Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

CS:GO adds plenty, tweaks a little, and keeps the best parts of the classic multiplayer FPS. If you're into shooters, team-based gameplay, or just classic games that are updated well, you won't do better at the moment than CS:GO.

For the old school fans of Counter-Strike, you won't be disappointed. Global Offensive is very much a great successor to the original game.

Counter-strike isn't the force it once was, but its underlying quality remains insuppressible. [Nov 2012, p.85]

Definitely better teamed with friends. [Issue#90, p.91]

This Global Offensive refreshes the Counter Strike so many gamers loved. There are some new things beyond its production values, but the gameplay is roughly the same : quite demanding by today's FPS standards. So if you're fed up with assisted targeting and self-replenishing life, and want a bite of old-school FPS, it will probably be exactly what you're looking for.

Even though Counter-Strike: Global Offensive doesn't bring many new things to the table, it's still one of the best, pure tactical shooters out there. This is the perfect time to get to know the world famous series, and even for veterans it's worth a purchase. You get a whole lot of gameplay for a low price.

If you show patience, there's a great deal of worth here, especially in the modes, online multiplayer and tactical play.

Because it's a hardcore competitive game, Counter-Strike blocks party chat in an effort to combat cheating, forcing players with headsets to play with friends or brave the Wild West of obscenity that is Xbox Live.

Outside of a couple of glitched spawns that left me stuck in mid-air, I didn't run into many issues when it came to lag or connection errors. As a downloadable title, Global Offensive offers a tried-and-true experience at a reasonable price, even if its gameplay isn't for everyone. If you prefer working with others and attacking the opposing team with well thought-out tactics instead of brute force, you should find plenty to like in this updated release.

A very balanced, very precise game: you can see how it's managed to endure for 12 years. It's also a basic game, and one that offers no reward beyond the inner glow of self-improvement.

It doesn't even try to reinvent the Counter-Strike formula, but this is easily the best version for consoles and a refreshing retro alternative to the modern military shooter.

Packs just enough new content to keep its legacy alive for another year or two.

Lack of both new content and really precise controls prevents the otherwise good console version of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to live up to its PC counterpart.