Support NeoGAF

[ScOULaris]

I've been playing Counter-Strike with varying degrees of frequency across all of its iterations dating way back to the betas prior to the 1.0 release of the original Half-Life mod. Like millions of others, I love it for its strategic game modes, its memorable map selection, its mix of arcadey elements with realism, and its unique and rewarding spray control/recoil mechanics. CS is a series in which every map has a rich history and every gun feels like a character all its own. It's a series where death has weight and a millisecond can change the outcome of a crucial round or even a match altogether. It's both methodical and twitch-based. It encourages broad strategy and teamwork while still allowing room for individual players to shine and turn the tables. All in all, it's one of my favorite FPS series of all time.

But despite the many common elements that underscore all of the iterations of Counter-Strike that have released over the years, there are enough small differences with grand implications between them that you'll find supporters and detractors for all of them in equal measure. Some people favor one iteration heavily over the others, others might simply hate one particular form of CS. I'd like to get a sense of how GAFers feel about the CS series.

To keep the discussion within the lines, let's focus on the main three forms that CS has taken:

• Counter-Strike 1.6 (including earlier versions when it was a mod)
• Counter-Strike: Source
• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Which is your personal favorite, and what do you think puts it above the others in the series?

 

[bananafactory]

I don't profess to be hardcore or expert enough to understand the differences but I think I liked the 'feel' of 1.6 best. Never cared for Source but GO is a nice second place.

 

[theultimo]

CS beta 5.2.


Nothing has felt the same intensity.

 

[Rondras]

Didn't play Source but I played both 1.6 and GO.
I must say that I hated CS, wasn't for me but one day I decided to start playing 1.6 and played few hours(less than 15 I think) and decided to buy GO and obviously this one is my favourite with 450 hours, is the game that I played the most.

 

[Uiki]

1.6.

Go is just a hyper-semplified version of that concept.

Source is not cs.

 

[Quirah]

1.6 > GO > Source

Those 1.6 memories...

 

[Arzehn]

Played them all quite a bit, and honestly I like CSGO best... why? Ranked Matchmaking, i wasn't dedicated enough to get into the private servers like ESEA, etc. Having it built into the game made it fun to get all your friends to play too instead of it being a hurdle of sorts.

 

[belteshazzar]

Source. I sank so many hours into that game. Also, Surf was amazing.

 

[Deadbeat]

I don't profess to be hardcore or expert enough to understand the differences but I think I liked the 'feel' of 1.6 best. Never cared for Source but GO is a nice second place.

Intricacies of movement, damage model and recoil of weapons. Little nuances that have been buffed out over the iterations.

I miss things like as_oilrig. Absolute gold. Shit like that no longer exists and I miss it.

 

[DeathoftheEndless]

Source. Played a bunch of cool custom maps back in the day, like Pool, Glass, McDonalds, etc.

 

[KiKaL]

I am probably in the minority of the old school players. I started around Beta 4.0 but I prefer GO. I mostly say that because 1.6 just doesn't feel good anymore. I haven't put serious time into 1.6 in probably a decade and it just feels off now. Clearly, this is because I am more used to GO now but I am far from the camp that 1.6 is the holy grail that can't be touched.

Edit - It's also so much easier to hop into the competitive scene. I don't have the time to play in a clan anymore but I love that I can easily get into competitive games without much work. I also love how big the pro scene has gotten.

 

[Trace]

Source but only because I was a huge fan of the custom maps, spent thousands of hours on Jailbreak servers and the like.

 

[cyborgnumberblue]

I was huge into Source. The Source engine was just so much fun to play in and I got it for free along with HL2 and other games when I got my 9800 XT.

Mainly nostalgia.

 

[michaelius]

1.6>Source>Go

Source felt similar enough to 1.6 but Go feels like completely different game.

 

[nekkid]

CS beta 5.2.


Nothing has felt the same intensity.

It was the best, but maybe not because the game was better. The community was amazing back then.

 

[Fahzgoolin]

I like the idea of 1.6 the most.

Source had the most entertaining community and custom servers.

GO has MM, despite how flawed the MM is. I have had probably the most fun with GO because of how well rounded the game is.

 

[adamsapple]

1.6 man.
Gotta honor the classics.

 

[super-famicom]

The last version that had bunny hopping.

 

[Ishan]

1.6 . just general feel of that.
go is a good followup.
source is crap.

 

[5taquitos]

Beta 6

 

[abracadaver]

CS:GO but I miss the bullet casings falling to the ground

 

[Not Spaceghost]

Source was a lot of fun but had a lot of frustrating elements like guns being too powerful and aiming being way too easy. Movement was also a huge skill barrier in that game, In general though i always just kinda sucked at it. CSGO has been a hell of a roller coaster ride as far as quality. I think the game was basically the best it will ever be shortly before the R8 update. The weapons rebalancing we had recently makes it a bit frustrating to play and the map redo philosophy is kinda not jiving with me, too much streamlining.

The train redo was solid but newke and infernew feel so bleg.

It's hard to say which is my favorite because as much as i hated the feel of regular source matches, the custom maps and crazy game modes were so much fun.

1.6 was always so much fun but i really only played it LAN and so i oddly enough consider it to be a "party game" which is so weird.

 

[zephervack]

Source, so much fun, something off about GO, maybe its the porn sprays missing.

 

[Crono27]

1.6>go> condition zero> source

 

[The Dutch Slayer]

CS 1.5 will always be my fav.

Simply because how quick it played and how the weapons and map layouts where.

 

[nekkid]

Beta 6

Dat menu. So good.

 

[MetalSlug]

Counter Strike Source

Because it was the first one that I played back in 2005 and the others just feel too different for me.

 

[tjohn86]

The recent support Valve has given CS:GO is really encouraging but I still think CS 1.6 in its day was the best.

 

[antitrop]

Pre-Steam/WON-era Counter-Strike. I was diehard into CS from 2000-2004, but mostly around 2001-02.

Steam fucking sucked when it first came out and really put me off playing the game.

 

[Kasper]

My inner child wants to say 1.6, but I would say GO is the best version of the game thus far. Source is a pile of dung.

 

[kuYuri]

Whichever one allowed me to bunny hop (1.3?). It was fun trying to actually learn how to do it and the sense of speed was amazing.

 

[FunkyDealer]

Not a big fan of any. But I have fond memories of playing ridiculous custom maps with friends in both 1.6 and Source. Never played GO.

If I have to choose, I think Source was the most memorable for me.

 

[Foxtastical]

Beta 6 was my favorite point. Probably because I was a teenager. With so much time.

 

[Zomba13]

I put the most time into source so I prefer that one (and all the custom maps). GO felt too different to me. I dunno, the aiming and recoil felt off compared to Source. Can't rememebr how it was in 1.6 as it's been soooooooo long since I played it.

 

[lazerfox]

CS:GO < 1.6 < Source

Don't get me wrong 1.6 was amazing but it was really hard to get a 5v5 going. CS:GO fixed it with integrated competitive matchmaking.

I didn't like the feel of Source when it came out so I just stuck to 1.6.

 

[Zoon]

1.6 just because GO doesn't have shield and mp5

 

[Newboi]

CS 1.5 was when I had the most fun with the franchise. I've never taken the time to seriously get into GO as I've become really turned off to multiplayer for awhile now.

Edit: As a side note, was anyone big into The Specialists Mod or Sven Coop back in the day? Two of my favorite mods of all time outside of CounterStrike.

 

[Apathy]

Everything before source

 

[Stabby McSter]

1.6>Source>Go

Source felt similar enough to 1.6 but Go feels like completely different game.

did we play the same cs source

 

[Commanche Raisin Toast]

I can't decide between old school CS and Source.

I played CS back when CT's had an affordable M4 with a short scope and silencer by default.

My skill peaked with Source though. Had so much fun with that game, geez...

 

[pretty done]

1.5 > 1.6 >>>>>> GO >>>>>>>>>>> literally any game >>>>>> Source

GO is terrible compared to actual CS though. Sound, hitboxes, map design, movement are all lacking compared to the over 10 year old 1.6. Valve just honestly don't know shit about CS or why it ever got popular.

 

[Commanche Raisin Toast]

Edit: As a side note, was anyone big into The Specialists Mod or Sven Coop back in the day? Two of my favorite mods of all time outside of CounterStrike.

OH MY GOD Sven Co-op was so much fun! Half the time the servers were crappy and the levels would glitch out, but they were some of the weirdest most creative experiences ever back in the day.

Didn't most of the levels come from the community? And you could make and add your own levels to your server playlists?

 

[Zedox]

1.6

First game to literally not take baths for days...just trying to get better.

 

[E-flux]

1.6 The graphics were simple and it was easy to detect enemies far away and weapons felt good thanks to the silly death animations and effects. I also did quite a lot of surfing and back then i liked the level design more, go feels like what i remember cs 1.6 feeling when surfing but the whole thing has evolved so far from the stage i surfed the most that i don't enjoy the newer levels all that much, things get too technical or too easy.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

CS beta 5.2.


Nothing has felt the same intensity.

Beta 5.2 was great, but part of that is nostalgia-tinted glasses. 5.2 was pre-netcode patch, so you had to compensate for lag to gauge where your bullets were going to hit, and since the majority of the playerbase was still on dial-up (this being early 2000), it wasn't exactly the smoothest experience. I have great memories of leading people by several yards and cheering when they ran into the bullet a half-second later. Obviously this was negated by lower ping; 5.2 on LAN was heavenly. If we're talking beta, I might put 6.5 higher just because the netcode patch happened so you actually hit what you were aiming at. Ultimately, though, I think version 1.1 was the best mix of old-school techniques (bunnyhopping, AWP quickscoping) and polish that made the game feel really solid. Plus it gave us de_dust2 AND de_inferno, which are probably the two best maps in series history.

 

[SargerusBR]

1.6 before it became CS: Dust II

 

[CountAntonius]

CSGO is by far the most complete. 1.6 just had this amazing feel to it. CSS was neither.

 

[Piggus]

CSS

Suck it haters

 

[tioslash]

CS 1.6, by far.

I´ve played 1.6 for well over a decade and it is probably my favorite multiplayer game ever.

 

[cHinzo]

1.6 Put more than 1k hours in that game, even though it didn't have a competitive matchmaking. Amazing game, great sound and the gameplay just felt right. Also that 1.6 movement.

CS:GO has a great matchmaking queue and the graphics looks fine.

Source sucks, crappy clay graphics, odd hitboxes and it just felt off. Even Condition: Zero is better than Source.