Needless to say, when I checked my Steam account and saw that the CounterStrike:Source beta was available, I clicked download without hesitation. What follows are my first impressions of the new Source engine. (also see another writeup with screenshots at PlanetHalflife)

There are two options when you start: the first is to run a stress test, which looks like a scaled down version of the tech-demo that Valve showed at E3 last year. The second option is to play CS with the new engine.

I tried the stress test first, which blazed at 45 fps (on Athlon XP 3200+, ATI 9600XT, A7N8X-E mobo, 1GB RAM). From the test, some (but not all) of the shader logic was in, however art assets looked intentionally scaled down (fewer polys). The transparent figure in front of the fire and the revolving mattresses showed off some of the fancy pixel shaders in Source. But when all is said and done, the stress test offered only a small taste of the E3 footage, and appears to be primarily for collecting machine spec/stats for Valve so they can complete some last-minute fine tuning for the majority platforms out there.

Next, I cranked up a game of CS. The only available map is a remake of de_dust, which at first struck me as being very close to the original. However there are noticeable changes in the following areas:

Level design:

All the textures have been redone, as well as incidental fixtures and junk (bottles, cans, etc.) spread around for effect. Some architectural flourishes have been added (windows, arches, etc.), but overall the map stays true to the original. The most notable departure is in the “tunnels” to zone A, they have added a large interior dome that has small mosque-like windows streaming a little sunlight in. (Dust swirls by as you watch).

The one thing they seem to have skimped on in the level design for dust is doing a better job on light-maps. The level feels a bit too bright and lacks depth without them.

Sound design:

All the sounds in the level are impeccably done. When you fire a weapon at different surfaces you get different impact sounds. For example, fire at a junked car and you hear bullets hitting metal (and see sparks randomly); fire at wood, and you hear a wood impact (you also see splinters fly off, which is a nice effect); or fire at stone and hear stone crack and pieces fly off. Weapon sounds are very polished and seem close to how they’ll be for the release.

Music sources have been updated with longer samples and better quality. However, the voice commands are still pretty close to the identical. “That’s affirmative!” Voice chat is supported in game, although I didn’t get a chance to try multiplayer yet.

Night Vision:

This mode looks much better than the original– it has a pretty realistic overbright for the daylit areas, and makes certain parts of the map (like the mosque-dome) look more impressive.

Physics and Weapon Accuracy:

Weapons seem much more realistic now than in the original CS. These guns fire more like weapons in a modern shooter such as Far Cry… there is some randomness depending on your speed, aim, etc. but it feels like randomness based on physics as opposed to the old style CS quirks. In a word, *solid*. (hopefully I don’t end up eating my words as some guy crouches in a corner and suddenly becomes “invincible” to head-shots again…[this was an old cs bug in the original])

Next, barrels, bottles, cans — pretty much anything that isn’t “bolted down” can be shot, rolled, kicked…. some of the bullet physics seems a bit overdone (can you really play “kick the can” with a oil barrel and a UMP? Bottles shatter into pieces — and then you can shoot the pieces.

When the bomb goes off, the whole level shakes and the 3D audio roars with a deep foley-style explosion. Barrels, etc. can be seen flying through halls nearby the blast and if you are too close you’ll go flying as well.

Summary

It’s a nice showcase of a little Source technology, but it’s mostly subtle and anti-climatic compared to previous E3 footage of the source engine. It’s really more of a tool for Valve to collect tuning metrics and play data. CS fanatics will likely find it unpolished and aren’t missing anything great by waiting for the release.

Pros:

• physics is good, if somewhat exaggerated.
• textures, flashlight, nightvision, smoke grenade all done well.
• sound is excellent, physics-based sounds
• weapons more realistic than original (better physics)
• gameplay stays true to original

Cons:

• unpolished — minimal interface (of course, it’s beta!)
• lightmaps could use work.
• poly count seems intentionally low
• problems getting multiplayer to find servers

-lk