Counter-Strike: Source - Great Gaming Moments

What makes a great gaming moment? I guess it would differ for all types of gamers. But there are some things that can really only happen in an multiplayer game. Take Counter-Strike: Source for example. Not two games are really ever alike. That's what I love about multiplayer games. Game AI has just not reached a level of unpredictability as posed by human players. Here's a short, but funny example.

The other day I was playing the cs_italy map (those of you who might know me aren't surprised that I was playing on cs_italy) with a couple friends of mine plus about 9 other strangers. I was on one team and my two friends were on the other. One of my friends had already died, and then it was down to just myself and my other friend. I began quietly approaching the house where the hostages are kept (I think I was on the Terrorist team) and snuck inside. No one appeared to be there. I began creeping up the stairs slowly and at that moment where I was just at the beginning of the stairs, my friend decides to come down the stairs. He ended up dropping right down on top of me. We both heard each other so we knew we were there somewhere. So here he is standing on my head and both of us start looking around very confused. I looked up and he looked down at the same time. We both stared at each other for a couple seconds just thinking it's the funniest thing. Then luckily, I snapped out of it sooner than he did and I blew him away. My other friend was spectating and saw the whole thing. He was laughing his ass off. It was pretty funny.

Events like that really make a game more fun. Playing against the computer, even the best AI, really gets old and predictable. If this had happened with AI bots, what would the outcome have been? Would it even have happened? I doubt it. Most bots are scripted to follow a path and they probably would have walked down the stairs the appropriate way, rather than dropping down straight to the bottom (hard to describe, but those who have played the game will know what I mean).

Tell me about some of your great gaming moments in the comments. I'd love to hear about them!

Counter-Strike: Source - Addicted

As you may have guessed from the title of this post, one of the main reasons I haven't posted in a long time has been because of Counter-Strike: Source. About two weeks ago, I finally finished up Half-Life 2. I'll post a final review of the single player game either later today, or this weekend hopefully. A few days after I finished the game, I decided to give the new Counter-Strike: Source a try. Back in the day, I used to be big into the original Counter-Strike game. I loved it! I lived alone at the time, so I had tons of time to spend playing. And that I did. I never joined a clan or anything; I wasn't that much of a geek. But I bought a cheap but fast machine and installed Linux and Counter-Strike server and started running my own bare bones server. It was fun.

Anyway, back on topic. I started playing the latest incarnation of Counter-Strike, based upon the Half-Life 2 Source engine. I have to say, the game looks spectacular! Most of the old favorite levels are there, given a much needed upgrade. I wouldn't say that the levels look spectacular or anything, but they do look really good. The gameplay is very familiar and pretty much remains the same. My favorite map these days is cs_italy, where the terrorists must guard (it's not camping!) 4 hostages, and the counter-terrorists must rescue the hostages. Either team can win obviously by killing the whole other team.

I love this map mainly for it's multiple routes available to both teams. There isn't just one common chokepoint like in other maps, like de_dust where most all players head right into the tunnel immediately. The odds are most definitely in favor of the terrorists as they only have to guard the 3 main entries: long dark tunnel, middle stairs, and the apartment (really just the doorway). Winning as a CT on this map is tough and takes good organization and communication. One great site I've found, CS-Nation, has some game tactics articles if you'd like to do some reading about the game itself and some of the maps. I will post more of my strategies for specific maps another day (I need to get better first!).