Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, often referred to as CS:GO or CS is a multiplayer FPS (First Person Shooter) game intended to be accessible to everyone, even those with a less expensive computer. The game series Counter strike have been around since 1999 and the currently most popular edition is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

To understand the game of CS you need to know that there are two teams, the Terrorists and the Counter-Terrorists. In each standard competitive match of CS there are a maximum of 30 rounds to be played, and the first team to reach a score of 16 rounds wins the game. The Terrorists have one goal, to plant the bomb on either A or B site and then make sure that it blows up. The Counter-Terrorists also have one goal, to protect A and B site and make sure that the Terrorists don’t plant the bomb nor let it go off. Both teams can also win a round by eliminating the entire team of opponents. The Counter-Terrorists win the round if the Terrorist side does not plant the bomb within a certain time limit.

After playing CS for over a thousand hours I feel more than competent to write a review about it. Personally I really like the game but there are of course some pros and cons about the game. The way CS sets apart from other games is thanks to the way it’s so well balanced and isn’t like most other games where you have to either “pay to win” or rely on what's meta. However players can easily gain advantages over other players in CS if they just have a better internet connection or a more advanced headset.

A good thing to keep in mind is that CS is generally more reliant on effort, teamwork, and not losing your mind compared to other games. This makes it nearly impossible to master the game, and feels a bit like chess but a lot faster and with 5 different dimensions involved. Communication is vital to build up a functional structure in the teamplay. Without any form of communication or coordination on the team it doesn’t matter how well everyone plays, you will lose the game. Listening to and watching other players while playing is a key factor if you want to improve and become a better player, and this applies to any game.

E-Sports are currently at their peak and if your dream is to become a professional CS player - now is the time. CS is like football, everyone plays it but only a few succeed and become professionals. Never before has it been easier to become a professional E-Sports player, all around the world the E-Sportsscene is growing and growing and they’re even opening up high-schools for those who want to study E-Sports and potentially become professionals.

Now, do I recommend the game or not? I’d say it depends on what your intentions are with the game. If your intentions are just to have fun it sure might be a good game for you. However you must remember that people take the game very seriously and if you’re looking to start playing CS you will also have to get serious. Of course this doesn’t mean you cannot have fun, being serious makes playing the game even more fun at times.

If you expect to play the game with high reward and low effort this isn’t the game for you, you can’t pay or bargain your way to the top, you can’t just sit in front of your game expecting to get better without making any efforts. This game is purely about having fun while making efforts to advance and become a better player.

Summing up the review I think that you should give CS:GO a try, and if you don’t like it the first few times that is completely normal. When I personally played the game for the first time I thought that it was absolutely terrible and way too difficult, but after a while my mind switched and I started enjoying the challenge and feeling of improvenent. If I must rate this game on a scale from 1 to 10 I’d say it’s a strong 9 out of 10. However, I'd give the CS community a 5/10 as it is generally quite toxic and very difficult to integrate due to the ridiculous amount of unwritten rules and players getting frustrated.