The fascinating story of a mod Half-Life that has become an icon of sport
Half life
Having started out simply as a mod of the Half – Life shooter, resulting from Valve’s work, Counter-Strike would continue to define the conventions of the competitive online game, and remains until today an esport icon. This counts as one of the reasons why World of Duels has long supported Counter-Strike : Global Offensive.
In the ‘ 90s, when Minh Le and Jess Cliffe were still working on their mod at Half-Life, they could never have imagined where it would take them. They began by publishing their work as a free beta that year, and by sharing this with the world, they were able to attract Valve’s attention themselves. Shortly after the couple has been recruited to improve their mod and make it into a full game ‘Half-Life: Counter-Strike’. It should be noted, however, that Minh Le and Cliffe saw their game win so much credit among the people even before its fifth beta, which is precisely the time that Valve began to get involved. And perhaps it was this one quality that made it so famous and contributed to Counter-Strike dominating online shooting games for nearly two decades.
From the beginning, this game offered both a robust and elegant base ; a team shooter who was particularly methodical in pace and was more team-oriented in game strategy ; which was not really the case for his contemporaries. Valve has thoroughly idealized the game, of course, but long before that, this game always had this outstanding quality.
It seems that these qualities of the game are largely the reason why it remains the best game eSports so far. With Global Offensive-the fourth entry in the Counter-Strike series-the configuration remains the same. As in 1999, the game consists of terrorist and anti-terrorist teams struggling to eliminate themselves, while achieving their own goals. It is a classic montage for easy and action battles with twists and twists, which is actually fantastic to play and also amazing to watch.
The evolution of Counter-Strike
Of course, a lot happened in the 13 years between the launch of the original mod and the Global offensive of 2012.
The first of the series was Counter-Strike: Condition Zero released in 2004. This did not really get the popularity or praise of the first game, but it played a very important role in moving the series forward. It was here that was introduced two game modes for one player, which may have been insignificant to competitive players, but did much to convert those who were still too attached to solitary games.
Development of Counter-Strike: Source with the “Source Engine”
Then, in the same atmosphere and bursting with progress in series, in the same year, the third game of the series was released: Counter-Strike: Source. It was the first game to use the new Valve Source game engine; a tool used to create and run a game. As such, it served as a statement of future ambition and capacity for the studio at its head.
The game received a lot of praise, but there was still a problem for many really competitive players at the time. Counter-Strike Source simply did not have a level of difficulty commensurate with their talents, having dropped considerably the level compared to that offered in version 1.6 of the original version, considered at the time as the benchmark of the series in terms of difficulty.
Condition Zero
Other versions of Counter-Strike
There were other spin-offs, such as the curious Japanese arcade title Counter-Strike Neo, and Counter-Strike: Online, a micro-transaction-funded adaptation that was developed outside Valve studios to better serve online players in the Asian community .
CS Neo
Despite their flaws, it was Condition Zero and Source that made Valve understand everything they needed to know before the big Offensive global launch; a game still updated and supported many years after its release in 2012. And, of course, a lot of people still play Global Offensive, always being one of the most played games across Steam .
And his age doesn’t make Global Offensive any less attractive today. In 2017, he was nominated for the IGN’s best of 2017 Awards, The Golden Joystick Awards, the 2017 Game Awards and the National Academy of video game examiners ‘ annual awards. Not bad for a version that came out six years ago .
A popular and acclaimed game, updated and balanced for eSports while being a constant favorite of the audience and spectators. This is what makes it the perfect game for World of Duels.