Counter-Strike
The current Counter-Strike series logo.
Genres	First-person shooter
Developer(s)	Valve Corporation Turtle Rock Studios Hidden Path Entertainment Gearbox Software Ritual Entertainment Nexon
Publisher(s)	Valve Corporation Sierra Entertainment Namco Nexon
Platforms	Microsoft Windows OS X Linux PlayStation 3 Xbox Xbox 360
Platform of origin	Microsoft Windows
Year of inception	2000
First release	Counter-Strike November 9, 2000
Latest release	Counter-Strike: Global Offensive August 21, 2012

Counter-Strike (CS) is a series of multiplayer first-person shooter video games, in which teams of terrorists battle to perpetrate an act of terror (bombing, hostage-taking) and counter-terrorists try to prevent it (bomb defusal, hostage rescue). The series began on Windows in 1999 with the first game, Counter-Strike. It was initially released as a modification ("mod") for Half-Life and designed by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess "Cliffe" Cliffe before the rights to the game's intellectual property were acquired by Valve Corporation, the developers of Half-Life.

That original game was followed by Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, developed by Turtle Rock Studios and released in 2004. In November of that year, Counter-Strike: Source was released by Valve. Released only eight months after Condition Zero, Source was a remake of the original Counter-Strike and the first in the series to run on Valve's newly created Source engine.^[1] The fourth game in the main series, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, was released by Valve in 2012 for Windows, OS X, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. Hidden Path Entertainment, who also worked on Counter-Strike: Source post-release, helped to develop the game alongside Valve.^[2]

There have been several community-made spin-off titles created over the years. These include the Online series, Neo, and Nexon: Zombies.

Gameplay

Counter-Strike is an objective-based, multiplayer first-person shooter. Two opposing teams—the Terrorists and the Counter Terrorists—compete in game modes to complete objectives, such as securing a location to plant or defuse a bomb and rescuing or guarding hostages.^[3][4] At the end of each round, players are rewarded based on their individual performance with in-game currency to spend on more powerful weapons in subsequent rounds. Winning rounds results in more money than losing, and completing objectives such as killing enemy players gives cash bonuses.^[3] Uncooperative actions, such as killing teammates, results in a penalty.^[5]

Main series

Counter-Strike

Originally a modification for Half-Life, the rights to Counter-Strike, as well as the developers working on it, were acquired by Valve Corporation in 2000.

The game received a port to Xbox in 2003.^[6] It was also ported to OS X and Linux in the form of a beta in January 2013. A full release was published in April 2013.^[7][8]

Condition Zero

Counter-Strike was followed-up with Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, developed by Turtle Rock Studios and released in 2004. It used the Half-Life GoldSrc engine, similar to its predecessor. Besides the multiplayer mode, it also included a single-player mode with a "full" campaign and bonus levels. The game was poorly received in contrast to its predecessor and was quickly followed with a further entry to the series titled Counter-Strike: Source.^[9]

Source

Counter-Strike: Source was the first publicly released game by Valve Corporation to run on the Source engine. Counter-Strike: Source was initially released as a beta to members of the Valve Cyber Café Program on August 11, 2004.^[1][10] On August 18, 2004, the beta was released to owners of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and those who had received a Half-Life 2 voucher bundled with some ATI Radeon video cards.^[11] While the original release only included a version for Microsoft Windows, the game eventually received a port to OS X on June 23, 2010 with a Linux port afterwards in 2013.^[12][13]

Global Offensive

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was the fourth release in the main, Valve-developed Counter-Strike series in 2012. Much like Counter-Strike: Source the game runs on the Source engine. It is available on Microsoft Windows, OSX, and Linux, as well as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles, and is backwards compatible on the Xbox One console.

Spin-off titles

Neo

A Japanese arcade adaptation of Counter-Strike, the original Half-Life multiplayer modification. It is published by Namco, and runs on a Linux system.^[14] The game involves anime-designed characters in a futuristic designed version of Counter-Strike. A selection of single-player missions, mini-games, and seasonal events were added to prolong the game's interest with players.^[15]

Online series

Counter-Strike Online is a free-to-play spin-off available in much of eastern Asia. It was developed by Nexon, with oversight from Valve Corporation. It uses a micropayment model that is managed by a custom version of the Steam back-end.^[16] Announced in 2012 and aimed at the Asian gaming market, a sequel titled Counter-Strike Online 2 was developed by Nexon on the Source game engine, and released in 2013.^[17]

Nexon: Zombies

In August 2014, Nexon announced Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies, a free-to-play, zombie-themed spin-off,^[18] developed on the GoldSrc game engine.^[19] On September 23, 2014, an open beta was released on Steam.^[20] The game launched on October 7, 2014, featuring 50 maps and 20 game modes.^[21] The game features both player versus player modes such as team deathmatch, hostage rescue, bomb defusal, and player versus environment modes such as cooperative campaign missions and base defending.^[22] Reception from critics was generally negative with criticism aimed at the game's poor user interface, microtransactions,^[22] and dated graphics.^[19]

Reception

As of August 2011^[update], the Counter-Strike franchise has sold over 25 million units.^[23]

References