History VideoGame / CounterStrike

...[[NoPlotNoProblem And that's about it]]. Depending on the map, there are several objectives that complement the shooting, such as "[[BombDisposal Bomb Defusal]]," "[[CaptureTheFlag Hostages Rescue]]" and the now-banished "[[EscortMission escort the VIP]]" (as of ''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' it doesn't appear as a game mode anymore). Various custom game modes have been introduced by intrepid modders: modes that limit you to specific weapons selections (Gun Game), modes with special, often gimmicky goals (like Prop Hunt), and even maps where the object isn't to kill the opposing side but rather to navigate the map in a maze-like fashion.

* SkillGateCharacter: Players with P90s tend to clean house at lower matchmaking ranks, thanks to P90's high rate of fire combined with low recoil making firing on the move a viable option. Against more skilled players lack of single shot power and range tends to get those players headshotted by [=M4s/AKs=] before they can spray enough shots to get the job done.

** '''''Counter-Strike NEO -WHITE MEMORIES-''''' (2005): A spin-off of the arcade spin-off, this was a full-fledged flash visual novel by Namco, with a full episodic story, and gameplay segments that resemble ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D''. The series in its entirety (minus episode seven) can be found [[https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21AD2yBJhypVM-mYs&cid=3FA2DF9998752A02&id=3FA2DF9998752A02%21139&parId=root&action=locate here.]]

* {{Kayfabe}}: Meta-example. Set two equal teams choreographed as Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists, put them on the maps, and let the players control them. And rest is history. Even the Japan-only arcade ''NEO'' plays this straight (supplemental side story notwithstanding), but ''Condition Zero'' and ''Deleted Scenes'' make exceptions to this rule.

** The idea of "saving" or going "eco" (economic mode). When your team loses all their weapons and has no cash left, it seems sensible to buy whatever crummy [=SMGs=] you can afford and hope for the best. Most people just buy nothing for a few rounds (and likely die) so that they can save up enough money for proper weapons and equipment, since spending money on bad weapons will probably result in a CurbStompBattle anyways.

* ItsAWonderfulFailure: In bomb-defusal maps, if the last player standing failed to escape and survive the detonation (Terrorists) or defuse the bomb within time (Counter-Terrorists), the background screen pans the camera to a view of the map's section instead. Subverted with the Terrorists, as while they lose all the weapons except knife, it's instead an InstantWinCondition for them.

** The terrorists don't really have a mission in the normal game. Their backgrounds posit them as anti-government, anti-Western fanatics.

It started as a 'Terrorists vs Counter-Terrorists' [[GameMod modification]] for the original ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' inspired by tactical shooters such as ''Videogame/RainbowSix'' until Valve decided to release it as its own standalone game on retail discs, and later via UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}. It was one of the first multiplayer games that restricted respawning until the end of round, and actually gave teams a score only after the opposing team has been completely killed, encouraging more tactical gameplay rather than mindless spawn 'n shoot affairs very common on multiplayer PVP shooters...

** Some details: There was a time (pre-UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}) where which weapon names you got depended on whether you had the mod version, which required ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' to play (real names) or had bought the stand-alone retail version of ''Counter-Strike'' (fake names). The mod version also is the origin of the aforementioned "unofficial patch" (titles.txt).

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: ''CS 2'' features a "sub-tick update" system, so the effects of tickrate -- having to wait a fraction of a second before the game truly registers that you're shooting, jumping, running, etc. -- are minimized.