Great game that still deserves to be played, but be prepared to be seriously annoyed if you hate dim, voiping teens!!!
Firstly I'll point out the ultimate truths about this game.
As a game, it deserves a 9.9 rating. It's very well designed and alot of fun... that's the reason why it has become of those multiplay games that just won't go away.
As for the community, it deserves a 5 rating. Why? Because I don't want to hear a large variety of idiot teenagers that feel compelled to voip constantly about nothing. All this OMG Idiot commentary, incredibly banal conversation and dim witted humour, annoying singing or screaming or "excited noises" because they're taking the game way too seriously... and worst of all, talk about someone at school. I was done with high school awhile ago and I don't want to hear the petty crap about insecure nerds having dramas or "adventures" with other insecure nerds.
The voiping is a serious problem because there are alot of annoying kids playing it. The games that suffer most from this are the most popular ones... and this happens to be one of the most popular in gaming history to date and still going VERY strong. Even though CSS has just received a major update-cum-overhaul, I'm still looking for the mute function. At least I can mute these twits in TF2... with ease and speed. I'm going to google how to mute after finishing this review cause it's just a downer to have to listen to constant proof of just how intellectually-retarded-by-choice today's generation of kids are. I'm not trying to be sarcastic here either... they really do make genuine intellectual retardation look like noble prize winning wit... it's a disgusting display of STOOPID.
Another downside about the community is that there are definitely haxors out there that the Steam VAC system isn't detecting. A couple of times I found myself being shot from around a corner.... nice aimbot chump, but this is CSS, not Wanted. Curving bullet paths are a dead giveaway of hacking. It didn't feel epidemic (like Wolf ET has become these days), but you will inevitably encounter an aimbotter. Aboslutely NO DOUBT.
Aimbotting aside... there are also some of those "1337" players that have been obsessively playing for the last 7 or however many years and it can be frustrating to jump in fresh only to be headshotted by players that know which guns make the kevlar/helm setup useless (it's not just sniper guns that can do that), and know every nuance about the hitbox situation.
Bad things aside, the game does feel pretty good. It lacks the precision and brutality of CoD4 for example, but that's understandable. It's old and an update is still just an update. Hitboxes are less precise and most weapons are shoot-from-the-hip only, as was the trend in most yesteryear FPS's. The physics that handle nade throws can feel very rubbery if you're coming straight from a few sessions of CoD4 or any other decent modern shooter. The throw trajectory as well as the bounce is just... rubbery. This is not what a little metal canister of death would/should feel like... maybe a wonky tennis ball, but not a nade.
To get really good at this game you really have to adapt to the nature of the game and its settings, moreso than the skill of other players. Knowing the way the game works and every inch of a map is when you have a real chance against the 1337 nerds. That's very unlike a game like CoD4 where, if you're an above average gamer with above average hand/eye coordination, you can start racking up some kills against even the 1337est of players, right away. That's not the case in CSS. Go up against the pros and you won't get any kills AT ALL, nor will you get more than a fluke kill until you start learning about those nuances.
The bot situation in offline/custom server matches are good to practice in. The AI of these bots is retarded, as is usual for AI. Try getting a feel for a knife-only match and you'll see your idiot team mates cluster into groups, especially in tight spots, they'll trap you against an enemy and the walls. In any map/mode/weapons-allowed match they will get in your way, stick their fat a** heads into your gun sights at any given opportunity, stop in doorways, block ladder exits/entrances... it's actually a good thing to practice with such stoopid AI because it'll show you how easy it is to get trapped in tight spots because of some twittering teammate hugging your a**, blocking your attempt to dodge or retreat from incoming fire... or even a knifing enemy. Knife fights feel alittle odd compared to alot of modern FPSs... I found the point of contact was alittle further projected from the body than it should be. A boot knife with the magic striking distance of a long dagger. That might be an issue with the FOV of your character, maybe... I find it quirky.
The achievements system seems "kinda" interesting as far as achievements go. They're not as creative as the TF2 ones, but share alot of similarities. I don't know if its a glitch, but as of right now you can rack up all your achievements while using even an "easy" set of bots in a custom map. I don't particularly care about stats so I don't feel any guilt about carving through many such achievements while I practice against the flawed AI. I am finding the offline/bot element very useful for just grinding through matches to get the feel of different weapons, exploring this-way-and-that on each of the maps (many of which I vaguely remember from the ole HL1 mod days). And like I mentioned about bots blocking doors and things... from my personal experience I have found some of those cluster blockages, and where both team AI's end up going... you can get some very solid ideas on where the 1337 nerds will be camping to snipe your newly exposed head, or where a nade can decimate a team of inexperienced players. Or to be more accurate, it's not WHERE they are camping exactly, but WHAT they are camping... the kill zone.
Visually... with everything on max I'm seeing alot of bloom in sunlit areas. It can be alittle excessive at times, completely blinding out your HUD. HL2 still looks better, but more money went into the art development of that so, no surprise there. It's not painfully ugly like the original CS seems nowadays... not unless you're a graphics whore, and in that case you won't even be considering this game because you'd be more into 'hype' than the challenge of real gameplay!
So, if you haven't played CSS ever, or "properly" in the past, and you want to have all the major multiplay experiences under your belt, this is still very worthwhile getting/playing. There is still a very healthy community, plenty of populated servers (I'm specifically pointing out a health Australian set of populated servers) Just remember that the annoying kid factor is high, and the enjoyable matches I've had were all (and I mean ALL) on servers that had rounds limited to 2 minutes at most, with a near full head count... that really makes it harder for a troll to setup their snipe-camp nest.
One last thing to remember... there will be alot of new players now that the update has come out, CSS was on sale, and also finally released upon the Mac platform.... so don't be surprised if an enemy guns you down from behind because the teammate(s) you THOUGHT had THAT doorway covered was actually a new player to the FPS genre, not just this game in particular. It will happen, just don't get too frustrated... unless it's an annoying kid spending more time voiping than aiming, then you can unleash all your fury on the imbecile.