For those of you that aren’t familiar with the story of Counter-Strike, it started out as a free downloadable modification for the popular PC game Half-Life. It soon rocketed to stardom, becoming one of the PC’s most popular online games. Seeing how successful CS was, Microsoft announced that it would be bringing CS to the Xbox. Because of all the buzz, I was rather excited about the game, even though I had never played the PC version. With so many people playing CS, and with the power of the Xbox behind it, including Microsoft’s amazing Live support, how could they miss? Well, they did miss, and by a pretty good sized margin.

The main problem with Counter-Strike on the Xbox is that it lacks depth. It seems that Valve and Microsoft could have made this the standout title, instead of turning it into a mediocre port that it is. There is no "real" single player campaign, meaning that there isn’t a story mode to play through, it’s just two variations on deathmatch played against ‘bots. The scenarios are the same whether you’re playing offline in single player mode, or battling it out with your friends on Live. It would have been nice to see a two-player mode, where you and a friend could play on the same Xbox in co-op or versus mode, much like you already get with Ubi’s Ghost Recon or Microsoft’s Halo for the Xbox. This lack of scenarios means you only have two options of play: Demolition or Hostage Rescue.

You can play through each scenario as either a terrorist or a counter-terrorist. In either mode, your only goal is to thwart the other team as they carry out their objectives. If you play as a terrorist in Demolition, your goal is to plant a bomb in a specified location and prevent the counter-terrorists from disarming it. During Hostage Rescue, your objective as a counter-terrorist is to locate and rescue all of the hostages, or if you play as a terrorist, to prevent their rescue. You can also successfully complete each mission by completely eliminating the opposition.

The only real unique thing about Counter-Strike is that you have to buy your weapons with money earned from kills and completing objectives. You start the game with a pistol and a knife, and are allotted a small amount of money to buy more firepower. The more cash you earn, the better your chances are of survival, since you can also buy extra gear like flak jackets, grenades and kits for defusing bombs.

A round of play follows a very linear routine. First, you pick your map, which determines what kind of mission you will be playing. You can also choose random, which will automatically change the map between each match. Then you choose whether you want to play for the good guys or the bad guys. Once you choose your team, you will have a set amount of time at the beginning of each round to select your weapons and equipment. After this "freeze" time expires, the round begins. It’s kill or be killed at this point, and you need to try to make a good profit while you’re at it.

Counter-Strike is a fast paced first-person shooter, falling somewhere between Unreal Tournament and Ghost Recon. It is a good alternative for when you need a quick team-based shooter fix, but don’t have time to play through a long mission. The game can become addictive, since each round is only a few minutes, and you can just jump right in again and watch your money pile up.

The realism of the game is debatable. The weapons are certainly realistic, as is all of the equipment available for you to purchase, such as Kevlar vests and shields. But the damage inflicted by these weapons is not. I bring this up because of all the talk I keep hearing about how realistic the game is. If, for example, you get shot in the head, you die instantly. Well, I have been shot in the head in Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six 3, and I have died instantly every time just as I have with Counter-Strike. But what isn’t realistic is the other damage you incur from non-fatal wounds. For example, in Ghost Recon, when you are shot and drop down to a yellow health level, you begin to limp. This sort of "wounding" realism is nowhere to be found in CS. I have watched members of my team and opposition alike running around in seemingly perfect condition, even though they only have one point of health left. This is not realism by any stretch of the imagination.

Counter-Strike is definitely lacking in the graphics department. I know the game is based on technology that is five or six years old, but couldn’t they have made this a better game? The Xbox launched with such a strong line-up of visually pleasing goodies including Halo and Project Gotham Racing, and the big black box has only continued to awe with its digital prowess, yet Counter-Strike doesn’t even lick the envelope, much less push it. The character movement is jerky, especially when you die and are stuck watching the bots finish the round. There are a few environments that look really good and crisp, but most of them are bland, and the maps for the desert locales look washed out. I had also heard about the "light orientation", or whatever you want to call it, that is supposed to be present in the game, where if you are in a spot that is rather dark, such as a tunnel, and you step into bright light, you are supposed to experience the effects of your pupils adjusting. I have yet to notice this, no matter how many times I stand in a dark corner then run outside.

When it comes to sound, Counter-Strike’s is about average. The weapons sound good, and the Dolby digital sound ensures that you can hear someone running up behind you. You can walk, instead of running, which makes your movement realistically quieter. The strange thing I noticed about the sound effects in CS is that unless you are right in the action, you can’t hear any of the gunfire. The maps aren’t that big, and it seems to me that even if you were on the first floor of a building you would hear the massive shoot-out upstairs, instead of just an eerie silence.

Unless you are already a fan of Counter-Strike, you might wonder what the big deal is the first time you load the game on your Xbox. The graphics are disappointing for such an anticipated title and while the gameplay is fast and somewhat addictive, it’s nothing that we haven’t seen before. In all honesty, Xbox Live is the only thing that makes this game worth a second look. Fans of the game will probably enjoy the voice support on Live, but I’m not sure that will be enough to win them over from the already established, and more importantly, free PC version. With all of the quality squad-based shooters that are available now or will be in the coming months, Counter-Strike will probably get lost in the shuffle, which may not be a bad thing.