"Counter-Strike: Global Offensive hands-on preview"

It's been a long time since the last Counter-Strike, and surprisingly little has changed for this new iteration. But this might well be a good thing, writes Lewis Denby

Formats: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC/Mac
Developer: Valve
Publisher: Valve
Released: "Early 2012"

It's twelve years since Counter-Strike first emerged onto the multiplayer gaming scene. A team-based shooter pitting terrorists against counter-terrorist squads, it was initially a mod for Valve’s Half-Life, but was quickly adopted by masses of first-person shooter fans looking for a smarter, more tactical experience to engage their trigger-fingers. By the time a full retail release arrived a year later, more and more players had made Counter-Strike their

go-to multiplayer title - and when the huge 1.6 update hit in 2003, it had become a phenomenon.

Valve released a new version of Counter-Strike alongside Half-Life 2 a year after that, splitting the player base between those who preferred the visually superior Source Engine, and those who preferred to stick with the original game. While Counter-Strike isn’t quite the household name it once was, both variants are still played by a vociferous fanbase, and only now is a new installment heading our way.

Which is why playing Global Offensive, and seeing how little has changed on the surface, is a surprise. Given the current trend for series reboots, one might have expected to see a glossier, more modernised finish to the game - and yet here we are, with a title that feels like a tweaked version of what came before, rather than something completely new in its own right. Teams still compete quickly but cautiously across small multiplayer maps with varying objectives, such as hostage rescues or bomb defusals, with one team attacking while the other tries to stop them. And, as before, there's no mid-round respawning: if you're killed, you're out until the next round begins. The level I find myself playing, defusal map Dust, is a modified version of one I remember from years ago. It's all very familiar.

I put this to Valve’s Chet Faliszek, who I find manning the booth at the Eurogamer Expo. What exactly is Global Offensive supposed to be, if it’s not a full-blown reboot or a sequel? He tells me, quite simply, that it’s the best version of Counter-Strike yet. The team at Valve has been trawling through player feedback and analysing statistics from both 1.6 and Counter-Strike Source. “We’re the number one tactical shooter on the PC,” Faliszek says. “There’s a lot of data to look at.”

This time, however, it’s not just on PC. For the first time since the largely ignored Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, Valve is bringing the series to the consoles as well. These are games famed for their fast pace, and the company doesn’t seem to be making many concessions to the console market. There’s no auto-aiming, no ironsights, no perks - very little, essentially, of what the likes of Call of Duty have popularised. The PS3 version I sit down with feels fluid and responsive, but I wonder what the feedback has been like from others who’ve played on a console.

“We’ve had a couple of teams come in,” says Faliszek. “At PAX we had a bunch of pro players who were like, ‘Oh, it’s the 360 version’. But then they played it, and they were fine.” Faliszek thinks the format isn’t too important anyway, as long as the game is still identifiably Counter-Strike. “I think most people play on a few different platforms these days,” he says. “They sit down and the controls are natural enough, and the gameplay’s still the gameplay.”

Perhaps the only significant concession made is that there’s now a casual mode, which strips out the game’s money system, allowing players access to all weapons and equipment from the outset. It also reduces the likelihood of one-hit kills, and gets rid of friendly fire - a brave move, especially considering how many veteran Counter-Strike players cite the game’s heavily skill-based play as one of its strong points. But this isn’t about alienating the hardcore, says Faliszek. “We're lowering the entry level. We're making it easier to get in. You can experiment and make choices... it’s just a much more social, ‘hanging out with your friends’ kind of play.”

In theory, it should mean that those who want to play competitively are able to do so without having to worry about newcomers who are still trying to learn the ropes - or, indeed, those who simply aren’t bothered about being the best, and simply want to have some fun.

And I have no doubt that fun will be had. During the half-hour I played, I was surprised by how quickly I fell back into my old play style, and how vividly I recalled my old routes around the map. There are a variety of small tweaks, all of which should aid the balancing of a game that, over a decade on, is still just as tense and compulsive as it was when it first appeared.

Those coming to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive from Call of Duty or Battlefield may initially struggle. While ostensibly in the same genre, there’s none of the bravado or the bombast; none of the flashy visual effects that make these games’ multiplayer components so spectacular. Indeed, CS:GO often looks distinctly unremarkable: outdated, even. It’s clear that being at the bleeding edge of graphics technology isn’t Valve’s aim for this project.

Because their aim, of course, is to take the Counter-Strike formula, change what needs to be changed, and leave the rest intact. So far, so promising. It’d be easy to worry that this won’t be enough to give Global Offensive the attention it deserves - but this is Valve. If there’s thing we should know with a developer of their reputation, it's to trust them.