Let's get right to it. Counter-Strike for Xbox is a port from the PC but with some improvements that we'll get into later. To start with this version has sort of a single player game that is really no more than practice for the online game. This solo game is you with a squad of computer-controlled bots against another team of bots on any of the 18 (some exclusive to Xbox) maps you choose. The AI in this game is amazing, the bots do everything real players do, and from my PC experience believe me I know. They plant the bomb and hide, defend the bomb locations, use grenades and even camp in all the places that players do in the PC game. When you choose the single player option it allows you to choose a difficulty or customize your own. You can choose which weapons the bots use or if they can forget objectives and hunt for kills. The controls are very good and don't feel twitchy (they've been made easier by inclusions of one button press to get your grenade out and another to quickly get your gun back). Buying weapons is also very simple using a circular buying system so all you do is point the right analog stick to "rifles" for example, then press 'A' then press the direction of the rifle you want and press 'A' again… and there you go! With a little practice you can buy all your kit really quickly and get right to the objectives. When you get into the game you play as either Counter Terrorists or Terrorists with different objectives for each side e.g. bomb planting/disarming or hostage guarding/rescue. You have a lot of weapons at your disposal including Rifles, Pistols, Shotguns, Grenades and more. Also there are two tutorials that teach you the basics of the map types. This game is mainly for Xbox Live, so how does it play?
On Xbox Live the game settings, maps and weapons are all the same as the single player bot matches. The game can become laggy with more than 8 people and so far plays boringly because few seem to communicate like they do in the PC version or other Live games like PGR2. You get the usual scoreboards and downloadable content that other Xbox Live games have.
The graphics and sound are the biggest improvement over the PC version. Graphically everything has had an overhaul; there's improved lighting and bump mapped textures that really give a fresh look to the classic maps. All the maps are vastly improved graphically but still hold the same layout as the originals. The player models and weapons have had a few more polygons injected into them and are more detailed. The effects like explosions and smoke look really good as well. Also there's an effect that adjusts the brightness when you enter and leave dark rooms which is pretty nice. But overall this looks like an aged PC game and could/should have been better - this isn't a game that you'll be using as a showcase of the Xbox's polygon-pushing power. In the sound department a lot of the weapon and explosion noises have been changed and CS has in-game Dolby and custom soundtracks.
Overall the game would be much better if it had the single player campaign from the upcoming CS: Condition Zero on PC. It's certainly a visual improvement over the PC game, but I think the PC version is better, with more players, hundreds more maps and custom weapon and player skins. It does play well on Live but like I said not many people communicate and you find it's like playing against the offline bots anyway - hopefully it'll get better in time as all Live gamers get headsets. If you don't own Xbox Live stay away, do not buy - there are much better FPS available. If you do this will be a goodish addition to the Live collection, but far from essential. SM
