The full version of Counter-Strike Source is out. Read our review of it here

 

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The Beginning

I'll admit my bias right away. I'm a big CounterStrike fan. The first time I played CounterStrike was in late 1999, right after beta 2 was released. Despite playing on a dial-up modem with a 450 ping (before the new net code) I loved the game.

I was determined to be one of the first people to participate in the Source beta, at least on the internet. As cool as Counter Strike is, driving 3 hours to play it wasn't on my list of things to do. After waiting most of the day (I grilled some burgers and hotdogs during a severe thunderstorm watch to kill time), I finally was able to launch Source less than an hour after it was officially released. Only 10 servers appeared in internet games. I was excited. I tried to enter but only ran into crashes and full servers. Finally we were able to download the update and launch it on our second machine. We set up a LAN server and we gave Source a shot. It looked damn good. We were able to test out many of the guns, and roll around a few tires. Then I tried to take a screenshot, and the game crashed.

Bugs

For the rest of the night the game crashed on launch. Not very fun or exciting. I uninstalled Steam and went to bed. When I got up I redownloaded Source and was able to finally play it online. This was much better. There were plenty of servers to choose from -- and not just servers run off of someone's DSL connection where everyone got a 500 ping.

I was a terrorist. My score was 10 to 15 and that was the second best score on my team. Ouch. Of course I may have been a bit distracted. I was still busy checking out all of the new stuff. I decided to try a new weapon, one that I usually didn't use. The auto-shotgun. I bought it and took a stroll. The thick smoke from the smoke grenades filled the hallway making it difficult to see. I spotted a counter-terrorist in front of me. Two shots and he was history. I continued running forward and saw another, taking him out as well. Then another. I was out of the hallway now. I turned around, more counter terrorists had entered the hallway; they had missed me in the smoke during the middle of the firefight. Their backs were turned. Two more counter terrorists dead. Then the server rebooted.

The Source beta is buggy. Trying to actually play the game on launch night was difficult. For fans, it was worth it. In order to play you need to buy Condition Zero. Not a problem, except it costs $30 off Steam. You'll be lucky if you can find it for $25 -- I payed $45. If you can wait another month or two (Half Life 2 is supposedly due out in September) don't buy Condition Zero just for the Source beta. You will grow tired of dust fast -- that is unless you are one of those people who play on a 24/7 dust server. Condition Zero is a bit under-rated. The graphics are a major improvement over standard CounterStrike even if they aren't the leap that CounterStrike Source is. Read our Counterstrike Condition Zero review if you haven't purchased it.

Graphics

CounterStrike Source brings CounterStrike to the same level, graphically, as Unreal Tournament 2004 and Doom 3. Half Life 2's engine is not nearly as advanced as iD's but this is due more to the need for wide open environments in HL2 and Counterstrike Source than any inferiority at Valve. Regardless, the original CounterStrike has been looking old for years now. With the release of CounterStrike Source it now officially looks ancient.

Thanks to HL2's physics engine (of which a portion of the code was leaked onto the internet late last year) you can now do things as mundane as rolling tires down a hill and shooting empty soda bottles. Somewhat more more exciting, you can see the results of a frag grenade. Bodies will now flop through the air and then land in a horribly uncomfortable position all without clipping through a wall.

I think he's dead	Damn nice gun models

There are all kinds of graphic effects that greatly add to the cinematic effect of the game. Dirt sprays off of surfaces hit by a bullet. Dust particles can be seen floating in the air of a poorly lit hallway. A hazy fog floats above the ground. The flash of guns can be seen on walls and in the smoke of smoke grenades. Shoot a crate. You can see the exit hole on the other side, and a bullet hole in the ground or wall behind it. The flashbang effects are greatly improved; check out the screenshot above. Besides the visuals on the flashbang, the ringing noise you hear temporarily deafens you to even gunfire.

Flash effects	Flashbang effects

They say you actually have to see Source being played to fully appreciate it. The first time you play you will spend a few rounds shooting at empty cans and tires. Let me explain this in detail for you to fully understand. Ok, you shoot something; it goes flying. Big deal. Well, take a shot at a barrel. It falls over, maybe rolls a bit. Next time aim at the side. The barrel literally starts spinning in circles until it falls over. Aim at the top, the barrel will do a backflip. The new physics engine makes the ragdoll bodies very realistic. The bodies don't dissappear. They sit there. On 30+ player servers they start piling up, their limbs twisted uncomfortably naturally. Its actually quite creepy. At least for the first few minutes.

The excitement of cans

Besides graphical effects, there is also a noticeable improvement in sound effects. The gun shots are crisp and loud with a sense of depth. Everything sounds so much better. I can't wait to hear this on a high-end surround-sound system.

Performance

How does CounterStrike Source run? My machine is nothing great, a 2.4Ghz P4, 1gb RAM, and a GeForce Ti4200 along with DirectX 9c. I ran Source both at 1024x768 and 800x600. 800x600 is a bit jaggy, with anti-aliasing it looks fine. Without anti-aliasing my framerate was bouncing between 25-60fps. Certainly playable. My old P500 with a Voodoo3 ran the original CounterStrike with custom models worse than that.

The Evolution of Dust First, Dust in normal CounterStrike, Second Dust in Condition Zero, and third Dust in CounterStrike Source Beta. Despite the enormous differance visually, all maps play pretty much the same.
de_dust	de_dust_cz	dust - Source Beta

Minor Criticisms

I don't have many negative things to say about the Source beta. I'd like to see the crosshair performance return to what it was in original CounterStrike. I noticed that Condition Zero map textures actually looked sharper/cleaner than the ones in Source. Take a look at the above screenshots of Dust. Look at the railing right under the pistol and you will see what I mean. I believe there is some alpha texture that is overlayed on the Condition Zero textures which makes them appear cleaner at very close view. If its possible I wouldn't mind seeing this in Source. The new blood is great but I'd like to see more. Yes, Soldier of Fortune was one of my favorite games (great magazine and tv show too!)

Since launch night quite a number of major bugs have been fixed -- including one that made me crash 99% of the time on launch. It may just be a beta, but CounterStrike was just a beta for a very long time. What else can I say? They understand that continual improvement -- without radical change -- is a necessity to CounterStrike's longevity; I expect the game will be refined for years to come.

Conclusion

Many people have said that CounterStrike Source is just CounterStrike with new graphics. This is just about right. There are a few gameplay differences, particularly with cross-hair behavior. This may be an annoyance to veteran CounterStrike players. It is surprising what a small change can do in a game like this. Many people have played CounterStrike for years, for hundreds if not even thousands of hours. Senses become finely tuned and every detail becomes relevant in order to get just one more kill. With this is mind, CounterStrike Source is still blatantly"CounterStrike."

We recently saw the release of Doom 3. Doom 3 was distant and unrecognizable in comparison to the original Doom. Not so with CounterStrike Source, as you can see from the screenshots. We think it is appropriate to call CounterStrike Source "CounterStrike with a boob job." It looks better -- but its the same thing.

Counterstrike provides endless hours of online fragging for countless gamers world wide. With the release of Counterstrike Source it looks like this legacy will continue on for another decade -- if not more. If we ain't dead we'll still be playing.