Counter-Strike is a modification off the PC hit Half-Life, and it uses real-life health, weapons, and movement. This equates to a wonderful game that is addictive; you just can't stop playing it.

This game is only played online, and the structure is very different from most first person shooters. Typically, once you were killed, you could immediately spawn back at your base, ready to fight once again. Counter-Strike changes it up by making the games run in rounds, in other words once you have been killed, you have to wait until one team wins before you can start again. Although you may find this annoying, it makes the game more realistic, and it is actually a lot of fun to watch your teammates in third person view.

There are usually two different types of maps, hostage or bomb planting. In the hostage levels, the counter-terrorists (CTs) must move through the level and find the hostages, then escort them out to the safe zone where the level started, all while the terrorists try to kill them. In the bomb levels, it's the terrorists turn to do something; one player starts with the bomb and the group must make it to a bombsite in order to plant the bomb, all while protecting their backs from the pursuing CTS Both of these scenarios are a ton of fun.

My favorite map type, though, would be escort, where the CTS must protect one of the players armed with only a pistol, called a VIP, then escort him to the helicopter to get out of there. It is insane as you group moves through the level protecting you, as bullets fly from the terrorist's sniper towers.

The folks over at Valve have updated this great game a number of times, and now they recently released their 1.4 version. Some new features include smaller jumping ability, bug fixes, and an updated spectator mode. The latter is my favorite addition because you can have picture-in-picture to watch your team's movement through the level.

Graphics for this game are adequate for a game released over 2 years ago. You can play it in many different resolutions, depending on your computers speed. As of now, mine is set to a pretty high resolution, and it plays very fluently. There are some cool effects like gunshots and grenade explosions. Sound is equally as good as the graphics I described above; it isn't revolutionary, but it gets the job done.

If you have Half-life, you must simply download this game. It is a great modification, and is even sold on its own at retailers for an easy 20 bucks. And once you get it, play me sometime under the screen name of N65max.