Counter Strike Global Offensive Review

Counter Strike Global Offensive Community Page

The Counter Strike series has much the same origins as Dota. It began as an extremely popular mod and Valve scooped up the developers top help them make more games in the series. In this case Counter Strike was a mod for the original Half Life and has become one of Valves most popular games.

All these modes have clear objectives and are fun to play, my personal favorite being defuse. Tactics are a huge part of Counter Strike: Global Offensive, how you approach each game as a team heavily influence your chance of victory. Although, being a shooter quick reactions and accuracy play a role in your effectiveness in combat.

There are 5 main game types: Demolition, Arms Race, Defuse, Hostage and Death match

If you want to have any remote success in this game it will take you a lot of work and practice, the learning curve is quite steep if you want to do well due to the standard of play in the online scene. There are bot matches you can play   against A.I. players, but the huge leap in skill level from bots to multiplayer may turn some player off the game. There are 16 maps, all of which are fun to play on. The best among them being Dust and the creatively named Dust II. All the maps are fun and interesting to play on and bring variety to the game.

There are a fair amount of weapons in Counter Strike Global Offensive, a solid 5-6 weapons in each weapon category which varies from sniper to shotguns to pistols and more. More guns are now being added with the USP and M4A1-S being added in recent patches and more could be added in later patches. The only slight balance issue with the guns in Counter Strike: Global Offensive is the same issue that the series has been having since its birth, the AWP sniper rifle. When used correctly is incredibly powerful, practically a one hit kill from any range. Steps have been taken to make it more balanced, by making the reticule blurry and shaky when moving while scoped, as to stop player strafing and avoiding shots while scoped . However there is still that one guy in every game that only uses the AWP and takes stupid shots from across the map, that always manage to get me right in the head.

In a recent update weapon camouflages were added to the game. In essence they are the same as hats from Team Fortress 2, optional cosmetic upgrades that cost money to purchase. The difference is that TF2 is free to play and you need to pay for CS:GO. This can be forgiven if it’s only weapon skins, but if the keep adding new guns and they end up costing money, there might be a problem.

Counter Strike has always had huge professional scene and Global Offensive is no different

 

The game has ranked matches that work off an ranked division system. There are ranked matchmaking lobbies which makes getting your own ranking really easy. It’s very similar to the League of Legends system where your skill puts you at a certain tier and you can fight your way up from there. This system is good because having a clear idea of where you are located skill wise in comparison to other players means you can see when you are improving. It also gives you a shot at becoming a pro player, if you do well enough.

Counter Strike Global Offensive has had the biggest graphical advancement so far.

The graphics are the main thing that has changed from each installment of Counter Strike. The graphics are very nice looking and run well, the jump in quality between Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Counter Strike: Source is monumental. The game looks much like more modern shooters like Call of Duty, which to some seems like Valve are trying to imitate these other shooters and have abandoned their old style. However it was a advancement that was bound to occur, and this change largely enhances the games look and feel.

The music is only really present in the menus and not many other places which makes it really forgettable, and even then there are not many tracks of music to stay at all interesting . The sound effects are realistic and distinctive. Each gun has slightly different sounds so from across the map you can have a vague idea of what gun is being fired. From the unmistakable roar of the AWP to the light cracks of the Glock, each gun is unique.

Counter Strike is one of those games that doesn’t have a story, it never attempts to address any kind of story in the game, it’s just terrorists and counter-terrorist fighting it out. However, this isn’t a problem. At least the game doesn’t try to make a story, and screw it up. Many other games from this genre of multiplayer only shooters attempt this and fail. Counter Strike never needed a story and continues not to need one and Valve knows this. They know what the player is there for, not for a story, but for tactical shooter action.

Counter Strike: Global Offensive has really long lifespan like many other multiplayer shooters

 The gameplay is addictive and fun and the competitive ranked mode will keep people playing, keen to improve their skills.

Counter Strike Global Offensive is available on Steam for PC and Mac and on the PS3 and Xbox 360