Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Review

Death is a great teacher. Failure in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is, as it always has been for this series, the greatest way to learn where you should have gone, what you shouldn't have done, and how you could have done better. Counter-Strike players spend a lot of time learning -- consequently, they are always getting better.

Growth is an important factor in Global Offensive, especially if you're coming into Counter-Strike fresh or after a sabbatical. This is an extremely hardcore, skill-based first-person shooter, and it forces you to think differently than other modern shooters. If you’re a Call of Duty player, you’re going to need to change your play style to succeed here. Counter-Strike also tries developing into something new here as well, despite doing little to push itself beyond what it’s always done best. Global Offensive modifies old maps to keep veterans on their toes, and introduces official new modes that encourage different play styles for the first time in almost 15 years.

For the uninitiated, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a small-scale, team-based first-person shooter with permanent death. When a counter-terrorist kills a terrorist planting explosives in a classic Defusal match, or a CT escort swallows a sniper round in Hostage Rescue, the victim is dead for good and doesn't respawn until the next round. As such, players on both sides must exercise skill and care. The bomb objective, meanwhile, gives everyone a purpose. Of course matches end when everyone on a team is dead, but a clever and coordinated terrorist team will give the CTs the slip, plant their bomb, and protect the bomb site. Between rounds, everyone spends earned cash on better gear and guns, and the cycle continues.

Pieces of the Counter-Strike formula are dated at this point, but the superb heart and soul of Global Offensive is timeless. Teams are small, guns are lethal, and rounds are short. There's an addictive just-one-more-round quality to it, because there's a constant desire to do better than last time, to earn a satisfying kill, or to win in a new way. Call of Duty and Battlefield vets will wonder why they can't sprint to escape enemy fire or look down the iron sights to improve aim; Counter-Strike players will feel like they walked into their redecorated home. Certain map redesigns will catch hardcore fans off guard, but the changes are for the best -- the underpass choke point in de_dust, for instance, has a new escape route.

Even in the face of genre evolution, Global Offensive doesn’t care to adapt. CSGO is so dedicated to Counter-Strike's aging ideals despite market and trend changes that it brute-forces its way to success. Part of what makes it such an engaging competitive game is that killing in Global Offensive requires a wholly different skill set than other shooters. Everyone is limited to what they have and can see, with little room for character modification or on-the-fly advantages. Running and gunning is a useless play style, even if you've bought a helmet and kevlar that round, to the point that someone standing still is more likely to score the kill. Walking, crouching, or standing are your best bets to reduce the inaccurate spray of machine-gun fire.

Consequently, killing in Global Offensive feels good. There's a sickening sensation to dropping someone dead because you know they're not coming back. It's also satisfying knowing you used limited resources to play smarter than your victim. If players aren't watching corners, providing covering fire, or using smoke grenades and flashbangs, they're more likely to take a headshot from a more delicate and patient triggerman. The desire to experience that distinct feeling is a strong motivator to keep playing, even when you're getting steamrolled by an obviously better team.

If you've played Counter-Strike before, Global Offensive probably sounds a whole lot like Counter-Strike. Like Counter-Strike: Source before it, Global Offensive exists simply to modernize the look of the classic competitive shooter, while doing little to disrupt the core form and function. At the same time, it does enough to color outside the lines of tradition to justify your time and effort.

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There's a sickening sensation to dropping someone dead because you know they're not coming back.

Fire is one of the most interesting new combat variables. Molotov cocktails and incendiary grenades either roast groups of guys or force them in another direction. Flames are a useful distraction or scare tactic, too. They're particularly useful during Demolition matches, which focus the fight at a single bomb site rather than giving terrorists two to pick between. The new and modified maps in this mode aren't as big as classic Counter-Strike arenas – entire sections have been cut off to direct teams toward a central location – but their thoughtful design is as intricate as ever. The Lake map is a standout -- there's a wide open yet densely populated yard around the bomb site, which is inside a sizable lakeside home with plenty of vantage points and hiding spots. To separate Demolition from Defusal, players can't buy between rounds. Instead, it takes a cue from the other new mode, Arms Race, in which each kill unlocks another weapon instantly. The better you do, the more you have to switch up the way you play, and because Demolition is so fast you'll need to be quick on your feet.

Arms Race can get out of control, but patience pays off.

Unlike other game types, Arms Race allows for respawns. It's the most chaotic and care-free mode in Global Offensive, with players throwing caution to the wind for the sake of climbing the kill ladder as quickly as possible. It's a shame there are only two maps in Arms Race -- a problem that will more likely persist on consoles than PC.

If you have the option, playing the PC version is unquestionably the best way to experience Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Mods, mouse and keyboard, and the usual PC-only options are better than the ports. Plus, Valve is much better about long-term PC support -- it abandoned Team Fortress 2 on consoles, and Portal 2's level editor was PC exclusive. If you prefer to play on consoles, Global Offensive is the same great game, with the following special bits:

PlayStation 3

For those who want to play on PlayStation 3 but don’t want to deal with the imprecision of analog sticks, Counter-Strike: GO supports mouse and keyboard, giving it a pretty noticeable edge over the Xbox 360 version. If you’re feeling saucy, Move is another option, although nuance dies with the motion controller. Move is accurate, and your quick reflexes will score kills, but the unavoidable instability of holding a remote will give your cursor some seriously unpleasant wobble. Worse, moving the wand quickly can confuse the controller, which often and irritatingly misinterprets basic left/right looks as a want to turn around 180 degrees.

Xbox 360

Aside from the lack of keyboard/mouse input, the Xbox 360 version of Global Offensive is functionally identical to that on PS3 -- the new radial user-interface on both platforms is as elegant as it is on PC. Because it’s a hardcore competitive game, Counter-Strike blocks party chat in an effort to combat cheating, forcing players with headsets to play with friends or brave the Wild West of obscenity that is Xbox Live.

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Tony Scott's Death and Top Gun 2

Tony Scott's apparent suicide Sunday still has Hollywood reeling, with the fates of many of his pending projects now in question. While Scott's death has had no immediate effect on some upcoming films, the future for Paramount's Top Gun 2 doesn't sound as promising.

The Hollywood Reporter says that director Scott and Top Gun star Tom Cruise were actively collaborating on the sequel as late as last Friday. Additionally, the director was set to helm 20th Century Fox's Narco Sub as his next project, with the studio's Lucky Stripe, Ion and Warner Bros.' The Wild Bunch also on the docket. As of right now, all four of these projects are left up in the air.

However, E! Online reports that Out of the Furnace and Stoker -- both of which Scott was credited as a producer -- will still be hitting theaters on time.

Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love on Twitter and IGN.

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Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transforms on Wii U

Memory is a funny thing. It twists and distorts the past, rewriting what actually happened. But occasionally, just occasionally, it stretches one’s memories into elaborate, death-defying race courses. Well, maybe it doesn’t, but that’s exactly what happens in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.

Classic settings from SEGA games gone-by have been reimagined as frantic tracks which you traverse as familiar SEGA characters, including Sonic, Joe Musashi, and AiAi. It’s a kart racer, with the emphasis firmly on speed, power-sliding, and power-ups. And you aren’t always confined to a four-wheel kart: your vehicle transforms periodically from a car to a boat to a plane, and back again.

We’ve already taken a look at the All-Star Racing on current-gen consoles but the game is also heading to Nintendo’s Wii U when it launches later this year. As with most games on Nintendo’s forthcoming console, it packs a raft of unique features tailored for the Wii U’s rather unique GamePad.

First up, as with most Wii U games, the action can be pulled down from the TV onto the GamePad. This is done rather simply by swiping your finger down on the controller’s touchscreen, as if you’re ‘dragging’ down the game onto the smaller screen. Conversely, if you want to resume playing on the big screen, flick your finger in the opposite direction. It works well, though I doubt people will use it mid-race; it’s too disorientating, but once you’re playing on the GamePad, the game looks good and handles well.

Allowing you to play the game on either screen, Wii U presents developers with the opportunity to transform (sorry) any console game optimised for large HD televisions into something more akin to a handheld experience. But is this not also a curse? Is something not lost in the transition from the big to the small screen? SUMO – the developer behind the game – doesn’t think so. “I don’t think it’s compromised,” says Steve Lycett, executive producer on the game. “For a start we’re already building the game across a selection of handhelds, on 3DS and Vita, so we consider it one more option the players has.” And compared to these handhelds, the Wii U’s screen compares favourably. “Put it this way, when I’m kicked off the TV as the latest soaps need to be caught up with, I certainly won’t complain about being able to seamlessly carry on playing!”

Adder's Lair

Seamlessly. That’s the crucial word with the Wii U. Used smartly and sensitively the Wii U’s controller allows the game to expand in novel and curious ways; otherwise, it just feels gimmicky and forced. When you’re in a race, jockeying for position, the screen displays a range of pertinent information – the current order of racers, a mini-map of the course. It’s all unintrusive and useful, but I expect most people to keep their eyes firmly on the race. Similarly, when you unleash one of the game’s eccentric power-ups, you’ll be able to see its destiny on the GamePad’s screen. Launch a remote-controlled car loaded with a stick of dynamite and you can watch it travel towards its unfortunate target. Again, it’s unlikely you’ll divide your attention, but if you’re the kind of person who revels in the misfortune of others, the GamePad’s screen will accommodate your sadism.

It’s a subtle expanding of the game’s canvas onto the GamePad; it’s not a crowbarring.

Perhaps the biggest advantage of the GamePad is not its touchscreen or its gyroscope (incidentally, you can also steer using the GamePad like a wheel, rotating it left and right) – it’s the ability to open up weird and wonderful forms of asymmetrical gameplay. Yes, I know it was one of the most of overused and mocked phrases of this year’s E3 but with one person using a GamePad while others use more traditional controllers – Classic Controllers or the new Pro Controller – new types of gaming experiences become possible.

Depending on the circumstances, a GamePad can prove to be an advantage or disadvantage, and All-Star Racing Transformed smartly uses this discrepancy as the basis for its mini-games.

I only saw one during my time with the Wii U version, called ‘Super Monkey Ball Arena’, and whomever had the GamePad took control of AiAi, who was as usual encased in his perspex sphere. Meanwhile, opponents using Classic Controllers played as Sonic and Tails in racing cars. The aim of the mini-game was simple: before the time ran out, squash the tiny versions of Sonic and Tails, who were driving around attempting to collect as many bananas as possible.

The GamePad “gave us a reason to think about how we can use the fact one player has an advantage (or disadvantage!),” says Lycett. And the source of inspiration behind many of these games is an interesting one. “We came back to game you’d play as school kids. So things like Tag, British Bulldog, Hide and Seek, all the classics basically, became the inspiration for what we’d prototype and try. Then it’s how you bend that into something SEGA themed, and luckily we’ve had a bit of experience of doing that.”

Seaside Hill

That’s how the game plays but Sonic All-Star Racing Transformed also looks good on Nintendo’s latest console. I only saw two tracks: Adder's Lair, inspired by Golden Axe, and Seaside Hill which is based on a level from last year’s Sonic Generations. Both looked good – like its predecessor, the visuals are bright and chaotic – but things were obviously still being fine-tuned for Wii U. Ocean View was nicely designed, especially as the level slowly crumbled around you, forcing you to hit the waves, where you weave in and out of the flailing tentacles of a huge mechanical cephalopod. The game is “easily on a par [with Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions],” says Lycett. “We’re still very much getting to grips with what we can make the hardware do [...]. So it’s hard to really answer that right now, but yeah, I think once we’ve had a bit more time finding our way around it, chances are you can look to do things that you may not be able to do before.”

2012 is shaping up to be the year of the console racer, with LittleBigPlanet Karting and F1 Race Stars also lining up on the grid. But Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is the only one heading to Wii U, and it seems to be intelligently embracing the new console’s capabilities. It’s there during races, but in a subtle ways, expanding the game beyond the narrow confines of your television screen.

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