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Article:
John "Renegade[CSR]"
Tsoupanarias
Overview: CSX: CSX, or Counter-Strike Xbox, is similar to its counter-part on the PC. It places the user in Counter-Terrorist versus Terrorist scenarios in which one side will be victorious depending on multiple strategies. There is no new weaponry within CSX, so if you are familiar with the PC version, you know what to expect. If not, you can check out the entire weapon list at Counter-strike Nation. Once I popped the game into my Xbox, and waited for it to load up, I immediately noticed that it had a very polished look to it simply from viewing the menu screen. In terms of navigation, there were no issues or complications whatsoever. Everything was clear and easy to access, from the Single Player Training to the Xbox Live menu. Graphics: The competition: In comparison with the PC version, the graphics in CSX are well above average. On the other hand, if comparing CSX to any other xbox first person shooters, such as Halo or Rainbow six 3, the graphics are nearly incomparable. But, regardless of this, everyone must not forget that CSX is still based upon the 6 year old Half-Life engine. Video modes include standard and HDTV 480p (p for progressive). In standard video mode, the graphics are respectable, but the draw distance is noticeably sacrificed as well as the sharpness of the maps. Once HDTV is enabled, depending on whether you have HDTV capabilities on your TV, the game becomes much sharper and offers a large improvement over standard settings. The weapon skins and characters are of a much higher quality than the default PC versions, and the hand models are more realistic. The user interface differs slightly from what you would expect to see in a FPS. The buy menu, which I will go into more detail later, is now offered via a circular type shape on the left hand side of the screen. The HUD (Heads up Display) has a different color scheme, but aside from that offers nothing new. Animations in CSX rarely differ from the PC version, although when they do they are nothing but beneficial. The Galil, for example, has a new reload/draw animation and the knife has a new draw and slash animation, both of which are far superior to the PC version. The PC death animations have never
been very high quality and this does not change with CSX. The
death animations are extremely jerky, and even though this does
not reflect the quality of the rest of the game, it does indeed
display a flaw within a nearly perfect set of animations.
The maps are all very well textured even though the limitations of the engine do show. You will notice several changes in appearance to the maps such as cs_militia, de_Aztec, and de_dust, among others. These changes range from subtle to extreme and are all superb additions to each map. Now that we have the technical details out of the way, lets check out how Ritual approached the control scheme. Controls:
PC Gamers will immediately notice that the controls differ greatly
on the Xbox and it is a relatively large change from the standard
keyboard/mouse combo. Regardless if you are used to playing Halo
CSX should be no different for you. If you are new to FPS games
on the XBOX getting a hang of the controls might take some time.
The only complaint I hold with these default settings is the position of the “duck” and “switch to secondary weapon” buttons, as the left trigger is rather hard to push while attempting to shoot a counter-terrorist or terrorist. Rather, if you want it in a more convenient position, so as to be closer to the right trigger, swap the switch to secondary button (B) with the Duck button (Left Trigger). I personally found this to be much more comfortable, and I‘m sure others will too. If you were wondering if there are radio commands in CSX well in a sense yes there are. The selection of radio commands is, of course, very limited. The reason for this is because there is one radio command associated with each direction on the directional pad, those being up, down, left and right. Two of the four radio commands are “Follow me” and “Need Backup”. While these commands are useful in battle, the selection is limited and you will find yourself using these much less than you would on the PC versions more varied selection. Now the buy button which I must say isn’t really a button at all and took me more than 5 tries to find. To activate it you have to push on the left most joystick on the controller. HUD: Buy menu: The buy menu in CSX is new and unique, and something that I certainly haven’t seen before. Once activated, you’ll notice a friendly circle pops up on the left hand side of your screen, containing 5 categories: Pistols, Heavy, Rifles, Equipment and SMG’s. You will notice a lack of a Shotgun menu. The reason for this is that they have been moved under the Heavy category along with the Para. Above these 5 categories lie 2 sub categories: Secondary and Primary ammo purchases. In order to access each menu, you use the joystick and go in the direction of the desired category. Use a to advance within the menu, and b to go back in the menu. The button for secondary ammo is the left trigger and primary the right. Something unique to CSX is the ability to purchase 1 clip of ammo at a time for both your primary and secondary weapons. This assists users - in terms of your economic strategy in CS. Before jumping into the new maps, lets take a look at how Ritual has implemented haptics within CSX. Haptics: Below par: CSX implements the haptics, or force feedback technology very lightly, and the final product was slightly disappointing. Whereas in Rainbow six 3 where you feel the weapon firing among other things, CSX only provides sensations for when you are hit by a bullet or are absorbing an impact from a long fall. This is useful, but more effort definitely could have been placed towards programming each weapon with the capability of providing force feedback. On that note, lets take a look at what maps Ritual threw in to complement the standard CS map cycle.
Maps: New and Improved: Time for a convenient bulleted list, describing each new map, 7 in total, and their unique characteristics.
An interesting thing to note is that ritual has opted to make all of the hostages within the CS maps female. I could come up with several ideas as to why they did this but I will leave that to your imagination. Lets have a look at the game play modes. Training: The training missions teach you essentially how to buy, plant the bomb, and rescue hostages. Definitely useful for anyone new to CS, or even for those who are CS veterans and need a bit of practice with the Xbox’s controls. Single Player: The single player aspect of the game is relatively simplistic. You essentially get to play each map with your choice of 5 varying levels of bots. The bots though are extremely accurate, even at low levels. This can become extremely irritating to play against, especially for a beginner. Multi-Player: This is where the true potential of CSX finally becomes apparent. Logging onto Xbox live proved to be simple enough, as it always is with every game which is Xbox live compatible. A simple click on the menu of Xbox live got me straight into the system. You will notice immediately that the standard “server selection” menu on the PC has been replaced by 3 options: A quick join feature, an Optimatch feature and a create game feature. I personally recommend the quick join feature as it connects to the server that is closest to your area, if not within your area. The Optimatch feature allows you to specify what type of server you would like to join, based on the following variables: maximum players, minimum active players, game type (DE or CS), maps, Match options, if it is a dedicated server and if it records stats. This option, in a nutshell, replaces the PC’s server browser. The host a server feature is exactly what it implies. It allows you to host a match of CSX on your Xbox and connection. You specify all of the variables in which you desire yourself and others to play with, those being max players, map, etc. Now, lets join a game and see how the game actually plays online. The game plays relatively smoothly online, and you may at times forget you are online if it weren’t for the occasional voice that chimes in on voice comm. Depending on your area, the spoken language in the server will differ. The gripe that most people will have with online play is that there Is no indicator to display who is talking aside from a small yellow speaker icon on top over each models head. You just have to trust your instincts and memorize a person’s voice. I assume both Ritual and Microsoft either did not have time to implement this feature, or they did not deem it important enough to clearly show who is talking. I would hope that this issue is addressed in a patch.
Other than the previous problem online play is reminiscent of the PC version, only the size of the monitor is more than likely twice as large, depending on the dimensions of your TV. Cooperation on CSX was considerably higher than the PC version, and rather than having voice communication flooded with random conversations, anyone who spoke usually did so to discuss strategy actively. Perhaps this is because the servers are smaller and you are usually online with your friends, and also because you do not have a keyboard to distract you and encourage conversation, but this is only speculation. As for Frames Per second, it rarely dips below 30 and shouldn’t be a factor in disruption of your game play experience. The only time it goes slightly below 30 is when you encounter a smoke grenade, but even then it does not hinder your ability to concentrate on the current events within the game itself. One thing that definitely adds to the game is the ability to blind and finally deafen your opponents, as mentioned earlier, with the flash bang. The bang of the flash bang is executed nicely, varying in terms of the distance the person is from the grenade. The closer you are, the more you are deafened. This new feature makes the flash bang far more useful when penetrating bomb sites or hostage rescue zones. There are indeed a few benefits of the Xbox, one of those being that the cheating problem has been eliminated. This is mostly due to the fact that there is no known way to install cheats for CSX on the Xbox, or if there are it takes to long and is not beneficial in the long run. Another benefit of
CS on the Xbox is that everyone now has the same Fps and the same
system, that being the Xbox, therefore all frame rate advantages
have been virtually eliminated. But, there is one downside to CSX,
there is no keyboard. Although this was pointed out as an advantage
earlier, the specific issue is a double edged sword. Although typing
messages may prove to be a distraction, it is also the only method
for communication for some people therefore, if you do not have
a microphone, you are out of luck in terms of team communication
on the Xbox.
Final Comments: Overall, CSX is a relatively average first person shooter, with some interesting improvements over the original Counter-Strike. The notable improvements being the higher quality textures, sounds and models, the addition of HDTV 480p and Dolby Digital 5.1 add a certain punch to the game and are extremely well implemented. A promotion provided with the game is two months free of Xbox live, although unlike the starter kit it does not come with a microphone, and so leaving a bit to be desired from the entire experience. If you are looking for a first person shooter on the Xbox and you do not have the ability to get a cable/dsl line connected to your Xbox, this game will probably be of limited entertainment value but if you do have the ability to connect your high speed connection to your Xbox, then CSX is definitely worth a look. Now, if you already have CS for PC, but you have a relatively slow PC, if you are sick of cheaters, or if the idea of new and improved maps tickles your fancy, go and pick up CSX and give it a run through. You will certainly be pleased with the even playing ground that CSX provides.
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