Recent reviews by Finnza

Counter-Strike is not a game. It is a simulation of the role of ourselves and our inner demons in modern society. Its aim is to force people to think about the abstract problems associated with an unpredictable opponent, of our underlying self-doubt and depression.

You play as a member of either two teams: the Counter-Terrorists (CTs) and the Terrorists (Ts). This is an allusion to the internal strife of good and evil within one's self and our ability to harness our more evolved preservative/defensive human nature and our capability to unleash our more destructive animal side.

The Ts want to "plant" a "bomb" in a "bombsite" and the CTs want to stop the Ts. In my expert opinion, this is the developer Minh trying to warn us about our insecurities trying to plant seeds of doubt within our mind. If you look around on the bombsites there are boxes of nuclear material. These aren't necessarily destructive, as nowadays most modern nations use these as power sources but some unions like the Soviets have been bankrupted due to arms races with the Western powers (another story for another time) and this is the example of the self-destructive path that we embark upon when instead of using our insecurities to build upon we choose to hide away and attack our self and others.

How do you win in Counter-Strike? It's simple, as the CTs you defuse the bomb or you eliminate the Ts. As the Ts you detonate the bomb or eliminate the CTs.

But the truth is easier to see: true victory in Counter-Strike revolves around the central item that drives the game forward - the bomb. Without the bomb the Ts and CTs have no purpose. The bomb in itself is the game. The idea is the game.

So how do you stop the two factions from fighting? Do they even have to stop? The simple answer is that they have to endure forever in equilibrium; every match must end in a draw.

Humans are fickle creatures, and far emotional. The Terrorists serve as the representation of our self and the CTs as our persona; further reinforced by the fact that CTs have to spend more in order to perform, something like spending money IRL (CT action) to post selfies on Instagram to hide away our depression (T) from people.

There should always be self-criticism within one's self for us to improve. The idea of the Ubermensch or Superman comes to mind. You can never be too complacent of one's self as the Ts could "plant the bomb" and you risk self-destruction of identity. You can never be too insecure that you take offense from every word, from every "T action" as this alienates your peers and you become too critical of yourself which inhibits growth.

But the single most depressing truth of CS is that the more money you have the better you look and the easier it is to win.