Tomorrow, the world’s most popular online action game will undergo some significant changes. The latest version of Counter-Strike - version 1.6 - will be released to the public via Valve’s Steam 2.0 client.
As you’ve probably already heard, this new version of Counter-Strike adds two new rifles, the Galil and Famas, a new riot shield for Counter-Terrorists, a new map (de_airstrip), updates to old favorites de_inferno and de_aztec, and a whole bunch of other minor tweaks and bug fixes. You can find the full change list right here.
Start the Riot
We got the chance to play Counter-Strike 1.6 and we’re happy to report that the gameplay changes aren't as dramatic as some expected, and this release is likely to come under a lot less controversy than previous versions, gameplay wise. Sure, the changes are noticable, but it's easy to adapt and most of the aspects of the game you've grown to love has remained unchanged.
We're pleased with most of the level tweaks. Aztec has some shorter doorways, a few less crates, and quieter crickets. Inferno's texture scheme no longer hurts the eyes, but there are a few very noticeable crate changes: one of the crates used by the CT's (and commonly the T's once the bomb has been planted) to climb into the left hallway at "A" bomb site is no longer present. This means that CT's can no longer jump into this hallway and play an aggressive defense. Additionally, the crate used to jump up to the hallway that connects A site and the CT spawn is no longer present. This almost completely eliminates this quick route of passage commonly used by CTs. The new map, de_airstrip is a blast to play, but not something that will likely be used in leagues. It would be very cramped for 5vs5 play, and does not offer multiple quick routes into the bomb sites.
Both of the new rifles (the terrorist-only Galil and the CT-only FAMAS) are essentially toned-down versions of the AK47 and Colt. They cost a lot less, have relatively accurate spray patterns, and do approximately 2.5 times more damage than the MP5. The hotly debated Ballistic Shield will likely end up sitting next to the Night Vision Goggles for its entire life. It's fun to play with, but isn't particularly useful. It only fully covers players while they are crouched, and without an automatic weapon players are easily killed (defeating the purpose of it entirely). The only situation that I could depict it being useful is during a bomb refusal, but that hardly warrants using the Ballistics Shield for an entire round. Unlike some of the past releases of CS, the current weapons' recoils remain unchanged.
Other changes include new resolutions (including several wide-screen resolutions) have been added. If you have the desire, and hardware, you can now go up to 2048x1536. A new VoiceCom menu allows you to easily test the real volume level of your microphone. You'll no longer have any problems adjusting the sensitivity. Smoke grenades now explode into an instant, and much larger, puff of smoke. This results in much better frame rates, and a more effective grenade. They could be effectively to cover a bomb site while planting, or easily used to get past a sniper. Expect to spend some time re-learning the buy menus. All of the rifles' corresponding buy numbers have been changed due to the new additions. It's an annoying, but an ignorable change.
But Counter-Strike isn’t the only game receiving upgrades. Team Fortress Classic also gets a new map (ravelin) and engineers can now build teleportation pads, which – if properly maintained – allows players can use to skip around maps. Here's the full list of TFC changes.
More drastic are the changes to Half-Life’s underlying interface, courtesy of V-GUI 2.0. Everything, from the controls menu to the console to the server browsing interface, has been completely revamped and tightly integrated into Steam. It’s certainly a huge improvement over the ancient, clunky interface Half-Life launched with in 1998 and a very welcome addition.
A Little Bit Steamed
The Steam 2.0 client combines game streaming, auto-patching, buddy list, instant messaging, server browsing, and other features into one sleek little program that lives in your system tray.
But there’s a reason Valve is referring to this as the Steam 2.0 beta: we experienced a hefty amount of snags, crashes, and bugs. It took us over an hour to properly install the Counter-Strike update, thanks two download timeouts and one mysterious crash. We also experienced numerous “game is not available” error messages, long load times, and the occasional freeze up. And two in-game crashes, one on a map change. But to be fair, the TFC update installed flawlessly in less than five minutes.
Still, we expect that at least a small percentage of users will have trouble upgrading to Counter-Strike 1.6, especially on Thursday. Those of you still on modems may have to wait for separate download patches to be released to download sites like FilePlanet, since Steam was designed primarily for use by broadband users.
Our advice? Give this upgrade a shot, but expect to run into some minor difficulties. Not everyone is going to be able to upgrade right away. With any new system, there are bound to be a few snags, and this is possibly the biggest upgrade to Half-Life since the April 1999 patch which added TFC and mod support.
Be patient, stay calm, and don’t worry: you’ll be complaining about camping n00bs again in no time.
EDIT: From Planet Half-Life:
Steam 2.0 Beta, Counter-Strike 1.6 CANCELED!
1/16/2003 15:00 PST | Counter-strike | by Fragmaster | Comment!
This just in from Valve's Doug Lombardi:
Steam Beta 2.0 Admission Suspended
The Counter-Strike and Team Fortress communities have maxed out the Steam 2.0 beta servers, resulting in the temporarily suspension of admission to the beta as more content servers are put online. The current Steam content servers offer over 500 megabits of bandwidth, all of which the community is consuming right now.
Anyone interested in hosting a Steam content server should email biz@steampowered.com. (Content server requirements can be found at www.steampowered.com.)
Those who have already joined the beta are encouraged to continue their participation and submit their feedback.
That's right, Steam got maxed out before the beta test even officially started!
Frankly, I think Valve made a huge mistake here: Steam obviously isn’t ready, so why use it to release a new version of possibly the most popular online PC game in the world? In my opinion, they should have released CS 1.6 as a downloadable patch - just like all the previous updates - and used Steam 2.0 to test changes to TFC.
Due to leaked Steam clients, Steam was already overloaded an hour before the offical release. Steam's main menu won't even load for me right now. Oh, by the way, even if you already have CS 1.5 you'll still have to download 409 MB of content(!!!). And if you’re a modem user, you’re basically completely out of luck, even when the Steam beta is officially released. Sorry. So what do you think? Mail Us!
