FakeFactory's Cinematic Mod

FakeFactory's Cinematic Mod, also simply known as Cinematic Mod, is a mod that aims to improve Half-Life 2 and its episodes, and push the Source engine capabilities as far as possible. It was created and is developed by a 43 year old German IT-service-business employee, Juergen Vierheilig.

Overview
Cinematic Mod adds cinematic effects, new music (taken from the Batman Begins soundtrack, among others), new sounds, new physics effects, HD textures, custom HD models, jiggle bone effects to Alyx, modifies weapon strength, etc. to Half-Life 2 and its episodes. The new Alyx model is based on Brazilian model Adriana Lima. The more recent versions make the maps richer in terms of atmosphere, and features many new models. The current version is Version 10.

Vierheilig states that his mod was never planned as a community project. He merely shares what he created as a practice exercise while he was learning modeling, texturing and coding.

Cinematic Mod is not without some criticism from the community. While some praise Vierheilig's work, some argue that his new HD character models are poorly made, that the new music is inappropriate for the Half-Life universe, or that some textures are inappropriate. When the latest patch to Version 5 was released, Vierheilig stated that it would be the latest version, since he had grown extremely disappointed and tired by the criticism and bashing of his work. He argued that his mod was free and that he owed nothing to the community, and that he did not understand why gamers were complaining about features that were optional, i.e. the new music and models. Indeed these are optional, allowing to simply play and "improved" game.