The release of CS2 was a huge event in the gaming community, bringing the most popular online shooter up to the modern standards. And while the basic features of the game remain identical to Counter Strike: Global Offensive, the game still received a major overhaul, with many of the important features significantly changed with the new iteration.
Are you wondering what gameplay changes were exactly implemented? We’re here to help! Here are all the most important differences between CS2 and CSGO!
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Ranked Mode
Right off the bat, it’s important to mention changes within competitive play. CSGO included a single competitive mode, where players could earn ranks based on their skills and individual performance. CS2 added a significant change to ranked gameplay, with two separate ranked modes. These are competitive and premier
Competitive Mode
Competitive mode in CS2 is very similar to the original Counter Strike: Global Offensive ranked mode. It utilizes the same ranks from Silver to Global Elite, with one significant difference. Players get a separate CS2 rank for each active duty map in the competitive mode. This means that you can be Silver at Dust II, while at the same time holding high Gold at Inferno. The competitive mode is a great way to test your game in a ranked environment, while at the same time learning maps currently in the rotation.
Premier Mode
Premier mode is a brand new competitive mode added to Counter Strike, meant to emulate the professional gameplay. It features a completely re-worked ranked gameplay, where the first team gets to draft the map that will be played, while the second team gets to choose whether they want to go Terrorist or Counter-Terrorist first. In addition, it includes one of the new features in the form of a completely overhauled ranking system. Instead of a standard rank, each player gets their own premier rating, which is an ELO number representing their overall skill level. Premier mode is meant as a real test of the player’s skill. Also, make sure you check out our article about what’s new in premier season two!
Improved Graphics
While CS:GO didn’t look too bad graphics-wise, the game was over a decade old, and both the models as well as the old Source engine were outdated according to modern standards. One of the biggest changes in CS2 is the complete graphics overhaul. Virtually every aspect of the game’s graphics has been re-worked to take advantage of modern hardware. Improved lighting, new player and gun models, improved map textures are just a couple of the differences introduced in the new version, marking a clear difference between the two games.
Overhaul Maps
Another important change added to the game is overhauled maps. Not all of the maps required the same amount of work, and Valve separated them into three different categories, based on the amount of work required. These are Full Overhaul, Upgrade, and Touchstone. Full overhaul maps received the most significant changes going beyond small tweaks, balancing them slightly better for competitive gameplay. Upgrade maps and Touchstone pool received mostly just graphical upgrades, taking full advantage of the improved Source 2 graphics.
Improved Tick Rate
Tick rate is a special feature in Counter Strike, which determines a lot of your game’s performance. In simple terms, tick rate dictates how fast the game sends and receives data to the servers. This has great impact on your game, affecting frame rates, responsiveness, performance, and virtually any aspect of online play.
In order to improve the tick rate and provide a more responsive experience, Valve changed it in CS2 to a sub tick system. With this change in place, the game sends data at an improved pace and shorter intervals, which translates into smoother gameplay.
New Smoke Grenades
With the improved physics engine, the game also added a complete overhaul for smoke grenades in CS2. They still work the same, providing cover and denying certain parts of the map, the new physics engine allows for a more realistic smoke effect.
As the CS developers have stated themselves, smoke grenades are now “dynamic volumetric objects that interact with the environment and react to lighting, gunfire and explosions”. This means that while they retain their important role and features, players will now have more chance to interact with the smoke covers. They can be blown away with explosions, pierced by gunshots, and the smoke’s size and volume will fit the room an location where it’s dropped, giving it a more realistic feel.
In Conclusion
As you can see, there are many significant changes introduced in Counter Strike 2. While at the core it’s still the same old shooter, the changes not only expand and re-fresh the game, but also gibe you more place to effectively use the game’s features in your own matches.
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