When we look at the history of games, CSGO is one of the more interesting. Not only is it one of the most iconic FPS games of all time but it transcends this and has solidified itself as one of the most iconic games of the last decade.
However, its long history spans over the past decade with the start of its journey being in the late 90s when two gamers modded the hit game Half-life, which was developed by Valve. This modded game was named Counter-strike and blended tactical gameplay with team-based play, which at the time was a major outlier to other games.
The Start
Now in 2024 we can look at the game and see that not much has changed. Surprisingly, even with the lack of changes, the game is still widely popular among the gaming community. Throughout the years there have been a lot of changes to the graphics, maps and mechanics to make the game even better.
There have been multiple variations of Counter-Strike, with updates like Counter-Strike 1.6 being its own game almost with fans still playing it over a decade later.
CS Source
In 2004, developers Valve made a whole host of changes to the game, with an engine change and more physics and graphic changes. These changes marked an evolution in the game and also coincided with when I started to play, This was called Counter-Strike: Source and became the first CS game that incorporated Steam which changed CS forever.
Global Offensive
In 2012 the game changed forever and we saw the birth of the game that would become one of the biggest games in the world. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive marked a change in this generation of gaming and improved everything you could think of.
It improved the normal things like the graphics and the mechanics but Valve also made changes to the matchmaking system so players who are at a similar level would play each other.
Global Offensive really was the start of the esports scene and made it blow up into what we know today. Not only did Global Offensive make esports blow up, but it also introduced CS gambling as well as other CS gambling games like CSGO Crash Sites which brought in even more players than most of the other changes.
CSGO is one of the best FPS games of all time and dominated the industry for over a decade. Now, unfortunately, CSGO no longer exists but it is back and dare I say, it is better than ever.
CS2
Valve has a knack for doing updates that actually improve the game, rather than making new games that barely make any changes which is a criticism of a lot of the biggest game developers. With EA getting a lot of criticism from fans for their lack of changes per year.
The Changes
CS2 has seen an overhaul of the physics and visuals, making it a new and more realistic gaming experience. They have made changes to the servers too which is something I was really happy about as the servers could sometimes be questionable.
Now over a year into CS2 we are seeing the esports side of CS2 flying again with the graphics and the physics improvements adding a new element to the sport.
CS2 is great, the new graphics and all of the improvements I have mentioned make the game stand out amongst FPS games. We are in a lull of good shooter games, with Call of Duty and Battlefield both losing fans’ interest, so having an iconic game like CS2 still hold a lot of popularity in the gaming industry is a positive.