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Have You Played… CS:GO - Danger Zone?Hex appeal
Hex appeal
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun
It’s been over a year, and I still have yet to find an idea in any game that comes close to matching the brilliance of the interlocking hex-tablet-drone system inCounter-Strike: Global Offensive’s battle royale mode,Danger Zone. It belongs to the extremely select class of new ideas in games that not only offers several compelling points of departure from the tried-and-tested genre formula, but also solves almost every single one of the problems that have plagued the genre since its inception.
To explain what I mean, I’ve boiled down what I consider to be the four biggest issues inherent in the traditional battle royale formula: camping, third-partying, reliance on RNG, and extended periods of inactivity. Nearly every battle royale out there (certainly the big three - Fortnite, PUBG, andApex Legends) suffer from each of these flaws to various degrees. But Danger Zone somehow concocted its own formula - one which nullifies these issues more effectively than any of its peers.
Every Danger Zone player starts the game with a tablet, which they can consult at any time. This tablet has two functions, the first of which is to display the map, divided into hexes, and highlighting every hex containing at least one player. This is a move of sheer unbridled fucking genius: not only does it encourage you to hunt down players that stay still for too long (eliminating the camping issue)withoutgiving you so much information that it feels unfair; but it also leads to moments of great tension and growing horror, where you’re trying to work out if an enemy is inside your hex or not. What’s more, if you’ve the wherewithal to use your tablet after a kill to check everyone’s whereabouts, you can prepare yourself for opportunistic third parties far better than in any other battle royale.
So that’s all four issues solved: no camping, a stronger defence against third-partying, far less reliance on RNG, and no extended periods of inactivity. Wrap all that up with the absolutely masterful gunplay of Global Offensive, and you’ve got yourself an absolute cracker of a battle royale.
