Boom, headshot. Counter-Strike:Global Offensive is a first-person shooter created by Hidden Path Entertainment that is now a part of Valve Corporation. Counter Strike:Global Offensive, or CS:GO for short, is the fourth installment in the Counter Strike Series, and is the sequel of the highly popular Counter Strike:Source. CS:GO is a first-person shooter, and it requires great skill and tactics in order to really succeed in the game. There are 33 weapons in game, all having unique spray patterns and accuracy. They all cost different and have different pros and cons. There are two teams you can choose from, Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists. There are multiple game modes in CS:GO, including Competitive, Deathmatch, Arms-Race, Demolition, and Casual.

The more popular of the bunch, Competitive and Deathmatch, are the meat and bones of CS:GO. With Deathmatch, it is race to see which person can get the most points by getting kills or assists on members of the opposite team. Every so often, a weapon will become a bonus weapon, will earn the player extra points if they kill enemies if the player uses the bonus weapon. The amount of time the weapon will be the bonus weapon is 30 seconds, and after half a minute or so, another weapon will become the bonus weapon. People usually play Deathmatch to warm up for the more serious game mode, Competitive. Competitive is a game of first to 16 rounds, and after the first 15 rounds there is a half time, where the teams switch sides and class, either T , Terrorist, or CT , Counter-Terrorist. As a Terrorist, the objective to win the round is to plant the bomb at either A or B site. They could also kill all the CTs to win the round. The CTs, have to either kill all the Ts before they plant the bomb, have the round timer end before the Ts plant the bomb, or defuse the bomb to win the game. If the CTs do defuse the bomb, which when planted overrides the timer and starts a 35 second timer, they win no matter how many Ts are left alive in the round. After you win 10 games in Competitive, you are given a rank that tells you how good you are, the lowest being Silver 1 and the highest being Global Elite. Even though Valve hasn’t explained how your rank is based off of, most people have concluded that it’s based on the amount of matches you win and the amount of MVPs you get per game. With enough of these you could rank up or de-rank from your current rank.

The less popular game modes Casual, Arms-Race, and Demolition, are still a part of CS:GO that is enjoyable from time to time. In Casual, there are 10 people per team, whereas in Competitive there are 5 per team, team damage is turned off, and you could spectate other players when you die, despite what team they’re on. With Arms-Race, it is like Deathmatch, but when every you get two kills you are given a new weapon, and the first person to the 16th weapon wins. Finally, in Demolition, it is a shorter version of Competitive, but if you get a kill in a round, you get a new gun the next round. It is also a first to 11 rounds. These game modes are a fun way to warm up and relax with friends or by yourself.

CS:GO also has a multitude of skins, which can be purchased with money. You could also trade skins with other people, if you want a skin of theirs and they want one of your skins, or if they make a deal you just can’t resist, trading is a big part of the community. CS:GO has it’s own economy and it fluctuates every minute of everyday. Some skins can go for a few pennies, and others can go for thousands of dollars. It all depends on the design and rarity of the skin.

The biggest flaw CS:GO has is it’s community. Like most online multiplayer games, the community of CS:GO has a really toxic community. People or allies will trash talk you if you’re having a bad day and aren’t doing so well, and some will be bad teammates and kill or kick you if you don’t do exactly what they want you to do in their mind. This happens much more in the lower ranks. Hackers can also be apart of CS:GO. They are mostly bad players who want a high rank without wanting the hard work it takes to achieve it. Luckily, Valve has Overwatch, which allows players who have hundreds of hours to ban these players if they see them cheating. Recently with a new ranking system, the ranks are now in a bell curve, which made there be fewer Global Elites and Silver 1s, and a lot more Gold Nova 4s, which is in the middle of the ranking system. This has made the ranks unstable so some games you could destroy the enemy team, while the next game your team are the ones getting rekt. I myself have dropped 4 ranks, but I ranked up today, so now I ranked up twice since my de-ranking spree. Until the ranks settle out, most people dislike the current rank they’re in.

Even though CS:GO has toxic players and cheaters, the goods outweigh the bads by a lot. Queuing up with your friends in any game mode and the rewarding feeling of finally ranking up is worth the hard work you put into CS:GO. I currently have 420 hours in the game and I still enjoy and work hard in the game. Playing with my friends have really helped me have fun with the game and to not pay so much attention the the trolls in CS:GO. Each day I feel I could still improve, and I don’t think my friends and I will stop anytime soon. CS:GO costs $15 on Steam, and even less if it’s on sale, and it is worth every cent. I give CS:GO, 9.5 flashbangs out of 10.