My love affair with Counter-Strike began back in 1999 through LANning with local friends, moving on to playing through college and beyond as a current past-time to take away the career woes I constantly go through. Always told myself through all of it that one day I would make it a career. 17 years later, I've finally let go of that dream - in the days where skill is automatically assessed, a cheap game leads to pisspoor anti-cheat management, and a younger generation with god-like reflexes, its finally settled into a true hobby at this point. Do I have complaints about the game? Sure, so many that I cannot even begin to list them. Much like my relationship with my Volkswagens though, it is truly the worst love-hate relationship one can have. I recommend that anyone playing this game for the first time takes the time to reflect back on the shrinking list of youtube videos that exist from the 1.3-1.5 days of the original release - especially the Pubmasters videos. You may just learn a thing or two about how great this game used to be and how it got to the state it is in now.

All things considered, if you didn't have the unique opportunity to see this game in its early phases, I firmly believe that anyone who loves FPS games needs to give this one a try. You'll more than likely find the same love-hate relationship that is known as CS:GO.