Counter-Strike is a wonderful gaming experience within the First-Person Shooter genre. It is a team-based internet game similar to the likes of Rainbow Six, Team Fortress, and Tribes. It focuses on realism rather than the rocket-toting fun of Quake 3 Arena or Unreal Tournament. It features a wide variety of realistic weapons like the H&K MP5, Steyr Aug, M4A1 Colt Carbine, USP .45 Pistol, etc. Damage is determined by what gun you shoot with, the caliber of the bullet, location of the hit, whether or not the target has body armor, which a good departure from most FPS games.

However, when you play Counter-Stirke you'll soon realize that many of the game's strengths are also it's weaknesses. Take for instance the focus on team-based gameplay. On a great team with a emphasis on cooperation, Counter-Strike is a gaming experience like no other. Suppression fire, cover fire, watching each others backs brings the gamer into the virtual world of counter-terrorists and terrorists. You have fun working together, and you feel invincible. Even if your team is losing, teamwork saves the experience because of the community feel.

But, Counter-Strike succumbs to the "internet" factor. If you throw a bunch of strangers into a room, and tell them to cooperate, there is a large possibility that no teamwork will actually develop. Constant squabbling, name-calling, profanity, racial slurs, and discrimination comes to light and the game experience is marred because of this.

Same goes for the realistic combat. It sure is fun with you nail an opponent with a headshot from across the map, but when you die four times in a row in the first 20 seconds it begins to become frustrating.

The game certainly rewards players whom practice and fine-tune their skills. And, with the level of play set extremely high due to the hardcore and devoted fans of the game, it can be quite overwelhming for a newbie.

The "internet" factor becomes a key point once again when you consider hacking and cheating. AimBots, wall-hacks, skin-hacks, and spectator-hacks are some of the few cheats that I have run into in my experience with this game. Although it is not as rampant as some players suggest, I have seen quite a few fool-proof examples of this happening. I have seen a CT fire through the floor at the beginning of a round and kill about three terrorists which is a obvious example of a wall-hack. I saw a CT come back to life multiple times in one round! This same CT was also defusing bombs from spectator mode. The cheating and hacking in the game is certainly not a pleasant experience.

The graphics are sub-par as it relies on the now-old Half-Life engine, and the sounds are above average. After about a day of playing one can distinguish between the sounds of every single gun and rifle.

Recommended: Yes