2023-12-11 15:40:39
Counter-Strike. Just roll this phrase around on your tongue and feel the meanings that sparkle in it. Counter. Strike. A great online shooter that grew out of a mod for Half-Life, a legend of all gaming on planet Earth, which has become one of the top eSports disciplines. What can I say, you know everything yourself.
And then a couple of months ago, not just another “contra” came out, but a continuation with the challenging number 2. Naturally, we couldn’t pass it by. The nuance is that the only stable CS players we have are me and Petr Salnikov, and even then, we played consistently/well 10 years ago. Therefore, we decided to shake off the old days, hacked up in the global and even started a server with our favorite subscribers from the chat with Boostywhere we play in the evenings.
We played, watched and came up with something about it. We don’t pretend to be deep analytics, but still.
Art direction is a treat for the eyes
PLUS
Counter-Strike 2 captivates from the start with its pleasant visuals. The color scheme of the environment, models and effects are made in such a way that during long sessions the eyes do not get tired, and even rest. And this is not an exaggeration, after several hours of playing on a dusty yellow “Dust” or in the sterile white workshops on a “Nuke”, you feel as if you were kissed on the eyes by a gentle fairy.
Considering how many dark spots, brightly lit locations, tricky design elements, boxes and other junk there are on the maps, a colossal amount of work was done. In the heat of battle, you don’t think for a second about what kind of moron hung a light bulb here or why it’s dark like a cellar and you can’t see anything. Everything is done smoothly and clearly: there is no “soap” or clumsy angularity of textures that can cut your eyes like a blade.
The situation is the same with fighter models. Terrorists are most often light yellowish, counters are blue-black – it would seem that counters contrast more strongly with the environment, while terras should blend in with it. But this does not happen, and those others are clearly visible in all the nooks and crannies.
This aspect of the elaboration of models and environments is best illustrated by the custom maps that the players themselves create in the “workshop”. For example, on the author’s de_aztec there is a dark place in front of the bridge (also known as a “bag”), where contrarians often sneak around. Since this map seems to be assembled from a vinaigrette of textures of version 1.6 and Source, there is no need to talk about any thoughtful visual ergonomics at all. The standard dark models of counters in a dark cap contrast so that even a grandfather with cataracts, blinded by two flash drives, can instantly see them.
Shadows on a custom Aztec
Another indicator of what meticulous work was done with the visuals in CS2 is that objects in the location do not turn into distracting garbage. And there are quite a lot of them. Market stalls with vegetables on the “Italy” map or carts, bottles and flower pots on “Inferno” fit well into the environment and do not take away attention from the action. In general, these maps give you the feeling of being in a postcard with pictures of neat European towns – a total thrill.
Not enough cards, many of the “classics” are missing
MINUS
One of the main questions for CS2 is where are all the cards? Where is de_train, de_aztec, cs_militia? Where is cs_mansion, at worst? Yes, the players scammed many of the cards in the “workshop,” but in comparison with the official ones, they look like handicrafts from “Crazy Hands.”
It’s clear that CS2 is all about eSports, and the developers need to think carefully about the redesign of every corner, but they still could have piled on more generously. We hope that in the future they will add updated old maps, but for now we are indignant.
This is still the same “contra”. And good
PLUS
On the plus side, the gameplay of Counter-Strike 2 is still the same 1.6, only with more impressive graphics. No fancy “mega modes” with whistling tricks for hyperactive fans of building barracks in Fortnite, just good old gunfight kumite, team against team.
The basic modes have not changed over all these years, these are planting/defusing a bomb and releasing/guarding hostages. Who suddenly fell into insanity, in the first case the terrors run with a bomb to the sites that are guarding the counters, in the second – the counters are trying to pull out the hostages under heavy fire from the terrors lurking in the corners. You can fight with serious opponents for ratings in the 5×5 competitive mode, or with random players in the regular 10×10 mode.
The new CS plays exactly the same as in my youth. Unless a neighbor in a stuffy game room, holding a mouse with his left hand, pushes his elbow, and so one on one. All game processes are instantly remembered at the spinal level; at first, only the updated graphics can be disorienting. But otherwise, CS2 will be easy to get into even for a person who has spent the last 20 years in cryosleep.
The only thing that might be a little confusing is the new deathmatch mode, where everyone fights against everyone using random guns with instant respawn after death. But it is difficult to take it seriously as an attack on the sacred. This mode is suitable as a fun warm-up before the main game, or as a way to cheer up during a work smoke break. However, you can ignore it altogether, you won’t lose anything.
At the same time, it cannot be said that the series has become ossified. There are small changes here and there (like the ability to rearrange guns in the store), but the developers don’t go overboard with this. In general, it is clear that Valve adheres to the truism with CS2: what works, don’t break it. “Contra” sits tightly in its e-sports niche like a saber in its sheath and is clearly not going to experiment wildly or jump into the fields of other online shooters. I wouldn’t be surprised if nothing radically changes in 20 years. Grandfathers will come to CS3 to be curious and immediately hand out headshots from Kalash guns purely on a reflex that was developed in the fifth grade.
You can’t create your own servers
MINUS
Servers in CS2 are a completely different story. If you are an elderly fan of occasionally playing counter games, then you probably remember the times when you could go into a game, create a server there, send his IP to your friends and calmly hack away with a stable ping. It’s not that simple in CS2.
To play with friends, you first need to connect with everyone in the lobby (which has a maximum of 5 people), after which you can fly into a common game with 10×10 randoms, or go to the 5×5 competitive mode. If there are more than 5 people, start a dance with tambourines around a dedicated server, also known as a dedicated server. We were lucky in the elite “disgusting” chat because there was a person with straight hands who set up a server on his machine.
What is the reason for this decision by Valve is a mystery. Either the company does not have enough capacity for this, or it is a matter of the desire to keep a stable online connection on its servers, or some other circumstance is influencing it. In any case, it turned out very steamy, we’ll give this move a fat minus.
A bunch of small chips with shadows, pomegranates and fried chickens
PLUS
A special pleasure is the various little features in the game. For example, in some locations the shadows of opponents are visible, protruding even before the model itself appears. On the one hand, this is not very fair, but on the other, it only adds spice to the gameplay, since the element of surprise is lost if you walk around the corner with a quiet step.
Or take grenades, they’re completely useless (badum, sir). Firstly, grenades now kill not only by explosion or fire, but also by simply hitting the body. If the enemy has a couple of HP left, you throw a flash drive at his carcass and send him to the next world with a blow – a general scream is guaranteed until the end of the game.
If you throw a torch at a chicken, it turns into a grilled chicken.
Well made smoke grenade. Shots through the smoke now leave gaps, and if you shoot in the thickest areas, you won’t be able to see through anything (except for the flashes from the shots). But shots into the outer halo do a great job of dispersing the curtain, which can be used if, for example, you are sitting in ambush under smoke.
Plus, smoke puts out the fire from a Molotov cocktail (but this has already happened in CS:GO). And most importantly: the curtain can now be temporarily dispersed by a grenade explosion. I threw the haeshka, checked out the situation and again went into the fog – a seasoned tactical approach.
Skins and cases — customization (almost) doesn’t bother me
PLUS/MINUS
The topic of customizing guns was discussed a lot ten years ago, when they just started to come into use. Some were annoyed by the inappropriate rooster diversity of skins, others were indignant that their favorite game was turning into a bazaar, where greedy children traded in imaginary objects, and others then abandoned the “counter” – because this whole circus with horses had become unbearable.
The complaints are understandable, but over the years, skinnies and other gadgets have taken root. Now it’s part of the gaming landscape, there’s nowhere to go. So how is it in CS2? Overall, ok. Very eye-catching skins are rare, they do not distract from the game, in matches with randomly painted guns there are one and a half to a hundred. Still, the game is free, most people obviously don’t want to spend money on all sorts of crap.
One of the coolest features in terms of customization is the music that is played at the end of the round for the most successful players.
Everyone hears it, and it’s funny, because after the 18th round in a row the melody naturally turns into mockery. You made minus 5, defused a bomb, or most of all assists – and now everyone is swearing at you FOR THIS DAMN SONG, DELETE IT, YOU BASTLE. The emotions are simply unreal, and that’s why we love online games.
To sum it up. CS2 is still the same good old eSports classic, touched up and brought to mind. It’s not easy to jump into it after a long break, but it’s very simple; it’s also lenient towards beginners. If you want a challenge, you go to the competitive mode for the pain, you just want to shoot, in general mode, you want to have fun with the company, you play shaman with a dedicated server, turn on discord and scream like a schoolboy when they shoot you in the head without a sight from an “elephant.”
Over the years, many of us, naturally, have grown a shell, and the desire to win everyone has somewhat let go, but after a couple of games, the feeling of optionality from the game is replaced by the feeling of “well, get ready, now I’ll give it to you all.”
The emotions are still the same as in our youth, we often play with the elite 5×5 chat. At the same time, we can’t say that all we do all day long is hack away at CS2, but we get together a couple of times a week in the evenings. Considering that grown-up kids from different corners and villages leave everything and go shoot at the “counterpart,” this already says something about its attractiveness. Well, or about the kids themselves.
The key point is that the visuals in CS2 are stupidly preventative and very pleasant; you can run for hours without harming your eyes and psyche. In combination with an excellent audio component (guns click pleasantly, excellent sounds of purchasing in the store, footsteps, grenade explosions), the game naturally turns into total relaxation.
Verdict: we played, we play and we will play. Of course, not 24/7, but CS2 deserved its place on the hard drive quite rightly. What can I say – and in our elderly hearts too.
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#learned #CounterStrike