Counter-Strike: Condition Zero is an expansion pack and, in a sense, a visual upgrade for Counter-Strike 1.6, with more HD looking models and new detail textures, which were created for the game's exclusive maps for a better graphical experience, but there's more than meets the eye.

CS:CZ introduced a campaign mode, called the Tour of Duty, which is treated as a single-player experience, consisting of tasks that the player must complete if they want to advance to the next mission. The Tour of Duty campaign consists of 6 chapters, called "tours", with each tour containing 3 maps (missions) in it. In order to efficiently play against the enemy team and be able to have a chance on winning them, it is strongly recommended/most definitely essential that one recruits members for their team, though that comes with a cost. The amount/skill-strength of soldiers that the player is able to recruit is determined by Reputation Points, which are gained by completing missions (though some are also granted to the player at the beginning of the tour, and the amount depends on the difficulty chosen). In general the campaign is pretty easy to learn and while it can sometimes be frustrating due to either some ridiculous tasks (especially in harder difficulties) or just the difficulty of the game itself, it's still a fun and addictive experience.

Since CS:CZ is the first game that introduced built-in bots, the game also technically introduced an offline (multiplayer) mode, which gives the player the ability to either target practice or just kill some time, but everything else is identical to CS 1.6.

CS:CZ had received quite the undeserving flak because it was released in the same year as the Source engine, which was Valve's breakthrough product, and since with it also came Counter-Strike: Source, it's only natural that it would unfortunately outshine this game in every aspect and place it as an "obsolete on arrival" product. Also the fact that the development state of this game had been bad in every aspect, having changed development teams twice over the course of 4 years, which obviously brought over significant delay, very sadly helped in making Condition Zero lose most of its relevance by the time that it hit the shelves.

With everything being said above, CZ's infamous reputation among the Counter-Strike franchise is attributed not as much to it being "lackluster" as it is to it being unlucky due to all the delays, overhauls as well as the horrendously bad timing of its release with the Source engine. Otherwise, this game has much to offer and its status as an underrated cult-classic is here to stay.

Score:

Counter-Strike: Condition Zero is an expansion pack and, in a sense, a visual upgrade for Counter-Strike 1.6, with more HD looking models and new detail textures, which were created for the game's exclusive maps for a better graphical experience, but there's more than meets the eye. CS:CZ introduced a campaign mode, called the Tour of Duty, which is treated as a single-player experience, consisting of tasks that the player must complete if they want to advance to the next mission. The Tour of Duty campaign consists of 6 chapters, called "tours", with each tour containing 3 maps (missions) in it. In order to efficiently play against the enemy team and be able to have a chance on winning them, it is strongly recommended/most definitely essential that one recruits members for their team, though that comes with a cost. The amount/skill-strength of soldiers that the player is able to recruit is determined by Reputation Points, which are gained by completing missions (though some are also granted to the player at the beginning of the tour, and the amount depends on the difficulty chosen). In general the campaign is pretty easy to learn and while it can sometimes be frustrating due to either some ridiculous tasks (especially in harder difficulties) or just the difficulty of the game itself, it's still a fun and addictive experience. Since CS:CZ is the first game that introduced built-in bots, the game also technically introduced an offline (multiplayer) mode, which gives the player the ability to either target practice or just kill some time, but everything else is identical to CS 1.6. CS:CZ had received quite the undeserving flak because it was released in the same year as the Source engine, which was Valve's breakthrough product, and since with it also came Counter-Strike: Source, it's only natural that it would unfortunately outshine this game in every aspect and place it as an "obsolete on arrival" product. Also the fact that the development state of this game had been bad in every aspect, having changed development teams twice over the course of 4 years, which obviously brought over significant delay, very sadly helped in making Condition Zero lose most of its relevance by the time that it hit the shelves. With everything being said above, CZ's infamous reputation among the Counter-Strike franchise is attributed not as much to it being "lackluster" as it is to it being unlucky due to all the delays, overhauls as well as the horrendously bad timing of its release with the Source engine. Otherwise, this game has much to offer and its status as an underrated cult-classic is here to stay. Score: [h1]9/10[/h1]