At the rate at which online games are becoming more and more popular, soon, you will have roughly no bandwidth in order to simply surf the web... (Yeah! Like anyone just surfs the net). The amount of games that have a strong multiplayer side to them these days are overtaking the simple single player game nothing before. The game I am concentrating on the most is not a standalone game, no, it is a fantastically famous and praised Mod for Half-Life. Yep, you've guessed it,
Counter-Strike.

NEWBIE GLOOM
    One of counter-Strikes down sides, is that if you are relatively new to the game and have had about as much experience with the game as a wild monkey has, then you will be overwhelmed at how difficult and demanding the whole thing can be. With all the experienced and knowledgeable players out there, with a clear sniper shot on your head and a itchy trigger finger. You feel about as welcome as a turd would in a club. Also, not having the ability to distinguish between terrorists and counter-terrorists as you have not developed the so called 'CS-eye', you may find yourself shooting at anything that moves, including your team mates, and after a while, this will get you swiftly removed from the server, and if continued… banned!

 

IS THAT A GUN IN YOUR POCKET?
    Trying to be a semi-realistic MOD, Counter-Strike bundles in a spiffy load of weapons for all you unstable-minded gamers to get your grubby little hands on. And the best thing about them is that they all fill you with a sense of authority and ovular might. Although some of the weapons are a bit feeble in the aspect of piercing the skin of an enemy, they all look extremely detailed and full of life! Which brings me nicely onto the next topic of interest: the graphics. The appearance and structure of Counter-Strike is in general, very good. The buildings look great, the character models look great, gunfire looks great, it’s all really great. But there is one thing that really lets it down, and that is, when the game is running in a low resolution, the graphics are very, very poor, everything has pixels the size of King Kong’s butt-cheek . I know you are probably saying “Doesn’t every game?”… and the answer to that delicacy is ‘no’. Take Max Payne for instance, that bad boy looked great in 640x480. But the fact of the matter is, because Counter-Strike is running in Half-Life, (a game so old, your grandma was playing it when she was ten) the graphics are not up to scratch as much as today’s games are. So, I’m afraid to say, that those people with MEGA-SLOW machines will either have to avoid the game, or put up with painful pixels! Another positive factor that Counter-Strike possesses is the sheer distinction of each and every map. They don’t just look good graphics wise, they also seem to aid the game in giving some sort of structure to the games you play. Each one has a set amount of places to do specific tasks, such as sniping or general hiding in the shadows.

COUNTER FRUSTRATION
    In order to succeed in Counter-Strike, you have to be reasonably good at first person shooters by knowing all the tactics used to evade the enemy’s gunfire. But, if you are lacking in this field, then you are basically buggered, If you are playing against experienced Counter-Strike players (which you usually are), then it is almost impossible to kill anyone. When I first tried this game on the net, I managed to kill about one person every 5 or 6 games. What’s that?, I suck?.. Yeah well so do you! Also after you die, I’m sure you’re all aware that you get to fly around the map in ‘Free look mode’, now, this addition to the game is only good for one reason, seeking out the hidden rooms that the map producer usually makes in order to pay homage to all the people that aided him/her in the production of the map. Otherwise, floating round the map, flying through walls like a lost ghost is nothing more than boring as hell, you want to get back into the game and shoot some more people. I know that the game rounds only last for a maximum of five minutes, but five minutes is a long time when your aimlessly studying the textures on walls until your eyes start to burn. Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, the single player C-S will be released in quite a few months, so all you lonesome people with no modem, can enjoy the delights of C-S… I can’t wait.

-Adam