Condition Zero: Sneak peek

We now bring you the sequel to our earlier Counter-Strike: Condition Zero preview, which we unfortunately had to withdraw because of the fact that Vivendi Universal weren't meant to show us the game yet. As promised we now bring you more about Condition Zero. We were lucky enough to go visit VALVe's Doug Lombardi who showed the game to us. We taped it, and now we will share the fun with you.

Four videos were recorded - each revealing new things that you haven't yet seen about Counter-Strike: Condition Zero.

UPDATE: We have now created an Ultimate Edition of the Condition Zero movies in top quality DivX format only weighing 120 MB... download it right here.

Introduction

Doug Lombardi starts presenting the game for us. We find ourselves in eastern Europe where a group of terrorists have hidden a bomb in a church. The Counter-Terrorist squad have just arrived and their job is to prevent to bomb from going off. In this clip we see the sniper rifle and some of the most interesting differences from the original Half-Life/Counter-Strike - namely the scripts that are implemented in CZ. Notice how the man from the church tower falls down and hits the cross.

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The gameplay

We've seen it before - just before each mission we see a short movieclip which describes the situation and our mission. In this example we are on our way in the Counter-Terrorists chopper. While we're getting briefed about the mission, the helicopter is taken down. We now find ourselves in a terrorist paradise. If you are succesful in the missions you will also be rewarded afterwards. In this example we get the opportunity to call in an airstrike via the radio. Also here Ritual have put some effort in scripting cool effects. Look how the building falls down over the terrorists - ain't it beautiful? Airstrikes are not the only help that we get. Sometimes we meet other Counter-Terrorists in the missions who are willing to help us out.

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New models...

Condition Zero's new models haven't been mentioned very much lately. CZ brings quite a few new models, and this video shows us the different CT models. They are placed in a "testing-room", which hasn't any other purpose than to test whether the models behave correctly or not. They are set up side by side with the old models so we can clearly see the difference. Furthermore we see the AI's reactions when you shoot at them. Since Half-Life they are way more intelligent now - they take aim, duck and run when they are attacked. Have a look at it...

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Singleplayer - all around the world

Condition Zero

We are brought all around the world in Condition Zero's singleplayer part. From the deserts of the Middle East, snow covered places in Eastern Europe, urban places like New York and Miami in the USA and Tokyo's underground in Asia are just a few of the places where terrorism needs to be brought down.

In this video we are taken to a drug lab in Columbia, South America and have to go through the rain forest first. It can be difficult to hear and see it on the video, but the rain is pouring down monotonously. Actually the graphics are very nice in these kind of missions.

You'll see some new effects in this clip including the enemy's laser sight, and our own mini-bomb which is to be used to get through the missions by blowing up pipelines, walls etc. We are also introduced to the blow torch which is to be used for opening locks. Lombardi didn't know how to use it correctly though...

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You've probably seen a lot of screenshots and read a lot of previews by now. But that's nothing compared to these videos which will give you a nice picture of what to expect from Counter-Strike: Condition Zero. I suggest you download them in the highest quality even though they are quite big files. The quality is not great but we had to demarcate them this way so they wouldn't be even bigger.

Condition Zero will be available on your local computer stores' shelves all over the world on the first of September. Until then these videos will have to do.