CS-GO

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS-GO)

CS-GO is a multiplayer first person shooter. the initial release date of the game was August 21st 2012. CS-GO was developed and published by Valve corporation and Hidden Path entertainment. Although this game is available on multiple platforms such as Microsoft Windows, Linux, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Macintosh operating systems, it is mainly only played on PC. 

Fun Factor

CS-GO is overall a very fun game. The game brings competitive multiplayer first person shooters to a whole different level. From trying to be the best between your friends or climbing the ranking ladder the game really brings out the fun competition between the players. You can have fun with friends or even meet and make new ones online all while having fun trying to beat the enemy team. One of the other things that is really interesting in CS-GO is its skin system. While playing the game the player will often receive drops such as really common skins or crates. These crates can be opened for real money or sold for real money. If the player decides to open the crate they will receive a random skin from the list of skins available in the crate. of course just like any type of skins in any other games there are rarities and the more rare ones are harder to get. The really hooking part of this is that the developers come out with new skins all the time with new crates and updates and its always a competition to see who has the best looking or more expensive skins in the game.

Learning Curve

CS-GO does not really have a set tutorial, but during the players first couple games pop ups will appear on screen that give the player all needed info on how to play. Although learning the controls and basics of CS-GO may be easy mastering the game is very difficult and would require a lot of practice. for example each weapon in the game has a different recoil/spray pattern and the player must use each weapon enough to be able to understand and control the spray of the bullets. One of the other more challenging things players have to work on is "nade" spots and positioning. Positioning can be anything from where the players cross hairs should be on their screen while "nade" spots are certain places people can throw special grenades in order to give them a great advantage. If someone were to play tis game casually and not so competitively the learning curve is not too bad but on the other hand for real hardcore competitive fans it may take a while before they master anything in this game.

Graphics

The graphics in CS-GO are not anything too special. They are at most above average for 3D first person shooter games. The game overall looks very nice and has attention to detail where needed, but it does not really go above and beyond that. This is not necessarily a bad thing though because many competitive players run the game on lower graphics settings to increase their frames per second to give them an advantage.

Audio

Audio in competitive games like CS-GO is really important and usually developers put a lot of attention and effort into it and CS-GO is no exception. From every different type of gunshot to running and jumping around has its own different distinct sound that is very clean and clear. the player can easily tell if the sound is close or far and if they have surround sound headphones they can also hear the direction the sound is coming from. Anyone who plays this game will notice this sooner or later and use it to their advantage to gather information about the enemy team.

Controls

The controls in CS-GO would be very familiar to anyone who has played a first person shooter game. You use WASD to move around, space bar to jump, left click to shoot, right click to aim if possible, scroll wheel to switch weapons/equipment, and shift to crouch. the only control that could be new or different is walking. Walking in CS-GO is useful because the player makes no sound if they move around this way. Also for the more competitive players their are some secretive types of controls. For example bunny hopping, which is strafing with A and D while jumping allowing them to move faster across the map, and crouch jumping, which is hitting shift as you jump to get to higher places, are two examples of these types of controls. These more secretive controls will take the player a lot of practice to get the hang of and fully utilize in their games though.

Story

The story is the competitive play that the player takes on as they play a competitive first person shooter. There are many highs and lows one experiences while playing this type of game. For example the exhilarating experience of taking one of the enemies out from a long distance or the anxiety of trying to get a stealth kill. All of these add up to stories the player experiences while playing the game that they can go on to tell other player or friends in the future.

Character

The player takes on different characters based on the type of role they choose to take on in the game. A player may want to be a sniper to kill people from long range and whole long tight angles. Maybe the player wants to take on the support role by buying grenades and defuse kits over guns when the team is running low on money. The player has the opportunity to decide their type character in this game.

Game Play and Design

The overall game play and design of CS-GO is well done. Everything really fits the competitive theme of the game. The learning curve is exactly what you would expect for any competitive game. players can be simple and just learn the basics or go above and beyond and put practice to become better and be more competitive as tie goes on. The same goes with the controls of the game with things such as bunny hopping and crouch jumping. Also the way a player can create their own story and characters with the way they play can also fit the competitive theme by people always striving to have the best story to tell or best type of way to play.

Changes

CS-GO is overall a really good game and does not need many changes. One thing that can be changed though is the ranking system. When the player first starts playing competitive they will have placement matches and be placed in a rank depending on how they do. during the early stages of a players account they will notice they are able to climb and drop ranks very easily. As more time passes though, they will realize no matter how good they do for however long they will almost never be able to get out of a certain ranking. They should changes their ranking system to a simple point system where if you lose or win you lose or gain points respectively and there should be ranges for each rank so the player knows exactly where they are and where they can be.

Recommend?

I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys first person shooters or anyone who enjoys competitive games. Other then the issues with the ranking system CS-GO is a really fun game to play with friends or even by yourself on-line. The game is also free so even if you do not usually enjoy these games but are thinking about trying one this could be the best place to start.