Counter-Strike was initially a fan-produced mod for Half-Life released way back in 1999. The mod soon had a dedicated following. New concepts and maps were introduced and Counter-Strike went on from being just a Half-Life mod to an entirely new game in its own right.

Valve have now developed Counterstrike: Global Offensive which will be released across all platforms PC, PS3 and XBox on August 21.

Its an objective based multiplayer first person shooter. Each player joins either the Terrorist or Counter-Terrorist team and the goal is to complete objectives or kill the enemy. The game operates in short rounds that end when all players on one side are dead or when the objective is completed.

You can purchase weapons and equipment at the beginning of every round with money awarded based on performance doing things that help the team like completing objectives and killing enemies will earn you money, whilst doing things that have a negative impact like killing a teammate or hostage, takes money away from you. When a round ends all players will receive some amount of money, with players on the winning team receiving substantially more.

Global Offensive is planned to launch with modes that were seen in previous Counterstrike’s Bomb Defusal, Hostage Rescue, and two new game modes called Arms Race and Demolition. The new modes are collectively referred to as “Arsenal mode” and are based on the gungame mod for Counter Strike and Counter Strike: Source. Unlike other game modes Arms Race is a deathmatch-based mode where each player is rewarded for each kill with a new weapon. With the first player to get a kill with every weapon in a set winning the game. Demolition is a round based mode that removes weapon and equipment purchasing, instead rewarding players with a set of progressively weaker weapons for each kill.

The game is going to be released as download only and its been confirmed that it will cost just 15 dollars in the US, so I would expect that we can buy it in the UK for around £12.00, which is a bargain compared to the costs of many new games that are currently being released.

If you fancy trying it our for yourself you can sign up to the open beta which is available for PC users playing through Steam here