Here's a small video about the gameplay in CS: Condition Zero...
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Counter-Strike: Neo
Counter-Strike Neo is a Japanese arcade adaptation of Counter-Strike, the original Half-Life multiplayer modification. It is published by Namco, and runs on a Linux system.
According to a recent article, significant changes in this version localised for the Japanese market include moving away from the traditional Terrorist versus Counter-Terrorist scenario, using more culturally-compatible player models (i.e anime), and incorporating a "karma system", which rewards players when they confront enemies head-on, and punishes players who snipe, hide, and camp - typical tactics of traditional Counter-Strike players. Some traditional Counter-Strike players in the West have scorned this version, merely deeming this as being specifically designed for "non-skilled" players, or suggesting the game is designed by a poor player himself.
In this sense, it is closer to other Heroic Bloodshed-based mods, such as The Specialists, Action Half-Life, Chitan: Hardboiled Killers, and The Opera.
The official website made available White Memories Flash novels, Flash videos made by developer Romancework that have a continuing storyline and even some portions of gameplay that loosely resemble Counter-Strike itself. Unfortunately for curious foreigners, they are only available in Japanese, and the website itself can be hard to navigate without a translation tool such as AltaVista's Babel Fish.
The weapon models used in CS:Neo are the same as those used in Counter Strike: Source, but the prices for some of the weapons have been altered. For example, the Galil and the Benelli XM1014 have had their prices increased by $500 and $200 respectively, while the FN M249 now costs only $4750.
Counter-Strike: Source
Counter-Strike: Source (also known as CS: Source or simply CS:S) is a multiplayer, team-based tactical first-person shooter, developed by Valve and Turtle Rock Studios. It is a remake of Counter-Strike, the 1999 modification of Half-Life. Built on the Source engine, the game was released in 2004 along with Half-Life 2.
Similar to the original version, Counter-Strike: Source games involve a team of counter-terrorists facing off against a team of terrorists in a series of rounds. Each round is won by either completing a mission (such as detonating a bomb or rescuing hostages) or by eliminating all members of the opposing team.
History:
In 2004, original Counter-Strike developers Minh Le and Jess Cliffe, along with members of Valve and the Day of Defeat team, brought Counter-Strike into the Source engine as an obvious choice for the multiplayer component of Half-Life 2. The game was first rolled out to cyber-cafe owners, and then selected beta-testers a week later, before going gold on October 7, 2004, when it was officially released and available through Steam (Valve's online content delivery system).
Early screenshot of CS: Source
Pre-loading of Counter-Strike: Source to cybercafe owners (as part of the Cyber Cafe program) began on 9 August 2004, being released for play two days later. Vouchers for the pre-release game were available with the purchase of ATI Radeon video cards and with Counter Strike: Condition Zero; the pre-load for these users began on 16 August 2004, with the game again becoming available two days later.
The game was also bundled along with Half-Life 2 on Steam, and was sold along with the boxed retail version of that game. It is currently available in the Source Multiplayer Pack. In the physical retail form, it is either available with Half-Life 2 or in a Counter-Strike branded box that mirrors the contents of the Source Multiplayer Pack. In essence, one can either choose between the Half-Life 2 story game or Day of Defeat: Source when purchasing the game through retail.
Only days after the initial cyber-cafe release Valve began what would become the first in their long line of updates for CS: Source. By the time of its official release almost two months later, Valve had eliminated numerous bugs and added several updates and patches.
The betas and official release versions shipped with only two player models (one per team) - the "Phoenix Connexion" terrorist (a member of the fictional Phoenix Faction) and the Seal Team 6 counter-terrorist. Being an early version, the player models were low quality and out of proportion, giving rise to being commonly described as having "peanut-heads". Valve released several successive versions of the two original characters.
The "short" Phoenix Connexion model
Around Christmas 2005, an update was released for CS: Source, adding two new player models - the GIGN and Guerilla. This was followed by the addition of the Leet and SAS player models on March 1, 2006, and the GSG9 and Arctic models on April 12, 2006. The Midwest Militia and Spetsnaz characters from Condition Zero have not been brought into CS: Source.
Changes from Counter-Strike to CS: Source include the improvements inherent to the Source engine (such as better graphics and physics), as well as updated models, animations, maps, sounds, and some small gameplay changes.
Weapons and Equipment:
Whereas in other games players are able to collect a wide arsenal of weapons (such as in the Unreal Tournament series of games), CS:S players must purchase a specific set of equipment and weapons at the start of each round. Each team spawns in a "buy zone", which is the only area of the map where items and weapons can be purchased. A small amount of money is allocated to each player at the start of the game, and further funds can be accrued by completing certain tasks during the round (such as killing an enemy or being on the team who wins the round). This is totaled at the end of each round, and available at the start of the following round. Players can also lose money by killing teammates or hostages.
Furthermore, there are limits imposed as to how many items a player can hold at once. Each player may hold at most one main weapon and one sidearm, plus a small number of grenades and other equipment (such as defusal kits, body armor, or night vision goggles). Also, no player may accrue more than $16000.
Counter-Strike: Source features the same weapons as Counter-Strike:
Pistols: USP, Glock, Desert Eagle, P228, dual Beretta .40s. and the FN 5-7.
Shotguns: Benelli M3 Super 90, and XM1014.
Sub-Machine Guns: MP5 navy, Steyr TMP, P90, MAC-10, and the UMP.
Rifles: Galil, FAMAS, AK-47, SG-552, M4A1, Steyr AUG, Scout, AWP, G3-SG1, and the SG-550.
Machine Gun: Minimi Para
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero
Development:
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero has gone through many issues in its development. In April 2001, the game was announced as being developed by Rogue Entertainment, first mistaken as Counter-Strike 2 but soon revealed as not. However, Valve Software soon took over development. Due to time constraints and content issues, the project was soon given to Gearbo Software, developer of several Half Life expansions. Gearbox's version had an optimistic release date, but soon went into a downward spiral of delays. After several push backs of the release, Gearbox themselves finally dropped from the project.
In December 2002, Shacknews announced that Ritual Entertainment had picked up development of the game, however the game was leaked twice and before it was even released, the community made negative feedbacks of the game which made Valve pull the plug on the project for Ritual. Valve took on development of the game and paired up with Turtle Rock Studios to create the official Counter-Strike bot, first beta-tested on Counter-Strike 1.6, then added into CZ, then later added and improved in Counter-Strike: Source.
The final released version of the game included a combination of the original Counter-Strike maps (from CS 1.6), new maps and weapons content from the Gearbox version many of which were modified by Ritual, the FAMAS and the IMI Galil, along with a few new maps by Turtle Rock. 13 of the 19 Ritual single-player maps were also included on the original disc as "deleted scenes" - eventually all 19 were available as downloadable maps over Steam
Gearbox's own version of Condition Zero was anticipated highly by fans. However, since that version was later dropped, fans began to demand that this content would be reinstated in another version.
The missions from Ritual's content were mostly from the lost content multiplayer maps such as de_vessel and some of Ritual's player models resembles the ones from the lost contents itself. For example, the idea of the GIGN having a visor, moreover the M60s, LAWs, and the shield gun (not to be confused with the shield in the multiplayer version) were from Gearbox's contents, only screenshots of it now remain for players to view.
Condition-Zero was leaked twice before it was officially released, giving many players the hands-on preview of the unreleased game. The first leak contained the source code of Half-Life 2 and Ritual's content along with some unreleased maps such as as_destown_cz and cs_penal_cz. This leak started the negative feedback from the community against Ritual's work. The second leak contained Turtle Rock's content, it is still unknown whether or not the leak contained the CZ bots.
Lists of Officials Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Maps:
-cs_downed_cz
-cs_havana_cz
-cs_italy_cz
-cs_militia_cz
-cs_office_cz
-de_airstrip_cz
-de_aztec_cz
-de_cbble_cz
-de_corruption_cz
-de_dust2_cz
-de_inferno_cz
-de_nuke_cz
-de_piranesi_cz
-de_stadium_cz
-de_tides_cz
-de_truth_cz
-de_vostok_cz
-de_stadium_cz
-de_fastline_cz
Player Models:
Counter-Terrorists:
-SEAL Team 6
-GSG 9
-SAS (Special Air Service)
-GIGN
-Spetsnaz (CS:CZ only)
Terrorists:
-Phoenix Connexion
-Elite Crew (translated from leet: 1337 Kr3w)
-Arctic Avengers
-Guerilla Warfare
-Midwest Militia (CS:CZ only)
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