Recent reviews by TheLegend27

Takes a while to groove in to but then it becomes a pleasant mixture of coming of age and sorta political story. Gameplay is ok, some mini games hit a spot others make a second play/new game+ quite a chore.

Brilliant story writing once again and awesome graphics.

A really fun shooter. Brings back the "FPS story game" and is really good at that. Nice crazy story and characters on top of solid shooting mechanics. Weapon arsenal is fun but a little...small. 8/10 for me!

Now, this is a really interesting turning point in the history of CS. Not only in its monetization now that it is "back to F2P" (we all remember how CS started as a free mod for HL, right). But in the direction of its content, intent and "treatment of community".
1. Monetization: It seems fitting to me that CS:GO returns to its F2P roots. Generally speaking for multi-player game like this the rule of thumb is "The More The Merrier". Check. It has been always an odd mixture of a low entry price and MTX purchases. The upsale has always been strong in this economy so it is just consequential to go full F2P.
2. Content: Jumping on to the hype train of Battle Royale is awkward to me. Not only does it forfeit the basics of CS, which has always been branded and played as a "tactical team shooter". But changes were done in the past already. Modes like Gun Game etc. are just community based mods from CS 1.6 that were included into the official client. But all that took place in known environments. It was CS:GO that introduced dedicated maps to those game modes. But still keeping up the Team vs Team setup. Battle Royale now throws that idea away. What remains is a "man vs man" mode that feels familiar in the gun play (same engine, same game) but feels oddly strange to me being socialized with classical CS in 2000.
3. The Community Split: CS has a strong record of cheating. Cheating has been around since forever in this game and most likely is here to stay. I can't figure out if this move to "Prime Account/Matchmaking" is a good one in terms how to counter act cheating (VAC isn't exactly a counter measure, tbh). But it divides the community and player base. At least I am afraid it could turn out that way. Matchmaking can be severely influenced by this. And I am not sure if 13€ will keep cheaters at bay. Other comments already mentioned other facts like coupling your CS Account to your phone which is now no longer a necassicity. But we will see.

However, I am sceptical of these changes and really don't feel like this is the right move. Time will tell how it turns out. But for me, I kept sticking to CS since 2000 and this change feels negative to me.