Michael 'Rickeh' Mcghee sets up a virtual battle between the best of 1.6 and the best of CS:S; the battleground? CSPromod!

Other CSPromod features on Cadred:
CSPromod Review
You Asked Alex Garfield

When CSPromod 1.04 was released at the end of January the hype surrounding it was spectacular. It was downloaded by thousands within hours of its release and dubbed the saviour of CS:S before anyone had even opened the game.

ProMod's mission statement was to unite the gameplay of CS 1.6 and the graphics of CS:S, and in the process unite the two communities. However, how on earth will this unite the two communities when you're effectively dumping a load of CS:S players into the lions den that is 1.6? Just how would any top CS:S team survive a match against a top CS 1.6 team, at their own game? I've decided that it's something I would like to find out. To do that I'll take the current best team in CS:S, and pit them against the current best team in CS 1.6 in a hypothetical match on CS Promod.

fnatic.MSI	vs.	Reason Gaming
Patrik 'cArn' Sättermon Patrik 'f0rest' Lindberg Harley 'dsn' Örwall Chris 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund Björn 'threat' Pers		Marek '.PhP' Kádek Petr 'pR' Novak Karel 'sneix' Pavlica Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács Martin 'UN' Stehlik

Team 1.6

When it came to choosing the team I would have representing 1.6 there really was no other option. fnatic.MSI dominated most events they attended during 2009 and are without a doubt in my mind, the best 1.6 team around today. They recently replaced a player many see as irreplaceable when they removed Rasmus 'GuX' Stahl and brought in Björn 'threat' Pers, this didn't seem to hinder them when they went to the World Esport Masters as they still managed to beat wNv, TyLoo, AGAiN and Power Gaming on the way to another LAN win, bagging themselves $22,500 into the bargain.

Their team is made up of five players with unquestionable pedigree when it comes to competitive gaming. In Patrik 'f0rest' Lindberg they have a player who is regularly voted as the best player to ever play the game, and who can win games for his team almost single handedly, he makes the unbelievable shots seem like child's play and rarely makes a mistake worth noting. Add to that the massive talent that is Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund - a player who has this year been elevated into legendary status after some fantastic displays - and you have a duo capable of taking apart any team when they are on form.

The fnatic team on their way to another LAN win (Picture courtesy of fnatic)

You then have to deal with the tactical know-how of new boy Björn 'threat' Pers and that of Patrik 'cArn' Sättermon, add the well rounded Harley 'dsn' Örwall and you have quite the team to contend with. The teams experience in all circumstances cannot be called into question, in the past year they have won 16-0 walkovers, come back from seemingly impossible situations and won more events than any other team. In 2009 they won an unprecedented six international events, finished second at three and finished fourth at another. In doing so they won more money in one year than any other 1.6 team in history, surpassing the $171,000 the legendary SK 2003 team won. Pretty hard task to beat them right?

Team CS:S

This was a much harder decision to make. There are a few teams who have had very dominant spells in the European CS:S scene in the past year, Redline could be one, Dignitas - with their 1.6 roots - could be another, then of course you have team ROCCAT, a team who have a 100% record at LAN events, having won everything they attended in early 2009. Had it not been for their reluctance to attend any major summer LAN events last year I would have chosen them without a moments hesitation. One team who I consider better though, at least at the moment, is Reason Gaming. The Czech team attended almost every major source LAN last year and have consistently placed well, with the only disappointing result coming at TeX.

They won all 3 I-Series events in 2009 as well as Dreamhack Winter and the Ukesa finals, they also finished Second at the ICY BOX invite tournament and second at LAN79 - a final that was shrouded in controversy with claims that the French shoutcasters were bias towards their countrymen in the final. Marek '.PhP' Kadek is widely regarded as the best and most intelligent player in European CS:S and Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovacs is one of the best AWP players in the game. They also have the tactical mastermind that is Martin 'UN' Stehlik as well as Petr 'pR' Novak, a player who has incredible aim when on form.

Could Reason Gaming give them a run for their money? (Picture courtesy of Heaven Media)

The recent addition of Karel 'sneix' Pavlica, who came in to replace Adam 'bazy' Kaplar - a player many saw as the weak link in the team - has strengthened the team dramatically as shown when they pipped Power Gaming to the i38 title, and dominated team Verygames in the final of Dreamhack winter. Although most CS:S teams would struggle to beat fnatic.MSI at, more or less, their own game, if any team is to have a chance it would be this one.

As mentioned earlier in the article the sole goal of the ProMod team is to achieve a game with the exact gameplay and physics as CS 1.6 - or as close as humanly possible - with the graphics of CS:S. So naturally both communities were interested to see what the result was when the 1.04 beta was released. There were reviews of the game done by all of the major sites, including our own which can be found Here.

The general consensus was that the game itself has the potential to be great, but is still lacking in a lot of key areas. Grenades in the game, like some sort of horrible genetic experiment gone wrong feel completely alien to both 1.6 and CS:S players. There are still some issues with the netcode as well as various small bugs. The major one that was noted though was the CS:S models being used instead of the ones from CS 1.6, rendering the 1.6 maps pretty useless due to the differences between the models. It has also been noted that skyboxes in the game aren't an exact replica of 1.6 skyboxes, and various walls that you used to be able to spam through now appear to be bulletproof.

On a lighter note though everyone agreed that the basics for a great competitive game are all there, a recoil pattern that could be mastered, consistent gameplay and a team of dedicated people willing to work on fixing the bugs mentioned above. However, in our hypothetical match the game will be played out on CS Promod in it's current form. This leaves the fnatic team with quite a few disadvantages as a lot of their usual set-ups and strats will not work as the game currently stands, they will be on the same boat as Reason.

So, what do we base this match on? There are certainly a lot of ifs and buts when it comes to deciding who would win the match since CSPromod, at least in it's current form is most definitely not 1.6 with CS:S graphics. Do we base it on general skill level? We source players have always been brushed aside by our 1.6 counterparts and have always been considered to be lesser skilled. Why exactly is that? The game we play is as hard to master - if such a word can be used considering how random it is - as most other FPS shooters, many 1.6 players have come over and struggled to find their feet in the game.

The main argument that 1.6 players come up with is that when the CGS came to town we were effectively beaten at our own game, at least in North America, when almost every franchise picked up a 1.6 team to represent them in CS:S. However I don't feel the CGS can be used as a valid argument. The controversy surrounding most of the franchises when they picked up their teams was spectacular, very few people felt that any 1.6 team other than coL and 3D deserved their spot in a franchise, and people also accused the whole thing of being rigged from the beginning. Even when the 1.6 teams were drafted a lot of the true CS:S teams performed better than them in the various other leagues such as CEVO, something that's looked over by the 1.6 community.

The fact remains that CS:S is as hard to master for many 1.6 players as CS 1.6 for Source players, the only thing it comes down to is how fast a learner you are. These two teams at the top of their respective games would throw up a much closer match than many would imagine. The vast majority people would see it as a walkover for the 1.6 veterans but I feel the match would come down to how well each team plays with each other, how good the team chemistry is, and who has the better 'aim' on the day. For most CS:S teams the switchover to Promod is a dreaded one, but it really shouldn't be, with enough time to adjust there is no real reason you can't get to the top. No real winner of this match can be selected without seeing it happen, but I can be sure in saying watching PhP lineup against f0rest would be a mouth watering prospect for any CS enthusiast, be he from a 1.6 or CS:S background, until it happens who knows what the result might be.

We have thrown down the gauntlet to both of these teams and invited them to take part in a show match. We are just waiting on the responses and will let you know what happens!