Review by: Jim Richmond
Published: April 21, 2004

The user community that springs up around PC games is an amazing resource, fertile with ideas and ripe with potential. When you buy something new that has developer tools released with it, you can look forward to user-created modifications that add fun and longevity to the product with which you’re checking out. Some of these modifications are so good, and successful, that they take on a life of their own. Such has been the case with the Half-Life mod, Counter-Strike, which became one of the most prolific online frag-fests around. Counter-Strike was so successful that it even became a retail product separate from its host program. Recently released is an updated version that offers players the chance to fight alone offline as well as in groups online called Counter-Strike: Condition Zero.

The real story to Condition Zero isn’t one you play through, but rather it took place behind the scenes. Condition Zero was supposed to be released about three years ago as a traditional single-player title along the lines of Half-Life: Opposing Force. Instead, it took a detour through the hands of multiple development teams at several different companies including Valve, Gearbox, Ritual Entertainment and, its final resting place, Turtle Rock Studios. This journey split Condition Zero into two pieces: the first is an offline version of Counter-Strike complete with computer controlled bots; the second is a collection of so-called “deleted scenes.”

The official portion of Condition Zero is a single-player mode that uses the familiar, quick-paced Counter-Strike matches between a team of terrorists and a group of counter-terrorists. For those not familiar with Counter-Strike, in each round, terrorists are either holding hostages or trying to detonate a bomb, and the counter-terrorist team must stop them at all costs. (Condition Zero only allows you to take on the role of counter-terrorists in the single-player game.) The team that successfully completes their mission gets not only one step closer to winning the match, but also receives a larger chunk of money for their efforts. The money awarded can be used to purchase better weapons and items for the next round of play.

Condition Zero still includes an online component, but what it offers additionally is matches against AI foes and teams with computer-controlled friendlies. The core gameplay is unchanged from the user-created mod, but rather than grinding your way through matches solely for the sake of getting to the next map, a ladder system has been implemented with goals and objectives you must complete to progress. The tournament tree consists of 18 tiered rounds of play at various locations. Goals vary from round to round and include such things as eliminating a fixed amount of terrorists, using a specific weapon to off a given quantity of enemies, winning a match within a certain time limit, and rescuing a quota of hostages. Matches are clustered into six groups of three, and you can play any challenge within the currently unlocked set of three, although you have to complete the entire set to move on.