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Counter-Strike:Condition Zero

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 69 / 101
Date: January 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

By - Tom Ham
Posted By - Dark Spectre

It goes without saying that Counter-Strike is the most popular online multiplayer game right now. Simply blowing the doors off Quake III Arena, Unreal Tournament, Tribes II and even the recently released Return to Castle Wolfenstein multiplayer test, the number of folks playing Counter-Strike is truly astounding. According to GameSpy statistics, on the average, there are at least 30 to 40,000 people playing Half-Life at any given time. Going one step further shows that about 90 percent of those are playing Counter-Strike.

But all this gaming nirvana has one important caveat -- players need a high-speed connection. Unless you have broadband access via cable or DSL, you're pretty much outta luck. Sure you can play with an archaic ... err standard 56K connection, but come on people, we all know it's just not the same.

Enter Gearbox Software (the brilliant minds responsible for Half-Life: Opposing Force and Half-Life: Blue Shift). Having already proven themselves to be a top-notch developer of Half-Lifeexpansion games, Valve Software was more than willing to hand over the reins to them to create Counter-Strike: Condition Zero. "Condition Zero is a game that we want to play," explains Doug Lombardi, director of marketing and third party relations at Valve Software. "Obviously, Counter-Strike is one of our favorite multiplayer games, and we've always wanted to take on the challenge of recreating, even expanding upon, the thrill of a great multiplayer game in single-player. Add the challenge of co-op play against very worthy opponents while also providing new maps and toys for the existing multiplayer community, and this became a very compelling project for everyone involved."

On a recent visit to Dallas, GameSpy got to sit down and meet with Gearbox Software and discuss their upcoming plans for Counter-Strike: Condition Zero. Not only did we get insight into the game's development, we managed to get some serious hands-on playtime with the game as well! Even though the single-player game was still in the works (don't worry we'll report on this when we go back to Dallas), we were able to spend several hours checking out some of the multiplayer aspects of Condition Zero including new maps, units, and weapons. Needless to say, what we saw was brilliant. Gearbox Software is definitely on the right track.

"It's a challenge for us," explains Randy Pitchford, president of Gearbox Software, "the biggest hurdle was to design a single-player game that captured the excitement and rapid-pace gameplay that the online version offers. We had to design a single-player game that feels in every way like Counter-Strike as far as tactics and action goes, but give solo players an experience that is actually better than the online game in terms of structure and presentation." Granted this is no small feat. But how do you top an already seemingly perfect game such as Counter-Strike?

Teams

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 39 / 46
Date: January 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

By - Tom Ham
Posted By - Dark Spectre

Counter-Strike: Condition Zero will have five teams per side, and each team will have four different heads. So for all your math wiz's out there, that's over 160 combinations of units. What's cool here is that Gearbox has added a bunch of new uniforms that reflect the environments in which they're fighting in. "So when your mission is in a cold setting, your units will all wear artic gear. We also have desert and jungle camouflage as well," says Pitchford. "Every character type gets a different outfit dependant on where the mission is taking place."

One thing we here at GameSpy want to make clear. Almost every aspect of the single-player experience -- the new weapons, models, and maps -- will be available in multiplayer games. Don't think all this cool stuff is just for the single-player experience. Pitchford states, "The complete version of Condition Zero is a full retail product. A free patch will be released, however, that will make online Counter-Strike fully compatible with Condition Zero's online components."

The Artwork

"We've increased the amount of polys per model," explains Matthew VanDolen (a.k.a. Doo Doo Brown, artist and modeler at Gearbox), "Before the models were 750 polygons each. The ones in Condition Zero are 1,250 polygons. It's a 75% increase in the amount of polys per character." So how did it look? Check out our exclusive screenshots of the models. In game they look incredible. Remember how much better Quake III Arena looked when compared to Quake II? It's that drastic of a change. You can see little nuances in the faces, not available in CS before. "We're also going to have full lip-synching," continues VanDolen, "You can see here the CT's mouth is moving. So when they say, "Fire in the hole!" you'll be able to see it. Just another thing to make CS more realistic." The textures on the uniforms are also first rate. We could see every wrinkle, crease and fold -- it left us speechless.

In addition to new models, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero will also incorporate new weapons. "As far as weapons go, we pretty much started over with the following assumptions," explains Pitchford. First, balance. The balance of CS is very important. We didn't want to introduce anything that disrupts the solidity of the game design as it stands. Second, realism in context. We wanted to introduce weapons to be plausible in the context for which they were intended. Third, fantasy. A lot of the CS weapons allow us to safely simulate the kinds of things we see in movies or hear about from war stories. We've added some guns that we've always wanted to see in action and have had a lot of fun using in the safe, simulated environment of CS. And lastly, strategy. Without radically altering existing CS paradigms, we wanted to add weapons that allowed for new tactics and new solutions to old tactical situations in the game. Using these basic objectives, we came up with a huge list of potentials. The list was tweaked, some tests were done, and some debates occurred and eventually we concluded with a very nice and solid collection of new weapons. Most of them are pretty exciting and all of them "fit."

Weapons and Toys

So what are the new weapons? "We've added some new weapons for both the CTs and Ts," explains Stephan Palmer, game/level designer at Gearbox, "The CTs have a new rifle called the FAMAS. The FAMAS is more so to counteract the Terrorist AK. Incidentally, the FAMAS is used by the French GIGN." "On a side note," says Brian Martel, "the FAMAS was also the gun that was in Metal Gear Solid." A new weapon for the Terrorists is the Galeil. "It's the Israelis official rifle," explains Palmer, "It's similar to the AK-47 but it's a little heavier, so the recoil is not as bad so you're more accurate with it."

A Sense of Purpose

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 25 / 33
Date: January 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

By - Tom Ham
Posted By - Dark Spectre

"In Condition Zero players have a much greater sense of purpose," continues Pitchford, "This never really comes across well in the online game. In Condition Zero, failure has greater consequences and success offers greater rewards. As a Counter Terrorist, for example, you're going in there, getting shot at and putting your life on the line in order to save the lives of innocent civilians. Or, play the game from the other side and see how it feels to not be able to protect your squad mates with simple armor vests because failures in previous missions have left you short of funding. These things types of things are new to Condition Zero and really amplify the excitement of the game as well as keep us coming back for more."

Taking the project over from Rouge Entertainment, the Gearbox team basically had to start from scratch. "I actually have been speaking with Valve about Counter-Strike and things that could be done with it for quite a while," continues Pitchford, "We all knew CS was going to be special." Amen to that.

When you sit down with Randy Pitchford and his partner, Brian Martel, art czar at Gearbox, you can't help but feel their passion and enthusiasm for the game. This editor thought that we here at GameSpy were hardcore players, bah! These guys were nuts. "We know there are a lot of CS fans out there," says Martel. "We have the team and the tools to take CS to the next level." And this level of excitement doesn't stop at the top; it permeates through everyone else on the team. From the artists to the level designers, everyone involved is determined to make Condition Zero something truly special.

The Single-Player Game

"The single-player game will have approximately 30-40 missions and over 16 new maps," says Pitchford. What's cool is that all of these maps can be both played in multiplayer as well as the single-player game. We're introducing a new Russian CT called the Russian Spetznaz and a new Terrorist faction as well." An interesting gameplay addition to the single-player game is the inclusion of training. "Each side will have training," continues Pitchford, "When you're squad earns money, they can fund various skills. These skills include weapons training, bomb defusal, sniper skills, and even camping skills." Now does this mean we'll watch our units go into training? "No, not at all," says Pitchford, "It's basically an upgrade you purchase in the game, just like you would purchase a weapon or item." What's cool about these skills is that there will be one for every weapon class and one each tactic (bomb defusal, sniping, etc.) How many skills does this add up to? You do the math; it's quite a bit.

With all this talk about fellow squad mates and units, you gotta wonder, who is controlling these guys in the single-player game? Have you ever heard of Pod Bot? "We have the best guy in the biz doing the AI for Condition Zero," says Pitchford. "We've got Markus Klinge on board, the guy who created Pod Bot. He's doing all the AI for the units in the game." So just how good is the AI? As a joke, the Gearbox guys put yours truly in a multiplayer game where the player's names were folks on the CZ team. After a few frustrating rounds, we later found out that the other players were indeed bots programmed by Klinge. How good were they? So convincingly real it was almost eerie. They not only camped, but were also adept with the AWP and their ability to cover for one another was remarkable. Remember how smart the Marines were in Half-Life? Imagine bots ten times as intelligent.

Release Date

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 34
Date: January 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Yo for all you who wanna know:

Counter-Strike:Condition Zero is supposed to come out Spring 2002, not December!

- Spectre

How good is this game: AMAZING!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: March 18, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is going to be the best game out, adding new dimensions to the Half-Life add on (mod). The new weapons are set too look and feel (yes feel) brilliant, this is the game to buy, worth every pound and penny you buy it for. Also a edited Half-Life engine will make it perfect, the Half-Life engine is (id say) the best around, editing it for such a great game can only mean its going to be amazingly better. Buy it and have fun...

People, The Game Isn't Even Out Yet

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 15
Date: March 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Don't mistake the one star as a bad game. I'm simply saying that you can't go ahead and call this game of the year considering it's not even out yet. Remember Daikatana? That game was supposedly set to rule the world but then turned into [stuff]. Don't be so hasty with your words.

Valve makes buggy software, rampant cheating possible

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 20
Date: March 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Counter-Strike was a very nice mod for Half-Life until the cheating became rampant. These days all it takes is a simple download and you can watch everybody else staring at you through walls. Neither Valve nor Sierra will address these problems and both ignore requests to fix them.

Do not buy this game for the multiplayer capabilities as these companies have a poor track record.

The best of the best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 6
Date: March 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Gamers....this is the game for you. The best of the best. Prepare to forget everything else in your life and focus on this game. You definatly NEED this game. It has everything a great game needs-good graphics, excellent gameplay, and enough fun to keep you coming back for more...

Overall this is the best game in the market...Counter-strike condition zero should be the most popular game of all time.New maps,skins, and weapons should be helpful to keep this game popular for a long long time.

Take my advice. Get this game. I promise you'll never get tired of it.

CS: CZ Review

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: March 22, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I must say this game is one of the greatest games ever made :)

Gooseman & Cliffe must be verry proud..

The AI in CS:CZ, is far of the greatese AI ever made and we have CountFloyd to thak that for... He also made PODbot the Best bot to CS even if Realbot is good. but the fact is Countfloyd is good at his work and sierra alla i can say u rule hard...

to all the C-s Fans: don't you agree with me.. :)

Wha??

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: March 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Don't go dissing CS: CZ untill you read all the facts. Valve is including an ANTI-CHEATING program with CS: CZ... so their can't be any cheating on-line, only in single player mode. This is because of all the cheating from the original CS. But I can't wait to buy this game, it's gonna be awesome. Its filled with new players, weapons, gernades, equipment, tons of new maps, WAY better Graphics (yes, they can be better)... Also, don't download the MOD off the internet, buy it. THe one off the internet doesn't come with special graphics and options.. oy.. I can't wait.

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