Counter Strike is one of those titles where, no matter what new games come out, keeps a huge following of players, and continues to defy old Father Time. When Valve announced a new Counter Strike game – only this time on consoles as well as PC – fans of the game rightfully freaked out with excitement. Counter Strike: Global Offensive is a good mix of old and new, and we got our hands on with the game at PAX this year, on a very familiar map.
The map was De_Dust and we received a 4 rounds of the game. Right off the bat, the game looks exactly as I remembered it from a few years ago but of course with a bump up in graphics and some big changes to the old Dust map. These changes come with a new placement of bombsite B, a new path added at the counter terrorist sniper spot, and some aesthetic changes to the environment to make it a bit more lively. Outside of these changes, anyone who has played the game before will feel right at home on this legendary map, finding your perfect camping spots at the bombsites or the best ways to rush as the terrorist.
Ok, let me back up a bit for those who have never played this game – and shame on you if you haven’t. CS:GO pits a team of terrorists against counter terrorist. On the map shown, Dust, the goal for the terrorists is to plant a bomb at one of the sites and make it go BOOM, while the counter-terrorists are tasked with preventing this from happening. At the beginning of each round you use money that you have earned from the previous round to stock up on weapons, armor, grenades, flash bangs, and riot shields. Different modes from the previous titles such as hostage maps will make a return, but Valve is keeping a tight lip on whether VIP maps will return, though they are also promising new modes for the game.
After my four rounds of absolutely sucking hard, I walked away completely jazzed for this newest iteration of Counter Strike. This is a game that gamers should be keeping an eye out for, especially on the PlayStation 3, where keyboard and mouse, Move, and cross-platform play have been confirmed. Gamers both new and old will want to pay attention, because the king of shooters is back in town.
