Counter Strike: Global Offensive is the fourth Counter Strike game in the series and is one of the best. The reason why I write this review is because the scene of Global Offensive has changed immensely in the last two years.  In some peoples mind’s there is the idea of “Counter Strike: GO is a two year old game, why so significant now?” well the game has increased its original regular player base of 4,000 people a day in October, to over 100,000 people a day in February. This figure is still growing as Global Operations has had another 10,000 daily players added in the begging of March. The exponential growth of the population can be explained by the overhaul Valve has done on the entire scene of he game.

Gameplay:

In Counter Strike there are only two teams a player can join, Counter-Terrorist or Terrorists. Once a player joins and both teams are set up, it is now both teams’ jobs to complete the objective set up for them or to eliminate the enemy team. Based on player and team performance, money is awarded in order to pay for new weapons, gear, and tools at the beginning of every round. Global Offensive offers new equipment and gear that no other player has seen in its previous games.

The mechanics of this game are very fluent and easy to handle, especially since this game is built on the Source engine. Jumping, moving around, strafing, and shooting actions are very easy to handle and execute. Many of the gun fights are fair in the sense of a well-built lag compensation system and the engine being able to process these gun fights correctly because of the advanced hit detection.  In addition to the gun battles, every game is now on dedicated server thus optimizing the connection of every player in the lobby to the server then reducing lag spikes and unfair gun fights. Many of the guns and equipment in this game are balanced and there are no problems with over used guns.

Just like its predecessor games in the series, Global Offensive promotes objective based gameplay. A majority of these game modes have been pulled out of previous games, but Global Offensive has added some new ones.

Game Modes:

• Classic (Defuse) – It’s the Terrorists job to eliminate all the Counter-Terrorists or plant a bomb in one of two plants sites Alpha or Bravo. While this is going on, it’s the Counter-Terrorists job to eliminate all the Terrorists or defuse the bomb when the Terrorists plant. Each player has one life per round and it runs on seven minute rounds.
• Classic (Hostage) – It’s the Counter-Terrorists job to kill all Terrorists and rescue the hostages and the Terrorists are supposed to keep the hostages away from the Counter-Terrorists and eliminate them. Each player has one life per round and it runs on short three minute rounds.
• Arms Race (NEW) – it’s a deathmatch game mode where if one player gets a kill they advanced to a new gun. The first player on either team to achieve all gun levels wins their team the game.
• Demolition (NEW) – There is no weapon or equipment purchasing in this game mode, every time a player gets a kill they get another random gun. This game runs on three minute rounds.
• Deathmatch (NEW) – This is a teamdeath match game mode were players must earn the maximum amount of point for killing each other. It lasts 10 minutes and has instant respawns. There are no money restrictions and every player can choose the weapons they want.
• Competitive (NEW) – Players compete in the classic game modes in  order to get commendations, ranks, and drops.

Maps:

At first Global Offensive had only eight classic maps (Dust, Aztec, Dust II, Nuke, Train, Inferno, Italy, and Office). Then valve added Bank, Safehouse, Lake, Sugarcane, St. Marc, Shorttrain, and Vertigo in later updates. Following that, valve eventually started creating Operations that are essentially DLC that adds about 7-8 maps that the player can play. Each operation lasts about four months and costs around $0.99-$2.99. There are also now custom maps where players can make their own maps and play on player run dedicated servers.

Atmosphere:

The atmosphere compared to other counter strike games is incredible. The graphics, community, and updates impress me every single time I play the game. The community in this game is rather chatty and knowledgeable in general. Many of the people who play this game have fair sportsmanship and are humble people.

Updates:             

Earlier last year, Valve implemented the Steam Workshop onto the game were players can create custom Maps, weapons, and models. In addition, valve has added their own customized weapon camos that range from common-ultra rare, players can obtain them by opening cases or getting them in drops from playing games. The drops however are random and a player can receive four a day. Players can sell, buy, or trade these camos in the community market. Valve still updates this game so frequently adding items, like stickers to be added to a person’s gun.

Verdict:

    -Pros

+Overall balanced shooter

+Addictive

+Nice atmosphere

+Player market

+Frequent patches, always changing.

+Good for the Price

-Cons

+Needs a slight touch on the graphics