German CS:CZ "Review"

[Dr. Funk]

Eagle25 wrote..

bah, i wasnt expecting much from cz... the game didnt look bad, but with hl2 around the corner ill be putting my time\money on the newer product witch has a completely new engine contrarily to a game witch is based on an older (not necessarily bad) engine, witch btw, is a single player version of a game ive been playing online for 3 years

yea... cz is too little too late. much rather buy hl2 and just get all the good mods (and theres gonna be alot of good ones)... now all we can do is hope for a good 1.6/1.7

[[SDSU]David]

Seven` wrote..

...the delays have moved the game closer to HL2, and that IMO will hurt it the most.

I do not think the delays are what will hurt CZ the most, but that is a good point. Its proximity to the HL2 release is going to be a major detriment to sales. However, because the delays were caused by the developer switches in the first place it seems like a redundant choice.

[Lag Leech]

Edited by [user="3889"] @ [time="1060316098"]

xlokix wrote..

wow, whoever voted for delays in the poll is stupid as hell...

yeah your stupid because you later say its the aging engine that effects it the most, and that wouldn't be an issue if CZ come out a year ago like it should have dumbass. The game would be judged way less harshly if HL:2 wasn't breathing down its neck. But because of delays the game is a lot less impressive in comparision games a year + ago

[arctic]

If this game gets on more bad reveiw from a gaming magazeine I will reframe from buying it and wait to test it using a friends version so I dont wate the money.

[vapor (v4p0r)]

Here's my two cents,



Ritual has taken their sweet time and have prolly created a mediocre game because they're riding on the name of counter-strike. They know people will just buy it because it has CS in the name.



I think this is also why there is some comotion about HL2 being delayed. VU will release both HL2 and CZ (correct me if i'm wrong) and since HL2 and CZ are so close to each other and they know CZ is not going to be a great game that they are pushing HL2 back so CZ will get more sales. I bet HL2 is basically done and its release will pend on when VU feels like that they've reaped all the money they can get out of CZ.

[|3 L u |2 |2 y]

i'll just stick to my PC Gamer... my fav. pc/game mag.

[asspennies]

What has hurt CS:CZ the most?



Tired ideas. Same-old, same-old design from industry veterans who should know better. And even if they don't (Ritual hasn't exactly been known for releasing a steady stream of AAA titles) Valve should know better than to give away big projects to teams that just can't get it done.



Ultimately I think what hurts CS:CZ the most is the insistence that it must get done, even if it's not working. As I have been told, Vivendi could sue Valve if they don't release a game called "Counter-Strike: Condition Zero." Even if it is ultimately a piece of crap.



I understand where Valve is on this one. They don't want to A) hurt their reputation, B) Hurt the community by releasing substandard software, C) Anger their publisher, and D) Burn more bridges between them and other developers. So they're caught in a crossroads of sorts.



Irony of ironies: When Counter-Strike was first introduced, back in the Beta stages, there was talk of a single-player version of the mod being eventually made, perhaps overseen by others in the mod community. Maybe Valve should have gone that way, with a little bit of supervision. It might have generated some interesting ideas. Of course, Gearbox tried this with their "all-star" collection of CS mappers, but I guess that didn't work out.

[helloworld]

Why do people keep insisting they were given the game to reveiw. If the game is unfinished it is a preview copy, it is ment to grab attention ,bad or good, for their game but it is NOT ment to be taken as a finished product and scrutinized. Even if the game does suck it doesn't matter, because the issue is that what they are reveiwing isn't the game.

[asspennies]

While I agree, helloworld, that games shouldn't be reviewed by these magazines and/or websites until they are finished, rizzuh made the excellent point that while you can dismiss one or even two of these "preview reviews," at a certain point a pattern starts to emerge.



The pattern is that CS:CZ just isn't turning out to be a very good game.



It is, I suppose, entirely possible that all the game magazines got a copy of Ritual's "shitty build," and the final build of the game is much better. But it's not likely. Consider that Ritual has apparently been sitting on the game - complete - for a while, waiting for Valve to release it (which decreases the likelihood that the preview versions sent out were all that incomplete) and that most of the problems that were explained in the various reviews are emblematic of major errors or faults in the game design, not necessarily in the coding of the game (minor AI issues notwithstanding).



Fact of the matter is, the final game probably plays a lot like the preview game: A straight, take-no-risks FPS where, instead of impressing the player with something new, the player is bored with cliche after cliche.

[Baby_Joker]

The gaming magazines only review what is sent to them. So i assume that vivendi would have sent the code stating this is for review. So no need to be harsh on gaming magazines for beeing honest, remember they dont play cs 24/7 so the appeal is not the same. if you want a cs nut review wait and read this site as im sure they will do one. I think gearbox had this game sorted with all there effort going in to keeping loyal to the massive fan base. Now its just scripted junk.

[tspoon1066]

Rizzuh wrote..

The UK gaming press is basically worthless because of it

Well if you only bought a games magazine for its reviews you'd be pretty thick. I don't only go by one magazine/review, I will always check on the internet etc.

If you judge a magazines worth purely by its reviews section you have severe tunnel vision.

[|cyborg|]

To me CZ will be the last great thing done with the half life engine. They will try to make it as good as the half life engine can get, and that will be the death of half life 1, bringing about a fresh start for half life 2 and its mods.

[Mopatop]

I don't think it is fair in the article to say the european (and in particular British) magazines review games before they are released. Local shops here in the uk have CS:CZ boxes on the shelves stating release date as the 15th of August. I very much doubt the will be any difference between review copies and the final release. It is not like they are reviewing the game months before release. To say the game is still in development is nonsense, unless they delay the game yet again. Though that wouldnt surprise me after the barrage these early reviews are dishing out.

[FAF]

The most irnoic thing is that one of the reviews criticizes the game for a feature that was deliberately added; a "strong single player FPS campaign".



The older Gearbox version, with its Tony Hawk style play seemed, to me, to have a lot more replayability. The strength of CS online is that no matter how many hours you put into playing dust2, every game is different. It's very hard to recreate that in a single player game, but tony hawk managed it, and thats why it sold so many copies. The GTA series works to a similar philosophy.



I have basically stopped playing most single player games for that reason. Once you have played through a map/location, there is nothing to take you back to it. As great as half life 1 is, I have only played through it 4 times, and cant be bothered any more as I know what to expect. I could never say that of CS, even playing against bots. It sounds like CZ is turning into another generic run-of-the-mill FPS, when it could have been the genre bending tony hawk/FPS revolution. I was absolutely gutted when I heard that the Gearbox version was being canned in order for a different developer to produce an FPS to pander to the CS virgin. Valve had a chance to break some new ground, and make a game that every online CS player would feel compelled to buy. Now I just think that I'm going to be finished with the game within one night of having it. Such a shame..

[Fuzzio]

Ever since gearbox stopped developing this game I knew it was doomed :/



(uhh, Dr. Funk, where did you get that name?)