Counter Strike : Condition Zero

Counter Strike: Condition Zero is the follow up of the game developers to the globally popular multiplayer video game called Counter Strike. It was a game originally developed by Rogue Entertainment starting in the early 2000 but it was not until 2004 that the game was released. Part of the release is a game portion known as Condition Zero: Deleted Scenes which features single-player games that are not related to each other but are all what was left from the maker’s single-player game portion. Like its father, CS:CZ has also become so popular that in 2008, it is already in the top 10 list of the most played Half Life modifications in the world.

Counter Strike has been a highly successful first person shooter video game that has got millions of children and adults addicted to it. As a response to this, the developer of the game wanted to make a spin-off to the game that would allow single-player mode. The idea was brilliant; combining the success of an FPS to a single-player game mode would be incredible. But you will not be playing alone in the game as there are game bots that would accompany you. Each player will be placed on the counter-terrorist side and will shoot, slash, crouch, bomb, walk, and run their way to the next level. With each successful level, you can acquire new bot teammates that are more powerful and intelligent than the previous one. There are certain requirements in each map that a player must complete or achieve in order to acquire more effective bots. These requirements vary from killing a certain number of enemies using certain weapons to winning a mission in just 60 seconds.

What must have won the hearts of many players in the world by this game is its improved graphics. The developers have greatly modified the character models, textures, maps and many other graphical items in the whole Counter Strike game. This left the gamers to a state of awe and impress. Furthermore, the improved bot AI (Artificial Intelligence) has brought some nice kick in the game leaving even the experienced CS players quite a challenge especially in the higher rounds. As you go up one level at a time, the challenges becomes more difficult to accomplish. Of course, all these things add up to the thrill and enjoyment that the game will give to its players.

Valve Corporation initialized the development of Counter Strike: Condition Zero. However, the development of the game was very rocky and was passed on from one company to another passing Gearbox Software, Ritual Entertainment, until it went on to Turtle Rock Studios. Counter Strike: Condition Zero was a project started by Jim Molinet, a producer from Rogue Entertainment. This is why the game development task was given to said company. Later in 2001, Jim decided to move in to Sony so development was passed on there. But not a year after, Sony became defunct and so Valve Corporation was left with the charge of continuing the development of Counter Strike: Condition Zero. The game development continued but not more than a year after, Valve Corporation gave the project to another company called Gearbox Software and then to Ritual Entertainment where finally, the game stayed and was completed. When this game was first released in 2004, the engine called GoldSrc Half-Life was used.

Gearbox Software has overhauled the look and feel of the game with models that are higher quality and even better graphics. Aside from character upgrades, Gearbox has incorporated alpha blending which gives the game even realistic weather effects. Moreover, a one player game mode was also incorporated based upon the console games made by Randy Pitchford.

Gearbox did not stop to just tweaking some of visual looks in the game but has also expanded its basic necessity: weapons. The developer has added explosive weapons like bombs such as tear gas, M72 rocket, and a Molotov cocktail. In Counter Strike: Condition Zero, players will have difficulty cheating because of the Steam engine that will ensure code updates so it will automatically prevent cheating.

The game development was passed on to another company called Ritual Entertainment. In this, the game has been made into a complete single-player game with 20 missions that are not connected to each other. When the game was released however, it received only 60% review score which gave Valve the idea to pass the development over to Turtle Rock Studios. The game studio restarted the development from where Gearbox stopped and released a game that is similar to what Gearbox has designed.

You can still see remnants of what Ritual Entertainment has done to the game because of Deleted Scenes. This game is composed of 18 unconnected missions that are single-player. Deleted Scenes is part of the game package released by Turtle Rock Studios which contains some of the deleted weapons like the M72, the M60, the machete, the suicide belt which was a very controversial weapon made by Rogue Entertainment.

In Deleted Scenes also, you will find some reanimated weapons like Colt M4A1, the FAMAS, and the Galil. Aside from the reanimated counter strike weapons, several Counter Strike loyal weapons has also received improvement but this time it is in terms of color. The AWM was given the color brown, Colt M4 and Steyr AUG carbine were given police black in two tone colors.

The initial game reception of 60% average review ratings did not change much even with the assignment of a different company to continue the development. Counter Strike: Condition Zero has received 66.70% review score from GameRankings and 65% from Metacritic. However, even with the mediocre review scores, Counter Strike: Condition Zero still managed to attract many players into its unsurprisingly simple yet challenging game play. The game became really popular that in 2008, GameSpy has ranked it as one of the top 10 most played Half Life Modifications in the world based upon the number of players that plays it.

You are welcome to visit game weapons