I’ve been playing Counter-Strike since 1.6, through Source, CS:GO, and now CS2. I really wanted to love this game — and at times, I do. But after hundreds of hours in CS2, it’s clear that something’s off.

When CS2 dropped, it promised a new era — better graphics, the Source 2 engine, reworked smokes, and improved gameplay. Visually, yeah, it’s a step up. The maps look clean, the lighting is beautiful, and those dynamic smokes are actually pretty clever. The core shooting still feels good — when everything’s running right, it’s still the Counter-Strike I grew up with.

But the current state of the game drags all that down hard. Performance is inconsistent, hit-reg sometimes feels random, and a lot of old features are still missing. You can tell Valve rushed CS2 out to replace CS:GO before it was truly ready.

And then there’s the cheating problem — easily the worst it’s ever been. Every few matches you run into someone with impossible reactions, perfect aim, or wall tracking that’s way too obvious. VAC and Overwatch feel useless; it’s like cheaters know they can get away with anything. You can report them, but it often feels like shouting into the void.
The worst part is that it completely ruins trust in the ranked experience. Every close round makes you second-guess whether you lost because of skill or because someone was running third-party software.

What used to make Counter-Strike great was the purity of the competition — two teams, fair play, raw skill. CS2 still has that DNA somewhere inside, but it’s buried under technical issues, poor matchmaking, and a community that’s starting to lose patience.

Valve’s updates show slow progress, but it’s not enough yet. After two years, CS2 still feels like an experiment instead of the polished evolution CS:GO deserved.

⭐ My rating: 6 / 10

The heart of Counter-Strike is still beating, but it’s trapped inside a rough and unfinished body. The gunplay is still brilliant, but cheaters, bugs, and missing features drag it down. CS2 could be great — someday. But right now, it’s more frustration than fun.

I’ve been playing Counter-Strike since 1.6, through Source, CS:GO, and now CS2. I really wanted to love this game — and at times, I do. But after hundreds of hours in CS2, it’s clear that something’s off. When CS2 dropped, it promised a new era — better graphics, the Source 2 engine, reworked smokes, and improved gameplay. Visually, yeah, it’s a step up. The maps look clean, the lighting is beautiful, and those dynamic smokes are actually pretty clever. The core shooting still feels good — when everything’s running right, it’s still the Counter-Strike I grew up with. But the current state of the game drags all that down hard. Performance is inconsistent, hit-reg sometimes feels random, and a lot of old features are still missing. You can tell Valve rushed CS2 out to replace CS:GO before it was truly ready. And then there’s the cheating problem — easily the worst it’s ever been. Every few matches you run into someone with impossible reactions, perfect aim, or wall tracking that’s way too obvious. VAC and Overwatch feel useless; it’s like cheaters know they can get away with anything. You can report them, but it often feels like shouting into the void. The worst part is that it completely ruins trust in the ranked experience. Every close round makes you second-guess whether you lost because of skill or because someone was running third-party software. What used to make Counter-Strike great was the purity of the competition — two teams, fair play, raw skill. CS2 still has that DNA somewhere inside, but it’s buried under technical issues, poor matchmaking, and a community that’s starting to lose patience. Valve’s updates show slow progress, but it’s not enough yet. After two years, CS2 still feels like an experiment instead of the polished evolution CS:GO deserved. ⭐ My rating: 6 / 10 The heart of Counter-Strike is still beating, but it’s trapped inside a rough and unfinished body. The gunplay is still brilliant, but cheaters, bugs, and missing features drag it down. CS2 could be great — someday. But right now, it’s more frustration than fun.