Back in 1999, on the shelves there was an addition to the then-sensational first-person shooter "Half Life", which was called "Counter Strike". “Half” and “Contra” had little in common, as they represented the exact opposite varieties of shooters. In the first case, the plot, the passage of the single player campaign was important, while in the second - the multiplayer mode, the game with live opponents. That is what made the “Contra” so popular at the time.
Climbing the game "Counter Strike"
At the turn of the century, Counter Strike gained such popularity that the developers had to change the format. The project, which was originally planned as an ordinary addition, adding a multiplayer mode to the game, became a full-fledged creation, which in popularity was not inferior to the original, but in some places surpassed it. At that time it was impossible to find a team shooter that could be played online with friends or strangers. "Contra" was the first in this area - the initial integral project, which actually gave rise to a new genre. Now more and more new games appear in it, but the original remains valuable to this day. For a long time they played in “Contra” in its original form, and some lovers of antiquity still prefer this option, but after five years the sequel, called Counter Strike: Condition Zero, saw the light of day.
Single player campaign for fans of "Contra"
It is worth recognizing that initially this game was conceived exclusively as a single player mode for the original "Counter Strike" with improved physics and graphics. But in the course of development, the question of the profitability of such a project seriously arose. Moreover, the development process itself took quite a while, because no one wanted to ruin such a successful game. Billets passed from one company to another, but no one could bring the matter to its logical conclusion. But by 2004, a miracle happened, and a new version of "Contra" appeared on the shelves. She had a full-fledged single-player campaign, where the player was to become the leader of the special forces detachment, which must carry out various missions. At the same time, the multiplayer mode was preserved. But by 2004, fans of the original “Contra” were not ready to part with their favorite and switch to Counter Strike: Condition Zero. The project was saved from complete failure only by the presence of a single-player campaign, which interested many and, fortunately, did not disappoint.
The plot of the new "Contra"
The storyline of Counter Strike: Condition Zero can hardly be called so with confidence, since it consists simply of 18 missions, which are divided into six blocks. After completing three missions, you open the next block, which was hidden before. But what is needed to achieve the goal? First of all, you need equipment with which the developers decided not to be smart. They added updated models of the same weapons from the original, diluting them with several new products. Having fully dressed in the uniform you need, you can start recruiting a team. Given the fact that this is a team shooter, you alone will not be able to cope with the task. Counter Strike: Condition Zero is not a game in which you will be allowed to play a superhero and scatter all enemies with one left. Here you have to think, plan and manage your team so that subordinates benefit you and do not die in the process. You can go through the new “Contra” four times, since it provides for just so many difficulty modes. For each of them you get a separate medal, so there is motivation to increase the difficulty.
Passing missions in Condition Zero
If you decide to play Counter Strike: Condition Zero, completing missions should not cause you serious difficulties. The fact is that most of them have the same goals as in the original game. You need to defuse the bomb or save the hostage, prevent the terrorist leader from escaping, or kill specific enemies. Some tasks are more complex and specialized. For example, you may be offered to kill a certain number of terrorists from a specific type of weapon, so you will not be able to arm yourself with one favorite machine gun and slip through it the whole game. You may have to take a silent
pistol with a silencer, and perhaps lie down with a sniper rifle. At the same time, the missions are not the same - each has its own setting, background and other highlights. Somewhere you will be brought to Africa, somewhere - to North America, and you will not be bored anywhere, because even if the tasks are primitive, the way they are presented will delight everyone. In Counter Strike: Condition Zero, completing a single-player campaign is a real pleasure.
Additional missions
If you are missing those 18 tasks that you have already completed all four times at different difficulty levels, then do not be discouraged. The fact is that there is another option - the game Counter Strike: Condition Zero - Deleted Scenes. As you already know, this project was not completely created by one company. He managed to change several developers before he was released. And one of the companies managed to advance much further than the others before abandoning further improvements. She has already created 12 full-fledged missions that did not dare to throw in the trash. Instead, they were arranged in a kind of addition to the game, and you can try it yourself. It has some differences from the new "Contra", it looks a little damp, but at the same time gives no less pleasure. In this version of Counter Strike: Condition Zero, missions are sometimes even more interesting and exciting than in the original sample.
For those who are not yet satisfied
However, the new “Counter Strike” is ready to offer some more entertainment for those who have already completed both campaigns and are waiting for something else from the game. And the game can still offer something to the gamer, because she has a test mode in reserve. It is not very different in principle from other games: you have a certain set of miniature tasks for the result. You need to meet a certain time, go a specific distance or kill a certain number of enemies. You can then brag about these results to friends or compare them with the achievements of other fans of Contra.
Where without cheats
"Contra" and similar games have always been famous for using cheats. In Counter Strike: Condition Zero, the codes remain and cause the same problems. If you play in single-player mode, then you can apply cheats as much as you like. This does not affect other people, and if you want to make your life easier, then no one will forbid you to do this. But in a multiplayer game, the use of codes is punishable by a ban. So, pay attention to those codes that the server administration quickly calculates and in no case does not tolerate their use. First of all, it is immortality. It is clear that such a cheat will not go unnoticed. Actually, like the ability to fly, as well as walk through walls. But there are also useful cheats that allow, for example, to kill all bots if one of them is stuck in the textures and does not allow to complete the level normally. In Counter Strike: Condition Zero, cheats are a special issue that should be discussed before you go to any server.
Creating and joining a server
The single-player campaign "Contra" has been considered in detail, now it is worth paying attention to multiplayer. Given the fact that Counter Strike: Condition Zero is a multi-player shooter, much was expected from this mode. But as a result, it turned out to be the same as in the original. Naturally, this does not make him bad, but in five years of development, it would be possible to come up with certain improvements. The process has remained exactly the same: one player creates a server, to which others then connect. If there are not enough living people, bots are added - participants in the battle, controlled by a computer. You can play both in a company with real people against bots and PvP, that is, a player against a player. For Counter Strike: Condition Zero servers can be found almost always, but they are much smaller than for the newer version.
Global Threat - Successful Recycling
What Condition Zero failed in 2004, Counter Strike: Global Offensive quite successfully implemented in 2012. This version of "Contra" appealed to fans of the series. If the 2004 version was not played for very long and not at all active, then the 2012 version blew up the game world. This is quite logical, since the graphics and physics of the last century are obviously obsolete nowadays, and more and more modern team shooters have begun to appear around them, which may well compete with the old-timer. Therefore, the appearance of a fresh release did not surprise anyone, but indescribably pleased. This time a huge variety of weapons was added, and now each of the species has its own characteristic. You will run faster if you carry a gun, not a machine gun, everything has its own rate of fire, power and other characteristics, there is also a weapon that specific fractions can buy. That's right - now there are fractions in the game, and if before there were only terrorists and counterterrorists, now they are all divided into seven groups, in each of which you can choose one of five character models.