Tooled-up and with a place to go, out into this console did I step. Only to get blown away and find myself with a case of déjà vu as I sat and stared at other people having fun while I was not. This is something that always tempered my enjoyment of the game as I would eventually tire of sitting around for two minutes while the anal players crept around with the caution of a blind heroin addict trying to shoot up on a roller-coaster. This is no criticism of CS on the box, but why on earth the single player game forces you to watch the AI finish a level is beyond my ken. In fact the single player game is not really much use, unless for some reason you bought Counter-Strike and don't have Live! It's basically CS with bots, and although they are not complete cretins and can provide some resistance on high difficulty settings, there really is no point playing against them when it takes about an extra two seconds to get yourself and playing against real people. There's no story in the single player game, just the maps in rotation.

Single or online, the biggest challenge in Counter-Strike is, unsurprisingly, trying to hit anything smaller than Tony Blair's brass neck at greater than two paces. The controller setup does its very best to help you as everything becomes second nature in very short order. The problem lies in those damn analogue sticks. Trying to place your reticule on a baddy is more of an art form then anything else. Unless you are a master at other console shooters you will most likely struggle here. The trick is to find servers and players who equal your skill level and practice, practice, practice. Even if you come from the PC and know most of the maps inside out the controls will have you feeling like a 'noob' right away. And the sad thing is that these are some of the most responsive controls I've tried on a console. The developers have really done their best to make it as easy as possible, but the fact remains that you just cannot get a good FPS experience without a mouse. Still, at least you can be sure that all of your opponents are having to deal with the same problems that you are, and once some semblance of mastery is had over the controls the fun that is Counter-Strike will push these snags to the back of your mind.

Counter-Strike on the is one of the very best FPS games on a console. The updating work done on the creaking engine is superb, and the attempt to make CS into an online has been thoroughly successful. There's even a leaderboard built into the many functions and features that conspire to make CS such a joy to play through Live! The controls are the only letdown, and as there is nothing that can be done about this my whinge is probably not a lot more then the laments of a life-long PC user. If you have an Xbox and a PC it may be wise to pass this by, unless the appeal of playing Counter-Strike while stretched out on the sofa is too much to pass over. And unfortunately almost all users of the Live! service will own a PC already. So, quite who would enjoy this is left open to the floor. Whoever you may be, if you think that you would have fun with this, you cannot blame the developers or if that doesn't turn out to be the case.

88%

By Sam Gibson