14 DAY TRIAL // After developing the Half Life mode Counter Strike, Minh Le, or better known as Gooseman, joined Valve as part of the programming team responsible for Counter Strike 2. But the two didn't click at all and the pressure applied by the gaming company made Minh Le return to the life of a “lone wolf” programmer. After being put in touch with a South Korean businessman who had the money and the desire to enter the gaming industry, Le moved there in 2008 and received an office, programmers and other part-time staff to help out. A year later he is ready to display his creation to the world.
The game, which has received the title of Tactical Intervention, makes use of a modified version of the Half Life engine, which sounds a little scary since the latter title is 11 years old. But the game brings a lot of gameplay modifications that promise to make up for the graphical downside. Minh Le wanted to really leave his mark on this one: "I enjoyed Counter-Strike," he told IGN, "but I wanted to have my own game. 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." But now he had total freedom and he used it.
Tactical Intervention will present several new gameplay features, like non-combative character on the map besides the hostages that will react to the gunfights, run and most likely just make everyone's life a living hell. Another addition will be the presence of the police dog, which can be ordered to attack a target and stun it for a short period of time. How all these changes will affect the overall gameplay and just how balanced the latter will prove to be remains to be seen.
The game received no major publishing support and is at this point still an obscure title that will most likely be crossed out by uninformed players as a CS-clone, when in fact it is its true offspring and not a copycat. Counter Strike has an official sequel, Counter Strike: Source, that even though it proved to be a well made and successful game didn't match the popularity of the first. Tactical Intervention is about to enter the beta-testing stage and will probably be available for the PC by the end of the year.