Board the brand new Train in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Old school shooter Counter-Strike has maps that are the stuff of legends. No really, I promise you there are levels that aren’t Dust2. One of my favourites is Train, the stage that’s packed with… well you know what. Valve felt that the map had reached the end of its line, and decided to build a new one from scratch.

Here’s a neat video showing the transition from old to new (via Pc Gamer)

We’ve rebuilt the map from the ground up in order to improve both the visual appearance and competitive gameplay balance of this iconic location.

(Vidme Link)

Why did they do it though? What were they aiming for?

Our primary goals were to improve the gameplay balance of the map while simultaneously upgrading the overall visual experience. This meant making more intuitive layout changes, then re-interpreting large and small-scale environment elements to improve judgement of space and distance.

What stands out to me most (personally) is the change to Bombsite A. It’s a lot less busy and a lot more open now.

The layout of the site has been adjusted to improve the strategic experience of taking or retaking control of the bomb target. Checking Site A for hidden enemies was especially difficult in the previous version of Train. In the upgraded version, it’s possible for a confident team to check common hiding spots in a more deliberate and methodical fashion, instead of needing to rush out into dangerous overlapping lines of fire.

You can read a complete breakdown of the other changes here. I haven’t touched Global Offensive for months, but I updated it this morning to see the changes myself. It looks good to me and seems more balanced. I’m no professional though, so it’ll be interesting to see how the competitive scene receives it.

The new Train comes part of the latest update for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. With it are some balances and changes which can be read right here.

Are you happy Train got reworked? Are their other maps you feel need some balancing too?

Last Updated: December 11, 2014