It's back, and this time it's global

They say lightening never strikes twice... but then again they also say that an apple a day keeps the Doctor away, and that the chances of anything coming from Mars was a million to one. With Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Valve hope to re-create the success and cult status that the original release (which started life as a mod for Half-Life) achieved in its life. We managed to get some hands-on time with the game at the Eurogamer Expo in London.
 

I got 99 problems but distinguishing terrorists from counter-terrorists ain't one

We've no doubt that the various Counter Strike communities will rally behind Global Offensive - with a graphical update, various tweaks and changes, the inclusion of the current most-popular mod... everything you could want from a modern version of an iconic game. That community alone will probably be worth the investment Valve is putting into this, but can they also achieve their goal of expanding it to the console audience? They think so, as they see Counter Strike as filling a niche in the market that no-one else seems to want to fill, on any platform, but we can't help but wonder.

Playing CSGO on the Playstation 3, we couldn't help but think that it's got a tough fight ahead of it. Even though the visuals have definitely improved, one the consoles at least it's unlikely to win any awards. Obviously, graphics aren't everything, but from the off it's clear that Valve's iconic shooter is a far, far simpler game then the current competition. The devs may pride themselves on the more 'pure', skill-based gameplay that the Counter Strike offers, but what this really translates into is a simple game with not many thrills. The question is, will that be enough for the console audience?

The code we played was very straight forward - terrorists had to plant bombs in key locations, and the counter-terrorists had to stop them. Small teams, around five a piece, and the map was quite small as well. You could choose your kit and weapons in special 'start zones' using money that you've earned through performance. After that, it's pretty much search-and-destroy... unless you're chosen to be the bomber, in which case it's search and deploy, with the your team mates hopefully watching your back. If you die, that's it, you have to wait until the end of the round.



The rounds were short, surprisingly short, actually - but then with small teams and single objective, teams are going to come together quickly. The control will probably be slightly different to what standard FPS players are used to, but it's fairly easy to adapt. The rest really is up to you - Chet Faliszek mentioned tactics like "wall spamming" in our interview, which we have no idea what that means, but it just goes to show that winning or losing is very much down to you. Granted, these are only brief impressions based on a couple of quick tries, but it's important that prospective new players know what they are getting into.
 

Shanking someone with a knife is going to become gaming's first true universal language...

Valve believe that this will be the best version of Counter Strike: in many ways that's likely to be true (although the community will ultimately make up their own minds), but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be as popular as the last one has been. It's a shame they're not doing a console beta, as that would have been a real test as to how accepted this game could be by that particular market. We liked what we saw enough, but it's probably best to reserve judgement until we get our hands on the PC Beta coming in October. Counter Strike: Global Offensive is due 'early' 2012 on PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

Most Anticipated Feature: Seeing how the Playstation 3 and PC audience fair in competing against each other with the cross-platform functionality.