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"Counter-Strike," a mod that dominated LAN parties at the turn of the millennium, is celebrating its 25th anniversary. It's one of the most successful mods ever

You have to love underdog stories, especially in the computer and video game industry. Games like "Stardew Valley" or "Minecraft", which were developed over years of blood, sweat and tears by dogged lone fighters and actually managed to take the world by storm. Doesn't happen frequently, of course. But when it does, the impact is all the more noticeable.

"Counter-Strike" is another such case. Today, it's rather hard to imagine. The latest installment, "Counter-Strike 2", is the undisputed king of online shooters, having topped the Steam charts since its release on September 27, 2023 – with more than a million players online simultaneously at any time of day or night. This was not always the case, as the beginnings of Counter-Strike could hardly be more modest.

The young student Minh Le had already made a small name for himself in the "Quake" modder scene towards the end of the 90s under the name "Gooseman". The 1998 release of "Half-Life" and its graphic style inspired him to develop a "cops and robbers" mod with a more realistic visual approach. Minh took care of everything that had to do with the game itself: programming, 3D models, parts of the map design. Meanwhile, his friend Jess "cliffe" Cliffe not only ran the official website for the game in development, but is also the voice that is constantly heard on both sides in the first versions of "Counter-Strike".

However, the mod wasn't even called that at first: according to a conversation between the two via ICQ on March 15, 1999, names such as "Counterrorism", "Strike Force", "Frag Heards", "Counter-Terror", "Terrorist Wars", "Terror-Force" or "Counter-Terrorist Forces" were among those discussed. The latter was originally Gooseman's favorite, but cliffe objected that the name was a bit long. As a result, "Counter Strike" was quickly agreed upon.

The humble beginnings

After a few weeks of tinkering, the very first beta of "Counter Strike" was released for free on June 19, 1999. It contained one game mode (Hostage Rescue), one character model each for police officers and terrorists who still looked confusingly similar, nine weapons and four levels: "cs_siege", "cs_mansion", "cs_wpndepot" and "cs_prison".

Very modest beginnings - but the result hit the online shooter scene like a strategically well-placed bomb. Spurred on by the overwhelmingly positive reaction, Gooseman, cliffe and some modders from the "Half-Life" scene, who took care of the level design, pumped out one extended beta version after another over the following months: The most popular CS map by far, de_dust, only came into play with beta 4 (November 5, 1999), together with the matching bomb defusing game variant. Even if the explosive device could still be placed freely in the level. In the meantime, Gooseman even toyed with the idea of integrating vehicles and stationary guns. However, both plans were quickly abandoned as they were incompatible with the functioning game principle.

All this hullabaloo naturally attracted the attention of Valve, the company behind "Half-Life" - who quickly hired the "Counter-Strike" team, whereupon the game was officially released under the Valve banner from Beta 5 onwards. The final beta 7.1 was released on September 13, 2000, and was practically ready to go. As could be seen shortly afterward in the official release version 1.0, which saw the light of day on November 9, 2000.

The old cat-and-mouse game

With version 1.0, "Counter-Strike" was available in two versions: firstly as a regular free download, a hefty 82 megabytes thick. And secondly as a complete package called "Half-Life: Counter-Strike", which bundled the main program with the "#1 played online action game" and other extras on one CD.

The gameplay was very different from the vast majority of shooters available at the time, most of which followed the familiar "aliens are overrunning the earth, someone should stop them" design credo. Right from the start, "Counter-Strike" took a more realistic approach: terrorists against law enforcement officers (such as Navy Seals, SAS or GSG9): The one trying to do evil (holding hostages, blowing things up), the other doing their best to stop them. Both parties play very similarly, but their respective goals could hardly be further apart. And you have to be blind to have even the slightest chance in the online game. In any case, coordinated teamwork is essential - "Counter-Strike" is not a game for lone warriors seeking fame and glory.

B43B6

Every round begins with a shopping trip: Pressing the "B" button opens the shopping menu, where you can stock up on things that go bang - at least as long as your account allows. Because pistols, machine guns, shotguns, smoke grenades or bulletproof vests don't grow on trees, but have to be bought at a high price. The money required for this is earned both for successfully completing rounds and for fulfilling individual objectives, such as safely escorting hostages to the rescue zone or defusing the explosive device. However, as the countdown to the end of the round starts ticking away from the very first second of the game, and you only have a few minutes to complete your mission, it's better not to get too caught up in the shopping frenzy. Essential at this point are the keyboard shortcuts, which become second nature in no time at all: Anyone who has spent more than a few minutes with "Counter-Strike" will probably remember what "B43B6" and "B42B6" stand for*.

This unexpected economic system brings with it interesting tactical trade-offs, as you constantly have to balance spending on the weapons you currently need with your long-term savings goal: Do I settle for a weaker model this round so I can potentially afford my favorite weapon next?

Alternatively, you can pick up the guns of fallen enemies, but you have to throw away your own weapon. Because unlike in the "Dooms" and "Duke Nukems" of this world, the backs of the "Counter-Strike" figures only hold one primary weapon, one secondary gun and four grenades. As well as the knife, of course, for an absolute emergency or an accelerated sprint.

*B43B6 = purchase of the M4A1 Carbine plus extra ammunition. B42B6 = the same for the AK47 on the terrorist side.

Learning by failing

The battles in "Counter-Strike" are fast and merciless: As a rule, one hit to the unhelmeted head is enough to end the round prematurely - and this is much more the rule than the exception, especially due to the powerful sniper rifles (the AWP in the hands of a reflex-strong opponent is a nightmare).

Unlike in other online shooters of the time, in "Counter-Strike" you don't immediately reappear on the battlefield ready for action after a kill. Instead, you spend the rest of the round as a ghost hovering behind your team. If you're dead, you stay dead for that round - and to be honest, especially as a beginner, you spend most of your playing time as a spectator.

Because "Counter-Strike" is hard. It has always been. It requires a great deal of willingness to learn and a mighty thick skin of frustration to be fun in the long term: The shopping hotkeys need to be internalized. The operation of the many different weapons has to become second nature. You have to be able to recite the bomb and hostage points on each map in your sleep, as well as the structure of the map itself, as most of them have many different routes to the target. You need to know the enemy's best-known pincer points; being able to distinguish between friend and foe at a distance is essential. You have to spend a lot of time on both sides to grasp the important differences in the game system of both parties. And most importantly: no continuous fire with the automatic weapons! Only targeted single shots will bring success - if you hold down the fire button for more than a fraction of a second, you will develop the hit rate of an Imperial stormtrooper.

The technology: only moderately exciting

Technically, "Counter-Strike" was, well, functional right from the start. The game runs on the old GoldSrc engine from "Half-Life", which was advanced for the time, but not exactly photorealistic. However, this didn't play the slightest role in "Counter-Strike": the only things that counted and still count here are game speed and the legibility of the levels. Legendary maps such as "de_dust2", "cs_italy", "de_nuke", "de_inferno", "de_aztec" or "cs_office" are simply structured and, after years of fine-tuning, have been perfected for optimum playability.

And this is still noticeable today: there are always several paths to the goal, there are points everywhere where you can gain an advantage, at least briefly - but you can't really box yourself in anywhere. Campers have never had a place in "Counter-Strike" and are the first to be kicked off a server. The second ones are the ones who run off with the M249 instead of a knife in their hand.

More "Counter-Strike" for the world!

Version 1.6, released on January 16, 2003, was the final major release of the original "Counter-Strike". It was also the first to be brought to players via Valve's then brand-new distribution platform, "Steam". This version, which continued to be patched but always bore the serial number "1.6", was the "Counter-Strike" standard for many years to come. Under this number, it developed into an eSports colossus. Under this number, it was turned into the flagship "killer game" [1] after the various tragic school massacres. And under this number, it became a million-seller. It is impossible to say exactly how many copies have been sold over the years, as it has been released again and again and again in countless variants and collections. Even Valve can only speculate roughly into the millions.

In any case, several attempts were made to repeat this lucky strike – sometimes more, sometimes less successfully. "Counter-Strike: Condition Zero", for example, was supposed to be a spin-off aimed primarily at solo players, but it took four years and three development studios before it was released in spring 2004 – only to be largely ignored by the gaming community.

Back to the present

Around six months later, "Counter-Strike: Source" was released, which, as the name suggests, brings the original game to the "Source" engine primarily developed by Valve for "Half-Life 2" (2004). Sounds like a clear winner, but this game also never found its way into the dedicated gaming community, who didn't care about bump mapping and more realistic smoke effects.

Only "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive [2] ", released in the late summer of 2012, managed to knock "Counter-Strike 1.6", which was already almost ten years old at the time, off its throne. Valve designed "Global Offensive" as an eSports title from the outset. It had a somewhat difficult start, but was patched to perfection over the years to become an eSports giant and was the title that paid out the biggest prize money at the biggest tournaments in the biggest leagues for years to come.

Until 2023, when "Counter-Strike 2" [3], which had also been in development for almost forever, came along and literally and inevitably replaced "Global Offensive" overnight. Of course, this was anything but well received by the community at first, but now there is no way around this game when it comes to Counter-Strike. Meanwhile, there have also been console versions of the series, with the 2004 "Counter-Strike Neo" even an arcade version developed by Namco Bandai. But none of these have left a noticeable mark on the cement of history.

Thank you, "Counter-Strike"!

The original "Counter-Strike", i.e. version 1.6, is no longer officially available, at least not from Valve. If you like, you can play it on modded DS and 3DS handhelds, but it makes much more sense to simply play it in your browser. And when you do this again after years of abstinence, you immediately feel like you've been transported back to the turn of the millennium: The cacophonous clacking at the start of the round when everyone makes their purchases at the same time, followed by "Okay, let's go!" The smoke grenades that are thrown into the usual suspected choke points right at the start, accompanied by "Fire in the hole!" The voices, the sound effects, the "E Il Sol Dell'anima" performed by Luciano Pavarotti echoing through the streets of "cs_italy".

Hach. How this game dominated my private LAN parties at the turn of the millennium! We played a lot back then: "StarCraft", "Quake 3 Arena", "Armagetron", "Team Fortress Classic" - but once we'd tasted "Counter-Strike" blood, there was no going back.

"Counter-Strike" was the prototypical underdog story of the turn of the millennium, from small fan project to mass phenomenon, from modding finger exercise to the ultimate skill-based team shooter. Which, at its core, still works in exactly the same way today as it did when it was first released 25 years ago. And which, alongside "Wolfenstein 3-D", "Doom" and "Duke Nukem 3D", can easily be considered one of the most important and influential first-person shooters of all time. And as one of the most important mods anyway.

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(olb [5])

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