Counter-Strike (AKA Counter-Strike 1.6) began as a popular mod for the game Half-Life, originally called Half-Life: Counter-Strike.
Overview[]
Counter-Strike is a multiplayer game that features two sides; Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists. These different sides form the two distinct teams that usually start at opposite sides of an area or map. There are objectives for both teams, usually to fulfill a mission objective, such as placing a bomb, rescuing hostages, or eliminating the opposing team in a deathmatch.
History[]
On March 24th, 1999 - Planet Half-Life launched the Counter-Strike website, operated by GameSpy's Joost Schurr. The mod first released as a beta on June 19th, 1999 - this version offered the Hostage Rescue game mode only & the iconic Defuse mode was not added until the introduction of Aztec & Cbble on June 8th, 2000.
On November 1st, 2000 - Valve would officially release Counter-Strike as a stand-alone game, ushering it from a mod to one of Valve's first fully fledged live service titles. Physical copies of Counter-Strike were distributed by Sierra Entertainment with the Half-Life: Counter-Strike moniker, before it simply became: Counter-Strike. Valve decided to publish Counter-Strike to their new digital distribution platform Steam on September 15th, 2003.
A spin-off title, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero was developed by Gearbox Software & published by Valve on March 23rd, 2004. A fully updated version, Counter-Strike: Source (for the Source Engine) was released on October 7th, 2004, but with a great deal of changes from the core gameplay.
On October 18th, 2007 modders in the community banded together to create CS: Promod, which aimed to make a more standardized gameplay style (similar to Counter-Strike 1.6) for the purpose of growing competitive play. Development of CS: Promod would cease when Counter-Strike: Global Offensive took the limelight, with the last version of CS: Promod coming out the same year as the new title's beta versions, in 2012.
Counter-Strike Online (which is a modified version of Counter-Strike 1.6 developed by Nexon Corporation) would bring Counter-Strike 1.6 to Asian audiences officially on July 24th, 2008. Counter-Strike Online would also later debut in North America via Steam under the moniker Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies on October 7th, 2014. The game would re-brand on October 30th, 2019 to become Counter-Strike Nexon: Studio, with a more sandbox oriented direction.
On December 24th, 2016 a popular Counter-Strike: Global Offensive modder named ZooL Smith would release an early beta version for a mod called Classic Offensive, a mix of all Counter-Strike gameplay styles. The following year, the mod would be submitted & acceoted via the Steam Greenlight program. For 8 years ZooL Smith would grow his team & continue developing the mod. Popular YouTube content creator & level designer ESCalation would contribute to the project as well. The team behind Black Mesa would also lend their assets to help polish the Classic Offensive rendition of Nuke.
The creators of CS: Promod announced a brand new project called CS: Legacy on March 17th, 2025 - which aims to be a free, fan-made remake of Counter-Strike 1.6, built from the ground up on Valve's modern Source Engine 2013 SDK. The game struck up a bit of controversey, as around the same time the game was announced, the team behind the Classic Offensive mod were asked by Valve to cease development entirely. As of writing, the game is yet to release.
Gameplay[]
Gameplay usually starts after the player has connected to the game. The gamer begins with a small amount of money, from which he can accumulate by killing enemies and fulfilling objectives to buy more advanced weapons. The freeze-time in the beginning is used by players to buy equipment, usually with shortcut and hotkeys. By pressing a preset key a gamer can view the Scoreboard, where the name, score, kills and ping can be viewed. After dying in a round, the gamer will automatically become a spectator for the rest of the round, until that particular round has finished. Boasting fast-paced gameplay compared to the large amount of shooters out in the market, its simplicity has made it one of the premiere games of this generation. Head-shots, a major theme of CS culture, are usually a one-shot kill and what separates good players with amateurs.
Player Types[]
There are two types of players: The Terrorists and the Counter-Terrorists. These are also separated into 4 types of each, which apparently have no difference in armor or statistics. These include the Terrorists' Phoenix Connexion, the Elite Crew, Arctic Avengers and Guerrillas, and also the Counter-Terrorists' SEAL Team 6s, GSG9s, SASes, and GIGNs. Other types include VIPs and non-player Hostages.
Counter-Terrorist models[]
- SEAL Team 6 - First appeared in initial CS beta - "ST-6 (to be later known as DEVGRU) was founded in 1981 under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Richard Marciko. ST-6 was placed on permanent alert to respond to terrorist attacks against American targets worldwide."
- GSG 9 - Added in CS beta 6 - "GSG 9 was formed out of the tragic events that led to the death of several Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympic games in Munich, Germany."
- SAS - Added in CS beta 5 - "World-renowned British SAS was founded in the Second World War by a man named David Stirling. Their role in WW2 involved intelligence gathering behind enemy lines and executing sabotage strikes and assassinations against key targets."
- GIGN - Added in CS beta 3 - "France's elite counter-terrorist group, the GIGN, was designed to be a fast response force that could decisively react to any large-scale terrorist incident. Consisting of no more than 100 men, the GIGN has earned its reputation through a history of successful ops."
Terrorist models[]
- Phoenix Connexion - First appeared in initial CS beta - "Having established a reputation for killing anyone who gets in their way, the Phoenix Connexion is one of the most feared terrorist groups in eastern Europe. Formed shortly after the breakup of the USSR."
- Elite Crew (L337 Krew prior to CS 1.6) - Added in CS beta 3 - "Middle Eastern fundamentalist geeks bent on world domination and various other evil deeds."
- Arctic Avengers - Added in CS beta 6 - "Swedish terrorist faction founded in 1977. Infamous for their bombing of the Canadian embassy in 1990."
- Guerilla Warfare - Added in CS beta 2.5 - "A terrorist fraction founded in the Middle East, this group has a reputation for ruthlessness. Their disgust for American lifestyle was demonstrated in their 1982 bombing of a school bus full of Rock and Roll musicians."
Other models[]
- VIP- Used in assassination maps in which he is armed with a pistol only and must be extracted by the counter-terrorist or killed by the terrorist.
Maps[]
- For the main article see Counter-Strike maps
Besides the default maps, maps can be made using Valve's Hammer Editor.
Equipment & Weapons[]
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Pistols
Shotguns
Submachine Guns
Rifles
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Machine Guns
Grenades
Equipment
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Cheating[]
Cheating used to be a major problem in Counter-Strike, from aimbots, to speed hacks and everything in-between, players could get their hands on anything which made finishing objectives and killing other players easier. Valve released an anti-cheat system, Valve Anti-Cheat (commonly shorted to VAC). Players cheating on servers that have VAC enabled run the risk of having a VAC ban placed on their account.
Counter-strike Culture[]
Counter-Strike is a popular game in the world, especially when found in Internet Cafes and Gaming Bars. Professional gamers and leagues from the hierarchy of the CS world, and skilled players with a name are feared and are respected around the world. Tournaments are hosted frequently and players often hone their skills to compete with friends or against online players. Extremely powerful factions of the game such as Team 3D can make a living out of CS. Teamspeak and Ventrilo are used by players to give out instructions and to give orders. Many Mods have been created to expand the gameplay of Counter-strike, and its versatility to create maps and mods have contributed greatly to its overall success.
