Counter-Strike: GO Stress Test, Site, Now Live

[Dekstar]

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[br]That's right, the delayed closed-beta test of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is now live. Valve, on the official Counter-Strike website, are billing it as a stress test that, "contains a limited set of weapons, items, game modes, and functionality" on "our servers and a variety of client hardware."[br]Of course, this shouldn't stop you enjoying the game, but bear in mind that if you got into the closed beta, you really should remember to report any bugs or glitches to Valve so they can sort them out as soon as possible.[br]So, how do you get into the closed beta? Well, if you went to any of the major game entertainment expos this year (like Eurogamer, where halflife2.net made an appearance and interviewed Chet about the GO beta), you will have gotten a key that you can redeem in Steam to add the beta to your account. If you couldn't make it to the expos, don't fret as we've got some awesome new content about the beta coming up with first impressions, followed by extensive testing of the beta, so you know what to expect when the game is fully released, whether you're a 1.6 veteran, a hardcore sourcer, or entirely new to the series.[br]This will be a long-running series, delving into the depths of the game, and charting how Valve are striving to improve the series, and where they'll be going in future. There's lots more to come, but in the mean-time, get downloading and enjoy the beta!

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Had fun playing tonight, it's a bit weird still. Quite fast paced and tons of consolised things which I hope will be toned down as development continues. Will need more time to get my eye in on aiming sensitivity and the movement speed. A welcome return to wall banging though! Had a couple super satisfying wall headshots.

 

[Absinthe]

What, if I may ask, did you feel was consolized about it? Hopefully you mean more UI stuff than the actual gameplay. CS has always been a pretty simple, but solid shooter and I can't see how it could change too much.

 

[Ren.182]

Just had a very quick go before work (2 rounds) and it is weird. All the movement seems like you're walking on ice and the bullet spread seems completely random.

But Counter-Strike has always been different from the rest of the shooters so I'll have to give it a proper play when I get home tonight.

 

[-smash-]

First of all, I'm a 1.6 guy. With that said...

When ya'll launch GO for the first time, make sure you change the crosshair to classic. The new style is just wonky and doesn't feel right at all.

Strafing is bad at this point, IMO. It feels like I'm an ice skater. And the pace is too fast when moving.

Weapon FOV is too low! http://i.imgur.com/kgwEw.jpg

I like the overall UI design. All of the notifications are in the right spot, and the colors are good. Nice animations. The UI is made from Flash, btw.

A lot of negatives, but I like to concentrate on those first.

 

[Stormy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogcBfHjzsIU

looks pretty mehhh imho

 

[ríomhaire]

-smash- in TF2 you can set the weapon FOV separately from the actual FOV. Maybe if you try the same console commands TF2 uses it'll work.

Also, I wonder as someone who has always hated CS I'd find this any more easy to get into than all you vets who are finding things really weird. I'd have nothing to expect

 

[Vegeta897]

I have to say that new weapon FOV looks a lot more like modern FPS games such as call of duty and bf3. Funny how even details like that can follow trends.

 

[-smash-]

Yeah I know about the cvar.

 

[Kadayi]

I put a good few years into playing CS:S at clan level (good old enemy down league) but eventually I've moved on.

I'll also be honest and say I think this looks plain terrible from the footage I've seen, if Valve think that it's somehow going to magically win them some leverage in the lucrative console MP space Vs the kinetic delights of BF3, MW3 and Halo Reach I think they are tripping balls tbh.

As a company I think they've have gotten rather complacent in the last few years, and despite being able to still deliver quality titles like Portal 2 (most of which relied on the humour), I can't help but feel that they're lagging behind other development studios, in terms of overall product these days. Albeit they've nipped and tucked it over the years the Source engine really is beginning to show it's age now Vs the Frostbytes and Unreals. Plus the continued non appearance of 'episode3' and 'Valve time' is a joke that's running increasingly thin. Give it a couple more years and Gordon Freeman and the playstyle of Half-life will feel positive geriatric Vs other games out there, in the same way DNF did earlier this year.

From what I've been told Dota 2 is underwhelming Vs LOL and coupled with this looking like it isn't going to win any awards, 2012 might well turn out to be Valves Annus horribilis tbh.

 

[Escaep]

Don't know where else to put this.

[video=youtube_share;6vUou6sJjww]http://youtu.be/6vUou6sJjww[/video]

 

[Ennui]

I've played 7 or 8 solid hours of the CS:GO beta so far and I have to say I actually am starting to like it a lot.

It's very rough around the edges, lots of bugs and stuff, but so far Valve/Hidden Path have been quick to update it (they already fixed the wigglewalk strafe movement speed bug for example) and if they listen to pro/community feedback it should turn out pretty great.

The game itself is beautiful for a forced DX9 title, and the gameplay is pretty much good ol' Counterstrike with some significant changes to the technique/feel of gunplay. Recoil, accuracy etc still needs plenty of tweaking (as does most of the rest of the game) but I think CS:GO will ultimately be much better than CS:S and more embraced by the wider CS community, although 1.6 players will probably continue bitching about everything.

I didn't like it at first but now that I'm learning to control the weapons and stuff I'm enjoying it a lot more, and it still is Counter-Strike, same basic feeling and flow to the games.

As for it being "consoleized", I would say the UI is the worst case of this - the default crosshair is kind of absurd (I'm using classic static crosshair) and menus etc are obviously designed with consoles in mind, and a lot of the hotkeys are different (rebuy is F2, not b-r, and the buy menus are totally different and weird) but I suspect all this will be fixed before release.

So far though I would say the game is LESS spraytastic than CS:S, and a bit closer to 1.6 in terms of technique or gun play. Really looking forward to them adding Dust2 to the matchmaking system... I love the changes to Dust though.

Molotovs are a great and useful addition, decoy grenades are utterly worthless and stupid.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

I'm really unconvinced right now. I don't know if it's just because its more of the same or what. I can see how people will enjoy this though. One thing that bothers me though is how terrible the graphical style is. It looks like Every Modern Shooter: Source. That's not a compliment either. Way too much brown and bloom.


That said I hope this actually turns out good. Never been a fan of CS, but I've enjoyed the Surf maps and stuff.