

When you hit Episode 2 you will really be in for a treat. There have been countless re-skins, models updates, re-textures, but Cinematic Mod hits the nail on the head and drives the whole package home. I have never seen such a beautiful mod for HL2. Light reflects through water more realistically and the eye adaptation when coming out of tunnels is just awesome. Of course you will need a pretty decent rig to get the sweetest effects up and running at a decent clip.


This goes across all three HL2 games and is worth a play through even if you have played the game 50 times. You will also notice the depth of field and various other effects working in the background. Once you step outside into City 17 you will notice how the light just falls so naturally and beautifully. Once you get into the security room with Barney you will notice that the interior lighting looks 10x better thanks to the AO. You can see the run rays beam down, the ambient occlusion along the benches, and the characters look much better. The Cinematic Mod is noticeable right away while your in the train ride to City 17. All I will say is that it’s the best FPS game ever made, hands down. Cinematic Mod gives us this option with advanced lighting effects and higher-resolution textures. The engine continues to deliver quality, but it doesn’t have the next-gen flair that every PC gamer craves. Same for when Left 4 Dead 2 was released and then Portal 2. After the release of Episode 2 everyone was stunned by the new lighting effects the engine could do. Do you have a high-end PC and want to play Half-Life 2 without the dated visuals? While the Source Engine is nearly a decade old, it still surprises everyone with what it’s capable of.
