Counter-Strike

Game: Counter-Strike
Developer: Valve
Platform: PC (as a modification for Half-Life)
Release Year: 1999
Stephen's Rating: 9/10

Counter-Strike is one of the most famous video games in history.

Basic Plot

Counter-Strike is a multiplayer only modification for Half-Life. There is no story, but the basic scenario revolves around the idea of opposing teams of terrorists and counter-terrorists doing battle within the confines of a map.

Gameplay

The game is a multi-player co-operative first person shooter for the most part.

Players choose (or are automatically placed) into one of two teams (terrorists and counter-terrorists) at the beginning of each map. The goals for the map vary but usually fit into a few categories:

• Bomb placement. On these maps the terrorists need to work together to get a bomb to a bomb site, plant it, and then defend it until it goes off. The counter-terrorists are trying to elimnate all the terrorist players but also defuse the bomb if it has been planted.
• Hostage rescue. The terrorists are guarding a set of NPC hostages. The counter-terrorists need to infiltrate the terrorists' lair and take the hostages to safety.
• VIP. One player plays as the VIP (who only as a pistol). The counter-terrorists must bring the VIP to a rescue point, and the terrorists are trying to kill him.

There became many other versions of the game over time including a deathmatch mode where everyone was out for themselves.

Teams usually consisted of 8-16 players on each team. Although the game was technically co-operative a lot of the competition was around which player could obtain the most kills during a map. Often the best players were worth many times the strategic value of hordes of newbies.

A game was split in to rounds. Each round was maybe 3-4 minutes long, and if you died you would simply spectate the other players to see how your team went. Then a new round would start and you could play again. This was part of the game's success, you could die often but always be back in the game after a short period of time.

Two of the terrorist models.

There was a secondary mechanic in the game which involved money and purchasing weapons. At the beginning of each round there was a small amount of time set aside for buying weapons and items. You obtained money from killing enemies or winning a round. Additionally, if you stayed alive in the previous round you got to keep the gear you had - whereas if you died you lost it all.

Unlike its mother game Half-Life the weapons and physics system was much more realistic. Headshoots killed an opponent with a single bullet (unless they were wearing head armour), if you ran and shot at the same time your gun would spray bullets around and you'd miss everything. Falling from any great height would kill you. It was this realism which really made this game stand out for the time period. It meant that you could obtain actual skill that would set you above other players.

The kinds of skills involved were aiming guns (obviously), managing movement and aiming, knowing the maps and where all the choke points and shortcuts were, how to use terrain to youir advantage, specializing in certain weapons and understanding their recoil pattern, etc.

Counter-terrorists running out to start the round. When you held your knife you ran slightly faster than if you held a gun. Good, as long as you didn't get caught.

Positives

The culmination of both a co-operative and competitive multiplayer made this game extremely addictive.

I really liked the skill based aspect of the game. When I first started playing I died within seconds of each round starting. I was frustrated and annoyed, but as I played and began to consciously think about strategy I was able to keep up. There is something very satisfying about pitting your skills against others in an arena where it actually matters (i.e. it's not just random luck).

Because the game was so popular there were hundreds of local servers up and running 24/7 so there was never a shortage of players or modifications on the original game.

I also really liked some parts of the sub-culture of the game. When there was just one player from each team left at the end of a round sometimes they would have a knife fight to decide the win. It was kind of a comradery that was great when there weren't a bunch of 12 year olds playing.

Overall it was an extremely well balanced game from a lot of angles which didn't have a lot of flaws. The only reason that it lost popularity is perhaps that new and more interesting mechanics have been developed since.

Arctic Warfare Rifle...

Negatives

There were some really horrible people who played the game, who would type in abuse and then later speak abuse using their microphone.

It kind of ruined my life a bit in my third year of university. I was playing 3-6 hours a day...

Memorable Moments

There was a modification to the game called WC3 in which you chose one of the races from Blizzard's Warcraft 3. Each "race" had their own special abilities and you could level up your character to obtain them all. The skills added to the complexity of the game and I really enjoyed it. Some of the abilities included partial invisibility, improved speed and jump distance, keeping your weapons if you died, improved grenades (devastating), and evasion.

When I was at my peak, I could jump on any server and always be in the top 1-2 in terms of kills at the end of a map. It came at the expense of the rest of my life though :P