The tenth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive operation will soon be over. The CS.MONEY blog is here to discuss the strong and weak sides of Broken Fang.
Operation Broken Fang
Before we start, let’s do a quick summary of the operation. It started on December 3 and is scheduled to end on April 30. Operation Broken Fang has brought us four new skin collections, agents, gloves, a case, and other treats. Besides skins, Broken Fang features six maps for different modes: 4 for the Bomb Defusal mode, one for the Hostage Rescue, and one for the Danger Zone.
What we liked: new agents
Agents appeared in the game a little over a year ago, along with the previous operation. They immediately caused a deluge of criticism from the community. Valve based the looks of the new skins on that of special units. And who would have predicted that camouflage actually disguises its owner… As a result, agents in olive and green jackets just blended in with the green background.
Street Soldier 
Enforcer
Valve’s second attempt at adding agents turned out much better. Just compare the looks of Street Soldier and Enforcer. Street Soldier, who appeared as part of Broken Fang, wears a white Kevlar, a white balaclava, and a dark shirt. This contrast makes the model catch the eye instantly. Enforcer from the previous op has a dark shirt, dark balaclava, and dark body armor. Valve have obviously revised their approach for the better.
And of course, Number K. Best agent. Valve’s undisputed success meme-wise.
What we didn’t like: boring challenges
Challenges of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive operations have always left much to be desired. Oftentimes, these are boring tasks along the lines of “play on Dust 2” or “spend money in Danger Zone.” In the end, these challenges have no impact on the gameplay. Normally, the player only completes them to tick the proverbial box and collect rewards.
Previously, Valve at least tried to introduce lore and variability into operation challenges. Logs from past operations contained records, statistics, task sequences. They rendered the challenges meaningful and managed to arouse interest in the game’s history. There were even comic books, for crying out loud! Broken Fang doesn’t have any of that. That’s terrible.
What we liked: choice of rewards & progression
An obvious solution — and therefore a very much anticipated one. By completing operation challenges, players earn stars, which can be used in the store to buy items. You want an agent — just choose. Want stickers — you’re welcome to purchase them. Interested in a skin from a particular collection? No problem!
Another source of positive experience is stars farming. While the challenges themselves are soporific and lackluster, Valve have slightly sweetened the pot. Namely, you don’t have to complete all the tasks to earn the maximum amount of stars in one week. You can skip some without losing anything. That’s sure convenient.
What we didn’t like: Broken Fang Premier
Fancy matchmaking which is boring and slower than the regular, with a limited player pool, hosted on servers with a 64 tickrate? Doesn’t sound like much fun. And it really wasn’t great.
Every owner of an operation battle pass was able to participate in the Broken Fang Premier player queuing. The main difference from regular matchmaking is that you can ban maps! That’s why you’ll always end up playing the most popular ones. Also, before every match, you’ll spend time selecting the map. And the search will be longer too: there are fewer players. And so you don’t feel privileged, Broken Fang Premier matches will be hosted on the same servers as regular matchmaking.
In a nutshell: a complete failure on the part of Valve. Useless matchmaking that only pretends to be an “esports” upgrade to the usual player queuing process.
What we liked: skins
Some of the new skins are on fire. AWP Fade, AK-47 X-Ray, Glock-18 Neo-Noir, and other skins that are continuations of the existing series look great in-game. Fresh additions are fantastic as well. Five-SeveN Fairy Tale with pink unicorns and the futuristic M4A4 Cyber Security don’t feel like filler stuff. Contrariwise, we now want another Cyber Security — but P250 and the sniper rifle with a huge unicorn are begging to be added to the game too.
This skin cornucopia wasn’t even marred by the Galil AR Vandal scandal. Although the author of the skin was accused of plagiarism, this wasn’t proven and the badass Vandal didn’t get removed from the game. Valve pleasantly surprised us with the selection of skins this time. Well, almost.
What we didn’t like: skins
Next to the gorgeous skins from the previous section are such half-baked creations as SSG 08 Jungle Dashed. This skin is the definition of ordinary and dull — and it’s an almost complete copy of SSG 08 Lichen Dashed into the bargain. This “self-plagiarism” is a frequent phenomenon in skin-making.
On the whole, the cheap skins aren’t especially appealing. The previous operation, Shattered Web, did a much better job here: even the not-so-expensive skins from its case look eye-catching and curious. More importantly, they don’t feel like remakes of skins from seven years ago. What’s with the sloppiness, Valve?
Operation Broken Fang is coming to an end, and it leaves a taste of untapped potential. For almost every cool gimmick or good solution, there’s a not-quite-so-cool one. Too bad that ten attempts haven’t been enough for Valve to come up with a formula of the perfect CS:GO DLC. Maybe next time they’ll get it right?
