Grab your balaclava and your desert eagle. On Wednesday, Valve announced that Counter-Strike: Source, the popular action title pitting terrorists against counter-terrorists, is now available for download on Steam for the Mac.
Counterstrike is arguably the most popular action multiplayer game in the world with millions of players, hundreds of mods, and professional leagues dedicated to the game. The concept is simple: you play as a member of either a team of terrorists or counter-terrorists in a variety of maps. You’ll have to defend or blow up bombsites, free or hold hostages, and kill or be killed.
As you play, you’ll earn money for kills and deaths to be put towards better guns, armor, and equipment. The game is remarkably well-balanced—even if you’re an expert player you could still find yourself staring down the sights of a “noob” holding a high-end rifle. Of course, Counterstrike is also renowned for its difficulty and its steep learning curve. Knowledge of the maps is essential, and teams of seasoned veterans know exactly where to go and where to shoot. If you’re an expert, you can snipe someone from across the entire map without them seeing you. Or, perform a knife kill and humiliate your opponent as they frantically spray bullets around. Counterstrike is one of the purest skill games out there and—if you invest the time—one of the most rewarding.
Counterstrike: Source is a complete remake of the original Counterstrike using Valve’s Source engine. Sporting improved graphics and tweaked physics, CS: Source was released in 2004. Both versions of CS are among the more popular action games on the Internet.
According to Valve’s press release, CS: Source is a Steam Play title, “so if you own it on the PC —you own it on the Mac.” The game also gets a major update that allows not only PC VS. Mac cross-platform play, but achievements, stats, and engine updates.
To celebrate Counterstrike: Source’s launch, Valve is offering the game at 66 percent off its regular price on Steam for a limited time. It would seem cliché to lock and load, but Mac gamers should get on this. Hostages need to be saved and sites need to be bombed.
Counter-Strike: Source