=== Scroll down for cs2 ===

=== CSGO ===
Csgo is a very fun multiplayer first-person shooter game that is realistic too. I have played for over 580 hours and although some people are annoying, that doesn't make me not want to play the game. This game is more enjoyable with 4 other friends. Csgo (not cs2) is worth the price for sure.

Now with 1,400 hours on the game, if you are going to play the game competitively you have to find someone who talks or at least is good at text-based call-outs, you both need to keep trying and most IMPORTANTLY have common sense. While everyone has there good and bad days depending on many reasons, you have to understand the maps and basic strategies before playing competitive. Despite this, the game is taken too seriously by many who are extremely toxic, I wouldn't expect this game's community to be filled with that 1% who have no humanity and just want to verbally abuse others for enjoyment or fulfilment.

With Dangerzone out, not enough people play it and the people who do play it don't care about teamwork and leave you to do whatever. It is almost impossible to win with a random on an average rank. You would need to have a perfect setup to get the win.

If you don't have a proper teammate, you can forget about grinding ranks, this is where I think the game fails miserably. 5v5 is impossible by yourself, 2v2 is impossible by yourself, 16 free for all is impossible by yourself. When I say yourself i mean "You are average and are able to win half of 1v1s", not everyone is an esport pro and everyone I meet in the game has so high standards that they themselves can't reach.

=== CS2 ===
Now a few years later, only a few hundred more hours poured into the game and cs2 just released. I've never felt the urge to want to go back to an inferior product in my life, and this has just changed. Although cs2 is certainly an 'upgrade' in visuals and audio (sometimes too much), I can't help but notice the performance loss I've experienced. Despite my computer becoming an ancient relic (only a few years old, but it never had a good graphics card to begin with), cs2 doesn't run even close to csgo. People will say, "Buy new components!" but that shouldn't be required for a game that I just played a week ago and was fine.

This is where I think valve has been completely dishonest and has, to be honest, stooped down to the levels of ubisoft and EA with their ♥♥♥♥ products and scammy practices. Valve should have never replaced csgo in an 'update', regardless of my performance experience with the game, it is a half finished product lacking most basic features from csgo and lacks optimisations. Counter-Strike has devolved in its accessibility which was the main selling point of this franchise. If Valve knew the issues with performance, cs2 shouldn't have been about beautification - the IP was never about that.

Another thing that ties along with the dishonesty, all the reviews from csgo have stuck to cs2 so on the steam store page, it immediately had 'very positive' reviews which gives this "update" (I hate that people call it that, its a whole new product) an unfair advantage. Valve please fix your game and realign yourselves as a leading company who is above these dishonest behaviours. Valve has lost a lot of trust from me as a consumer.

Moving on from the ethical practices and performance, the maps are definitely and upgrade in visuals as they feel like a lived-in environment and most importantly some have increased their playability with restructuring. However, the lighting is a bit too bright, you can no longer use the 'dark' to your advantage and lessens the dynamic of the game if everything is totally bright. Of course it does help visibility, but it looks unnatural, almost cartoony. I've previously commended the game for its realistic yet simplistic feel, holding a middle ground between Rainbow Six Siege / Call of Duty on one end and Fortnite / Overwatch / Halo on the other. But this visual enhancement tend to lean on the cartoony side (list of quick things I can remember: AWP bullet tracer expected from Halo, massive muzzle flashes expected from Fortnite, Rubbery default skins, player models are very clean/too perfect).

I'm disappointed in the lack of gamemodes that were previously available (not just maps), including those random gamemodes such as flying scouts, demolition and gun game which had so many maps that might never see the light of day anywhere else in the game. Although I mostly play wingman, for a while I played dangerzone way after it was released and quite enjoyed it. I played with the same friend for both wingman and dangerzone as the gamemodes lend well together for cooperation. I hope dangerzone will be put into cs2 just like all the other content which was quite literally robbed from the consumer who bought csgo and now have to deal with a totally different product.

In summation, cs2 has been, to put it bluntly, an unfinished and in many ways an inferior product which has been forced through dishonest tactics by Valve to remove csgo entirely, and make the community endure performance issues and lack of content previously available. Do better Valve!