Counter-Strike

Contrary to some people's opinion, pitchforks, jetpacks, ninja stars, and grenade-throwing hostages were never part of the game. A simple look at the changelog for the game will show that these aspects were never included in any release of Counter-Strike.

Realism is what I've always wanted in a shooter. Death match games where you respawn every 5 minutes seem to have been done to death (pun is intended). But, realistic scenarios involving terrorists and anti-terrorists, realistic weapons, and great maps combine to create the best combat I've ever experienced in gaming land. And the best part??... All the players are actual people playing at their computers like you.

Ok, my friends have played this game since it was in beta testing (summer 1999). I watched them, but I never played -- until about 2 months ago. This is one of the best, most addicting games ever. Counter-Strike is a multiplayer-only PC game played either over a network or the Internet.

The game simulates terrorist/counter-terrorist action. You can join either the terrorist or the counter-terrorist (CT) team. The two most common scenarios are bomb defusion and hostage rescue. In bomb defusion, one terrorist is given a bomb and must plant it at a specified location. The CTs must either kill all of the terrorists prior to the planting of the bomb or defuse the bomb once it has been planted. In hostage rescue, the terrorists must prevent the CTs from rescuing the hostages.

A little background into the making of the game: Counter-Strike is a modification of Valve Software's game "Half-Life." Counter-Strike was not created by Valve, but by a group of people seeking to improve the multiplayer aspects of the game. It is more popular than the original game, played by millions of players all over the world.

Note: This game features graphic violence and should not be played by children.

Yes, to me this is better then World of Warcraft, Halo 2, or any other game for the most part. The game is really just about the multiplayer so if you like good single player games go play both Half-Life's for that. This game has been popular for a long time for many reasons. The first being the mod community who help better the replay value. Second it's hard to perfect the game since their are so many damn good people online. Lastly the gameplay itself is addictive and once it pulls you in, it won'r let go.

Gameplay: Counter-Strike may at first appear to be just like a lot of other FPS's, boring and generic. Whoever would think that after playing the game for a little while would have to be on drugs to think that. The game has you choose to be a Terrorist or Counter Terrorist. The best thing of each side is both sides have their own set of objectives depending on the map you are playing. The Terrorists on many maps have to plant a bomb and defend it from the Counter Terrorists who try and disarm the bomb. While this may sound simple there is a lot of strategy to this especially if you have only a few members on whatever side your on. The shooting in the game is great as well as you get like twenty weapons on each side which include pistols, machine gun, sniper rifles, ak-47, silencer, dual pistols, and many other great weapons. The firefights in the game are intense and when playing things get very suspenseful since you can get sniped from far away and not even see it coming.

Graphics: They are good for the time and were updated by the great people at Valve. Yet, many new CS's came out, but this version still looks good and can hold its own against many other FPS's right now on the market.

Overall: 5/5

When the whole world was raving about Counter-Strike, I had initially chosen not to play it because I preferred the frantic action of the Quake games. However, when forced to play it among friends, I quickly got addicted to it. You'd notice people playing the same old levels over and over again. Counter Strike is so good because of how balanced it is in terms of gameplay. Your arsenal is extensive and the bullet ballistics are extremely realistic and add to balancing the gameplay. You really have to strategise and evolve effective tactics and team work as brute force often ends up getting you killed. Getting killed is extremely frustrating and getting a kill feels extremely good as well. So go play it now if you have'nt already.