Gamer-at-Arms – Counterstruck

Well here’s something I thought I’d never write about: playing Counter-Strike, of all things. Counter Strike: Global Offensive, to be precise. Puritans may say that I’m not playing a “true” version what with it being on the Xbox 360 and all, but right now I don’t really care. Baby steps and all that.

What’s interesting is how rapidly I feel I’ve become so incredibly elitist. While I’m still far from being the top dog online, I very quickly picked up on a lot of the things that make the game stand out in the FPS category, and that can make you stand out from the usual Call of Duty flock. This includes things like checking the minimap regularly to see where gunfire is originating from; equipping the knife for that crucial speed buff; working as a team and just generally using your ears.

It’s astounding how quickly I picked up once I learned how to use my ears. They’re these wonderful things at either side of your face that can detect this thing called “sound”. In Counter-Strike, enemies make this “sound” when they do things like move quickly and shoot – as such, using “sound” can help you determine other players’ locations, and also help you mask your own location by minimising your own sound output.

Because of how quickly I seem to have improved by utilising this knowledge, it’s starting to irritate me how slowly others seem to be learning. Should I find myself to be an early victim of a game (through sheer bad luck, of course), I’ll be forced to sit spectating for the next few minutes. The next few minutes feels like an eternity, and is a masterclass in how not to play Counter-Strike.

I watch on as ‘RASTAxNESQUIK’ hurtles about the map like a bull strapped to a firework, only to be effortlessly cut down by ‘V2 I GoDskiiLLz’ who was sitting waiting around the corner. Godskiillz probably heard this Rasta character from the other side of fucking Neptune.

Even despite things like this though, I’ve found Counter Strike: Global Offensive to be an extremely enjoyable game but it’s definitely not something you can pick up and play. I would implore anyone to give it a shot, stick with it and learn what it’s about. The times where I’ve snatched so much as a single victim from the opposing team have been more exciting than rampaging around Modern Warfare 3 with a AA12 automatic shotgun and a class appropriately souped up for maximum close-range devastation.

And on the rare occasions that I’ve single-handedly annihilated the entire enemy team, I have felt like a god.