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Counter-Strike: Source

EMAIL PRINT pc

9.0 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 9 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 8428 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Vivendi Universal

Developer: Valve

Genre(s): First-Person Shooter, Action

Players: 64

ESRB Rating: RP (Rating Pending)

Release Date: October 7, 2004

Summary

Valve has taken a large selection of the maps from Counter-Strike 1.6 - Office, Havana, Italy, Aztec, Chateau, Cobble, Piranesi and of course eternal favourites Dust and Dust 2, and recreated them for the source engine. This means all new textures and major aesthetic changes with more complex buildings and scenery. In addition, the levels are scattered with objects that react realistically with the Source engine's physics engine. [GamersEurope.com] The game is available through Valve's Steam downloading service and is distributed with "Half-Life 2."

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Half-Life 2 Half-Life: Counter-Strike

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Xequted

A fantastic conversion of a timeless classic and it has stolen the hearts of the online community once again.

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Games Radar UK (Pre-2006)

This update has refreshed our love of the game, bringing a new physicality and violence to online shooters. CS:Source is essential. [PC Gamer UK]

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1UP

The game looks more beautiful than ever, with structures that feel weighty and solid and little visual touches throughout. The flash-bangs look fantastic.

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Eurogamer

Counter-Strike: Source is, once you've gained a knack for it, the most consistently rewarding and surprising team-based shoot-'em-up available on the PC today. It's been dressed up nicely for its relaunch in 2004, but it wasn't broken, and Valve hasn't fixed it.

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GameBiz

One of the best war games to play online. With so many players and so many newbies ready to take a bullet in the head from you, your gameplay options are endless and your lastability hours are infinite.

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PC Format

As used in CS: Source, that ground breaking physics engine is just gimmickry. Likewise, no attempt has been made to make the robotic hostages lifelike. So much for "HL2's" ground-breaking AI. But we have a confession: we just can't stop playing it. [Dec 2004, p.85]

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Gamers Europe

Valve has done a sterling job of moving a flagship franchise over to a new engine. Whilst the gameplay guts come over correct and intact, (which may disappoint some), Counter-Strike: Source is an even more engrossing and captivating experience, capable of sapping hours of your time, and even the worst "1337 g33zers" abusing voice chat can't spoil the fun you'll have with it.

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eToychest

The most impressive outlet of Source’s physics engine is the most subtle, that of the corpses left after any particular round of slaughter. Bodies realistically slump into corners, drape over crates, and fall to the ground. I’m sure everyone will have a “coolest corpse” story within a week of playing.

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Boomtown

A technically and graphically stunning port of a game that was already pretty damn good, with the potential to deliver bigger and better things in future. And you can’t complain too much about that.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 8428 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ryan R gave it a6:
This is an excellent game but because it requires online play one of the most important factors is a fair playing field and unfortunately this is no longer possible as the VAC anti-cheat system does not work fast enough to detect the newest cheaters. Many of the downloadable cheats for this game are updated before VAC updates. The cheats that are being used are usually aimbot set to toggle "on" or "off" on a key bind (usually middle mouse click mouse wheel down) and click it whenever they need that last second headshot or pretty much whenever they feel like it. I have competed at multiple LAN tournaments and never had problems like you see in online play. Registering and competing in CAL is another way to find a more even playing field. It is a good idea to keep in mind also though that many players are banned from the game every year during competition for cheating also. The only real fun for veteran CS players in this game anymore will most likely be running and managing your own server to make up where the VAC system fails or playing with a close group of friends. One of the more creative and fun sides of the game are the custom maps that allow mini games of all kinds from climbing, rpg, hide and seek, surfing, dodge ball and others.

Jonathan K gave it a9:
This is an overall great game. Solid in form runs great having the Source engine. graphics are still nice by my standards today. Surprisingly when you buy a mature game you expect mature players and telling you now this is not the case in many servers you play on counter-strike has always featured a wide array of mods throughout its history but because of games like "Surf" where a player rides a rail along a path in the sky the game can almost all but lose the aspect of a "First person Shooter" and will almost entirely become a benign kids game. In fact ive been to many a few game servers featuring mods such as "zombie mod", "Surf" (as mentioned earlier) and even copies of other games such as World of Warcraft, Even downhill skiing and musical chairs aren't out of the question (thats right MUSICAL CHAIRS) going to a zombie mod server Ive noticed that many of the players are at least under the age of 15. I cannot comment on the nature of the online players because it can vary between rude and downright vulgar to extremely helpful and generous... counter-strike source is what you make of it if you play with a good attitude you will find more people like yourself and you will find good communities online. because all if not most of the servers are all individually owned (almost franchised even) rules in servers may vary so if you find a server with a tight set of rules and watchful administrators you might as well let your 2 year old play the game. again... the game is what you make of it.

André P gave it a10:
I think the game is awesome. You can enjoy the new weapon models the maps better than cs 1.6. At first i always thought that cs 1.6 was better than css but i guess i was wrong. God Job Valve.

Travis L gave it a10:
It's an amazing multiplayer game , the maps are well detailed , and the controls are easy to use and learn , i recommend this to any person who enjoys playing First Person Shooters.

Sgt. Pitt gave it a10:
I have been playing the whole series since the original. This is a must have for anyone into mutiplayer gaming, period..Bought this verion when released and still play it weekly for the past 4 years, never gets old, all kinds of mods out there from escape maps to zombie servers..The Source engine is near perfect. If pc games where in the olympics this would be an event....Trust me buy it and dont blame me for the addiction that will follow.

Action D gave it an8:
When this game first arrived I would have given it a 10. Now however when I've been playing it since its release all the flaws in the game have been revealed. Overall can be said that CS:S is an easier and simpler version of CS 1.6. This is the reason why hardcore players still prefer CS 1.6 over CS:S as CS:S is less competitive. It's easier to get headshots, and the weapon balance is even more flawed than in CS 1.6 so both on CS:S public servers and on "competitive" matches all players run with few overpowered weapons while the rest of the weapons are completely useless. So the game doesn't reach its full potential. The game could be much more exciting and challenging with a better weapon balance, giving smart players who can make good choises a chance vs players with good aim. There is no choises and all you need is to press the autobuy button every round to stay on top. Because of this the game remains a game mainly only for teenagers. Without weapon variety there is less strategy and tactics, and the few overpowered weapons also are so called no-brainer weapons as they're THE BEST WEAPONS AT ANY RANGE. So overall the game is not demanding as you don't have to think at all things like: What weapon you get, what weapons your teammates have, what weapons your opponents have, from what range you should engage the enemy from with the weapon you have, what weapon you should choose when you go this or that route, and so on. The only reason why CS:S still keeps being played is because of the big amount of mods (most are just mods for teenagers though - nothing hardcore).

Brandon M. gave it a9:
I think this game is just amazing. The weapons the texture detail, all of it just amazing. This game is a must have for all action gamers.

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Counter-Strike: Source

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