Counter-Strike: Global Offensive hostages piggyback to safety

For umpteen years now, the fundamentals of rescuing hostages Counter-Strike have remained the same. From the original mod, through the commercial release, the revamped Counter-Strike: Source, to the new CS: Global Offensive, you'd head to where they spawn, then lead all the idiot AIs home. But that young upstart shook things up in a patch yesterday, switching to randomised hostages you need to carry.

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For umpteen years now, the fundamentals of rescuing hostages in Counter-Strike have remained the same. From the original mod, through the commercial release, the revamped Counter-Strike: Source, to the new CS: Global Offensive, you'd head to where they spawn, then lead all the idiot AIs home. But that young upstart shook things up in a patch yesterday, switching to randomised hostages you need to carry.

Hostage maps now have only two hostages, spawned in locations randomised each match, and teams only need rescue one to win the round, Valve explains in a blog post. However, they're now bound and cannot walk. Counter-Terrorists will need to untie hostages then sling them over their shoulders and carry them to the rescue point, moving slowly under the weight of their orange freight. Picking a hostage up does extend the round timer, so time's not too much of a problem.

"You'll need to strategize and protect if your CT team wants to get a hostage to the Rescue Zone unscathed," Valve said. "And remember: hostages can’t get hurt in a firefight, but stray bullets that hit a hostage will cost you."

The full patch notes also reveal that bomb defusing is stopped if you turn too far away when working on it, so you may want a buddy to watch you back there too.

Valve's been quite experimental with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, by the conservative standards of CS anyway, introducing a Molotov cocktail which lets players block routes, messing with the hallowed weapon balance, and introducing deathmatch-y modes based on community-made mods, but the hostage changes are perhaps the greatest yet. It'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out.

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    March 22, 2013 6:00 AM

    Alice O'Connor posted a new article, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive hostages piggyback to safety.

    For umpteen years now, the fundamentals of rescuing hostages Counter-Strike have remained the same. From the original mod, through the commercial release, the revamped Counter-Strike: Source, to the new CS: Global Offensive, you'd head to where they spawn, then lead all the idiot AIs home. But that young upstart shook things up in a patch yesterday, switching to randomised hostages you need to carry.

    • reply
      March 22, 2013 6:29 AM

      Sounds kind of neat. Okay, I will try to start playing again.

    • reply
      March 22, 2013 6:36 AM

      Carrying hostages? Ain't nobody got time for that!

    • reply
      March 22, 2013 12:55 PM

      I''ve beel playing all night. It's fun.

    • reply
      March 22, 2013 1:06 PM

      Yeah but what about XBOX.. do they get all these cool updates or no?

    • reply
      March 22, 2013 1:53 PM

      Important question. Do you have to hit them over the head with a briefcase first?

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      March 23, 2013 6:10 PM

      I prefer having to escort the group of dumb AI hostages... it's funny and kinda a bit more realistic. Making you having to carry a hostage basically turns this mode into a type of capture the flag IMO. Hmmmm.

      Would be nice to have the option of playing with or without this update.

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