I’ve had a long history with the Counter-Strike series, and I’ve always really enjoyed the games. I played Source for an ungodly amount of hours, was in a few hastily made clans that failed soon after they were conceived, and learned to despise the AWP with my heart and soul. I suppose I had the general Counter-Strike experience. As for 1.6, I’ve never played it, but it looks very.. old.

ANYWAY! Valve has finally released a sequel to Source, and the past few days I’ve been playing it a lot.

Graphics

From the outset, you can tell that this game has overhauled Counter Strike Source quite a bit. The menus have all been updated to look more Left-4-Dead-style-Valve, and the matchmaking system has been tooled around with too. Instead of going through the server browser to find a game, like in games such as Team Fortress 2, you go through an auto-matchmaking system, much like Left 4 Dead. The server browser is still present though, and you’ll have to use it if you ever want to connect to servers playing non-official maps or modes. You can also now set up a lobby with your friends/clan to help automatically find you a match with enough open spots for you through the matchmaking system.

The source engine makes this game look amazing. You can just feel a lot of time was put into beautifying the returning levels. A lot of detail was added to each map, and they really pop out. Since this is only a text review, I suggest you go take a look at some comparison footage people have made on youtube. In the video I’ll make, I’ll have my own, but for now, sorry!

Modes and Gameplay

There were some new features added to this reiteration of Counter-Strike also, unrelated to online play. For instance, there is a new boot camp level, where you’re taught the basics of weapons, movement and all that. If you’ve never played Counter-Strike (or any other FPS games in the past 10 years) I’m sure you’ll find it very helpful. For more experienced players though, you won’t gain anything from popping in there. Bots have also been updated extensively and seem a lot better than their Source counterparts. You can also take control of a bot from spectator mode now, which is a pretty awesome addition. Get killed, take over a bot on your team, kill your killer, profit! It’s pretty neat.

The actual game has a few official modes in addition to regular Counter-Strike too. ‘Casual Classic mode’ is like regular CS except without friendly fire or the need to buy armor. In this mode, and only this mode, you can buy a badass one shot stun gun that insta-kills an unlucky enemy. You can still find it under the buy menu in the regular mode, but it’s grayed out for obvious reasons.

There’s ‘Arms Race’, which is just like the gungame mod from CS:S. Infinite respawns and each kill gives you a new weapon. Get a kill with the last weapon first and win the round. ‘Demolition’ is very much like Arms Race. You get a new weapon each kill, but, you can only get one new weapon a round. If you get more than one kill you’ll get a grenade for next time. There aren’t any instant respawns, and the terrorist side gets a bomb they can plant. It’s kind of a mash between CS and Gungame. It’s not bad.

The last mode, of course, is just regular ol’ Counter Strike, now called ‘Competitive Classic’.

If you are one of the 4 people who’ve never played regular ol’ Counter-Strike, I’ll give you a basic rundown. Counter-strike pits the Terrorists versus the Counter-terrorists in a variety of maps and modes. At the start of each round you buy your weapons with money earned from killing enemies and doing your team’s objectives. If you don’t buy anything, you’ll always have your team’s starting pistol. A Glock for the terrorists and a P2000 for the Counter Terrorists. If you’re a terrorist, the objective is to either plant a bomb randomly given to one of your team members, or to defend the hostages from being taken by the Counter Terrorists, depending on the map. Counter Terrorists must rescue hostages, or defuse the planted bomb. You can also wipe out the other team to win, unless the bomb has been planted and you’re on the CT side. You’ll still need to defuse it.

Got it? Sweet! Let’s get into a match.

Once you get into a game, you will probably need a few minutes to get reacquainted with the buy menu. It has switched to a radial looking.. thing, and the placement of the weapons has changed around a bit. Oddly absent this iteration is the ability to make customized weapon loadouts and save them for quick buying later. You can re-buy what you got last round, but there isn’t anything that I can see which goes across multiple games. Once you get your weapons, I’m sure you’ll be able to notice things have changed around a lot. All the guns in the game have been updated and modernized. The Galil no longer looks like a ripoff of the AK47 (and now looks like a ripoff of the M4), the M4A1 was replaced with the M4A4 and therefore looks more Call of Duty-ie, and there are no more silencers in the game. No idea why. I liked them even though it didn’t do anything. Oh well. The M4A1 was replaced which is why the new one doesn’t have a silencer, but the M4A1 isn’t the only weapon that has been replaced in CS:GO. A lot of weapons were kicked out to make way for some new ones, and there’s also completely new weapons too!

Weapon Changes/Additions

In the pistol category, replacements are the P2000 CT pistol in favor of the old silencable USP, and the P250 in place of the P228. The Tec-9 is a totally new pistol for the terrorists. It looks like it’d be an automatic, but it isn’t, oddly enough. CTs don’t get any unique weapons, but you now have the ability to buy the Dual Berettas once restricted solely to the terrorists.

Shotguns have been changed around a bit. The regular M3 shotgun is replaced with the Nova, but the auto shotty is still there. Sawed-off for the terrorists and the Mag-7 for the CTs are completely new shotties added to the game. Sawed off is a lot like the Nova, except more awesome/powerful since it’s a sawed-off. Cutting off half your gun makes it more powerful, you know. The Mag-7 is a magazine loaded pump shotgun, so it feels weird not being auto, but I still love it.

With the SMGs, the MP5 has disappeared, replaced with the MP7. The TMP is also missing, replaced by the MP9. PP-Bison is the new addition here. It has a weird ass magazine, but it’s pretty good and I like it.

Rifles have had a bunch replaced. The M4A1, as earlier stated, has been changed to the M4A4. The terrorists’ Krieg has been changed to the SG 553, though the AUG is still the same for the CTs. The Scout is gone now though. It’s been replaced with the SSG 08, so no more scoutz and knivez. Has to be SSG 08z and knivez now.

The grenades also have a new addition of the Decoy grenade and Incendiary grenade. The decoy does a lot of sparkling and noise pollution, and only does a tiny explosion at the end. Unless you’re playing against really good people, most players, in my opinion, won’t react to it. The incendiary grenade is a molotov that sets down some fire and smoke, and.. that’s pretty much it. The smoke grenade itself seems to have also gotten a slight change, where the smoke doesn’t slowly waft out of it, but rather explodes to make an instant cloud of smoke, which is an improvement that makes me happy.

Other Stuff and Conclusion

The online play is really fun, of course. It’s Counter-Strike! Everyone in the game is generally friendly, and it’s pretty damn hard. If you haven’t played Counter-Strike before, prepare to die. A lot. Everyone is extremely good, and you’ll very rarely run into a server populated with only noobs.

Counter-strike is a very arcade shooter kind of game. There isn’t a true single player, and you just cannonball into a match hoping you’ll do good. If you like Counter-Strike, you’ll like this game. If you don’t however, I’m not sure they’ve done anything to make you guys enjoy it. They have made improvements, but they haven’t changed what Counter-Strike is. I personally love the game. It’s fast, fun, and very easy to get into, yet hard to master. It forces you to think about your choices of weapons, and if you’ll have enough money for the next round. I like it, and it’s one of my top favorite multiplayer FPS games, but it’s not packed with content.