Counter Strike Source

Released in 2004 by Valve Corporation, Counter Strike: Source, or CSS has become one of the most popular first person shooters today. Done as a remake of Counter Strike 1.6, Source has by far surpassed its predecessor in terms of popularity. Source also comes with Half-Life 2 Deathmatch, Half-Life Lost Coast, and Day of Defeat: Source.

Source puts Counter Terrorists (CT) against the Terrorists (T) in several different modern environments ranging from an office to an abandoned train station, with mission-style game modes such as bomb defusal, hostage rescue, and death match.

When starting a game, you choose game options including the map, number of players (human and artificial), time limit, and game type. At the beginning of each game, you choose what team to be on (T or CT). From there you get to pick from 4 different player models that represent the team such as a SEAL or Guerilla Warrior. When the game starts, players have a set grace period during which they buy their gear with the money they start out with. Purchasable items range from a variety of different assault rifles, pistols, shotguns sub-machine and machine guns and sniper rifles as well as armor and different grenades. Players earn more money at the beginning of each round.

Maps beginning with cs_ are hostage rescue game types. Counter Terrorists must go into enemy territory and rescue a number of hostages and bring them to a safe zone, while the Terrorists must prevent the hostages from being rescued without killing them, usually by guarding the hostage area (camping) or by seeking out enemy players and eliminating them. Map names beginning with de_ are bomb defusal games. One player on the Terrorist side starts with a bomb that he must plant at one of two different bomb sites, while his teammates protect him. Counter Terrorists must either eliminate all the Terrorists or defuse the bomb within a certain time once it has been planted.

Custom maps and game types are extremely popular in CSS. One such game is the ‘Gun Game’ in which you start out with a pistol, and for every kill you get, you get a better gun. Gun Game has reverse and turbo variations. In Australian servers, you are likely to encounter the Surf game type, where you ‘surf’ across ledges all over the place and eliminate your opponents.
Counter Strike is an amazing game that can keep you busy for hours at a time. With so many ways to play, and new customizations being developed all the time, I don’t see Counter Strike Source getting old anytime soon.