CS-Nation

Covering the future of Counter-Strike
cz thoughts
mailbag: cz thoughts
On this edition of "The Mailbag," Don gets in a shootout with a Columbian drug gang, Bill and Mary try to fight their feelings for each other, and will Tom take the job in Malibu and leave the force?

But first, your opinions of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero. Does it live up to the hype? Should we all race out to get a copy? Here are your thoughts.
from: vamiciouskanid
Well if you are asking "Does it live up to the hype?" I would have to say "hell yes it does, and beyond!"

That of course is because all of the "hype" has been negativity for the most part. Sure it might not be the best game ever made and the endless setbacks upon setbacks even make it worse of a game because we are all frustrated with it already ... But am I happy with it? Yes. The campaign might not be the coolest after you beat it the first time, but the maps look great and the bots are amazing and give me an answer to what would I do if my internet connection ever went down.
I wouldn't say that all the hype has been negative, and apparently, even you wouldn't - what with your contradictory "all the hype has been negative...for the most part."

But I digress. Lately, Condition Zero hasn't been getting very good press. However, we were all drooling over it when it was first announced.
from: FL!P
Aside from the price, I see nothing wrong with CS:CZ. It will help out most of the newbies out there trying to get into CS. And for the vets, it's just a little something to do offline.

I know my modem breaks down once in awhile or I'm really laggy, and I always yearned for some sort of offline CS experience. Maybe Steam is being gay. I'm sure people can find excuses to want/need to play CZ.
Waaaaaaaaay back in the beginning, when CS was first coming out with betas, Gooseman and Cliffe said that they'd like to eventually work on a single-player version. There were a couple of reasons for this - but the biggest reason was that multiplayer mods for HL were both low in number and sparsely played next to the then-powerhouse TFC.

I don't think the idea back then was for an offline version of the online game. I imagine it would have played out more like the deleted scenes section of CZ. However, it seems that the offline-online game eventually won favor at VALVe.
from: neon
I think condition zero is waste of money because the gameplay is same as cs1.6 w/ steam. The cs bots are good for offline play, but it is boring when you play it for hours. I hoped for new models and weapons since ritual
remade condition zero. I don't think valve did a good job on making this game since 3yrs now. I don't like playing current cs version and I believe this game is the worst game buy of the year !
Guess you can't please everyone.
from: FunnyLookinHat
Hey... CZ is crap. Who the frick cares about a new single player version of CS?.... FREAKING HALF LIFE 2 IS COMING OUT IN JULY...
We all sure HOPE it's coming out in July. VALVe has something of a history with these things...
from: The_Absence
I got CZ via Steam, and I was real happy with the bots. They are incredibly intelligent, and they use tactics very well together.

The models do look better, but I just don't beleive its worth the $30 price tag. But that won't stop many CS fanatics from getting it, just like me (and rizzuh).
I think VALVe definitely knew that they'd be getting a lot of sales just because it has the Counter-Strike name on it. I also think it went through so many delays because they wanted to make it worthwhile and fun without simply riding on name alone for sales.

Were they successful? Well, I wouldn't pay $50 for the game, but $30 is a pretty good price, considering the kind of stuff that you see being sold for more these days.
from: XenoAroe
First we have to give CZ props for the excellent bots. They are amazing and beyond fun to play with. Their actions are suprisingly human like to the point that they are entertaining to watch. This by far is the best part of the game. The new maps and updates to pre-existing ones are impressive if you rememeber that we are dealing with a 6 year old engine here. It is very unfortunate, however, that this was essentially the only graphical update to the game. New player and weapon models are desired, not just an upgraded poly count. I have heard rumors of an update to be released with much saught after graphical updates but have found nothing to verifiy this.

I really cant comment on the deleted scenes as i havent played them too much yet. But overall, the bots are superb, the new maps and map upgrades are welcomed warmly and i guess to satsify my visual hunger for new models there is always the skinning/modeling community.
Well, there's not much you can really do with the HL engine beyond what's been done with CZ. It showed its age 2 years ago, and now it's showing hundreds of wrinkles.

We can all hope that the next CS, along with any future expansions, will be on the fantastic-looking Source engine.
from: MrBoji
I don't think cz lived up to any of the hype. For instance, me and my buddies were playing the new hide and seek mode (which also took us over an hour to figure out how to start), and it was the worst gaming experience i've ever had. From the automated racoons and other rodents to the downright awful graphics of the houses. That was all in the first 30 minutes of owning the game. Little did I know I was in for more than i bargained for. That night when i was asleep, cz started up all by itself and proceeded to play bots vs bots, WITHOUT ME PRESSING ANY BUTTONS. I sent the software back to the guy on the streets i bought it from. If you're considering buying cz, don't waste your time. John Carmack and his team did an awful job on this half life wannabe.
Hey, it could be worse, it could have robotic frogs.
from: wank0r
CS:CZ was one of the most highly anticipated games of 2002/3 but that was decades ago , since then they have managed to remove everything which was promised to us. The game itself isn't that awful but does get really boring after 18 missions of the same pure lengthened bordem.

The Deleted Scenes are the only part of this game which actually showed some promise with the sort FPS Single-Player game we have all come to know , although VALVe messed them up to with a critical bug in the release on Steam/CD which causes the Deleted Scenes to crash periodically and also not allow the game to be completed. The graphics show how much CS has aged and maybe 2 years ago these were the standard but in 2004 with games like Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 coming out CS:CZ just doesn't have anything up to that standard.
Where to begin? When we first heard about CS:CZ, um, "decades ago", it was a different game being proposed, yes. But the deleted scenes weren't the same as what was originally being shown, which was Gearbox's efforts to make a single-player game.

You're one of the only people who seemed to like the deleted scenes more than the main game, so I hope you don't mind if I take your opinions with a grain of salt. After all, it gets really boring after all the pure lengthened boredom. I'm gonna have to remember that line.
from: K-16
I have a feeling that it could've been fun if Gearbox Software was given a second (or third depending on how many delays they asked for) chance to finish the game, because it seems that the current style of gameplay hasn't changed much from what Gearbox Software had in mind. So putting it through Ritual Entertainment was a waste of time (although I'm surprised Ritual Entertainment did a mediocre job since they made Sin, which was an awesome game). The fact that the name given for the gameplay mode Ritual Entertainment did (deleted scenes?), as well as the option not to install it in the first place shows how dissatisfied VALVe was.
I think they were dissatisfied with Gearbox's work too, but I would guess that Ritual surprised VALVe by being a lot worse than they expected. Just speculation, mind you.

Interesting that they kept the Ritual missions and not the Gearbox missions if that's the case, though.