88
Title: Counter-Strike
Released: November 2000
Official Website
Update History
Steam Game Page
Counter-Strike Guide
No Achievements

It is impossible to talk about Counter-Strike without first going back in time to June 1999 when Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess "Cliffe" Cliffe released BETA 1.0 of their new Half-Life modification.

Counter-Strike quickly became the most popular Half-Life modification and in less than a year had become one of the most played online action games in the world.

Even now, Counter-Strike is still the most played game on Steam with peak player numbers often 20,000 higher than its successor, Counter-Strike: Source.

Often called CS 1.6 to distinguish itself from its successors, it comprises of rounds usually around 2-5 minutes in length whereby terrorists face off against Counter Terrorists. These two teams are thrown into an objective based map, which they must complete, as well as eliminating the opposing team. There are 3 main official map types, the 2 most common being ‘demolition’ (de_dust, de_dust2, de_aztec), and ‘counter strike maps – hostage rescue’ (cs_assault, cs_militia, cs_office).

Each round begins with the two teams spawning at certain places on the map. There is usually a ‘freeze time’ whereby the players cannot move and this time is when guns and equipment are purchased for the round.

You then proceed into combat, challenging the objectives. Terrorists attempt to set up explosives at bomb sites on demolition maps, and Counter Terrorists seek to disarm the explosives as well as eliminating all Terrorists. On hostage maps, terrorists usually spawn near the hostages to protect them, while Counter Terrorists seek to infiltrate and escort them back to a ‘hostage rescue zone’ usually near their spawn. If a player is killed during the round, he is then dead for the remainder of it, till a new one begins. While he is dead, he is able to spectate the game and see how it turns out.

Points are awarded for completing objective or killing opposing team players. On the scoreboard the game keeps a record of how many rounds each team has won, as well as your kill and death statistics.