Samstag, 10. Oktober 2020

CSGO Danger Zone (PC) Review


This is a review for the Battle Royale mode of Counter Strike Global Offensive. CSGO is the newest iteration (Release 2012) of the extremely popular Counter Strike Series. It is one of the most played and streamed games worldwide and even a lot of people outside of the videogame community will have heard of it. We are however today just looking at the Battle Royale Part of CSGO, that was implemented in December 2018. The mode got added into the game in the course of its transition from a buy to play game into an F2P model. Danger Zone is the name of the BR-mode and it's only playable on the PC-Version of the game, which obviously excludes all PS3 and Xbox360 players (all 3 of them ;).

Danger Zone could be played in Solo, Duo and Trio Squads. In Solo games there was a player maximum of 16, while in the other two modes a maximum of 18 participants could engage in the same match. In early 2019 the Solo and Trio modes got removed from the game permanently. This was probably done in order to keep Queue times low, but it feels like an exaggeration to me. CSGO player numbers are still very high at all times and the Duo Queue time for me has never been longer than a hand full of seconds. I believe Danger Zone could and should have kept supporting these modes.

There are 3 different maps in total in Danger Zone, which is more than practically all other BR games. Most other BRs either switch out their maps or use 2 in rotation, but Danger Zone puts all 3 maps in a regular rotation. I however have to say, that I encountered 'Blacksite' and 'Sirocco' a lot more than 'Jungle'. Blacksite is the original Map, with which Danger Zone released in 2018. Blacksite is an island mixed with industrial and nature environmental elements. The map has two large harbours with multiple storehouses in the south and east of the island. The other parts of the map consist of forest elements divided by various living houses, outposts and some bunkers. There is  also a small lighthouse island in the northwest of Blacksite.

Sirocco got added in 2019 and is a Mediterranean desert map. Sirocco is also an island and it has the shape of an X. In comparison to Blacksite this map is much more center focused with a large fortress in the middle of the map on a hill, that gives it a much higher altitude than the outside points of the map. The architecture of the storage buildings and houses is pretty similar to those of Blacksite, but Sirocco also has a couple of unique elements like a large wall wiggling through the west of the map. Since the fortress is so much higher placed than the outside cities and areas, there is a large tunnel system below the fortress making it easier to sneak to other places on the map below the surface. I really like this element. Even though apart from the unique twists of Sirocco most buildings look very similar to Blacksite, it still has a very different vibe because of the desert and rocky environment. In Sirocco verticality also plays a far bigger role than in Blacksite.

The third map Jungle is actually a community based map, that the developers rewarded by making it the third official map in rotation. As the name suggests, it is a jungle island, that has taken over elements like a lighthouse, a harbour or storage departments from the other two maps. Since this map was designed by a community member, I don't think it would be fair to criticize the repetition of elements. Especially since we also see some different components like hut villages on the beaches and generally more palm tree areas and grass fields divided by small rivers. Blacksite and Sirocco had far more buildings even within the nature parts of the map, while Jungle allows the map to feel like a true jungle with far fewer buildings in the center of the map. The POIs are all located at the outside zones. I feel it definitely works well for a map like Jungle and the map actually reminded me a lot of Far Cry 1. It is just a shame, that Jungle seems to appear far less often in the map rotation than the other two maps. (Edit: It seems that Jungle has recently been excluded from the map rotation...)

Every map is split up in different smaller part (hexagons). These hexagons will gradually start to shrink during the match. A black and red scab will start to consume the playable area in the closing hexagons. The damage outside the playable area remains the same throughout the whole match, which is different to most other BR games. Since the damage is not that high, it can be viable to shortly move outside of the zone to gain a tactical advantage even late into the game.

All players have to choose spawn locations around the map at the start of the match. There can only be one player per spawn location, but teammates can obviously decide to spawn in the surrounding area. The players rope down to their spawns from helicopters. All players start the match with just their fists as weapons and a small amount of cash. Aside from the spawn location players can also select a single piece of equipment they want to start the match with (Armour, a parachute or a ballistic shield for example).

As long as the teammate is still alive, players can respawn into the match. The living teammate doesn't have to collect anything (like a respawn beacon) and instead just has to survive for about 30 seconds after the other player got eliminated. I honestly would have preferred a system, where the surviving player has to buy his dead teammate back into the game via the tablet. Since the tablet/drones and money play such an essential role in Danger Zone, it would have fit a lot better into the gameplay. It would also have added the strategic element of having to decide whether you are going to invest in better weapons/items or to keep some savings for a respawn.

The Gunplay in Danger Zone is identical to the other CS modes. CS veterans therefore will feel right back home, while new players will have to get used to the CS gameplay. With the exception of snipers, nearly no weapons have the ability to aim down sight and standing still is practically necessary in order to shoot. Personally I have never been to fond of the CS gunplay in comparison to some of the other big FPS franchises. It is however important to state, that the Counter Strike franchise has a lot of fans, who completely love and adore this type of gunplay. Even though I am not the biggest fan, I still found the gameplay enjoyable.

The starting weapons for all players are their fists (Spoiler Alert: They are not that effective). Participants can furthermore either find weapons and items around the map or purchase them via money with their tablets. The weaponpool consists of various knifes, hammers or small axes as melee weapons, various Pistols, SMGs, Shotguns, Assault and Sniper Rifles. The weaponpool therefore is quite comparable to the other CSGO modes. Items in Danger Zone involve Grenades, Bombs (Which have an enormous area of effect, but are very slow. You can stand 30-40 meters away and still die from the blast), Armour, Health Syringes and Ammunition Boxes.

There are also various Lootboxes scattered around the Danger Zone maps, which contain different weapon and equipment rewards. The less valuable lootboxes can be broken via fists, while the better ones require heavier weapons to be opened. Aside from lootboxes there are also safes, which have to be opened with the bombs/C4, which is not only going to be very noisy, but it will also leave some smoke signals, that easily can attract nearby players. The only other source of findable loot are the locked prison cells, which can either be exploded as well or be opened via a purchase.    

Another way to earn money in Danger Zone by the way are the ingame missions. Players can open suitcases with assassination contracts on other players or alternatively escort hostages to evacuation points. I like the involvement of this missions in Danger Zone (COD Warzone later on also implemented such a contract system into its BR game).

Probably the standout feature of Danger Zone is the tablet. Every player starts with a tablet into the match and it can either show the current map or be used for purchases. The tablet shows which parts of the map have already been closed and indicates the presence of players in hexagons by highlighting them in a yellow colour. The tablet is therefore an extremely useful tool for recon activities. The tablet also allows ordering drones to bring you weapon or item deliveries. Money for these purchases can either simply be looted around the map or taken from defeated enemies. More valuable equipment like sniper rifles or tablet upgrades are obviously more expansive, but usually worth saving for. An upgraded tablet for example can show the position of incoming items drones from other players or the next zone position. (Nearby flying Item drones can also by the way be shot down and you can steal the items before they arrive at the player, who ordered them. Item drones can also give away the position of other players if you follow them quick enough.) In the beginning I was a bit sceptical about the tablet and item drones, but I came to the believe, that they were essential elements in order to differentiate Danger Zone from the wide crowd of other Battle Royale games.   

CSGO in general is even in 2020 still an insanely popular game. Danger Zone however has never received the same amount of sympathy from both the Counter Strike community as well as BR fans. Veteran players saw the introduction of Danger Zone into CS, same as the F2P transition, as bad signs and unnecessary steps. That being said Danger Zone has despite its lack of popularity a very healthy playerbase. There is always a mix of some of the fans of the mode as well as bored veterans and new F2P players. Because Danger Zone also only requires 18 players to start a match, it is reasonable to assume that Danger Zone servers despite any major updates in quite a while (Last real content update around 1 year ago) will continue to be online for years to come.

Danger Zone players will be classified into different ranks, ranging from 'Lab Rat 1' to 'Howling Alpha'. These ranks are mostly just of cosmetic nature and players from all kinds of skill levels and ranks will, according to Valve, be mixed into lobbies. There is not supposed to be something like Skillbased matchmaking, which some people will like and others maybe not so much.

Another issue we have to talk about with nearly every PC-Game is the Cheater situation. I myself only once encountered a player, who in Replay looked to have used a wall-hack. I have however heard of many other players complaining about cheaters in Danger Zone and generally in CSGO becoming an issue after the F2P transition of the game. I am a CSGO Prime player, which might have been helping. If you are a free player, you might be less lucky concerning cheaters.    

 

Pro:

-3 different maps

-Unique Tablet and item drone system

-Survival atmosphere

-Healthy playerbase

-Ingame missions

(-CSGO Gameplay?)

 

Contra:

-Outdated visuals

-Lack of Solo and Squad modes

-Auto Respawns

-Cheater Situation

(-CS Gunplay?)

 

Result:

CSGO Danger Zone is a small scale Battle Royale game (I honestly would be curious how Danger Zone would play out on a larger map with around 50 players). Despite that I liked both the different maps as well as the unique elements like the tablets and item drone deliveries. Visually Danger Zone however is not on par with the competition in the BR genre, which is mostly based on the age of CSGO (Release 2012). Much more important than visuals however is the gameplay, which for me is a bit of a double edged sword. I personally am just not that fond of the CS gunplay, but that obviously is a very subjective point of view. On the other hand Danger Zone manages to produce the survival atmosphere, that I really enjoy to see in BR games. Aspects that further bring the score down for me are the lack of Solo and Squad modes, the too easy respawn system and the threat of cheaters. CS fans and BR enthusiasts may want to give it a try, but I also wouldn't classify Danger Zone as a must play BR game.

6/10

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