The rumors are spreading, and people are getting anxious to get their hands on Counter-Strike: Source. Many people have ventured to their local LAN centers, which often aren’t all that local; just to get first impressions for the new game. What’s new? What’s changed? Is it still playable? Could it actually be an improvement over 1.6? We’ll tell you...

First Impressions

The Source Engine

Years in the making, and the official platform for Half-Life 2, the Source engine is what Valve is hoping will set the bar in computer gaming. Gone are the days of flat and scripted environments, stiff models, and half-hearted special effects. The new version of Counter-Strike is based on the Source engine, and that’s why it’s called Counter-Strike: Source (or CS:Source).

This review will focus primarily on the changes made to the actual game itself, and secondly the changes that have been introduced as byproducts to the adoption of the Source engine. We’ll spare you the details that don’t matter – you’ll get plenty of those when you play the game, starting August 18th for CZ owners.

Living Environments

The first time you get into a game, you’ll be amazed at how well the environments have been put together. Barrels aside ramps and corners take the place of the typical boxes and crates. Bottles and cans line the alleys in Dust, which before was a sandstorm figure in the middle of nowhere, and now oozes Middle Eastern architecture and war-torn background ambience.

Bomb A in Dust is no longer wide open with the same old boxes, but instead a wasteland of interactive and static objects for defense, offense, hiding and baiting. Counter-Strike Source has introduced dynamic environments to the most popular first person shooter, and all that we can say is... thanks Valve! Not only do the interactive objects in Source leave a lasting impression and improve the overall player experience, but they add to the dynamic experience of actually playing. Barrels can be rolled into position, they can be shot at realistic angles to slide or tip them. Tires can be rolled. Whiskey flasks can be kicked and shot into pieces.

Environmental Effects

Valve has stepped up the realism once again. Half-life was one of the first games to feature wall “types”. Some walls are cement, others plaster, wood, sand, etc. Different objects had unique sounds and “breakaway” particles associated with them. The Source engine has increased this capability in several ways.

If you’ve seen the Matrix (who hasn’t, right?), you’re familiar with the office building scene where Neo and Trinity blast away a lower level filled with pillars. The walls, the floors, and the pillars themselves were made of marble. Source doesn’t go so far as to allow you to actually chip away at walls, however it makes you feel like it’s so during a firefight. Clipping walls as you trace a player behind them will give you the feeling that you’re actually doing damage to the structure. Bullet impressions stay, and look very realistic.

When you chop away at a sandy wall, it will spew dust. Tiled floors will reflect the lighting, including shadows cast by objects and players. Not only are the effects visually impressive, but they improve the overall atmosphere and realism of the game.

New Physics System

The talk of the town, people have been perhaps most impressed with the improvement in physics in the latest games, including Far Cry, Doom 3 and now Half-Life 2 (or Source games). I’ve seen them all, and Source has the most impressive physics system yet. Players slump in realistic positions when dead, barrels take gun impact in a fashion that can only be described as lifelike, and objects move with absolute freedom. When you push a tire down a hill, it rolls exactly as you’d expect.

Additionally, as you get into firefights, your guns fly all over. It’s almost comical. When you hit the “drop weapon” key, your gun goes flying (especially if you’re looking up and jumping). You can get a distance of a good 20 feet if you try. When you’re killed, it’s not uncommon that your gun goes flying across the floor. Additionally, we’ve seen a few instances where if you die while against a wall, the gun flies through it onto the floor on the other side, consider that a minor bug.

Along with new physics, the world realistically judges what can be on top of something. For instance, you can’t jump on top of a barrel as its round, and we’re not in the circus here. You can’t jump on top of other players (to boost), though according to Valve that will be changed. Guns and other objects slide down slopes realistically.

Now, the biggest part of the physics system has to be what some people call “ragdoll physics” – the ability of the extremities (legs, arms, head) in a player (or enemy) model to interact with the objects around it in a lifelike fashion. Players fall realistically (with appropriate weight balance). Players hit the floor or wall, via force of grenade or bullet, in such a way that you’d swear they had been thrown there by Godzilla. Finding three bodies sprawled across the choke point in Dust gives you an eerily accurate depiction of the firefight.

Not only are these effects insanely cool, they add touches that the more keen players will pick up on in key situations. If your teammates are dead, finding their positions may help you understand how they died. No more static animations.