EPTFinally a game we get sink our teeth into. This is one of those games which changed the world and certainly something I spent a big portion of my life immersed in. I haven't played this game for many years (maybe 7?) and I'd like to know whether many people still play this game, whether Counter-Strike: Source was a good successor, and also just stories about back in the day when you played Counter-Strike.
Counter-Strike (Clarification: This is the original Counter-Strike, refered to as "1.6" by the version number now, although when I played it was from versions 1.3 to 1.5).
Developer: Valve
Platform: PC (as a modification for Half-Life)
Release Year: 1999
Impact on my life: 10/10
Impact on the world: 9/10
Objective rating: 9/10
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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. But at its essence Counter-Strike is a team based game. A team who worked together were able to complete their objectives. A team of individuals who went their own way would more often than not get ambushed by the enemy time and picked off one at a time. Playing on the internet it was difficult to find a good team, but I did have my favourite server (Recoil I think it was) which I would join every night. I got to know a lot of the other players and if they were ever on my team we'd work together pretty well.
Players could chat to each other, use voice chat (later on), and there were also pre-set commands you could access with a few shortcut key strokes for common requests such as "hold this position" or "go go go!".
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.
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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 your advantage, specializing in certain weapons and understanding their recoil pattern, etc.
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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. Although it is still played around the world (to this day) and there are professional tournaments.
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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... I don't actually know how I got a degree at the end of it.
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
My favourite weapon was the AK-47 but it took a while to get used to. If I ever had a break and didn't play for a few weeks or more I'd go back to using the MP-5 to get my aiming back up to scratch, and then transition to MP4 and AK-47 once I was ready.What were your memorable moments?
I can remember making really successful teams rage games against one of my favorite teams that I ever played with, and having them call us cheaters, even while playing on client. A lot of my friends still play this game, though not that many. One of them is particularly successful, on the breach of becoming one of the AWPers at the forefront of the CS:S community, to add to his already growing popularity.
