By Nathan Grayson on March 2nd, 2013 at 9:00 am.
Counter-Strike will probably outlive us all. It will also probably keep bunny-hopping onward long after we’ve disposed of all terrorism and achieved glorious grievance-free utopia. There will be no counters or strikes. Only Counter-Strike. So it’s exciting to hear that the implausibly enduring formula’s original creator has decided to revisit it, and the fact that his new game, Tactical Intervention, is actually gonna be playable is pretty neat too. But when? And how? Turns out, the answers are a) this month and b) on the very personal computing device (presumably) sitting before you. The greatest anti-terror weapon of all, however, isn’t guns or drones or bombs disguised to look like good ol’ freshly made American apple pie. It’s knowledge, and you’ll find tons more of it after the break.
First up, Joystiq‘s hosting a special closed beta, which kicks off on March 4th. After that, there’ll be an open beta from March 14th to March 25th, and then everything will briefly go dark in preparation for launch. Tactical Intervention will then infiltrate every corner of these here Internets on March 28th, F2P and proud.
As you can see, big additions include vehicles, riot shields, environmental destruction, and (sadly not in the video) puppies! Well, OK, dogs. But all dogs are puppies. Everyone knows that. It all sounds quite nice, though calling Tactical Intervention a revolution, I think, would be a major stretch. But it seems to be Counter-Strike with some fresh elements that’d have rabid CS players flinging froth every which way, and that’s certainly an intriguing prospect.
Also, I feel like we need more games with dedicated over-the-top car/helicopter chases. Not dumb scripted single-player ones, either. I want to feel the way Vin Diesel does every time he hears the faint jingle of a key. Oh, I also want a goofy talking dog sidekick. Hopefully, in time, Tactical Intervention will be able to provide both.
02/03/2013 at 09:06 Llewyn says:
The respective national sports of Great Britain and the United States, tiddlywinks and baseball, will surely lose some of their original excitement and tension in your so-called utopia.
02/03/2013 at 09:11 baby snot says:
Not possible as baseball has never been exciting.
02/03/2013 at 19:32 jkz says:
Yeah, not like cricket, what?
02/03/2013 at 21:00 Mrs Columbo says:
Hehe. Cricket: a sport where (I kid you not) a UK news channel recently reported that one of the country’s best couldn’t play because of a bruised heel.
02/03/2013 at 23:23 iucounu says:
Yes, well, a game as physically, mentally and technically demanding as cricket – objectively the finest sport in the world – is the sort of game where a bruised heel can be a serious problem; as opposed to, say, baseball, a game where steroid monsters plink identikit homers over static fields and the players often resort to amphetamines and hallucinogens in an attempt to make the game vaguely interesting. Good day to you, madam! *turns on heel, marches away*
02/03/2013 at 16:48 PoLLeNSKi says:
Dialling up the pedantry to 11, Great Britain is an island (well technically a collection of one big island and some smaller ones nearish its coastline), not a nation. ‘The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’ is the name of the nation of nations… furthermore, the correct tiddlywink terminology is ‘winks’ – not counters.
02/03/2013 at 20:01 grenadeh says:
You sir, are dumb, and in typical British fashion, trying to sound intelligent. The term “United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland” went away nearly 90 years ago. I suggest studying history again and this time paying attention, maybe you’ll catch what the term “nation” means as well.
02/03/2013 at 20:31 Masterpwny says:
I do believe he said ‘Northern Ireland’?
03/03/2013 at 17:55 TheOldFirm says:
Odd, I could’ve sworn that my passport grants me citizenship for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Says so right on the front.
03/03/2013 at 19:02 PoLLeNSKi says:
Likewise my passport has United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland emblazoned across the top in gold print.
If you had managed to learn comprehension skills then you would have noticed the pedantic point I was raising was that British nationality includes the residents of Northern Ireland (and indeed to a certain extent members of British Overseas Territories) as well, rather than just the landmass of Great Britain. Judging by your response I sense this went a fair distance over your head.
I understand this is a very complicated situation for people born outside of our shores – so rather than try and explain myself through text I will pass you over to a slightly more learned fellow than yourself from over the pond: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNu8XDBSn10
Also typically attempting to lump a group of people together based on their nationality in order to make a derogatory point could be construed as being a tad bigotted.
03/03/2013 at 19:07 Nick says:
“It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt”
02/03/2013 at 23:54 Douglas_Taylor says:
my friend’s ex-wife makes $77 an hour on the internet. She has been laid off for six months but last month her payment was $16001 just working on the internet for a few hours. Read more on this web site… http://tiny.cc/get-cash
02/03/2013 at 09:18 FurryLippedSquid says:
I enjoyed the photo cap. Thanks.
02/03/2013 at 09:20 Gnoupi says:
Note that riot shields are not necessarily something new in this universe: http://counterstrike.wikia.com/wiki/Tactical_shield
From what I recall, it was leading to some excessive turtling. It was fun at times, though.
02/03/2013 at 11:28 Continuity says:
I didn’t like the shield, it certainly changed up the dynamic on some of the maps, like dust, but I had more fun with CS pre tac shield and I had more fun post tac shield, so on the whole it felt like a failed experiment to me.
02/03/2013 at 14:30 MrLebanon says:
i remember a lot of servers disallowed its use.
I think CS always needs to have that oddball item that is questionable in use. Currently in GO the tazer fits that slot.. 1 hit kill if you are within 2 arms length of a person
02/03/2013 at 15:42 derf says:
The tazer does shit at point blank. And the oddball weapon has always been…… the fucking AWP.
02/03/2013 at 20:03 grenadeh says:
I wouldn’t even call AWP oddball. Instakill, no matter where, usually. In the past it has had built in auto-aim as well. It’s very easy to get around or kill an awper directly even with a rifle.
02/03/2013 at 09:31 Maritz says:
There was definitely a dog in that video. Looked quite a lot like mine actually.
02/03/2013 at 09:58 Njordsk says:
I’m sorry to tell you he’s been shot then.
02/03/2013 at 11:43 Maritz says:
That’s fine. At least that’ll stop him crapping all over my garden.
02/03/2013 at 09:32 mr.ioes says:
This trailer looked 3.745 times better than I expected. Very promising piece of software.
02/03/2013 at 09:44 DarkLiberator says:
Environmental destruction, vehicles, and dogs? Sold!
02/03/2013 at 13:17 Ross Angus says:
Are dogs the new mechs?
02/03/2013 at 13:18 Ross Angus says:
Are mechs the new zombies?
02/03/2013 at 13:45 noom says:
Are zombies the new dogs?
02/03/2013 at 20:26 daemonofdecay says:
Are dogs the new environmental destruction?
02/03/2013 at 22:46 noom says:
I have it on good authority that rainbows and wizard duels are the leading causes of climate change.
02/03/2013 at 10:20 yogibbear says:
b62b43b64b14x1 “GO GO GO!”
02/03/2013 at 17:07 David Bliff says:
Big spender!
I go back and play CS Source every once in a while with a friend whose computer is pretty old and I still instinctively remember all the voice commands.
02/03/2013 at 11:18 Hairball says:
Looks like some sort of insane half-life mod. I mean that in the best way possible.
02/03/2013 at 11:20 Dezztroy says:
I remember playing a beta for this two years ago. It was godawful back then, and it would need a complete overhaul to be anything near worth playing.
02/03/2013 at 12:32 Docm30 says:
Two years of development can make a pretty huge difference.
02/03/2013 at 12:54 Triplanetary says:
on the very personal computing device (presumably) sitting before you
You can’t presume these days! I read this site on my phone sometimes. We’re living in the damn future!
02/03/2013 at 18:15 The Random One says:
I usually read RPS on my phone too, but on this particular instance I was at my computer. More proof that the RPS crew are secretly watching me.
02/03/2013 at 13:01 Beernut says:
There is so a dog in the video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T18I2Xr7HH8&feature=player_embedded#t=19s
02/03/2013 at 13:39 Flappybat says:
I played this two years ago and it stank. They have had a lot of development time so hopefully it’s paid off.
02/03/2013 at 13:40 Robin says:
Why US only?
Why F2P(P2W)?
I hate this bullshit.
02/03/2013 at 15:39 derf says:
Pardon? Or should I say, WTF?
02/03/2013 at 19:52 Robin says:
European release is (AFAIK) still uncertain due to legal issues.
And for the second point, I despise the free to play model.
02/03/2013 at 16:00 SouperSteve0 says:
Rambo-ing a P90 whilst crashing into a convict is tactical….right.
03/03/2013 at 22:00 spectone says:
P90 That was my favorite weapon.
04/03/2013 at 19:56 benkc says:
Likewise. Highest rate of fire = lots of headshots = routinely vote-kicked. Spray and pray, my friends called it.
02/03/2013 at 16:07 QualityJeverage says:
I wasn’t interested in this, but that trailer looked enjoyably nuts. I think I’ll give this a go.
02/03/2013 at 16:18 popej says:
It does look promising. As long as they don’t forget what made CS great in the first place, the fluidity of movement and the feel of the weapons…
02/03/2013 at 19:56 grenadeh says:
Youre aware right that when CS came out 15 years ago in beta, it was a team – not “A” creator. Creators.
02/03/2013 at 20:06 mseifullah says:
So, this is what would have become of Counter-Strike if the game didn’t get such a huge and progress-opposing community so quickly, huh? If nothing else, it looks fun, but the decision to convert the game into a F2P title is worrying considering that the original design was in no way crafted around that monetary model.
For people that don’t know what I’m talking about, this game has been in development for a very long time; F2P wasn’t even a concept outside of the occasional Korean MMO at the time that this game entered development. Also, in interviews & articles, the creator said multiple times that this game is what the original Counter-Strike mod wanted to become, but the community got too big too quickly and people were satisfied with the mod as it was and didn’t want big changes.
02/03/2013 at 20:14 Phantoon says:
NO. FREEDOM is the best anti terrorist device.
By that I mean the Falcon Radar and Electromagnetic Enemy Detecting Operations Machine.
03/03/2013 at 12:28 Heliocentric says:
Vehicles and guns? Ladies and gentlemen, you have my attention.