Abandoned and rusted cars serve not only to make the environment pretty, but also to provide cover in the updated Dust II. Rain falls from the heavens and dew glistens off the floor in the updated Aztec, the next map in the playtest. The visuals are simply amazing, Counter-Strike or not.

What makes it more astounding, though, is that this is basically the game we've been playing since its release in 1999. A graphical update can do a lot for a game; CS: Source proves as much. The power of the Source engine has been harnessed remarkably well in CS: Source.

Players running into physics objects kick them around. Shooting barrels naturally causes them to sway or fall over. Many objects in the world are no longer static due to the new physics engine. This feature — straight from the Source engine — will certainly not completely change how CS is played, but I must admit that making barrels roll down the ramp near bombsite A on Aztec is amusing. The physics objects that I saw during my playtest session were all there to give the world more character to, rather than to change gameplay.

Materials bring a whole new slew of effects to your typical combat scenario. From sparks flying off of an abandoned car chassis, to water splashing up as bullets penetrate the prestine surface, environmental interactions feel significantly more dynamic than with Counter-Strike. Get used to seeing debris fly from walls in the heat of combat, boys!

Dust II and Aztec were both very familiar for me and largely unchanged in terms of gameplay when compared to their normal CS counter-parts. In fact, this could be said about all of Counter-Strike: Source. All of what I played was true to Counter-Strike. Same gameplay, but with plenty of updated content. When you get down to it, it's basically playing Counter-Strike on a revved-up game engine.

All weapons and items have been upgraded with new models, of course. The new weapon models are obviously improvements over Counter-Strike 1.6's set of weapons. Apparently, only the USP and Glock were nearly finalized at the time of my playtest. As for the rest of the models, Valve says they are currently in the process of doing a series of improvements on all the weapon models in an effort make them look as perfect as possible. The USP and Glock models looked damn sexy. If Valve plans on bringing every weapon model up to the standard that these two set, then we will see some excellent weaponry.

The Desert Eagle and M4A1 are among the weapon models that may be tweaked significantly before the BETA release of CS: Source. However, even in their current stage, the majority of the models are very attractive and detailed. Details range from a very nice looking aiming reticule on the AK-47 to an un-zoomed sniper scope that actually shows the world on the AWM.

Most weapon sounds are familiar enough to be recognizable, but are certainly much better quality. Some gun sounds, like the M4A1's, could benefit from a re-hash, but for the most part it's certainly hard to complain about the visual and acoustical properties of CS: Source's weaponry. The guns are just damned impressive, especially when compared to our current batch of aging models.

True to the Source engine, death "animations" are played out using ragdoll effects. Ragdoll in CS: Source isn't like Unreal Tournament. The ragdoll effect is very subtle, and I personally didn't see any bodies bouncing left and right off of a series of spikes. But when you do notice the ragdoll, it certainly looks much more impressive than having a SEAL lay down on his side as if he were taking a nap after getting shot in the head from an AWP right in front of him. The HE Grenade will no doubt be renamed to the Southwest Airlines Grenade.

And you'll notice that I haven't said much about gameplay. Well, there's no reason to. Thankfully, Counter-Strike: Source is incredibly faithful to the well-known Counter-Strike gameplay mechanics.

CS: Source—in BETA form—will be available to Valve Cybercafe partners and Counter-Strike: Condition Zero owners within a few weeks, says Valve. The final version of Counter-Strike: Source will ship alongside Half-Life 2, which is slated to be released this Fall.

Read on for CS-Nation's interview with Jess Cliffe!

Jess Cliffe of Valve Software: The texture resolution for maps has quadrupled. We can now also add a 3D skybox so maps can look as though they span miles. This serves to make levels less like an arena and more like a realistic location. In addition, designers have the flexibility to specify whether a prop is static, physics, or client side debris. We can also take advantage of features such as normal mapping and specularity in order to give textures extra depth and reflectivity.

cliffe: Thus far we've upgraded Dust, Dust II, Italy, Havana, Aztec, Piranesi, Cbble, Chateau, and Office. More classic maps will be added to this list over time. One of our mappers, Ido Magal, has even made an in-house test map called Rockworld—based on everyone's favorite fragfest Iceworld.

Sticking with the CS tradition of ongoing development, new maps will come later on.

cliffe: I showed Dust to Dave a month or so ago and he was really excited. He mentioned that it was very close to how he'd originally envisioned Dust. So if it gets an enthusiastic DaveJ stamp of approval, we're happy. In fact, he'd be working with us on this if he weren't finishing school. Damn you Johnston!

cliffe: Longtime CS players will feel right at home with the upgraded weapons. We've directly ported the great majority of the weapon animations so it will feel quite familiar. The upgraded models are all faithful to their HL1 engine counterparts, while still raising the art quality considerably. In addition, the weapon models are now higher-poly and use specularity and/or normal mapping.

cliffe: As you might have seen from footage of the Korea CS: Source event, the flashbang will now "burn your retina," leaving an image of what you had last seen before 'banged. Also, as you're probably all aware, the HE has morphed into a frag grenade. We're also experimenting with deafening from direct frag grenade hits and ear ringing from close flashbangs.

cliffe: The riot shield has been removed. It remains to be seen if we will experiment with alternative shield behavior in the future.

cliffe: Yes, you can customize weapon and player models just like you did in Counter-Strike. We teamed up with Softimage and released the HL2 XSI EXP a few months ago and now we can't wait to see what kind of custom content the community comes up with. This is another great side effect of the beta—modelers will get an early jump on creating new weapons and players. So Rizzuh and Nighthawk, prepare the CS: Source section of CSN Skins. Things are getting interesting.

cliffe: Members of the Valve Cybercaf� Program plus owners of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero add up to a lot of users so we're going to get a wide coverage on our test with this group.

cliffe: The CS: Source beta will be released in the next few weeks. We haven't finalized the length of the beta just yet. As for the beta map, we'll most likely use Dust.

cliffe: Counter-Strike: Source will be included with all versions of Half-Life 2. However, we will also make it available as a stand alone purchase for those who'd prefer to purchase CS:S a la carte.

cliffe: Half-Life 2 will come with CS: Source. Right now, we do not plan to include any other multiplayer games with Half-Life 2.

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