Between 1.6, Source, CSGO, and Counter-Strike 2, the PC’s favorite multiplayer shooter has been through innumerate changes in the last 25 years. Originally a mod for Valve’s Half-Life, Counter-Strike has grown into the most popular game on Steam. But despite its myriad evolutions, there has been one constant: from its earliest days to its modern mega stardom, in CS, the most controversial weapon has always been the AWP. A bolt-action sniper rifle that deals serious damage, the AWP is Counter-Strike’s high-risk, high-reward gambit gun. To some, it’s a ballistic instrument that takes mastery and skill. To others, it’s an overpowered menace used only by the lowliest players. Now, Counter-Strike’s co-creator weighs in.
Minh Le, perhaps better known to the Counter-Strike devout as ‘Gooseman,’ built the original version of the FPS game alongside Jess Cliffe. A mod for Half-Life, it was also inspired by a former Quake 2 mod, Action Quake, which included a competitive mode where respawn was disabled. After Counter-Strike was bought by Valve, Le worked at the Half-Life 2 and Portal creator before moving to Facepunch to develop Rust, and then to Pearl Abyss, the studio behind Black Desert Online. In a recent interview with Norwegian publication Spillhistorie, Le discusses some of the early responses to Counter-Strike.
“Originally we had teams of 12 vs 12,” Le says, “and eventually the size of the teams became smaller. I guess it was because players didn’t like the chaos of having so many players on a small map. Siege and Facility were some of my favourite maps. I also really wanted to love 747, but I think having linear maps was really bad for gameplay.
“de_dust took all of us by surprise. We never thought it was that special when we first playtested it, but we were pleasantly surprised to see it become the standard Counter-Strike map. The mapper who made de_dust was extremely intelligent and spent a lot of time tweaking the design to make it fun and balanced.”
Le also says he is “happy with how things turned out with Valve,” and that the company has done a “great job” of maintaining Counter-Strike’s legacy. On the AWP, however, the developer has some regrets.
“I realized around beta 3 that Counter-Strike had grown to a level that I was not expecting,” Le explains, “That’s when I realized the huge potential to make Counter-Strike the best multiplayer FPS of the time. I regret not balancing some of the weapons, such as the AWP. I think it gets overused and has become a bit of a meta gun.”
Balance in Counter-Strike is extremely delicate – just recently, a slight change to the placement of some wooden crates in CS2’s own Dust 2 has potentially changed the rhythm and momentum of the entire map. Should the AWP have been less powerful? Personally, I think it’s worth sacrificing minute points of gameplay if it gives a shooter some identity. You could make a ‘fairer’ AWP, but then Counter-Strike would lose one of its biggest icons, and with it, part of its legacy.
Check out some of the other best multiplayer games ever made to see what ranks alongside Counter-Strike. If you’re still rampaging through Valve’s shooter, we’d also recommend the best CS2 crosshairs.
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