I finally got an invite for this and had a bit of time today to try it out.
Thoughts, after approximately 10,000 hours in previous versions of CS ove the years;
• Bullet registration is night and day improved upon the old versionf of CS. I have no idea what they did, what changed, or how it works, but it is like a different universe.
• New smokes are fantastic. I love how they add a dynamic effect and can be disperesed, feeling like living organic smoke in confined areas, it behaves well and gives the item some counterability.
• Sound seems way off. Not sure what is going on here but I couldn't get my barings on where enemies where, what distance they were from me, and how close proximity stuff was.. people that play competetive will know what I mean, but I really struggled. Half of the skill involved with CS is hearing and pinpointing an enemy movement / footstep through a wall or round a corner.
• visuals, ehhhhhhh.... have to be honest it doesn't seem like much of an upgrade on that front beyond the smokes and fire effects being cool.
• Actual gun weight and sound however I mentionned above is way better. Guns sound more realistic, chunkier, and blood splats have far better range-based acknowledgement.
I have no doubt my gripes will get fixed by release, and this will most certainly replace the CSGO competetive space for me. I still play 5-6 games a week and love CS. Amazing how much sticking power this game has, it's just as good now as it was 15 years ago. Competetive is still hugely active and there are plenty of passionate players on matchmaking to make it fun solo if you have no party to play with.
