Counter Strike: Source - Online FPS

[IWAssassin]

Year of release: 2004
Development House: Valve Software
Publisher: Valve Software
Website: http://www.steampowered.com


Game score: 92


Graphics: 5
Sound: 5
Gameplay: 5

Concept: 3
Execution: 5
Controls: 5
Enjoyment: 5
Replay ability: 5
Difficulty: 3
Learning Curve: 5


Patch version: Dynamic
Bugs: 2
Modability / Community support: 0


Review

What do you get when you cross a 1998 Mod for Half-Life, which has become the most played online game of all time, with what has the potential to be the most powerful game engine of 2004? A trip to the emergency room suffering from a heart attack.

To be honest pictures show the majority of the changes, since it's quite literally CounterStrike as it always has been, but with a new engine and revamped maps. The comparison would be the long string of "NFL Insert Year Here" games which come out every year on consoles. Nothing new on gameplay, just updated as suited for the year noted on the box. I personally have never been a huge fan of the CounterStrike gameplay, but let's be honest. You dont get game of the year awards when you're not a stand-alone game, nor become the most played game of all time unless you have something which other people love, especially when it's six years out of date graphically and still the most played game online.

Okay so the meat of it is graphics. With that I have some screenshots from one of the most played maps, de_aztec from both CounterStrike 1.6 and CounterStrike: Source. These were unscientifically taken from roughly the same position on the map. The difference is obvious. From cool looking rain effects, to the two APCs in CSS Aztec 3.

Counter Strike 1.6 - Aztec1
Counter Strike: Source - Aztec1
Counter Strike 1.6 - Aztec2
Counter Strike: Source - Aztec2
Counter Strike 1.6 - Aztec3
Counter Strike: Source - Aztec3

But wait, there's more! Let's look at one of my personal favorites, cs_office for some features.

Windows XP! Evil!
Thats better...
Although it has infected the computer itself...Realistic bullet holes depending on object shot. Die Files!
Hostages Bleed.
Shooting Out Windows is suprisingly fun.
As is splitting Coffee Tables
Physics just add that extra touch.

So we have ragdolls, better detailing, a good physics engine, some dynamic shadowing and lighting [not fully dynamic but on everything that moves, reducing the CPU load]. One of my screenshots didnt take but attack the computer some more and you can shoot out the ram, CPU, graphics card, hard drives, and sound card. Shoot the keyboard and keys will fly off. The kind of mayhem you would expect from shooting things in an office complex.

There are some sore points though. Those hostages are about 2 feet too tall for humans. Often the physics dont work quite like you would expect them to in the real world, Havok just isnt where it should be yet. Lighting often causes oddities as seen with the very dark half of the broken coffee table. Still some minor bugs rarely ruin the experience when you're running around alone with your glock trying to kill the last four Counter-Terrorists hopefully before they rescue the hostages.

Performance is the best part though. Unless you have one of the really new cards [Radeon X--- class or GeForce6---] you will get AMAZING performance. We'll do some comparisons using my computer

Deus Ex: Invisible War - Average 10fps at 640x480 everything off
Doom3 - Average 15fps at 640x480 everything on low in advanced settings
KOTOR - Average 10fps at 1024x768 default settings
CSS - Average 30fps with everything on high except water at 800x600 using the DirectX 8.1 Codepath.

And to be quite honest, of the four, CSS by far looks the best. The Engine is VERY optimized, to levels where I thought Id have to blow $165 on a new graphics card to get what I'm getting now.

Good stuff: Amazing Graphics, Good Physics Engine, Really Optimized Engine.

Bad stuff: Some Physics Errors, some places where the lowER quality of textures seems out of place with the overall HIGH quality.


Reviewer System Specs:
CPU: AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1333 (1600+)
RAM: 640mb PC133 SDRAM
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9200 128 @ 800x600 No FSAA/AF, DirextX8.1 Codepath
Sound Card and Speakers: Hercules Fortissimo II w/ Quad Surround Speakers

[BeserkWraithlor]

Game score:75
Out of 100


Graphics:5
Sound:4
Gameplay:4

Concept:3
Execution:3
Controls:5
Enjoyment:5
Replay ability:5
Difficulty:5
Learning Curve:2


Patch version: Dynamic
Bugs:3
Modability / Community support:2

Scores out of 5


Review

Everybody in the internet has heard of Counter Strike. Counter Strike is the most popular online game in the world, even when it came out as a mod in 1998. This game has been the symbol of Online Gaming, and birth of "l33t speak". This gaming craze has lasted for about 8 years already, and it still has the fire in it. The mod spawned plenty of other games, like the one I am reviewing, Source, which is CS at the top of its peak. However, don't expect tons of changes, you will discover this game has little changed over the years.

The biggest and greatest change is the graphics. The source engine that fuels the game is amazing. The models and maps look superb, and the lighting and shadows is very accurate. The water in Aztec is very good, and the lighting in Dust is bright and sharp. The movements and animations look fluid and accurate, and mimics the way people move in real life. The physics engine is the best seen in any other FPS game. Playing a map like office really puts things to life, as computers and tables fly across the room and shatter. The ragdoll is very entertaining to watch.

They added in bots in CSS, and they are intelliegent as they can be. They listen to your commands, they also help each other aroundto the best tactical means. They tell you there location, and cover you. They behave like humans, and you can adjust the diffuculty for practice, or if you want a challange. The only problem with bots is that they have pathfinding issues sometimes, and that they don't defuse the bomb, they force you to do it yourself. Other than that, Turtle Rock Studios did a very good work on the AI, and put them to life.

The main gameplay change between CSS and CS 1.6, is that the gun's recoil is greatly reduced in Source, making it very easy for begginers to get into the game, and start dominating. The community is massive, so you will always have something to do. The problem with CSS is that the Developers don't listen or care about what the community and fans have to say. For many years, the community begged for weapon balance, and changed prices in weapons. They told Valve to rebalance some weapons, because nobody uses other guns, and people kept on using the same guns. Valve then added a new patch that changed the radar in Source. The radar is mroe helpful and easier to read, but they went beyond that, and implemented a feature where you can see the enemy on the radar once your ally detects them. That killed the stealth and tactics in CSS. The new radar is basicly a mini wallhack. There will be a new patch soon where they will add a new feature called "Dynamic Pricing". Dynamic Pricing is like this:
1.A large portion of the community buys M4 for a week.
2.Nobody buys the AK-47.
3.The Dynamic Pricing increases the cost of M4, and reduces cost of Ak.
4.People start buying the AK, because it got cheaper.
5.The price of the AK goes up, because people keep on buying it.
(More info on Dynamic Pricing Here)
This will be a huge thing for CSS, and my thoughts is that the feature is flawed, because nobody bought gun X because it sucked, not because it was cheap. People bought gun Y, because it was very good. The damage and accuracy in Source is very random, and the recoil is very weird, as it goes in a circle, and it gets very frustrating. Counter Strike is said to be a tactical realistic shooter, but its not. The game is an arcady run and gun. Although the gameplay is very good, its execution fails, trying to be realistic. Ok, I tried out Dynamic Weapon Pricing for about 2 weeks, and its broken, and pretty poor. A Desert Eagle, (pistol) costs for $2900! Next week, it will raise to $4000! A submachinegun only costs for $190, making it a balance issue for Pistol Rounds. The UMP, an SMG that nobody used before, nobody uses it still, and its much cheaper, $900! So, guns that were never used before (5-7, UMP, Machinegun), nobody uses them still, and they are dirt cheap, which means its not the pricing that is the problem with the guns, its the gun thats the problem. Weapons that were always used, (AK,Deagle,M4) are still used, and there price continues to raise. Thank god its only a beta, I hope to see some improvments.

Still, CSS is has very high replay value, and the game has some magic in it that makes it so addicting. The CSS community still grows.

The Good-Superb Graphics, great physics, addicting gameplay, excellent sounds, large community.

The Bad-Random accuracy and damage, Poor weapon balance, developers don't listen to community.

Videos (Provided by Compeador):Video 1
Video 2
Video 3

[evilmegaman]

Wait a second... Lazy developers? I would like to say that I think Valve is quite the opposite of that. They just happen to not be very good decision makers. but lazy.. They are not.

Oh and I believe Dynamic weapon pricing is already in the game.

EDIT: I stand corrected.. DWP is not in the game yet

EDIT #2: This post is obsolete now. Thanks for updating your review