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A Counter-Strike map is almost always bigger
than it really is. The world doesn’t just
stop suddenly when you reach the end of the
explorable area- it stretches on to give the
impression that this isn’t just a kill-zone.
That this is an actual place!
This didn’t used to be the case with games-
particularly 3D ones. Graphics didn’t come
cheap and there was little need to add even
more for your poor computer to process than
what was needed for the level to be playable!
But as time went on, computers got more powerful
and the games, more elaborate. I consider
myself lucky to have seen this happen. That
wonderful intro to Half Life 1- none of which
was needed at all. Or how about Operation
Flashpoint? To jump from corridor shooters
to a completely open island that could be
explored with dozens of different vehicles
was perhaps the greatest leap in freedom I
will ever experience! A lot of the time, this
freedom is less about doing it and more about
just feeling you could if you wanted to.
Like yeah, this big battle’s all well and
good. But wouldn’t it be cool to… say,
explore that forest over there?
This is great! But now I want to visit the
seaside.
Operation Flashpoint, you disappoint me.
If anything, Counter-Strike is perhaps one
of the most limited ‘modern’ games you
could play for these kinds of details. But
that hasn’t stopped the mappers from bothering
to flesh out the levels we’ll no doubt play
countless times.
A lot of these details are noticed and appreciated-
like that beautiful view over at T spawn on
Inferno. But I think many spots go completely
ignored, simply because players are too busy
focusing on the gameplay!
Take palace on Mirage. Probably a place you’ve
run through hundreds of times before. But
have you ever noticed this elaborate balcony
area? This hasn’t just been added- it’s
been here for years but most gamers don’t
notice because they’re too busy checking
on where enemies will be coming from! There’s
also a nice little balcony here with a table
and 2 chairs. An ideal place to watch the
action from.
Oh and Valve… pls fix.
Apartments is another place. It’s not as
claustrophobic as you might think- there’s
a big outdoor area opposite the kitchen. Can’t
say I’ve ever stopped to appreciate this
while RUSHING B.
But I can’t speak for everybody. Maybe you
have stopped to appreciate these spots before!
Maybe you’re the person who likes to rush
B last. You may have peered into the carpet
shop in tunnel. Or spotted this unreachable
balcony that- were it not clipped off- would
let you see palace and mid at the same time.
The Left 4 Dead level near bombsite B of Inferno.
And a place straight out of militia hidden
behind a wall at CT spawn. Dust 2’s long
A leads up to a road that comes out near T
spawn. The nightclub in Overpass. And so on.
There are plenty of places like this that
may blow your mind if you consider yourself
familiar with the level, yet haven’t noticed
them before.
I guess if we’re talking about areas beyond
the playable space, skyboxes need to be mentioned.
They shouldn’t be a mystery to most of you
because I talk about them every opportunity
I’m given, but if you go into noclip mode
and fly into the void then you may have encountered
these ‘miniature levels’. This is the
skybox. It contains things and details that
are too big to fit into the real level for
whatever reason, so instead it’s projected
around it like some kind of illusion… Michael.
The best one to explore has to be the one
on Vertigo. It’s the entire city! Do this
and you can fully appreciate the details that
have gone into making it. At ground-level
it’s like something out of Midtown Madness
2. There are monuments, hundreds of vehicles
and a generous helping of police cars too.
But its limitations are soon apparent. It’s
only intended to be viewed from where you
are in the real level- so most things have
an invisible side to them to help ‘optimise’
the map.
You may think that CS:GO being a competitive
game would mean the removal of all these irrelevant
spots in the name of framerate optimisation.
But BECAUSE it’s competitive, there’s
a lot of spectating going on and this will
often require perspectives above the action-
and as a result, there is a need to texture
these otherwise unseen surfaces around the
levels! It’s a double-edged sword. It means
there are more interesting places in the levels,
but you’re unable to visit any of them.
I won’t linger on these kinds of details
in case you’ve already seen them all- but
I urge you to boot up a level occasionally
just to take a look around. Go the wrong way
as a terrorist on Nuke and you’ll even be
told the story of how you broke into this
place- plus this whole carpark is part of
the real level, instead of being hidden away
in the skybox somewhere.
The other maps also tell little stories to
flesh out the action.
On Train, the terrorists got into the train
yard by slamming through these gates.
On Overpass, maybe they couldn’t get the
run-up to the gates to burst through them
so instead just climbed over them with these
ladders.
And on Cbble they crawled under the worst
designed portcullis in the world.
There are so many nice little touches to these
levels. It’s no surprise when you think
that these maps have had thousands of hours
invested into making them- no wonder they
had the time to hide these fun little details.
But sadly, it being a competitive game, there’s
very little you can do with them in Global
Offensive. Maps are heavily tested. People
run about with the clip brushes visible to
help them to find spots they might be able
to exploit, or simply to discover new places
to lose the bomb. I recently covered the science
that went into discovering new pixel-jumps!
But this has been a relatively recent trend.
Even maps as new as 2015-2016 still show a
roughness to them. And the further you go
back, the better it gets!
For fun, I recommend booting up the previous
game in the series: Counter-Strike Source.
I get the feeling it wasn’t quite as…
competitively tuned as Global Offensive’s
maps are and there were often hidden treats
waiting for curious gamers to discover.
Near the CT spawn of Piranesi was this building.
There’s no way into it from the level itself,
but go into noclip and you’ll find a primitive
giraffe statue in there. Why? Who knows. Maybe
it is just an easter-egg surprise. But a welcome
one, to be sure.
Near the CT spawn of Assault is another one!
Noclip through the ground and you’ll come
to this little boxed off room with a shoe
in it and not a lot else. That’s it. Attack
the shoe and it will disappear. What does
this mean?! Is there deeper meaning to it?
Why, Valve? WHY?!
I’d occasionally make something similar
for my maps if I wanted to give an overly
reflective surface a less reflective environment.
But it wasn’t used like that here. It’s
just a room with a shoe in. Maybe it was done
in the hope that in 15 years’ time it would
be noticed and speculated about, becoming
one of life’s great mysteries.
I enjoyed Assault for the freedom it offered.
If you had the time you could jump around
each post of this fence up here to the roof
of the next building along. You could run
all the way along it and down onto the walkway
here.
Here there was a ladder you could climb. You
could run around the side of this building-
with enough people I reckon you could have
gone all the way around to CT spawn.
You could jump onto the bin here, then onto
the sign, then up onto the roof- an excellent
spot to camp out the hostage rescue zone.
In fact, turning on the clip-brushes reveals
dozens of spots that would quickly be patched
if they were in CS:GO today. My goodness,
you and your friends could spend hours discovering
valuable trick-spots on maps such as these
to exploit in the next clan-match! I thought
I had outgrown this, but discovering new spots
when making this video made me realise how
much I miss the playful elements that Counter-Strike
Source allowed for.
Italy had this bit here- it had to have been
done intentionally! If the terrorists rushed
this bit fast enough, they could boost somebody
up here and take the entire enemy team by
surprise. It felt so good.
And just a bit further along, you could jump
onto the door, then the window, then finally
onto the balcony up here for a powerful- if
exposed- crow’s-nest.
Even Dust2 had its problems. There was a hole
in long A- way too high to manage with a standard
boost, but launch a player up there by lobbing
a nade at his butt and he’d go flying up
over the top of the map! This was such a huge
exploit that it was eventually patched! I
see there’s still a gap at short A, but
it’s just a bit too narrow for players to
squeeze through.
Maps such as these are remnants of an era
that I don’t think Counter-Strike can ever
return to. I admit I’m sad about that. I
remember when playing competitively was just
a small part of Counter-Strike to me. I remember
late nights on custom maps with friends, or
trying to exploit an old favourite level with
the aid of a few school mates. Or seeing a
20-man tower on the teeside servers.
And I don’t want gamers these days to miss
out on it. I’ve uploaded a non-clipped version
of Mirage for you to explore to your heart’s
content. And then there’s de_sparity_infinity,
a level that I deliberately made larger than
it needed to be, and filled with pointless
spots and places to discover. Have fun.
Again, this video is sponsored by NordVPN,
which you can get for a discount and with
a free month by using the link and code provided
in this video’s description.
