Counter-Strike review

Peeking around a corner to check for terrorists

Counter-Strike will be a name that is familiar to any PC FPS fan. Originally developed as a free downloadable mod for Valve’s Half-Life, Counter-Strike reworked the graphics, the sound, the gameplay and the weapons to create a real-world style game for online play. For those that haven’t heard of Counter-Strike, it is a FPS game based on the legendary Half-Life engine. It features team-based action, in the form of terrorists against counter-terrorists. Each round is based on maps with short time limits of around four to five minutes, with a round being won by eliminating the entire opposing team or completing an objective such as planting/diffusing a bomb or guarding/rescuing hostages.

With no single player mode to speak of the PC version quickly found a home amongst Half-Life gamers ready for squad based online gaming and became one of the greatest and most widely played online titles ever. The developers will be hoping that the success of the free PC version will translate into a similar success for the not free Xbox version.

Straight Port

The terrorist sniper spots his prey

The first striking thing about this Xbox port of a five year old game is how little has changed. That isn’t to say that it looks or feels dated, but is more of a testament to the quality of the original development that a title this far on can still look fresh. There is still no single player game to speak of, which means that this title should be considered Xbox Live or system link only. This could become one of the flagship titles for Xbox Live, given its status amongst PC online gamers, and Microsoft will be hoping that Xbox gamers will take to it just as much as they took to the PC version.

The similarities don’t end with the playing structure though as there are no new weapons to be found in this version and a mere seven new maps, with new ones to become available via Xbox Live download. The graphics have been tweaked but use essentially the same textures and models as the age old PC version and even the sound effects are brought directly over from the PC version - although the in-game 5.1 surround sound definitely makes the most of these effects. These aren’t criticisms as such because the original game was of a high enough quality that it doesn’t look too dated five years on.

Multiplayer Only

Switching to the knife allows you to run faster

The single player game is identical to the multiplayer one but uses bots to fill in for the missing humans. Up to eleven bots can be involved in a game giving six players for the terrorists and six for the counter-terrorists. There are two types of mission available: hostages and bombs. In hostage missions the terrorists must guard the hostages for the duration of the round whilst the counter-terrorists try to free them. In the bomb missions the terrorists must plant and then detonate a bomb whilst the counter terrorists must find the bomb once planted and diffuse it. Rounds can also be won by eliminating the entire opposing team.

The lack of a single player game seems fairly slack on the part of the developers. It wouldn’t have been too difficult to put all of the maps into a sequence that supported a flimsy storyline and allowed the gamer to carry money earned from round to round. This might have provided a weak single player game but it would have at least been something. Without this, the single player game can only be used for practice against real competitors and it shouldn’t be considered as a substitute.

Stupid machines.

Guarding the frozen fortress

The problem in the single player game is that the AI isn’t really very focussed on its goals. This seems particularly true of the counter-terrorists in the bomb missions. If the terrorists manage to plant the bomb and you get killed then the rest of the team seems to just meander around the map looking for terrorists with no real urgency to go to the bombsites and diffuse the bomb. If they happen to stumble across the bomb then they diffuse it but they don’t seem to actively try to complete the missions.

Their behaviour is also fairly predictable. On one hostage mission in a bank one of the terrorists always goes outside to the hostage rescue point (where the hostages must be taken to in order to be considered saved). From here he can kill the counter-terrorists if they manage to lead the hostages outside. However, he always gives his position away by shooting too early at the CT and then runs further away and faces away from the CT until the hostages are saved, at which point he turns around and shoots again as the round finishes.

Black market weapons trade

Checking for enemies

Each map in Counter-Strike is played several times to decide on an overall winner. Each kill you make and each round you win earns you money, which can be used to buy better weapons and armour at the start of each mission. This can be accessed during the mission by returning to the start point and accessing the “buy menu”. This takes the form of a radial menu that gives you access to categories of weapons from pistols to machine guns and heavy weapons, as well as grenades and armour. You must choose your weapons based on the mission and your style of gaming. If you choose a sniper rifle as your main weapon then it is no good running around the level gung-ho because an enemy with a machine gun will kill you easily.

If you die during a round then any weapons that you have purchased are lost but if you survive then you only need to replenish ammo and armour. Full body armour will allow you to absorb around four shots before dying. Without armour you would be lucky to survive a single shot. When you die in Counter Strike you remain dead and must wait for the round to finish by watching a first person or third person perspective of any one of the other participants, whether on your team or not. This gives a value to your in-game life since it can be pretty boring getting killed in the first minute of a game, which ends up lasting five.

Teething troubles

Making a mad dash between buildings whilst avoiding the enemy

The control system for Counter-Strike will be fairly easy for any Xbox FPS gamers to pick up, being pretty similar to Halo et al. The left and right thumbsticks control movement and looking whilst the right trigger fires. The other buttons are given over to ducking, firing mode (some weapons can switch between automatic and burst whilst others can have a silencer attached) and so on. Compared with other Xbox FPS titles the controls seem a little sluggish and unresponsive. This can be adjusted to an extent with the settings for sensitivity but even with this tweaked it still doesn’t feel as smooth to control as the likes of Halo or Castle Wolfenstein.

Fans of the PC version will find this particularly grating as the PC original handles very nicely and this seems like a rather poor attempt to match the PC controls to the Xbox game pad.

Going Live

Waiting for the terrorists to make their move

Multiplayer is where the game comes into its own. Up to sixteen players can compete on Xbox Live if someone gives their machine over to being a dedicated server, otherwise the limit is ten. Multiplayer is also supported via system link for those without broadband. Xbox Live is how this game was meant to be played with voice chat being useful to communicate strategy amongst the team and the game plays a lot better when the teams are constructed of real people.

In the end Counter-Strike should only be considered a worthwhile purchase if you will be able to play it in multiplayer mode either by getting a bunch of friends over for a LAN game or by going onto Xbox Live to challenge gamers from across the world. The lack of any worthwhile single player game makes this a poorer game when compared with the likes of Halo, Unreal Tournament and Castle Wolfenstein. If single player is what you’re after then one of these would be a better bet. For multiplayer, Counter-Strike is a great game but with only two game modes Wolfenstein or Unreal might still be a better bet. However, if you loved Counter-Strike on the PC and are prepared to get to grips with an entirely different control system or you want team based multiplayer action then this is still more than adequate entertainment.