The team at Valve is at it again with a new release in their popular Counter-Strike series entitled Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
Counter-Strike, the once free mod for Half-Life, has turned into one of the most popular online first person shooters today. With a mixture of the fast-action style of the Unreal Tournament series, and team-based, tactical-shooters of the Tom Clancy games, it is no wonder that Counter-Strike has become so popular.
Back in 2004, with the release of Valve’s new “Source” Engine, Valve quickly brought out the next generation of online FPS games with Counter-Strike: Source, although this time it wasn’t a free mod to Half-Life but its own stand-alone title; which quickly surpassed its predecessor. Counter-Strike: Source gave its players new maps, rebalanced weapons and a crisp new graphics update.
Now after eight years after Counter-Strike: Source, and over twelve years after the initial launch, Valve has announced Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Valve has promised to bring back everything we have come to love about this series.
Along with the previous installments Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will feature fan favorite modes including “Demolition” and “Hostage Rescue”. However, Valve is launching a new mode called “Arsenal”, where every player starts with a basic weapon and can only receive better weapons by getting kills instead of using money to buy weapons as in the other modes. “Arsenal” mode is based off the popular mod for Counter-Strike: Source called “Gun Game”. Valve has worked closely with the developers of “Gun Game” to make the “Arsenal” experience as perfect as it can be.
Valve is aiming to release Counter-Strike: Global Offensive by the summer of 2012 and will be available on Windows, Mac PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.