Counter-Strike scores in that it accomplishes what it set out to do. It's just too bad Counter-Strike was never intended to advance the cause of Xbox as a landmark title worthy of its powerful name and its status as a first party title. Both casual and ha

When Counter-Strike was announced back at E3 2002, the impact of the name itself and the growing momentum of Xbox convinced many observers that Microsoft's home console was getting an enhanced online shooter worthy of the PC phenom's legacy. Even if it wasn't going to be the next Halo, the idea of Counter-Strike on Xbox was titillating because it was going to be exclusive to the system --a polite way of saying it wouldn't be constrained by simultaneous development on PS2. A year and half later, Counter-Strike is here and while much has changed in the perception and popularity of Xbox, the port of the PC modification is a near perfect representative of the extremely popular online game. Almost too perfect. Counter-Strike as a franchise began as a free modification of the groundbreaking Half-Life that gave gamers the chance to frag each other with modern day weapons in contemporary locations and situations. On Xbox the same appeal that hooked thousands is still alive and well. Unfortunately, this appeal doesn't include a single player campaign to speak of beyond the endless rounds of "sparring" you can do with bots. This makes Counter-Strike on Xbox a one-trick pony more or less since online play over Xbox Live is going to be the greatest reason to buy this game.