16. Da Fat Cat

    20th July 2009

    Personal Favourite

    Best mod ever.

    Reply
  17. planetphillip

    21st July 2009

    I’ve added video walkthroughs links to the main post, just under the panoramic.

    Reply
  18. imadestroyer

    21st July 2009

    Personal Favourite

    This is easily the best mod of 2009. Beautiful.

    Reply
  19. Brian

    21st July 2009

    Anyone have a problem dismounting from Mr. Whirly? I can part way but after jumping the truck trailer I can’t. I think it’s my setup as I had the same problem with that mod with the magnetic crane. Any ideas? I let steam check all the cache files, didn’t help. Thanks, Brian

    Reply
    • Kyouryuu

      22nd July 2009

      I certainly had problems getting forcefully ejected from the car and being unable to get back in. Sometimes the vehicle has a mind of its own – it keeps moving and breaking through things even after you’ve left it.

      Sadly, it’s not the most graceful custom vehicle out there.

      Reply
    • geekofalltrades

      23rd July 2009

      I’m having this exact same issue, and it’s preventing me from proceeding any further. Anyone have any ideas?

      Reply
  20. Clunkfish

    22nd July 2009

    Personal Favourite

    Pure class. Inventive, innovative, funny, exciting, immersive, visually fantastic. This is professional quality stuff and the author deserves the very highest praise. This one’s in my personal Hall of Fame!

    Reply
  21. Anon-00035

    22nd July 2009

    Play It Now!

    Best way to describe this would be, Half-Life 2, but instead of playing as Gordon Freeman, you’re playing as MacGuyver. Invent your way out of hazardous situations. Use lab and factory equipment to explosive ends. Suprise the heavily armed baddies with pure ingenuity.

    A great premise pulled off with the skill and tenacity of a master craftsman. Bravo!!

    Reply
  22. Anonymous

    22nd July 2009

    This was a very good mod that lasted quite a while (a rarity among most of the custom SP mods I’ve played recently. However a few slight annoyances that irked me (Spoilers ahead).

    I’m playing the version off moddb so when you mouseover one of the buttons for the keypad a “hand” icon pops up, to me at least this implied that I should be clicking the buttons not pressing use on them (the crosshair was also up which is enough and would not have led to me thinking the wrong thing).

    In a similar vein the second keypad used the same color coding as the first leading me to not initially looking for the second wiring “diagram”. This could easily be solved by changing the colors on it.

    To those that had problems with the train section it seemed fairly straight forward once you knew where the enemies were spawned. Watch for grenades coming to you gravity gun grab em and then toss em away. Not too bad.

    Reply
    • planetphillip

      22nd July 2009

      I’m playing the version off moddb so when you mouseover one of the buttons for the keypad a “hand” icon pops up
      That’s the same version as available here. That’s why I didn’t post this mod as early as some sites because the author suggested I wait for the updated version, which I did.

      I believe that some commenters here are using their experiences with the earlier version to review it.

      Reply
  23. Archaic

    22nd July 2009

    Personal Favourite

    Let me start off by saying, this felt enormously like half-life without the gun fighting.

    having said that, know that R&D transcends its shooter roots and is a full fledged adventure game, right down to the bosses whom require some ingenuity to defeat.

    each level is denoted with a custom graphic near the beginning, followed by puzzles and “combat” following the theme implied by the title.

    solving the puzzles is rewarding, and mis-solving some can be entertaining as well.

    other than some small bugs, the only part that irritated me was the un-intuitive second keypad [the shovel points to the solution].

    if this guy and adam foster worked together on a project, nothing would be fun anymore.

    closing comments:

    play it now or forever hold your peace.

    Reply
  24. Davie

    23rd July 2009

    Personal Favourite

    This mod was simply amazing. The environment was very detailed, and the whole thing looked like it could easily be part of HL2 Episode 2. The puzzles were very clever and with a little logical thinking, not too difficult to solve. Admittedly, a little gunplay would have been nice, but the general quality of the mod easily makes up for it. R & D does things no other mod or even Valve has done before, making it certainly the most innovative mod released. It does things in a new and different way than the usual HL2 gameplay. Any Half-Life fan should play this immediately.
    Also, it has the most badass boss fight ever. XD

    Reply
  25. MonoLife

    23rd July 2009

    Play It Now!

    Super mod!
    Very much it was pleasant to me.

    Reply
  26. geekofalltrades

    23rd July 2009

    Personal Favourite - revised

    haHA! I discovered a solution! If you’re experiencing the bug where you can’t get out of the Eviscerator, just open up your console and type:

    ent_fire ui deactivate

    (When you want to get out.) With that, I was able to finally finish, and I must say that while some of the puzzles are just *barely* frustrating enough to warrant less than 100% (I gave this mod 9/10 over on moddb), it’s still one of my all-time favorites. Most of the puzzles solve intuitively and satisfyingly. The mod has a great sense of humor, too!

    Reply
    • Brian

      23rd July 2009

      Personal Favourite

      Thanks so much Geek! That works for me!!!! This is the best mod I ever played!

      Reply
  27. Jasper

    23rd July 2009

    I never had the problem of getting out of Mr. Whirly.
    E (or your bound Use key) then turn away from the front then Jump with Forward. Sometimes I had to back off and then jump to get out.
    Mr. Whirly went nowhere without me, so this should work just fine.

    Reply
  28. tungsten

    24th July 2009

    this mod has kept me amused for days so difficult but rewarding the best thing since half life came to life in the nineties,i never thought i would enjoy a mod without weapons just your brains fantastic

    Reply
  29. Jeff

    24th July 2009

    Play It Now!

    A horribly inventive mod that always kept me entertained up until it frustrated the hell out of me.
    A few new mechanics here were pretty much impossible for me to discover on my own (breaking pipes and knocking out ceiling tiles ) and required using a video walkthrough. Valve would have found a magical way to demonstrate these behaviors before your life or progress depended on them.

    So, believe all the hype, but be prepared to feel a little stupid in places until you figure out the tricks.

    Reply
    • imadestroyer

      26th July 2009

      You didn’t notice the steam coming out of the pipes in the weak spots? I didn’t have any trouble figuring this out on my own. It was just subtle enough to not be obvious.

      Reply
  30. Woja

    25th July 2009

    Personal Favourite

    Quite simply the most innovative and enjoyable mod I’ve yet had the pleasure to play!

    Reply
  31. Dan Silvester

    25th July 2009

    Personal Favourite

    This is my fave mod of 2009. As said the enviroments are very detailed and ooze proffesionalism; this guy is a natural.
    Add maybe a little gun play into the fold and you just get the perfect game!

    Utterly fantastic.

    Reply
  32. Ratzoid

    26th July 2009

    Anybody have a problem steering the Evisorator whilygig thingy? I can only turn in one direction… Any ideas? Great mod still.

    Reply
  33. Ratzoid

    26th July 2009

    What a DINGBAT I am , I had forgotten that I had bound my turning keys to other than default. God, what an idiot All the way to the last part. Oh well, I’ll probably play it again.

    Reply
  34. Chris Fox

    26th July 2009

    Personal Favourite

    Perhaps the best mod I’ve ever seen.

    I like non-combative mods to begin with, so this is right up my street. I expected it to be quite impressive just from the screenshots, but I really wasn’t prepared for just how awesome it really is.

    Everything is remarkably well presented and I don’t feel qualified to give the looks any criticism at all. The attention to detail is very good everywhere. Everything seems in the right scale, and all the environments are very believable as well as pretty. The lighting is great. The sound is great. Everything is great. I think it looks professional!

    I did not experience any real bugs while playing, which given the complexity of the puzzles coupled with how much I like to f**k about while playing, is just incredible.

    I did end up in a couple of death-loops though, due to a strange auto-save point on the traintrack section. But that was the only problem I had.

    A couple of the puzzles have odd elements (like not being able to pick up certain objects until a certain time) but considering the design of the puzzles, I completely understand why it is done this way from a technical point of view.

    Many of the sections of this mod are simply inspired, like the whirlygig which is an outstanding achievement, and the varied puzzles which mostly always manage to remain interesting and fun. It was nice being able to battle the enemy without doing any shooting myself. And it’s nice to see some genuinely creative gameplay ideas.

    The best mod I’ve played this year so far, and by a long way.

    Reply
  35. irondragons

    26th July 2009

    Personal Favourite

    [spoilers]God darn. This mod is incredible.

    I just love the way this mod is really sophisticated for the first few maps and then suddenly plunges into complete obscurity/craziness in the last 2 maps. It almost feels as though the author went crazy as he drew to the end of making this mod.

    And I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard at a game since the first time I played Max Payne. Soaring through the air on a metal walkway was probably one of the best moments of my life. Fighting 3 antlion kings off with a propeller is a close second.

    I thoroughly recommend this mod. It’s got pace and it’s also got craziness. It’s innovative and flowy. It’s Ingenius and quirky. I could go on.

    What really boggles my mind is how fun this mod really is but how refined it is at the same time. Usually the most fun I’d have from mods is just those ‘so bad it’s brilliant’ mods like Zombie Master for example, but this mod is something else. It isn’t ‘so bad it’s brilliant’ in terms of fun, it’s ‘so good it’s absolutely incredible’ in terms of fun.

    Conclusion : Probably the best 3rd party puzzle mod ever, if not one of my favourite source mods.

    Reply
  36. slurm23

    28th July 2009

    Personal Favourite

    I can only join those, who claim this to be the best mod for HL2 up until now… The gameplay is smooth, the puzzles are challenging, yet still fair and the level design is gorgeous. This mod is at least as original as Portal was and it could have easily been an official Valve release!

    While playing R&D, I couldn’t stop wondering if this is not the ‘real’ continuation of those classic point and click adventures, that I loved so much a decade ago… It somehow has the same ‘feel’ to it, even though it’s obviously more of a genuine FPS – only without the weapons ;-)

    Reply
  37. mlabird

    28th July 2009

    Personal Favourite

    Mr. Whirly was fanstastic! Very much fun! Now just let me shoot a few headcrabs and it would be perfect. nearly there now. Great Job!

    Reply
  38. andyb

    29th July 2009

    Personal Favourite

    Very cool mod.Very difficult at times and easy at other times.Sometimes things went a bit fast where you have difficulty thinking far enough ahead so you dont die but its all possible.

    Reply
  39. Phil Bolton

    29th July 2009

    Play It Now!

    Asolutely splendid!!!

    Too many things to say! Speechless, I am!

    Reply
  40. Gypsy Jim

    31st July 2009

    Personal Favourite

    Has their ever been another Mod that has had so many “Personal Favourite” recommendations?? I can’t think of any.I’d try to add my review, but it’s all been said.Truly a Mod of beauty, fun, humour, challenge, and entertainment. If this is really a one-person effort, then Valve ought to be knocking on the door any day now…….Simply brilliant.

    Reply
  41. lefthome

    1st August 2009

    Personal Favourite

    Definitely up there on the list of all time best mods. In my top 5 for sure. Inventive beyond words. Valve needs to contact these people. Visually beautiful as well.

    The only part I found frustrating was that gunship battle… but I always hate working under pressure like that.

    It felt very rewarding to figure out most of these puzzles and witness the chaos and destruction you unleash.

    Mr. Whirly is an all time classic that I would love to see more of.

    GOOD WORK!

    Reply
  42. Esswok

    1st August 2009

    well this is a first for me

    I can’t get through the first screen

    I have never asked I guess I got old and have Alzheimers or add or just got mental.
    I must have missed orientation

    I have actually re started 4~6 times something I have never done.

    Usually you can not do anything that will stop you from progress, and you can not change anything that will stop progress.

    I must believe that I am supposed to get the antlion to go outside to distract the Combine and somehow I will get a crowbar to break the wood covering the door.

    I do not get it, it has a good feel at the start and your comments make it sound promising. is this incomplete.

    Reply
  43. Richard van den Burg

    1st August 2009

    @ Esswok,

    You have to guide your antlion with your bugbait through the maze , when the antlion gets outside, it will do all the killing for you (throw bigbait to the enemy and your antlion will do all the work) The antlion will allso break the wood covering the door, so you can get out.
    Or take a look at the video walkthrough part 1
    Play on, the mod gets better and better after this.

    Reply
  44. Richard van den Burg

    1st August 2009

    Personal Favourite

    So many “Personal Favorites” , is it really that good?
    YES it is !!
    Totally awesome, pure eye-candy, I will replay this one more than once.

    Reply
  45. Zoomba

    4th August 2009

    Personal Favourite

    One of the best mods I’ve played, easily top 5. So many challenges, and the ending battle?! Puhleeze! Valve quality here. It felt like a legit release.

    Reply
  46. toby

    4th August 2009

    Play It Now!

    I signed up on this site to say thank you to the author of R&D which is a very high quality mod. I´m very, very impressed by the intuitive puzzels and physics. This was awesome! Thank You!

    Reply
  47. diolator

    8th August 2009

    Play It Now!

    Ingenious.

    Reply
  48. SolidFake

    9th August 2009

    Personal Favourite

    Oh dude, at first I thought “No weapons? This mod will get so boring!”
    But I was wrong, in all parts.
    This mod is really one of the best I’ve ever played.
    The puzzles are very clever and most of them are designed in an fantastic way. I never had problems with the puzzles and I really really liked some ideas like the microwave ^^
    Puzzles made by a genius, why did noone think of beeing on a railcar while zombines appear and you have to push away their nades?
    What surprised me the most was that the mod is full of action, and that without any single weapon and as a puzzle mod! (yes yes, gravity gun and antlion).
    (Noooo, why did my antlion die? I loved him so much :O )
    The visuals are stunning and fit perfectly together, there’s nearly not a single wrong set texture and it let’s you of really beeing in a facility.

    Simply a must play and probably the most innovative mod ever made!

    Reply
  49. Sirrocco

    10th August 2009

    Wow. Stunning. Incredible. It will be a long til anyone tops this work of art.

    Blew me away………..

    Reply
  50. shora

    11th August 2009

    Personal Favourite

    Best mod ever created
    loved it
    loved it
    loved it

    I feel guilty for not paying to play this awesome game

    Reply
  1. And Some News / GamesModding.com

    1st August 2009

    [...] to use some of the 7tb of bandwidth GM has, we’ve began mirroring files. A great example is R&D at PlanetPhillip. If you’ve got any files you want mirrored, give me a [...]

    Reply
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