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Counter-Strike - Condition Zero Finally Released
daitengu writes "After almost a year and a half of 'It'll be out soon', Valve Software has finally released Counter-Strike: Condition Zero. It is available on Steam for the low-low price of $29.95 or, rumor has it, you'll be able to buy it in stores today or tomorrow. Counter-Strike is the world's most popular online First Person shooter, and Condition Zero brings updated maps, skins, and graphics to the game, as well as a single-player mode. It also brings what some reviews have claimed as one of the best AI they've seen." The submitter continues: "If this game was released 9 months to a year ago like Valve was promising, I may have invested the $30 or $40 to buy it. Now, however, It's just not worth it to me." Does CS:CZ pique your interest at all?
How do you think I feel?
second post? =(
I lost my CS CD key a year or so ago. Will I be able to play traditional CS if I buy CS:CZ? Or will the key only work with CS:CZ?
Seeing as it's going to be another year before HalfLife 2 is released, and CounterStrike is now pretty much broken (post the 1.6 patch) it's probably worth the money.
"Free software as in beer, copy protection as in racket" - Telsa Gwynne
It will be at least 4 days before a cheat comes out. So I can play on even field for a little while.
I think I will probably wait until Half-Life 2 comes out. I just recently picked up Battlefield Vietnam, and I think it's going to tie me over for awhile as far as online fragging goes. Half-Life 2 on the other hand, will hopefully still be inovative when it comes out. But then again, at the rate their going, all the inovations in it might already be out in other games by the time it comes out. Hopefully it doesn't go the way of Daikatana and be too late or never come out like Duke Nukem Forever.
After clicking several links on different counterstrike sites (including the official ones), I finally found the system requirements on the Amazon.com page. Just in case anyone else is looking for them....
Windows 2000/NT/XP
Pentium III 500 MHz processor
96 MB RAM
16 MB Video Card
500 MB HD Space
When you have slightly older equipment, this info is important before shelling out $$$.
Most of the things that TeamFortress 2 was supposed to do have already been done by mods and by other commercial games (BF1942, UT2003/2004, etc). Where the heck is TF2?
No, no, I was in bed by 2.
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Seems like all the posts here are offtopic or by people who haven't bought the game, so here's my impression.
I bought it over Steam using a credit card, and it downloaded it in the background before it was released. Then the game was unlocked this morning. Apart from a little bit of network slowness when I first ordered it, this was totally seamless and I'd buy all of my games this way with confidence.
The game itself shouldn't be a disappointment if you've read any previews. It's a Tony Hawks style "complete these objectives" game fit into the traditional Counter-Mtrike match format. Essentially you and your team of AI bots fight against another AI team in a normal match, but you'll have to make 5 kills with the Scout or something like that.
There's also the single player missions that Ritual did - this is a kind of storyline section, like their Elite Force 2. In other words, it's a generic shooter.
I'm enjoying it. It's nothing amazing, but it's challenging and all the maps have been re-done and look really good. The thing that makes it cool is the AI - the bots are truly amazing, very lifelike. I saw one knife another when it ran out of ammo, it was a shock to see a skill like that transferred to a computer opponent.
All in all, it's "ok". Don't expect a revelation and you'll be fine. And Valve are offering it at a cut down price for a few more days.
Free iPods - now in the UK!
Well I guess judging by their release speed, Half Life 2 will be in the market by 2010.
I'll be spending my money on this http://farcry.ubi.com/ Check out the demos if you haven't seen them; you owe yourself that much.
... and I'm still looking at axis-aligned rectangles and big unaligned textures.
I had 2 copies pre-ordered on Amazon.com over 18 months ago (when it listed as coming out in August of 2002)... after a couple of delays I cancled the order. (1 copy was a gift for a buddy)
I doubt I'll order it now... I barely play CS anymore.
BTW... nothing useful about my reply.
The link in the story goes to ValveNET, which certainly isn't Valve Software.
This is unreal! Valve released a game! Armageddon must be upon us!
If my answers frighten you, stop asking scary questions.
Yeah, "broke" is right. There are two games that have such horrible communities that I avoid on-line play entirely: CS and Unreal Tournament 2003 (Haven't got a copy of UT2004 yet, see if it's better now). Cheaters and trash-talkers have ruined the game for me, and quite a few people I know.
If my answers frighten you, stop asking scary questions.
Doesn't get my interest going as I played CS to death a few years ago and got tired of it. Especially when other mods such as TFC (TeamFortress Classic) are much more fun and encourage more teamwork IMHO then any CS game.
You must master your joystick like a fisherman masters bait! - Gimpy
3y3 0wnz3d y0z3 w1t4 3117 w@11 h@xzor
I'm not personally a fan of the FPS genre, personally prefering RPGS, but I do have a friend whos CS clan is sponsered, they placed pretty high at the CPL last year (7th or something I think), he seems to think that Conditon Zero is going to pretty much flop, at least for the hardcore CS players.
What do other slashdotters think? Will players migrate and new clans form leaving the old CS clans antiquated memories, or will the original CS continue to flourish for a few more years?
Famous Last Words: "hmm...wikipedia says it's edible"
CS, UT2003, UT2004, BF1942 and BF:Vietnam are all full of abusive, team killing, selfish morons who don't know how the play the game and appear to have a collective IQ lower than a squirrel's. The 'communities' in MMOGs are generally full of great people, but the number of repeadly abusive and purile kids is a number one thing that turns me off and had lead to me cancelling my subscription for MMOGs.
Just last night I was playing Battlefield Vietnam, which, apart from the retarded menu system, and a bug which causes you to die randomly and inexplicably when falling from short heights, is a very good game to actually play on line. At least in theory. I've been playing it for a few days, as an example of how thing go, I played two sessions each on different servers last night, this is how it went:
Server 1:
Had Team Killers runing up behind players and stabbing them firing rockets at them and generally runing the game. 3 of the players had negative kills scores, this later went up to 4 as a large number of people resorted to hunting and killing the TKers rather than playing the game (which is understandable, given how distruptive they were being). They would constantly log on and off and change names and teams so you wouldn't know if you could trust the person next to you not to turn round and kill you, or if the 'friendly' tank or helicopter instead of escorting you was going to suddenly open fire on you.
I eventually got fed up of this and found another server...
Server 2:
The player teams were constantly hugely uneaven, making victory impossible for the other team (given the nature of the game). At one point, it was 2 vrs 10 (after being like this for over a minute, that was the point I quit). I changed sides 8 times trying to keep it even, but moronic players would constantly join the server and pick the winning side, which ever side that was, it didn't matter to them, they would just pick that side making the game pointless for the already overwhelmed team. They would all refuse to change teams themselves, while asking each other to change.
So, I'd much rather play with bots and avoid the purile and abusive 'smack talk' from kids (who accuse you of 'cheating' and 'being a n00b' because you used a particular weapon to kill them with, and saying some weapons are, for whatever mystical reason 'out of bounds' and 'unfair').
Sadly, as has been already observed by other players, bots are pathetic and useless in all the EA Battlefield series. They don't understand the point of the game, don't capture points or hold them (instead drive right past them), can't drive vehicles or helicopers (they just crash them in to obstacles and run aircraft into the ground, for reasons not obvious). They also don't follow orders (dispite claims to the contrary by the blurb from EA) and are eager to take any and every vehicle going first, even though they will more than likely just drive it into a wall - or even an open space - and sit there in it (I've seen this on all difficulty levels). When playing with bots its always wise to shoot them first, then take the vehicle for yourself.
To make it even more frustrating, they don't seem to suffer from not being able to see you because your hidden in cover (I would guess they 'see' you reguardless due the the feeble 'AI'), which further ruins the atmosphere, given that a large part of this game relies on finding good cover.
Given this and the pathetically few number of levels in Battlefield Vietnam (made all the more repetative as many of them are just slightly different versions of other maps) I feel it's a rip off for what you are charged, and is worth no more than 20 USD/ 15 UKP for the content you get. It may have lots of new shiney shader effects (and it does look good and the gameplay is fun) but the shameful level of the bots and the few number of levels are appaling. This is epecially true given that in singe player games you'd have twice as many unique levels, with hand placed and well balanced enemies
I have counter-strike for Xbox (I have a mac, sadly half-life was never ported to macs). If they used a similar AI for condition zero as they did for xbox counter-strike, you guys are in for a treat. On xbox, you can scale the AI from Walking Meat to Unblievably Tough (with a couple steps in between). WHen I say unbelievably tough, I mean they are hard as hell. The bots actually camp. And they dont just sit there, they will move around a little, then camp a little. Its pretty cool. I couldnt believe it when I first saw it.
I may purchase it and see if I am wrong and that the screen shots are not representative, but I'm very disappointed given it's use of the HL2 engine.
It's my understanding that is uses a (once-again) beefed-up version of the original Half-Life engine (which was of course a beefed-up version of the original Quake engine).
All Your Memory Are Belong To Java
I played the game, but it wasn't great. I played for a day or two almost straight in the single player and it was Ok, but nothing special. It seemed kind of boring - run through the corridors and kill the baddies, get the key, etc (though you get the opportunity to sneak around sometimes).
Multiplayer might be worth it for some. I didn't get a chance to play.
With Far Cry and Unreal Tournament 2004 out, I wouldn't spend my money on CS:CZ.
You can go grab yourself a warez version of HL and use your CS retail key to play as normal.
Actually...what's even more sad is that it was ported to the Mac. After being over 90% complete, it was axed.
http://www.cdmag.com/articles/023/139/hl_mac.html
No. None at all.
Although its a obviously a very popular formula CS remains the opposite of the type of FPS game I want. Realism is the new black but I find it actually offers less in terms of fun, strategy and competition. I HAVE actually played it long enough to feel my opinion is valid although I'm almost ashamed to admit it.
UT2004 seems the obvious anti to CS but I find it to be cumbersome and irritating.
I'll stick with CPMA: www.promode.org
I'm sure this looks like a shameless plug but I have never encountered a more polished, well thought out FPS in my many years of playing virtually all of them and I would like to share the love.
I am very positive on CS:CZ. First and foremost, the bots are remarkable. They talk to you, listen to you, work with you, complete mission objectives if you go down, and navigate well. Enemy bots, at least in the lower levels of difficulty, are not hard to kill or outsmart, but they do work to achieve their objectives with a surprising amount of intelligence. For example, if the T bomb-carrier goes down, the rest of the Ts will work to to get the bomb and carry out their mission. The only bug I have seen in bot behavior is when a bot is clearly looking in one direction but is able to fire and hit you in another direction.
Second, the single player game is fun and mildly challenging (on Normal difficulty, which is all I have tried so far). Although the single player game is a bit of a rehash of the original CS with bots for opponents and teammates, it is a sufficient challenge to keep me going for "just that next map." And it's fun. I enjoy playing CS, but I don't play all the time, and I am far from 1337. In single player, I can actually compete. It's not as difficult as being online, but it's still fun in a different way.
Third, Steam is a great way of delivering content. CS:CZ pre-loaded without any action on my part. Then I pre-ordered the game without any trouble. On Tuesday morning, I started up the game and was playing without any significant snags (except for restarting CS:CZ a couple times when my firewall needed me to grant permission to the game for online play). No trips to the store, no CD, no hassle. I love Steam.
I also tried out the Deleted Scenes bonus game (I played only the first level, so these are first impressions only). It would be nice for an occasional diversion, but I'm glad that Valve told Ritual and Gearbox that their attempt at CS:CZ wasn't up to snuff. The Deleted Scenes is nothing like actual CS and everything like a traditional FPS including poor enemy AI, unrealistic damage models, health packs, etc.
Overall, CS:CZ is what CS retail ought to have been. It's a great intro to the game for new players (I'm not sure that there is a big market there anymore though). It's a great game for those of us who are not 1337 and who want the occasional chance to pwn. It's probably not all that interesting to highly competitive, 1337 online players.