Arabstreets

ArabStreets^[1] (cs_arabstreets) was an official hostage rescue map featured in the Counter-Strike beta and it made its last appearance in Counter-Strike 1.0.

Overview[]

Similar to Iraq, the Counter-Terrorists must rescue several U.N. weapons inspectors who were examining a chemical factory or completely eliminate the enemy while the Terrorists must prevent the Counter-Terrorists from escorting the hostages to the hostage rescue zone.

Hostages are located in a chemical factory which also contains the T spawn. In the building there are two hostages in the back, and two are located in a small room, accessed by either a breakable glass window from outside or the gate from the inside. This room contains a switch used to shut down all lights in the building. Multiple explosive barrels in the factory can kill players or even hostages when shot.

CT spawn is outside, and has two paths leading from it. One of them leads to the back entrance of the factory, the other to the main one.

First road leads to a wall with a gate. In front of the gate is a ledge which can be climbed on to look over the wall. Past the gate, Counter-Terrorists turn left to enter the factory either through the back door or by a ladder and a breakable window. There is some cover here which Terrorists can use.

The second road leads to an even higher wall with a door frame. Before the wall is a ladder leading to an open ledge, and a street connecting the first and the second path. Past the wall are houses, one of which can be entered. The house has two rooms and a balcony overlooking the Counter-Terrorist entrance. Behind the house is the main gate of the Terrorist spawn.

This map is also similar to Assault, since ArabStreets favors the Terrorist team. The Terrorists can easily camp near the hostages or find suitable sniping spots in the upper floors of the apartments. However, the Counter-Terrorists can quickly swarm through the pathways of the map and overwhelm any opponent. As a result, the terrorists will hide in the hostage rescue zone (where the CT spawn zone is also found) and ambush the CTs. Terrorists may also turn off the light in the T spawn zone to reduce their visibility.

Official description[]

Several U.N. weapons inspectors have vanished while inspecting a suspected chemical weapons factory in Iraq. They are assumed to be dead or captive.

Counter-Terrorists: Locate and rescue the U.N. hostages inside the chemical plant and then lead them to the extrication zone!

Terrorists: Prevent the Counter-Terrorists from rescuing the hostages.

Development[]

The map was designed by Jason "Paramedic911" Blum. He took inspiration from the map Italy and set out to make "an arab version of cs_italy". Originally the scenario involved Middle Eastern terrorists hijacking a bus in Israel, but this was changed to avoid controversy. During the design process additional inspiration was taken from Assault, Dust and Iraq.^[2] In particular, the difficulty in breaching the chemical factory was a conscious design decision made based on the warehouse in Assault.^[3] All the custom textures were made by Jason.^[4] The map made its initial appearance in beta 7.0.

After the release of the map, Blum did some changes to the map. Both routes had changes made to them, with the CT route leading to the apartments having a rock moved and altered to provide additional cover. The other route saw the addition of a hole into the wall with the grate door to facilitate moving into the factory. In the factory itself, the light switch and the security cameras were removed. Some bugs present in the original release were also fixed, together with a dramatic improvement in FPS.

He had wanted to include the updated version of the map in Counter-Strike 1.0. Due to communication problems with the game developers and uncertainty surrounding whether the map would get cut for Counter-Strike 1.0, the updated version of the map was not included.^[3] The map would remain in the mod release of version 1.0, but it was not present in the retail release. As the map was eventually cut from the mod release of Counter-Strike in version 1.1, the updated version of the map was released separately as cs_arabstreets2.^[5]

Jason Blum never received a clear answer as to why the map was cut as he received "5 different answers . . . depending on who [he] asked". He believed it was due to the FPS problems that the initial release of the map suffered from, though he also felt that Jess Cliffe didn't like the map. Cliffe had told Blum that the decision to cut the map was made by Valve Corporation.^[3]

Tactics[]

Counter-Terrorists[]

As always with hostage rescue maps, the terrorists will be expecting you and your team to escort the hostages to the rescue zone. Due to this, split your team in half and allow the teams to go through the two pathways in the CT spawn. Both routes contain potential sniper hiding spots so position any team member with a sniper weapon to guard the areas. Note that this map contains narrow passageways that may allow snipers to easily pin down enemies so quickly order your team members to take the higher ground before the enemy does, no matter the situation. The apartments are the best choice while lower areas of the map will offer less protection and advantages.

Terrorists[]

Unless the CTs keep attacking your team from the outside of the factory, try to stay inside and wait for the enemy to arrive. It is unlikely that the terrorists can reach the apartments first as the CTs spawn closer to that area. Instead, there is a building very close to the garage opening of the factory and allows the terrorists to easily guard the entrance. Furthermore, there are two operating Security Cameras in one of the rooms with the hostages that can help the Terrorists to pinpoint the Counter-Terrorists' movements. If your team is unable to prevent the CTs from successfully entering inside the factory, try to quickly move to the CT spawn zone where the hostage rescue zone is found. This place offers a good advantage for the terrorists as it is the only place where the rescue zone is found and may prevent the CTs from escorting all the hostages. Remember in close quarters, enemies will most likely use a flashbang before breaching in.

Trivia[]

• The hostages may struggle in navigating properly through the narrow paths of the map and the inside of the factory.
• There are explosive barrels in the factory which explode when shot and can kill players.
• In the back hall, there is a decapitated head of a hostage in a bucket next to an axe. It is possible the victim was a U.N. hostage that was executed by the Terrorists.
• The slogan of the factory can be considered to be ironic as it says "Creating safe and hazard free chemicals for over twenty years!"
• There is graffiti on an opening to the apartments that opposes the inspection from the UN. The graffiti reads "Deth to U.N. pigs" and "U.N. go home!"
• This is one of the few maps in which using the flashlight (or even the Nightvision goggles) in the dark areas of the map may lead to the increase of the user's latency.
• The gate in the factory can be closed and opened by anyone; it can kill someone if a player is caught by it while it is closing.
  • A player will lose 1 health per each millisecond therefore, it is almost impossible to avoid the gate.
• The automatic door in the factory may kill players, bots, and hostages, proceed with caution.
  • Due to this, this is one of the few instances in which the console will say "(Player) has killed self (with a headshot) from door".
  • If a player crouch jumps near the automatic door while it is opening, it will instantly kill that player.
  • If a player is caught in to door's path while it is closing, it will deal 20 damage to a player without armor or 10 damage to a player with Kevlar (in addition to 5 points of damage to the armor).
• In the security hangar, if someone (or one of the hostages) touches the light switches, the lights will automatically turn on and off within the factory.
  • The light turns on with each new round.
• The music that is heard is Leilet Hobb by the famous Egyptian singer, Oum Kulthum.
  • Like Italy, the music can be stopped by destroying the stereo player located within an apartment room next to the factory.

References

v • d • e Counter-Strike cut maps Assassination Forest • Highrise • Riverside • Tundra Hostage Rescue Alley1 • Arabstreets • Bunker • Desert • Docks • Facility • Hideout • Iraq • Mansion • Prison • Ship • Station • Tire • Thunder • Wpndepot • Zoption Bomb Defusal Fang • Foption • Jeepathon2k • Railroad • Rotterdam • Vegas Escape Jail • Frantic • Trinity Other Counter-Terrorist Training Center • Venice