Valve just released Operation Wildfire, and with it comes a brand new version of the map Nuke. Once immensely popular, Nuke got removed from the competitive map pool due to balance issues. A remake of the map has been requested by the community ever since and now we've got one. Welcome to the Cedar Creek Nuclear Power Plant!

My first impression of the map is that it looks gorgeous. It's very bright and colorful with amazing textures. The visibility is vastly improved compared to previous iterations. But what did they change? Pretty much everything. The biggest alteration is probably the ladder leading up to silo from T-spawn and the rafters connecting silo with catwalk.

I've played a couple of games on matchmaking and so far I've enjoyed it. The first thing I noticed was how easy it was for the terrorists to take control over yard. There are so many angles for the counter-terrorists to cover even just a few seconds into the round. It's still too early to dive into any sort of strategic analysis, but we found that the good ol 'nuke mindset just isn't going to cut it. We had more success when we took a more passive approach and stayed close to the bombsites with one guy trying to spot enemies on yard from far back.

Another big change is the vents. Now there's only one opening both upstairs and downstairs. They have, however, added a new door with a decontamination room to give the defenders more angles to worry about. I think the door will be a key point on the map that both the Ts and the CTs will want to control.

They have also added another door downstairs, just below the ramp. That door allows for some really cool crossfires and gives the counter-terrorists more incentives to play close to the site. It's hard to say how the metagame is going to develop, but overall l I think the changes to the B-site are interesting.

Changes upstairs

The upper bombsite has also seen some major changes. The biggest being the addition of skyboxes to prevent defenders from reaching dogwalk. This means that pushes through squeaky will be a lot more effective as there are fewer angles to check.

Valve also moved the upper canisters further back to give terrorists more cover as they attack through hut, as well as adding a ladder leading up to the rafters. These changes are bound to have a huge impact on the balance of the site. It will both be easier to take the site and to defend it once you have planted the bomb.

On the CT side, they've added a box in front of the window as well as made changes to the small roof outside catwalk. These changes will allow for really dynamic plays with lots of movement and positioning options.

Final thoughts

The map is most definitely more T-sided than it's been in the past, maybe even a bit too T-sided. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Nuke. As I see it, it's not impossible that it'll be added to the competitive map pool. The question then is, what map will it replace? Or will they increase the number of maps? Personally I could see Inferno getting replaced at some point because of the often very slow rounds due to effective smokes. Balanced as Inferno might be, I'd still like to see faster gameplay from a spectators point of view.

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