Playing CS: GO is like going to a reunion. Changes are immediately noticeable: they have grown old, cut their hair, changed clothes, in the end. But it even gives pleasure: these are all the same people you knew!

In other words, familiarity with CS: GO is both good and bad. Even the smallest deviations from the CS classics are immediately evident. The MP-5 is now called the MP-7, but it’s still the same “don’t kill me, pliz, that’s all I could buy.” TMP has now replaced the MP9. Ragdoll Physics no longer bleeds eyes after death. And for some reason, you can’t attach a muffler to the M4.

However, weapons are not so bad. Of course, you can live a full life without the exact restoration of the MP5 from the beginning of the 2000s, but it is not thoughtless copying that soars much more, but the system of interaction between players. Changes in it are subtle, but they are. If you shoot someone in GO, they won’t even flinch. Yes, blood is gushing, the sound is reproduced appropriately (if the distance allows), but he will continue to stand motionless. It is not clear what made the developers remove this animation.

Because of this, it is very often unclear whether the enemy is being damaged or not – especially at long distances. That is why the so-called tracers are becoming indispensable: they allow you to see the trajectory of a bullet for a few more milliseconds. When shooting from a rifle or SMG, you can easily distract yourself from the enemy and the sight, which must be followed in order to try to understand where the bullet hit, by the smallest and slowing down effects. A small advantage of tracers is that they facilitate this task.

Even with such dubious fixes and mediocre new maps, GO is still Counter-Strike with its chic moments. Be an attacker with a P90. Be the last survivor and feel like teammates are watching over your shoulder, and putting all their hopes on you.

The feeling that every murder increases the safety of both you and your comrades. Knife battle for your honor. Accidentally blind your team with a flash grenade thrown in the wrong place and kill everyone with it. Yes, it’s all still included.

CS: GO is a ticket to the past that has recently become free! (see video below). It still retains the tradition of “Contra” as a game built on competition, in which you need to carefully monitor the tactics and coordinate well-organized. Still a game in which it is important to choose the right position and the right moment to attack, correctly assess: is this step worth the reproduced noise? This is still one of those modern shooters that lacks locked content and focuses on secondary shooting modes.

There is also something that rejuvenates this game that millions have been playing for twelve years. For example, a new scoreboard that provides an overview of both the server and the team. Beginners can practice on bots offline. And although the new types of weapons do not look very good in places (something resembles children’s toys, something generally stupidly the same), it is very cool that several character models have been worked out for both terrorists and counter-terrorists. And not in words, but quite realistically – they sound and look completely different.

And the new weapon, by the way, is not so bad, despite its secondary nature. For example, PP-Bizon is a cheap SMG. The MAG-7 shotgun shoots and reloads very slowly, but is terrifyingly deadly. And it’s great that heavy cannons, which used to be neither in the countryside nor in the city, are now even irreplaceable in some situations. Incendiary grenades and Molotov cocktails also perfectly fit into the overall concept, because they turn into an impenetrable wall of fire, capable of cutting down even the most ingenious tactics of the enemy.