It's easy to forget how unforgiving Counter-Strike can be. Valve's competitive online shooter truly rewards the skilled and stomps all over the newcomers. There are no Call of Duty-style kill streaks, no artillery barrages to call in or packs of dogs to let loose. It's just you, your guns, a few grenade types and your ability to react. Map knowledge, teamwork and quick reflexes are the only things that matter.

With Global Offensive (or GO), the next version of Counter-Strike, Valve isn't trying to completely reinvent the franchise. This isn't Counter-Strike 2, it's more like an incremental update. Terrorists still fight Counter-Terrorists in round-based combat. You still plant bombs on Dust and rescue hostages on Office. Some maps, like Dust and Aztec, received updates while others, like Dust 2, are largely unchanged. Though the changes aren't wild, franchise fans will find a few new interesting additions to the formula that may very well turn out to be series staples moving forward.

If you're using GO's matchmaking system you'll be dumped into relatively small maps for five versus five gameplay. Valve built an ELO-based ranking system into GO to determine your skill level, so ideally you're set up with players around your level of skill. Bots of appropriate difficulty settings will also be added in if a full game of live players can't be put together. If the idea of a five on five match sounds too limiting, PC players will be able to set up custom matches that Valve assures will provide the same degree of flexibility as is available in Counter-Strike: Source. Console players will not have the option to set up servers, however.

Once you do get a match up and running, the gameplay may be seem simple at first, but there's quite a bit of depth. Depending on the map the Terrorists either need to plant bombs or protect hostages, and the Counter-Terrorists need to stop them from planting and detonating bombs or rescue hostages. Before any of the fighting starts, you need to buy weapons by drawing on a personal pool of accumulated funds. Weapons include pistols, rifles, SMG and sniper rifles, as well as specialty items like flashbangs, high explosive grenades and smoke grenades. In the in-development build I played body armor is automatically purchased at a round's beginning, though Valve says when GO's done in 2012 the armor will be a separate purchase. In an interesting twist, defusal kits that let Counter-Terrorists quickly disarm bombs are no longer purchaseable. Instead they're randomly assigned to two teammates at a round's beginning.


Armor and defusal kit changes are important because you don't have infinite money in Counter-Strike. Kills and victories in each round earn you more funds, but you start off poor in GO's Competitive mode. The first round is typically only pistols, and if your team keeps losing don't expect to be running around with a one-shot kill AWP sniper rifle any time soon. Weapons need to be earned through skilled play, which makes acquiring them all the more rewarding. Alternatively, you can scoop weapons up off the ground from dead teammates and opponents, and in either case, if you die you'll have to purchase everything all over again. If you're new to Counter-Strike or don't want to have to deal with amassing a small fortune to buy your favorite gear, the Casual mode will be a good thing to try out where you'll get plenty of money each round to buy whatever you wish.


The weapon you choose dictates your combat role. If you're running around with the sawed-off shotgun, don't expect to do much damage from long range. Let the players with sniper rifles take care of that, then spearhead your advance with smoke and maybe a flashbang to disorient the other team before charging in. Chances are you won't be able to get up close very often, though, unless it's by accident or you manage to flank someone. It's tough to get close because it doesn't take much to die in Counter-Strike. Health doesn't regenerate and there are no first aid packs. Charging around maps out in the open is pretty much the worst way to play. In fact, running really isn't a very good idea at all.

Footsteps make noise in Counter-Strike, so when in hostile territory walking or crouching is the best thing to do, unless of course you're fleeing an encounter. Move against walls, move slowly, move with your teammates, and always make sure you're checking every entrance to your part of the map. It's a lot to keep track of, but if you do it's a hugely rewarding feeling to hunt, kill and ultimately defeat the opposing team.

Part of the brilliance of Counter-Strike is how dynamic the combat can be. On each map, any experienced player will know exactly where the zones of contest will be every single time. To get around that, your team needs to not only be accurate, but creative. Use the grenade types, flank, take up intelligent positions if you're defending, and be stealthy whenever possible. If the majority of your team is drawing the attention of Counter Terrorists on Dust's underpass, the bomb carrier might try to sneak around to the map's opposite side to plant the bomb. Once the explosive is activated, the Counter-Terrorists panic and rush to the bomb site to defuse it. But if the bomb carrier gets killed before the device is planted, then the game changes again. Instead of defending the bomb sites, the Counter-Terrorists now protect the bomb wherever it dropped, ensuring no Terrorists swoop in to pick it up and scamper off to the designated detonation zones.