WHE THER IT’S THE TENS OF THOUSANDS STILL PL AYING COUNTER-STRIKE 1.6 DAILY OR THE MIL LIONS PL AYING ALONG WITH E ACH NE W MODERNISATION, THE ETERNAL BAT TLE BET WEEN TERRORISTS AND COUNTER-TERRORISTS HAS BECOME A PERMANENT PART OF SHOOTER HISTORY. RETRO GAMER E XPLORES HOW THIS ICONIC FPS BECAME AN INDUSTRY MAINSTAY
Arguably more than any other genre, the first-person shooter has perhaps seen more evolution and change throughout the history of the industry than any other. Some of that is down to technological improvements, some is a result of innovative game design, while some is even the fickle cause of ever-changing trends. But what’s particularly interesting for those that have paid attention is how the humble FPS hasn’t gradually changed via subtle improvements and steady progression, but in periodic leaps and bounds as one major release drops and suddenly changes everything. Counter-Strike is one such game, which put the nail in the coffin for the classic arena-style deathmatches of Quake and its ilk, championing a new way of playing online shooters.
Even on an aesthetic level, Counter- Strike was a pioneer in pushing the industry away from shooting aliens, robots or demons and closer towards more realistic modern settings. Heck, even Half- Life, which skewed closer towards realistic gun mechanics and whose engine Counter-Strike was built upon, still chose to pit players against an invading force of aliens. That’s not to say that it was the first to shun the typical sci-fi schlock, it was after all inspired in varying degrees by Rainbow Six, Police Quest: SWAT and Virtua Cop. But it’s clear that gamers were ready for a bit more realism in their gunplay, as seen with the popularity of the likes of GoldenEye 007 and Medal Of Honor.
While Counter-Strike’s arsenal may have been disguised by fictional names, it still featured models, animations and accurate controls for the likes of the Beretta, the AK-47, MP5, Desert Eagle and many other familiar names that most of us wouldn’t have a deep-seeded knowledge of if it wasn’t for videogames addling our minds. It was unheard of at the time (aside from Rainbow Six, which released one year prior), but Counter-Strike was played by so many that the previously held upper management concern about the public’s concerns of ‘realistic violence’ in videogames was cast in doubt, and from there a slew of modern day FPS games began to trickle out.
And of course this was a multiplayer-only title, at least in its early days, which might not have counted for much if not for the fact that here, too, Counter-Strike was throwing out the rulebook. Quake
