It’s hot in Havana—so hot you can almost taste the dust and smell
the thick, oily aroma rising off your CV-47 rifle. You’ve gathered
your team of operatives, and you’ve been practicing for this
moment. You’re prepared and confident. Now, it’s time to choose
your mission.
When you play Counter-Strike™ for
Xbox, you set the stage. Havana is just one of the locations
you can choose, and location is just one of your choices when you
customize your scenario. Do you think it’s cool to play with your
friends around the world? Well, now you can create diverse missions
that you all can tackle together.
Play Options
Two to 16 players participate in any one game. You can control who
joins by choosing whether you want a dedicated server (which allows
you to play your own private game away from all the masses on Xbox
Live). When you’re ready to start playing, plug in and get
your Xbox Live Communicator headset working. Be sure to
establish a team leader before diving into your mission. Good teams
have a plan and follow it, and your leader will help you do
that.
Sometimes even good plans go bad, though, and the best cells always
have a Plan B. Establish a place to rendezvous following the
mission or when things get out of control. Who’s the scout? Who
covers everyone else’s back? You’d better get it together because,
with all the customization options, you have no idea what’s coming
at you.
Mission Options
Want to create a challenging mission for your friends? In
Counter-Strike for Xbox, you can set whether you want to
play humans only or humans versus bots. The bots, of course, are
support characters run by the A.I. Your group can take on an army
of bots or keep it personal, with only you and your friends running
the opposing teams. Furthermore, you can set the skill level for
the bots (Beginner, Standard, Professional, or Expert). This allows
you and your team to take on an enemy worthy of you. Are you going
to tell your cell what they’re up against or let them reconnoiter
and find out for themselves?
You can pick the map yourself or let everyone vote on it. Once
that’s done, let your conscience decide whether you want your team
to be the good guys or the bad. Do you see yourself as a terrorist,
burning with revolutionary fervor (or just hoping to blow stuff
up), or would you rather be a counter-terrorist riding to the
rescue? We know which of the two the hostages would rather
see.
Match Options
Now that you’ve got the big picture established, you can delve into
the nitty-gritty. The Custom Match option lets you determine Match
Time Limit (from 0 to 60 minutes at increments of 5 minutes), and
Match Round Limit (0 to 20). You can also set the Round Time Limit
(1 to 9 minutes).
Delving even deeper into the game strategy, you can set the Freeze
Time. This determines how much time players have to buy ammunition
before the round starts (0 to 15 seconds). You can set the Buy Time
as well, to give your players more or less time to buy weapons,
armor, and equipment. Buy time stretches from 15 seconds to
unlimited (in 15-second increments).
You can give your players all the time in the world to purchase
their equipment, but limit their Starting Money ($800 to $16,000).
In other words, you’re Charlie, and these are your Angels. You fund
them as you see fit. Any money they find along the way is theirs to
use as they please, of course.
Danger Options
Last, but not least, you can add to the hazards of your team’s
mission by turning on Friendly Fire. Don’t want it? You don’t need
to have it. You can turn it off just as easily. You can also
pre-set the Bomb Timer (from 15 to 90 seconds). So, are you going
to warn them how fast those bombs go off? They are on your team,
after all (but maybe it’s more fun to keep them guessing).
The point of a good game isn’t to get off easy. Challenge yourself
and your fellow players. Push them to the edge of their abilities.
Make them fear for their fictional little lives, and you’ll have
them eating out of your hand!
Counter-Strike for Xbox gives you the power to be the head
honcho! But, watch where you’re aiming that thing—this Xbox
Live game might just blow your head off.
