By John Walker on July 25th, 2008 at 12:36 am.
I mentioned this in a throwaway bit below, but it seems it might be worthy of further enquiry. The forthcoming Cross Fire, which today released its first batch of screenshots for this Autumn’s UK release, at first glance looks similar to Counter-Strike. Look closely and you’ll see the models, textures, etc, are all different. But it’s obviously a similar game.
It began with the Asian version (only works in IE). After launching in Vietnam, it’s been out for about a year and has picked up, they claim, over a million players in Korea. But things get weird when you look at the video below, claiming to be from the Chinese Cross Fire: it’s clearly de_dust2. It seems completely improbable that the game would contain maps from another game, and most likely this is a user mod, importing a favourite map into Cross Fire’s engine.
We’ve ask G4BOX, the Canadian company publishing the Western version of the game, and their PR contact, to see if we can clear up the confusion.
Thanks to reader Cooper for the video tip.
25/07/2008 at 00:56 Chris R says:
Really terrible graphics. Looks like the original Half-Life engine, before source, hah.
25/07/2008 at 00:57 DazzeL says:
These observations are from a hardcore CS 1.6 player of 5 years…
Omg at the footstep noises, exactly the same as 1.6. The reload sounds extremely similar if not exactly the same as does the flashbang sound.
Don’t be fooled by those graphics either, they’re nowhere close to the original Half Life engine or the tweaked version CS 1.6 runs on. Honestly, these are so much worse.
25/07/2008 at 01:07 Zed says:
Might just be the FLV compression.
25/07/2008 at 01:26 Aubrey says:
Ohh, I sit next to dusty dave johnson at work. He’ll have to have a look at this.
/me waves at dave.
25/07/2008 at 02:01 Steelfist says:
“Might just be the FLV compression.”
In English: The video machine did dun record it bad.
25/07/2008 at 02:32 Robin says:
Wouldn’t be surprised. Counter-Strike is huge in China, and I’ve seen Chinese developers apply the just-about-generic term “CS” to their somewhat familiarly-themed games in the past.
I’ve also seen Western developers slap “GT” on anything that could at a cursory glance be thought to have something to do with Gran Turismo, but that’s slightly less blatant. Only slightly.
25/07/2008 at 04:37 Matt says:
I haven’t played CS:S in 2 years, CS in even longer, and I immediately recognized it all.
RPS should make a 7-bit rip of Super Mario Bros.
25/07/2008 at 04:40 Switchbreak says:
Man, even with the bad graphics, just looking at that makes my old CS addiction twitch.
25/07/2008 at 05:01 caesarbear says:
It’s ever so slightly different. I think they’ll be able to claim it’s all there own work, but yeah the “intellectual” of the Counter Strike IP has clearly been taken hostage.
25/07/2008 at 06:41 Lh'owon says:
@caesarbear: I’m dissapointed you didn’t draw the hostage metaphor out to ridiculous lengths.
25/07/2008 at 06:50 Taximan says:
Vietnam is an interesting coincidence, since (AFAIK), that is where the original Counter-Strike project’s lead Minh “Gooseman” Le’s family emigrated from.
Mabye he’s some sort of folk-hero among the internet cognoscenti there?
25/07/2008 at 07:37 caesarbear says:
@Lh’owon: I’m just saying that if you put a gun to their heads, they might surrender to a breach of copyright, but otherwise there’s no recoil from hijacking the aspect of such a dignitary of gaming.
25/07/2008 at 09:11 Feet says:
I read something about this a long time ago. I think it was meant to be CounterStrike that you played in gaming cafes, or in arcades.
25/07/2008 at 09:26 THX-1138 says:
@Feet
That could be CS:Neo, a Japanese arcade version of CS:Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-Strike_Neo.
25/07/2008 at 09:34 AbyssUK says:
Who cares honestly…CS makes me yawn.
25/07/2008 at 09:44 Nuyan says:
Same as Switchbreak, I’d almost want to play it. Whatever people say, Counter-Strike certainly was awesome and I can fully understand why people still play it.
25/07/2008 at 09:51 Crispy says:
Astoundingly similar, right down to switching to knife to increase your speed.
The map could be user-content, as could the sounds for that matter. It’s not improbable that a CS fan playing a CS clone would want to make his 2-bit copy feel more like the real thing. It’s difficult to tell just how much is the actual game.
The dust2 ripoff is fairly awful anyway; although the geometry is pretty accurate (accurate enough to be a BSP rip?), the textures are goddamn terrible and the lighting, well there’s no reason for it to be that bad, even for tourney play.
25/07/2008 at 10:39 Feet says:
@ THX
Ah yes, that’s what I was thinking of. My mistake.
25/07/2008 at 11:01 shinygerbil says:
See, I look at that and all I think is “why isn’t he right-clicking to look down the sight?” :(
Call of Duty has warped me forever.
25/07/2008 at 11:26 nakke says:
Movement and general feeling of the graphics seem to be miles behind the HL1 engine (aka CS 1.6).
25/07/2008 at 11:28 Andy says:
Basts!! Counter-Strike is my favourite game evar, they must not be allowed to get away with this shoddy rip off! Now everyone go play the real CS
25/07/2008 at 11:54 Tomzor! says:
More uncanny than an empty can.
25/07/2008 at 12:33 Steelfist says:
@caesarbear
Well, if Valve’s lawyers could simply persuade these ‘hostages’ to follow them, they could perhaps lead them to the ‘drop off point’ that is a successful out of court settlement, which would lead to monetary gain for vavle.
Sorry.
25/07/2008 at 12:40 rei says:
Limbo of the Strike?
I tried :\
25/07/2008 at 13:47 antonymous says:
This is a completely new and shocking development in the gaming world: far-eastern clones of successful titles. Why has nobody ever thought of this before?
But if they ever do this to Pacman, I’ll have George W. bomb them out!
25/07/2008 at 16:12 Alex says:
Ha, it even has the little “let’s lock and load!” soundbite.
25/07/2008 at 17:12 Jay says:
My cousin was playing this when I was in China, and the first thing I thought was ‘Is this a CS mod?’
I asked and he sounded incredulous. It is VERY uncanny the way the game is played, right down to the AWP whoring, although if I recall correctly it appears to be class driven – snipers, assault, support etc
I had a go, and it seemed alright – it still feels very much like a mod though; a highly polished one, but still a mod
25/07/2008 at 18:47 vash47 says:
Seriously, that looks like shit.
26/07/2008 at 04:13 Erlam says:
“This is a completely new and shocking development in the gaming world: clones of successful titles.”
Fixed.
Man, those CT’s lose an awful lot ;)
I’m surprised this is being sold. Or at least, that a bigger stink hasn’t been made.
31/07/2008 at 21:43 RC-1290'Dreadnought' says:
@rei
The strike of limbo.
…
I didn’t even try :\
@shinygerbil
I had the same problem while playing CS:S a few days ago, after getting upset with some stupid design choices of COD4.