Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Review
I am what you might call a lapsed Terrorist. Around a decade ago, you could often find me skulking around Italian wine cellars with AK-47s, or cowering behind hostages in a conference room watching for SWAT. I wasn’t exactly a brilliant servant to the cause – some of my exploits made the underpants bomber look like a pro, like headshotting one of my team-mates with a grenade while he checked a stairwell – but I was dedicated. No matter how many times I would charge into battle, knife in hand for faster movement, only to be blinded by a flashbang and then slain while hopping wildly into a wall of gunfire, I would always be there the next time around, ready to lay down my life all over again. (I also played as a Counter-Terrorist half the time, obviously, but my heart was never in it.) I can’t remember why I stopped playing Counter-Strike, but I’m immediately back at home in Global Offensive, Valve and Hidden Path’s latest overhaul of Jess Cliffe and Minh Le’s original Half-Life modification. The main team-based objective modes see Terrorists trying to plant a bomb while Counter-Terrorists try to wipe them out and/or defuse it, or Counter-Terrorists trying to rescue hostages while Terrorists try to wipe them out. Cash earned from kills or team success allows you to buy better weapons before each round, and these modes take you on a tour of some of the best multiplayer shooter levels ever designed: Dust, Italy, Nuke, Train, Dust 2, Aztec, Office and Inferno. You’re also rewarded with superficial awards and MVP points, but beyond that there’s no XP-based progression, classes or custom builds, and once you’re dead there’s no respawning until the next round begins, so life is a bit more valuable than it is in other shooters. Read more…
