When it comes to multiplayer shooters, I've always preferred Unreal Tournament, but I can't deny that Counter-Strike was a very important game for the time with its asymmetric and semi-realistic gameplay, some of the best maps and a constant state of tension, where every bullet counts. I've spent hours playing the older versions with my friends and relatives through LAN back in the day. And I remember when Condition Zero came out with this weird annoying little launcher called Steam. Nobody liked it at the time, and it's crazy what that thing turned out to be. I know, technically HL2 was the first Steam game, but CZ was the first encounter with it for me and many of my acquaintances.
As a game, CZ also didn't get much love at the time. Most people were playing version 1.5, and CZ was based on 1.6, which didn't really have any significant advantages, while having one major flaw - the tactical shield. That thing just ruined the balance and, whenever used, slowed the gameplay down to a crawl. Playing it today, I still find the shield pretty garbage. And it's not helped by the fact the campaign is requiring you to use it on several occasions.
That being said, we've never really gotten a definitive version of Counter-Strike, and this thing here comes the closest. Whenever I wanna play CS, I usually install CZ through Steam. The regular CS on Steam is version 1.6, so it also has tactical shields, and thus isn't any better. But CZ has several improvements for a single-player experience. The campaign here has a basic progression system and challenges, taking you through a lot of new maps and making you try out various weapons. The bots are very good and easy to set-up. The number of maps is much higher, and the settings menu is more advanced. It's just an overall more polished experience.
Far as I can remember 1.5 for all of its perfection of the gameplay, was still largely a mod for Half-Life that needed to be loaded through Half-Life's menu (or a dedicated shorctut, which some copies didn't have). And I do remember the bot support being very inconsistent. I might be wrong, but I think you actually had to install third-party bots on top of it. I've never owned an official copy of 1.5, but every pirate copy I've ever played had a different bot situation. Some of them had them pre-installed and easily configurable, in others the configuration would be a little more difficult, and some didn't have bots at all. I remember some copies coming with cs_mansion, which in my circles had the reputation of being the best CS map ever. I don't think I've played this map since like the early 00s, because no official version of CS I've played since came with this map. Shame, because I'm too lazy to download it manually.
I think out of the many versions of the original Counter-Strike, I prefer the one that's easiest to install and that comes with the most content. And that happens to be Condition Zero. Sure, the shields still suck, but they don't detract that much from how stellar Counter-Strike's gameplay is.
As a game, CZ also didn't get much love at the time. Most people were playing version 1.5, and CZ was based on 1.6, which didn't really have any significant advantages, while having one major flaw - the tactical shield. That thing just ruined the balance and, whenever used, slowed the gameplay down to a crawl. Playing it today, I still find the shield pretty garbage. And it's not helped by the fact the campaign is requiring you to use it on several occasions.
That being said, we've never really gotten a definitive version of Counter-Strike, and this thing here comes the closest. Whenever I wanna play CS, I usually install CZ through Steam. The regular CS on Steam is version 1.6, so it also has tactical shields, and thus isn't any better. But CZ has several improvements for a single-player experience. The campaign here has a basic progression system and challenges, taking you through a lot of new maps and making you try out various weapons. The bots are very good and easy to set-up. The number of maps is much higher, and the settings menu is more advanced. It's just an overall more polished experience.
Far as I can remember 1.5 for all of its perfection of the gameplay, was still largely a mod for Half-Life that needed to be loaded through Half-Life's menu (or a dedicated shorctut, which some copies didn't have). And I do remember the bot support being very inconsistent. I might be wrong, but I think you actually had to install third-party bots on top of it. I've never owned an official copy of 1.5, but every pirate copy I've ever played had a different bot situation. Some of them had them pre-installed and easily configurable, in others the configuration would be a little more difficult, and some didn't have bots at all. I remember some copies coming with cs_mansion, which in my circles had the reputation of being the best CS map ever. I don't think I've played this map since like the early 00s, because no official version of CS I've played since came with this map. Shame, because I'm too lazy to download it manually.
I think out of the many versions of the original Counter-Strike, I prefer the one that's easiest to install and that comes with the most content. And that happens to be Condition Zero. Sure, the shields still suck, but they don't detract that much from how stellar Counter-Strike's gameplay is.