Iceworld

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In Counter Strike, Iceworld is a controversial map indeed. People see it as requiring no skill or just as much skill as any other map. This article will attempt to show you some strategies and tactics on iceworld, a map that inspires love and hate from all facets of the CS community.

Environmentally, every wall can be shot through if you have the right gun. When you run around the map you can hear your footsteps, or someone else's, in the snow. The sound of heavy fire from all sides is all around you from the start, and often to the finish. Small walls peak out of the sides of the map on it's right and left paths, as well as an extended wall of ice at the middle point of each spawn point. Guns lay on the ground on each side to be picked up. The map is very simple. It's lack of complication raises the ire of many players who want something more "complicated" to do on the map, like the aforementioned objectives.

I find this map exhilarating. It's small size and simple design means it's often total chaos. You really have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Iceworld rarely offers any time for a player to take a breath and a lot of players never get to reload once before the round ends or someone gets them. You may find yourself going against 5 CT's by yourself or turn a corner into a firing squad. A split second decision to reload or pick up another gun off the ground can be pivotal on if you make it out of the round alive. It makes you think on your feet as you could be overwhelmed by opposing forces from any direction at any time. It's a Deathmatch type map though specifc "Deathmatch" iceworld maps exist for those who don't like the short wait time between rounds on it.

Having played this map for a long time now, there IS strategy to it. The elegance of iceworld is in it's simplicity, and in some smaller details a lot of tactics and strategy on this map are missed for it's Deathmatch look and feel. Iceworld is great map to learn human behavior and how people react to intense shoot outs and large player rushes.

Using the AWP and watching two of the three paths is an obvious one. The middle should be guarded first to take out anyone trying to cross through it. Opposing AWPers will often have to be dealt with too because controlling the middle is strong for any team on this map. A second AWPer will usually cover what you are unable to, but if none exists cover the areas they are missing. Slowly make your way around the level. The AWP is not a quiet gun and on it's sound alone an enemy can find where your shot came from. Use the walls on the right and left for cover shooting through your own spawn point and to theirs. Drop it if necessary.

For the rushing player the SMG, TMP, Mac10, and p90 are taken so they can get to the other side as fast as possible with a gun they can spray with. Typically, this does not end well for the rusher because an AWPer is watching one of the sides they rushed on. Going up the middle often meets the safe fate due to the assault guns, and the AWP itself, well positioned to guard these areas from the start of the round. A rushing player may find it better to turn into the middle of the level and let all the other team's snipers check their points first before rushing in. Time is short on the map, so staying one second too short, or one second too long, at any spot may have you surrounded at any time, but the pause is important to make use of the opposing players natural rhythm to check the paths for enemies.