Miscellaneous:

After already tackling the two biggest parts of reviewing a game that is supposed to be a mix of both Source and 1.6, I felt that I needed a little bit of extra room to talk about a major issue that has seen great improvement from previous releases; bugs.

While the first beta release of Promod was bogged down by a large amount of major bugs that made the game virtually unplayable, beta version 1.04 seems to be pretty much void of any huge bugs that would hinder gameplay. I was able to connect, buy my guns, and then proceed to try and kill the opposing team. Still, there were a few minor issues I came across in the game.

The first thing that I noticed was the fact that a dead CT can't tell if a Terrorist has picked up the bomb. While it isn't a huge deal, it was still something missing from the game that is common place in CS. When I asked Alex about it, he stated that this was actually not a bug, but instead a feature that Promod looked to correct from the other versions of Counter Strike. For better or worse, it is something you'll need to adjust to.

Another minor thing I saw missing from this version of Promod was the ability to auto buy your guns and equipment. As it has always been an important part of starting out each round quickly without having to worry about navigating through menus, an auto buy option is definitely something I am looking forward to in a future version of Promod.

Even with these issues though, it was nice just to be able to join the game and play without having to deal with something like spawning inside of walls, which was a major issue in the first beta release.

Conclusion:

Is this game ready?

To put it simply, no, not yet. The game, while greatly improved from previous versions, still has yet to match the gameplay of CS 1.6. While good, it will need to be absolutely perfect before the communities just give up their respective games and switch to Promod permanently.

The good news? It looks and feels great. No longer do we have a wannabe that tries too hard to be something it is not. Instead, we are given a unique game that is getting closer and closer to bringing key aspects of two games we love together. Garfield and his staff have worked diligently to bring Promod to the community and it seems that sometime in the near future, all the hard work might finally pay off.

As for it replacing CS 1.6 and Source for competitive play, I am not too sure of that yet. With the proper tweaks and improvements over time, I really feel that CS Promod will reach a version that is widely accepted by the community and will be played by a good number of people. Like I've said countless times in this review, things are definitely heading in the right direction now, and with proper feedback and support from the community, Promod could eventually see some action at future events.

Finally, I'll end this article by saying that the community should be excited once again. With a new beta version being released to the public at some point in the near future, along with the reassurance that Garfield and his staff are still putting their time into developing the game, there should be reason enough to gain that faith we all once had in CS Promod.