It's no secret that Counter-Strike rocked the world of online first-person shooting when the game was released as a free PC mod for Half-Life almost six years ago. And all these years later it's still ahead of the team-based online game and is now eyeing total domination of your time spent on Xbox Live. If you thought Return To Castle Wolfenstein's online element was great then prepare yourself for something extra special.

Before we get into the meat and veg of the game though, let's make one thing crystal clear. Counter-Strike is a dish best served online or across System Link. There's no single-player campaign to mow through or a plot line in sight. There's no split-screen action and the single-player game only acts as practice before you enter the online arena. If you buy this to play on your own you will be disappointed, unless you know you'll be Lived-up in the near-future.

Counter-Strike is played a little differently to the likes of Unreal Championship or Return To Castle Wolfenstein in that once you're dead, you're dead. This is more like a Tom Clancy shooter. There's no spawning and running off to join the closest skirmish. Instead you have to sit and wait until the round ends, which usually takes a few minutes. But you do get to watch the action from a variety of angles rather than just sitting and twiddling your bleeding thumbs.

Once you've selected a map you need to pick which side of the law you're going to represent. Choose from the terrorists or the counter-terrorists. Each map has an objective that you can either choose to complete or ignore. If you choose not to plant the bomb (terrorist) or rescue the hostages (counter-terrorist), then you need to wipe out every member of the opposition to win the round. Hostage Rescue and Demolition are the only game modes, though, and a bit more variety would have been nice. First to five rounds (or however many you set this option to) wins the game. And in a nutshell that's pretty much it. Counter-Strike is as simple as it is fun.

Before each round begins, you get a few seconds to tool up with money you earn in each round. Do well - complete your goal or clip a few enemies - and you'll get more money. Don't and you won't. You can choose bigger and better guns, different types of armour (including the excellent riot shield), various grenades and ammo. Everything a terrorist needs to kill innocent civilians or everything a counter-terrorist needs to save the world.

Where Counter-Strike excels is in its level design. Rarely will you come across a map that's 'not as good as the rest'. Unfortunately the textures don't look all that, but each map has been built with squad tactics in mind and there's plenty of opportunity to camp, run riot, find ways onto buildings for a better view of the action or move your team up in steps while advancing towards the enemy. There are endless ways in which to play each map, especially when you really do begin to employ tactics in your team play. Never before has the Xbox Communicator been such a vital tool in a multiplayer game.

The AI bots in the game can be set to various difficulty settings depending on how good you are. We'd suggest setting the level quite high, as the bots don't have much of a clue what they're doing on the lower settings.

Stand in front of them with a riot shield and they'll be completely lost. Again, we must emphasize this is an online game.

There's no denying that Counter-Strike is an amazing online experience and it should tide any action fan over until the release of Halo 2 early next year. As a single-player game there's nothing to get excited about, but against human opponents it's a different story altogether.

1. Intense shooting action
2. Easy to control and aim
3. Great level designs

1. No real single-player game
2. Looks dated

Power
Looks like the six-year-old game it is, but runs nice and smooth even with several players on screen.

Style
Simple to set up games, but can take a while to learn the maps, before you really 'own' them.

Immersion
It's more short, sharp bursts of fun rather than a super-engrossing gaming experience.

Lifespan
You'll be playing this for months after release, but only if you're an Xbox Live subscriber.

Overall Don't expect much from the single-player side of things but, over Xbox Live, it's the next level of FPS gaming.