Old but still strong FPS (Half-Life - Counterstrike (PC))

Member Name: Ghostkov

Product:	Half-Life - Counterstrike (PC)
Date:	13/09/09 (4 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, strong community, many servers, balanced gameplay, realistic tactical shooter

Disadvantages: Not for people who can't stand blood or don't like shooters

HL: CS is overall a very fun game if you are into FPS (First Person Shooter) games in general.
I've started playing back during Beta 6.0, so I've seen it evolve over the last few beta versions into the retail 1.5 and eventual 1.6.

In a nutshell, CS is about two teams attempting to complete their objective on a map with whichever team winning the most rounds being the overall victor when the map time limit expires.
Now, that of course is how it works in a clan match / competitve play, however on most public servers, people tend to play for frags (kills) more than objectives.
There are several types of maps in CS:
cs - Hostage Rescue. Counter-Terrorists (CT) need to rescue 4 hostages and start far from their location. Terrorists (T) need to prevent the CTs from rescuing the hostages until the round time limit expires. Note that only 2 hostages are needed for a round win.
de - Defuse. Ts need to plant a bomb (carried by a random player who drops it on death or on will, can only be picked up by Ts) at one of two bombspots. CTs need to prevent the bomb from being planted, or if it has been planted, defuse it before it goes off. Defusal kits can cut the time needed for defusing by half.
es - Escape. Ts start with basic handguns and cannot buy weapons. They need to find a nearby weapons cache that needs to be pryed open and retrieve weaponry. Then, they need at least 50% of the team to escape via one of 2 escape points. CTs need to kill sufficient Ts to stop their successful escape or wait them out per round time limit.
as - assassination. One CT is randomly designated as a VIP (can also choose to be VIP if already CT) and must escape via a single escape point. The VIP is heavily armored but carries only a handgun with limited ammo. His team must escort him. Ts must kill the VIP or prevent him from escaping by letting the timer run out.

Weaponry in CS is very varied with a large selection of handguns, submachineguns, rifles and a larger machinegun. Additional accessories such as grenades, night vision goggles, tactical shields and the like are also available. Those are bought at the start of a round in your spawning area. There are a few differences in weapons that can be bought by either CTs or Ts, but you can always pick up a weapon that your enemy drops. Also, you need to buy ammunition for weapons you acquire, lest you stand around clicking without bullets!

Controls are via keyboard and mouse, with the mouse generally used for vision movement, aiming and shooting and keyboard for movement, including ducking, jumping and swimming.

While CS 1.6 has been out for years now, the community is still strong and thousands of gamers play it daily over Valve's Steam system. CS comes free when you buy the basic Half-Life package as its a modification of the game.

I would warmly recommend it as a starter game for anyone interested in playing FPS online in a multiplayer environment due to its very low system requirements, timeless graphics and low cost.

Summary: HL:CS is the first in a series of Counter-Strike games and still widely played and enjoyed.