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Remembering Counter-Strike’s forgotten beta mapsA tour of the past, with jeeps
A tour of the past, with jeeps
I didn’t play CS intently so I have a fair few gaps, but I did enjoy going back and seeing maps from betas I hadn’t seen. More maps were removed between v1.0 and 1.6, mind, but these are the babies which never made it past beta. Let’s start with the maps most recently removed, and work backwards to Beta 1.0.
de_jeepathon2k
Okay, Jeepathon wasn’t a proper map. It was a test map showing off CS’s new vehicles, a feature which did not work super great. It is unusually both a hostage rescue map and a bombing map (destroying a toilet), but none of that matters because you’d just zoom around in the janky jeeps doing bad tricks and getting stuck in the ground, until someone had enough cash for an AWP and just shot everyone. Killjoys. Still, it was nothing compared to the version of cs_siege with a driveable APC that people would use to drive unwitting passengers into deadly spots.
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as_forest
cs_docks
I like the detail of dinghys with paddles at CT spawn. Justin also made Siege, which has been in CS since Beta 1.0 and is still around with a remake inCS:GO, though he sadly died in 2000.
de_railroad
Okay, this is one map I’d fully forgotten until I spawned in next to a train and OH MY GOD it’s that one where you can drive trains around in a big loop. Why would you ever not just drive the trains around? Because it’s a terrible idea that will surely get you killed. But also, you can just do it. So I would.
es_trinity
Trinity was Counter-Strike’s last map for Escape mode, where one unarmed team had to flee to an evac point, maybe scavenging some weapons along the way, while being pursued. I had fully forgotten about this mode. While CS removed all es_ maps, the mode is still in the game, albeit bugged. Mike Rosser later made the map de_vegas.
as_riverside
Another Assassination map, this time escorting a VIP through a city with canals. Sure are some looong sniping sightlines for a map about escorting an unarmed idiot. What caught my eye was the contrast between a photosourced brick texture for most buildings and water that’s the bluest blue swirl of cartoony caustics.
de_fang
This was a surprise to me! It’s a dense map with a lot of rooftops, all of which you can get up on. That feels quite rare in CS, which rarely makes you watch up around you at all times. Bieg also made de_nuke, which has been in CS for yonks, coming through to CS: Source and GO too.
es_frantic
An Escape map barrelling through a New York City subway. I have no memories of this but have quite liked the architectural flourishes of arches and stone reliefs. He later made de_aztec.
es_jail
Man, I had not remembered half these Escape maps. The mode wasn’t around long, mind.
cs_bunker
Surprisingly dramatic spawn point, this one, with a real feel that a terrible incident is in progress. Fun fact: Matt Van Sickler directedDiary Of A Camper, aQuakemovie which was perhaps the first piece of machinima.
cs_facility
A remake of the GoldenEye map Facility, complete with its squillion sliding doors.
cs_iraq
Wait, is this going to be our tour’s only sighting of the ubiquitous de_dust texture set?
cs_ship
A lot of dingy corridors but what a lovely bright skybox! The sky of a pleasure cruise, if not the ship.
cs_station
Lots of Half-Life textures here! For a game which came to develop a photosourced style, I was charmed to see so many old Half-Life floors, monitors, and bits. CS’s roots are really visible here, which is just what I want to see on a historical tour. Steve ended up at Epic Games and was creative director on their MOBA, Paragon.
cs_tire
A rusty and crate-filled “war-torn retirement home”, this one. Johnston later made de_dust and de_dust2, which have stuck around far, far longer. He’sblogged about creating Tireand lessons learned from it.
cs_desert
Haha okay, now we’re really back to exposed Half-Life roots. Straight out of Surface Tension, this look. I had thought this terrain style was kinda familiar and, surprise: Timm also made the Action Quake 2 maps Jungle1 and Teamjungle.
cs_hideout
Sure it’s a cold concrete bunker, but it does have cosy living quarters.
cs_mansion
Here we go, one of the original CS maps. It lasted longer than some. I see fans have remade it for newer CS games too. Bless.
cs_zoption
Another from Poor Yurik! This was before my time, and I was not expecting to findFallout’s Vault 13.
cs_alley1
Another mapper I was not surprised to learn had mapped for AQ2 before.
cs_prison
Well into those chunky ladders:
cs_wpndepot
And that’s it, the end of our tour. We’ve come back all the way. Tell me about your CS memories, gang, your now-outcast beta experiences.
Oh, and I must thank the folks on theCS Fandom wikifor their handy archives of beta patch notes and map credits.
Disclosure: Ah! I just remembered that I got an old laptop off Dave Johnston, like, forever ago.
