Based on a game created over 15 years ago, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is Valve’s newest game in the Counter-Strike franchise. A game requiring lightning fast reflexes and concentration, Counter-Strike is arguably the best First Person Shooter (FPS) game today.
     

Although the visual graphics of the game are not outstanding since the game was released almost five years ago, the experience it provides is something no other games can offer. Sweating and rapid heart palpitations are all normal in a game of Counter-Strike. As a strictly multiplayer game, the only other characters you play with are real people playing the same game at the same time.
     

Learning to play the game is surprisingly simple. In a game, there are two teams: Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists, with five players in each team. The terrorists’ objective is to either detonate the bomb by planting it in one of two bombsites or kill all the Counter-Terrorists. The Counter-Terrorists’ goal is to stop the Terrorists from planting the bomb in the given two minutes in a round. There are a total of 30 rounds in a game and the team that gets to 16, wins. Each player is only given 100 health per round which does not regenerate until the next round begins.
     

The controls are intuitive as well. Your character is moved by the WASD keys on your keyboard and the left mouse button is used to shoot your gun. At the start of every round, each player gets a mere 15 seconds to choose what guns they want to buy. With a money system in place, players must choose from the guns they can afford. There are five classes of weapons offered. Pistols, shotguns, rifles, heavy machine guns, and sniper rifles, with pistols generally being the most affordable. Since the team that lost the previous round does not receive as much money as the winning team, they might have to resort to the weaker pistols.
     

Unlike other popular FPS games such as Call of Duty and Overwatch, Counter-Strike has an addiction factor that neither of those games can offer. While Call of Duty is franchise that releases a new game every year, new Counter-Strike games are not released for many years. The previous Counter-Strike game, Counter-Strike: Source, was released in 2004, which is 8 years before Global Offensive was released. Many of the players that played the first iteration of Counter-Strike over 15 years ago are still playing to this day.
   

 Though Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a game that has been polished for several years already, there are a few downsides to this game. Hackers, who use external programs to give themselves unfair advantages in the game are sometimes seen in games. Valve has tried to counter this problem by constantly updating their anti-cheat system called VAC and even implemented a verification system to limit the number of hackers.

Furthermore, since Valve has added cosmetic items with money value, multiple underage gambling scandals have arose. Counter Strike cosmetic items, or skin gambling sites have arose that let anyone, regardless of age, to gamble on their sites. Though the regulations of these services have been tightened, there are still some loopholes that these gambling sites have used to continue their services.
     

Winning The Game Award for Best eSports Game in 2015, Counter-Strike Global Offensive is game that is still growing despite its age. This is one of the few games that offers true competition that always makes you want to get better. The timeless beauty of Counter-Strike is not obscured by complex story lines like other games. The game truly makes you “live in the moment.”