Opinion - Counter Strike: Global Offensive Beta

For my first opinion piece on The Dharma Files, I wanted to talk about a game I just recently started playing this week, Counter Strike: Global Offensive. As someone new to the Counter Strike series, I wasn't sure what to expect when I pre-purchased CS:GO on Steam to gain access to the beta and 10% off. But for under $15 I figured it wasn't too much of a risk.

After about a 20-30 minute download, my steam library had two new additions, CS:GO which is locked until August 21, and the CS:GO beta which I had access to right away. So I sat down at my macbook pro to try the beta for a short while and was pleasantly surprised with the polish and uniqueness of the game. As stated earlier, this is my first foray into the world of Counter Strike, having only watched a friend play the original CS years ago. Being new to the series, I was happy to see the inclusion of an offline option to play with bots. — A bit of advice from The Dharma Files: When playing any online FPS for the first time, if there is an offline or private match mode available, make use of it! Instead of fumbling around the maps for the first time in ranked online matches, first take the time to learn the game, maps, and weapons before taking yourself online. — Anyways I played offline with bots for about two hours now and have enjoyed every second of it. I was surprised by the large number of maps available and the graphics were also very good for a $15 game. The weapons also have a Battlefield 3-esque feel to them which is hard for me to explain. In other words, they aren't like CoD weapons, which could really just be reskins of the same weapon with different fire rates. Also like BF3 there is recoil which must be dealt with; None of the weapons shoot straight like a laser beam. But thats a good thing. I just hope there will be more guns included in the full release of the game.

I'll wait to give a review until the full game releases and I put in a couple hours playing online, but I do feel comfortable to give the recommendation to pre-purchase the game on Steam if you so desire. CS:GO releases on August 21 for PC and Mac on Steam, Xbox Live, and PSN.

-Nate