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The origin of Counter Strike as a series is an interesting story. It began as a mod for the original Half Life and when the mod became popular, Valve began assisting in its development. Then along come Counter Strike: Source, and now we have Counter Strike: Global Offensive as the latest title in the Counter Strike franchise.
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, I don’t mind this. At least the game doesn’t try to make a story that ends up being crap, 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 that’s fine, it knows what the player is there for, not for a story, but for multiplayer shooter action.
The gameplay is where the fun in Counter Strike: Global Offensive is found. There are 5 main game types: Demolition, Arms Race, Defuse, Hostage and Death match. All these modes have clear objectives and are fun to play, my personal favourite being defuse. Tactics are a huge part of Counter Strike: Global Offensive, how you approach each mission 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. 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 against computer player you can play but the huge leap from bots to multiplayer may turn some player off 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. Other games have definitely had more variety in weapons but the guns in Counter Strike: Global Offensive all have a use and a play style and fill a place in the game. 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. Steps have been taken to make it more balanced by making the reticule blurry and shaky when moving while scoped, but when the AWP is used correctly it is still strong. Overall the gameplay in Counter Strike: Global Offensive is fun and enjoyable, although the learning curve is difficult it is still a fun game.
The graphics are the main thing that has changed from each instalment of Counter Strike and Counter Strike: Global Offensive has had the biggest graphical advancement so far. 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 music is only really present in the menus and not many other places which makes it really forgettable.
a graphical comparison between CS:S and CS:GO.
[box style='success'] Positives [/box]
- Fun gameplay
- Good graphics
- Variety of game modes
[box style='warning'] Negatives [/box]
- No story to speak of (although I don’t mind)
- Steep learning curve
- Forgettable Music
Overall Counter Strike: Global Offensive is a good game, the series is known for fast paced competitive shooter action and this game delivers exactly this, so if you’re a past Counter Strike player or you are new to the franchise I recommend Counter Strike: Global Offensive.
Score: 8/10
Replayablilty: Medium
