That was my first experience with this game. I jumped in for about half an hour and felt that the game was unremarkable, so I didn't play it again. Though I kept thinking I'd pick it up on sale someday to give it a more thorough inspection. Well, now that CS2 has been released, it's gone, so I figured I'd pirate it.

I've heard over the years that the game introduced gambling mechanics for collectible items, as well as player skins, weapon skins and other customization features. I'm not interested in any of that, so I grabbed an older build from 2014.

Honestly, my impression this time around is about the same as the first time I played it. Compared to the original CS and its Source port, there are few noticeable changes. In fact, I'd say the appearance of tactical shield in CS 1.6 (and its subsequent removal in CSS) was a bigger change than anything introduced here.

So, first of all, there are now different modes of gameplay, most of which I'm not interested in at all. The reason the original Counter-Strike formula was so successful is because it was perfect as it was. New modes add slight alterations, like constant respawns or imposed weapons, which just make it feel more like other multiplayer shooters and less like Counter-Strike. The default mode here is called "Casual" and it plays mostly like the classic Counter-Strike, except without friendly fire and with auto-purchased armor and ammo. This does reduce the busywork, but also makes the game feel easier. Plus, grenades aren't getting auto-purchased, and the process of purchasing gear has become less convenient overall. I still have the muscle memory from the old games of pressing O-2, O-4 and tapping <-> until the clips are full. Here there are no quick shortcuts that would lead directly to the gear menu.

Another change I noticed was that hostages are no longer grouped, but rather spread out, and you don't have to lead them out. You put one on your shoulders, which doesn't have any negative impact on you, and carry them to the rescue zone. Somehow one hostage is enough, and the map is won. I don't like this change at all, it makes it almost feel like the Capture The Flag mode in other multiplayer shooters, which again makes it feel less Counter-Strike.

In general the game has gotten much easier. The time spent on planting and diffusing bombs has been reduced significantly, and bots have become much less effective. New 'hard' is the old 'easy'. I'm not usually the type to complain about low difficulty, but Counter-Strike has always seemed to me like a game of high stakes and high tension, which can only be achieved with high difficulty. Without that, there's nothing else to it. I tend to view most games like journeys, where progressing through different environments and interacting with people and objects in them is the reason to play the game, regardless of the difficulty. But Counter-Strike is a multiplayer game. Without its high-tension gameplay, it's just a bunch of empty maps with nothing in them. So, the reduction in that aspect definitely leaves the overall experience feeling watered-down.

There is apparently some new content, like guns and maps, which is cool, but I never really got to play with the new guns because I've been taught since childhood that B-4-3 or B-4-4 is all you need, unless you want a sniper rifle, which was B-4-6 (?), I think. Other weapons have always felt inferior to me, and were more like something to mess around with than to play seriously. And the game certainly doesn't advertise these new weapons, for I didn't even notice them until I turned the game off and went online to look up what other changes I might've missed. Either way, I don't believe the new content would save a clearly downgraded gameplay.

Furthermore, I found the aesthetic here kinda bland. New versions of old maps, such as Dust and Assault, feel lifeless. Overall, there seems to be a massive desaturation of color, compared to the older games, even when it comes to characters. As I understand, this game also uses the Source engine, but Counter-Strike: Source looks much better in my opinion.

In conclusion, although the game is fine, if you judge it on its own merit, and, in fact, not that different from its predecessors, it's undoubtedly the worst installment/version of Counter-Strike I've played. The question here is not so much whether the game is good, but rather why would you play it. If you want to see what made Counter-Strike so great, playing 1.5, 1.6, Condition Zero, or Source would give you a more authentic Counter-Strike experience. But, if you'd rather play something more modern and easy, there are tons of better options on the market. Of course, the old games don't have gambling and customization, so, if that's what you're interested in, I can see why you'd prefer this. But at this point it doesn't matter because CS:GO is dead, and now all you can play is CS2, which AFAIK also contains all the gambling and customization features.