CS Source

The new de-dust

1v1 firefight

What is Counter-Strike: Source? Well, if the obvious name didn't give it away, it is Counter-Strike played on the Source Engine. It's that simple. Are there gameplay changes? Maybe, and I'll try to guess them but I'm not promising to be accurate since I barely played CS 1.5 at all and even less CS 1.6.

One thing is certain though, in case you're at all worried: this is still Counter-Strike. It's much prettier, significantly crisper and with better "feel" (although this is completely subjective), and with some minor improvements. The CS: Source beta has only one map, de_dust, and it's been changed only cosmetically. Rooms aren't quite as blocky, the lighting is a touch different and there are now barrels and other physics toys all over the place. They don't really affect gameplay but can be used as cover.

Source looks good!

Scratch one T

The most important difference for many between CS: Source and CS 1.6, gameplay wise, will be that the riot shield no longer exists. That's right - every server I've tried so far has not had the riot shield. Rejoice, my friends. Furthermore - and please keep in mind that I haven't played CS at all in a long while - it appears as though the reticle is somewhat slower to re-center itself after a burst. Single shots don't throw aim off too badly but longer bursts, or god forbid, a spray, will mess with your aim more than they used to.

The other change-that-might-be-but-I'm-not-sure is that the "sticky" effect from being hit is significantly lessened. One of the most hated features of CS 1.6 for me was that a mere tap, a glancing blow from a TMP or any other gun would veritably freeze you in place for the follow-up burst. Now in the months between I either lost my sensitivity to this, or something has changed. However, I will tentatively suggest that CS: Source now permits more freedom of movement after a hit than its predecessor did.

Counter-Strikers will be pleased to note that otherwise, movement physics haven't changed at all. Running, jumping and even the movement sound effects are identical. Actually, all sound effects are unchanged. An AK still sounds like an AK, even though it's of course now called a CV.

Of course, the lack of changes in the movement and map mean that no exploits have been fixed. On two different servers I had to deal with persistent and even commonplace use of the skywalking exploit. It seems in fact much worse than in previous versions, though this may be because players are more brazen during a beta, or server admins assumed it was fixed. Another issue that perhaps was believed to have been fixed is the pause bug. Several servers left pause enabled which had the players on those servers exclaiming their mild irritation in the typically understated Counter-Strike way: "PlayerName you g*y homosexual f*cking *sshole sh*t eating f*ggot incestuous f*cktard if u dont stop skywalking I swear to f*cking God I'll switch teams and tk u until the admin arrives to ban us both."

It's good to know some things never change. I felt right at home.

New flashbang effect. It is wearing off here

Pistol fight

Some things, however, do change. The flashbang is more effective, at least to these inexperienced eyes, and I noticed more Para and shotgun kills than usual, perhaps indicating improvements to those weapons. Finally, I must admit to my surprise that I quite enjoyed CS. It doesn't deserve its popularity any more in the face of many other better games being on the market, but this version is much more enjoyable than CS 1.6. Perhaps it's the gameplay changes, or perhaps I'm simply imagining things. After talking to Brandon, however, I did come to the conclusion that it's still a fine game. It's not the Second Coming, but apparently CS 2 has already made reservations for that.

Until next time.