Counter-Strike maker's new game

By Robert Purchese Published 29 September, 2009

Tactical Intervention has dogs.

Counter-Strike co-creator Minh Le has resurfaced after years literally underground to talk about his new game, Tactical Intervention.

Due later year, and with a beta starting soon, TI shares many similarities with Le's seminal PC creation - not least the engine and visual style. It's what he's been able to do without Valve, however, that the developer hopes will set this game apart.

"I enjoyed Counter-Strike, but I wanted to have my own game," Le told IGN. "I was never able to put in all the cool features I wanted because the people who played Counter-Strike would [complain] about all the changes. They liked the game as it is."

Tactical Intervention sensibly treads the same boards as Counter-Strike. It's a tactical shooter based on terrorists and counter-terrorists, although TI has hostages running around the map dynamically responding to events in the world (gunfire, explosions, Strictly Come Dancing, etc).

Players and terrorists can also command attack dogs such as German Shepherds and Rottweilers, and set them upon targets to establish a better shot.

Minh Le said he "hated" snipers and campers in Counter-Strike, and that the wait between rounds was too lengthy, so TI will snip that down to around two minutes.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (27) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Dizzy #1 2 years ago

    I would prefer a Greyhound.

  • Eraysor #2 2 years ago

    "Due later year"

  • penhalion #3 2 years ago

    Anything that removes the sniper campers is a plus in my book

  • altitude2k #4 2 years ago

    Do you get to do a Burns-esque "release the hounds"?

  • ukBoodhunter #5 2 years ago

    I think im 1 of the people that wouldve complained had they brought many changes to cs.

    competitive gaming is where its at with cs at any rate.

  • Bazfrag #6 2 years ago

    A pistol is all you need to stop awp campers.

  • jambo74 #7 2 years ago

    Hot tamales and they red hot, yes, she got 'em for sale
    Hot tamales and they red hot, yes, she got 'em for sale
    I got a girl, say she long and tall
    She sleeps in the kitchen with her feets in the hall
    Hot tamales and they red hot, yes, she got 'em for sale, I mean
    Yes she got 'em for sale, yeah

  • JensonJet #8 2 years ago

    Sounds like more of the same. And it's taken him years to come up with this? And in five years time he'll come up with a Perk system?!?!

    On the sniper situation, it's easily resolved... take the sniper rifles out of the game.

    Is it safe to assume this game will be another bunny-hopping jump-fest? Because that what real soldiers do, don't they... jump when they're under fire!

  • dr_faulk #9 2 years ago

    St. Bernard for me, please.

  • chessboxer #10 2 years ago

    How about a multi-headed dog, like Cererus...

  • schnide #11 2 years ago

    Excuse me? Literally years underground?

    Did he develop Tactical Intervention sitting in a cave without accessing the modern world?

  • jonfon #12 2 years ago

    "How about a multi-headed dog, like Cererus..."

    Cerberus, surely?

    Sit Ubu, sit

    Good dog
    Edited by 2 at 29/09/09 @ 16:39

  • ps3owner #13 2 years ago

    dogs are way to obvious. we need sheep, a herd of them... with one black sheep that takes on the unsuspection sniper.

    There was a blonde who was sick of all the blonde jokes. One day, she decided to get a make over, so she cut and dyed her hair. She went driving down a country road and came across a herd of sheep. She stopped and called the sheep herder over.
    "Tell you what. I have a proposition for you," said the woman.
    "If I can guess the exact number of sheep in your flock, can I take one home?"
    "Sure," said the sheep herder. So, she sat up and looked at the herd for a second and then replied "382". "Wow!" said the herder.
    "That is exactly right. Go ahead and pick out the sheep you want to take home." So the woman went and picked one out and put it in her car.
    Then, the herder said, "Okay, now I have a proposition for you".
    "What is it?" queried the woman.
    "If I can guess the real color of your hair, can I have my dog back?"

  • Bazfrag #14 2 years ago

    For making CS, I would like to declare my love for Minh Le. Manly love.

  • Concrete #15 2 years ago

    As someone who is *still* playing CS, having started at 0.6, I think I should be offered a place on the Beta test...immediately. Hopefully Valve will use Steam data to offer active players the chance to participate, rather than the resorting to the usual Eurogamer style forum invasion cluster fuck method.

  • Davey #16 2 years ago

    Bloody glad he didn't get his way with adding ideas like dogs running around in CS, good lord.

  • Perjoss #17 2 years ago

    my x girl plays cs, so in a way there are already dogs running around in cs

  • stoopidgreg #18 2 years ago

    would be nice if he made it a bit more friendly for people without split second reactions and pin point aiming, or at least have less of a penalty for dying.

  • davisorle #19 2 years ago

    I lved CS:Source and my cla.. Thing is I got tired of it after a couple of years. So ill be glad to see somethign new from CS related. About time :)

  • mega7ech #20 2 years ago

    Yes I know this comment is bound to attract flames but I honestly do think the folk who created the original Counter Strike mod, did so by means of luck,determination,and a passion for gaming.....but most of all luck! No-one could of predicted the success of CS - to try and repeat that success will be difficult for even the most talented of developers..

  • olinn #21 2 years ago

    Minh Le said he "hated" snipers and campers in Counter-Strike, and that the wait between rounds was too lengthy, so TI will snip that down to around two minutes.

    Rounds have been reduced to 1 minute 45 seconds in competitive play or less, and most public servers have around 3 minutes tops roundtime.

    I think that TI will fail miserably, like someone here said earlier, the winning mixture was part luck, part dedication and hard work and timing. There have been many "tries" to repeat Counter-Strike's success , mods for billions of games and whatnot, but nothing lives on like CS.

  • Skurmedel #22 2 years ago

    I do agree with him on the changes, played Counter Strike years ago when I was younger and basically the only difference between now and then is that it's got hotter graphics now. Any change, even small ones were met with a torrent of whine back then.

  • videogangs #23 2 years ago

    I read elsewhere that he hopes to include large crowds of NPCs too, not just the odd bumbling hostage. If that can be pulled of convincingly I'll be impressed. I'd love to see some kind of crowd mode where terrorists could move about a busy marketplace to plant a bomb disguising themselves as npcs (armed only with pistols), and the CTs had to pick them out from the crowd with minimal bodycount. They could use the crowd to get to the objective (random each time), or risk an all out gunfight with a better armed force with body armour, sending civilians scattering and screaming.

    Animation system would have to be flawless though, maybe something Assassin's Creed esque.
    Edited by 4 at 30/09/09 @ 11:57

  • RustyBullet #24 2 years ago

    @Perjoss You went out with a dog? Whats wrong wouldent she lick ya balls or something. Sour Grapes. Death to all Campers.

  • smoison #25 2 years ago

    " Minh Le said he "hated" snipers and campers in Counter-Strike, "

    Awesome, camping snipers in any 3D shooter tend to suck.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #26 2 years ago

    I used to like it in the early days when counterstrike was in development and there's be half-completed features like vehicles and new game modes coming and going between releases.

    Since the great release of version 1.6 on Steam, it seems like all anybody's interested in is planting bombs on miniscule variations of DE_Dust.

    If this game goes back to the heady 'what crazy feature can we expect in this release [oh look - doggies!], then I'll be much more interested.

  • YourMessageHere #27 2 years ago

    I'm not quite sure where he gets off fussing about not putting things into CS. People whined just as much if things didn't change; CS players by nature whine whatever happens. There was no reason to take any particular notice of any of them; for everything that he wanted to change and didn't, I dare say someone whined about it not being in the game. All he has to do is have the courage of his convictions and add whatever he sees fit, as is his right as creator of the game, and if the creative vision is there, it will work. Ideally this game should use a modular system, so competitive types can keep their stripped-back vanilla version that hasn't changed since June 1873, and more adventurous people can mess about with 273 extra guns, shields, dogs, grenade launchers, ride on lawnmowers, whatever. I for one welcome any chance to puncture canines with buckshot, but unless this is just one of many things new in Tactical Intervention, I do wonder if this is a game of a kind that has simply been eclipsed.

    @ mega7ech: I don't think it's a flame-worthy issue, but I disagree that it was down to luck. I remember coming on CS when it was in its second or third beta; it was really basic back then, but the feel it had was much the same as the feel COD4 did when that was new - fluid movement, realism, modernity, lethality. I remember thinking that it was going to be great once it was a bit more polished; it was the right game at the right time, and it felt it.