The rumors about the Half-Life 2 launch approached the community almost unexpectedly last year. No one expected Valve to show such a game at E3, especially as they've been tight-lipped about it the whole time. Only the news that 30th of September was the expected to be the release date managed to transform any Half-Life and Counter-Strike fan into an uncontrollable zombie. A few months later disaster strikes and Valve's network is compromised. Because of this, the source code and an unfinished version of the game roamed freely on the net for some time. We all lived to see the results and I think I truly speak for everyone when I say that Valve didn't deserve this. Half-Life 2 got delayed one year and things cooled down until a few months ago when E3 stroke again. This time, Valve showcased Counter-Strike: Source officially. The next logical step was what we all drooled for. The beta version of the game containing one playable map (de_dust) was distributed through Steam. This was a miracle people. Everybody knew that Half-Life 2 was approaching the Gold status fast, but we were all curious about our rigs' performance, so we received another gift from Valve; a benchmark to keep us busy.
     The next logical phase was the Half-Life 2 pre-loading (which has now reached phase 5) through Steam. Just a few elements of the game were distributed until now, but I'm sure most of you check at least twice a day the Play Games section. I just hope the day when the "Coming Soon" remark disappears, is near. IMHO, such a mass hysteria is unique in the history of computer games. Well, isn't this a unique game?

     It was obvious that all the games and mods around Half-Life would benefit from the Source engine. We know that the original Half-Life based on this new engine will be launched along with Counter-Strike: Source and also some other mods, like Day of Defeat, will be released later. For the time being we've only got the beta version of Counter-Strike: Source to play with. When you enter the game for the first time you'll be shocked by two things: graphics and physics. We'll analyze the graphics towards the end of the article, as I'll develop on physics and gameplay first.
     When you realize you already have a weapon (buying must be already some sort of an instinct for you) you change it for the knife and press W to go forward. Hello! Here are some metal cans and over there a tire and surprise, nothing's stuck to the ground any more as they are independent objects. That's not everything. You can shoot all of them (barrels, tires, cans, bottles) and they won't be glued to the ground any more. You can even move them individually and hide behind them, but beware, as the blast wave of an explosion will through them around and your cover will be blown (if not yourself entirely). Even the weapons from the ground can be moved by firing at them, so you'll have lots of fun playing with the knife and a tire (especially on de_dust).