I think people were too busy being amazed to nitpick the jank. My own experience with “realistic” physics in games at that point was limited to Elastomania and

I think people were too busy being amazed to nitpick the jank. My own experience with “realistic” physics in games at that point was limited to Elastomania and Worms, so Source was mind-blowing. I remember spending more time in the CS:Source beta throwing grenades at piles of junk than playing the actual game.