Someone leaked the Counter-Strike 2 beta on the Web. The build can be downloaded, although it can only be played offline.
From Counter Strike to Rainbow Six, GameSpew has rounded up eight of the best tactical shooters you can play right now on PC and console.
VGChartz's Lee Mehr: "Ah, yes... the shooter. While many will besmirch the genre for being just about shooting guns, I say that's an unfair judgement. There's also the potential for stabbing, exploding, incinerating, impaling, and so much more! Jokes aside, 2023 was an... interesting year for quality, in that it felt like a coin toss whether a big-budget shooter would actually be worth anyone's time. Below are the final contenders for the year, ranging from modern-military shooters to a new IP that didn't seem like it'd ever release. Interesting, indeed."
The unavoidable pitfalls of a 50/50 split influence between community & staff on GOTY awards. MW III was awarded a 3/10 on the site too. lol
I paused Atomic Heart in anticipation for the RT update. I don't think that ever came and at this point it's basically dropped for me.
The Counter-Strike 2 devs have published quite a small patch that fixes a relatively major problem that was disturbing many players.
Seen some people complain about the graphics and others saying things to the effect of:
"CS has never had good graphics because it's made to run on low end hardware"
That's not really true. CSS and HL2DM both came out in 2004 and had fairly high end graphics for the time just like HL2.
What's happened here is that Valve took a long time to really do anything with Source 2, for example, L4D2 screens leaked in 2014 showing a much higher detailed remade plantation level, after that we didn't get anything in their main game series until 2020 with Half Life Alyx.
In the past, their games released pretty soon after their Source engine was ready.
I'm certain Source 2 probably still has a bit more to give though since they usually like to update their engine every so often, as they did with the first Source engine.
I haven't played CS in years, maybe for me it's been 10-12 yrs. I'm just a bit interested in CS 2. I wonder if it will be like other games where if your new or came back to the game after a long break to put you in with players that are similar to your level.