Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro hands-on reveals new Dust, molotov cocktails, more guns

On Friday , Valve confirmed the existence of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, a new multiplatform, standalone version of Counter-Strike with new maps, weapons, matchmaking and leaderboards. Co-founder of the ESEA, Craig Levine is one of the many top members of the Counter-Strike community Valve flew out to see CS:GO in action. He's written about his experiences on the ESEA site . Read on for a summary of the main points.

Maps included: dust, dust2, inferno, nuke and de_train
Dust has been "overhauled to be competitively played"
Will include traditional de_ and cs_ map types. No new game modes.
New weapons include a heavy machine gun, rifle, new pistols and a new shotgun
Valve are experimenting with an $850 rush-blocking molotov cocktail and decoy grenades that emit sounds of gunfire when thrown
CS:GO is built using the latest version of the Source engine
Due out in 2012, beta this Autumn
Will have "casual and competitive" game modes, built-in leaderboards and dedicated server support

Levine reports that even though CS:GO is built with Source, player movement felt very different from Counter-Strike: Source and Counter-Strike 1.6, but didn't "grossly offend" any of the top level CSS and 1.6 players testing. Levine adds that he was "surprised at how visually polished the game was. The maps look beautiful, the player skins and animations are smooth, and the gun models are cool."

Valve are also reshuffling the weapons line-up. Levine reports that they want players to experiment beyond the AWP, M4, AK, and Desert Eagle, and have taken "creative liberties" with the mid-range effectiveness of sub machine guns to make them a better alternative, and shotguns will have "unique close range use." Levine also stresses that the game was being tested in a pre-beta state, and that Valve were taking plenty of feedback from the testers.

A closed beta is planned for Autumn and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is due to come out sometime in 2012, Valve time.

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Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.