Counter-Strike: Condition Zero
PC, £24.99 Valve/Vivendi Universal Games,
****
Counter-Strike is the world's favourite online game - it sold 1.5m copies, and introduced the concept of co-operative multiplay to an audience of hardcore gamers. Impressive for a game that emerged from the so-called "modding" community, which took advantage of id Software's decision to make the engines underlying Doom and Quake freely available.
Condition Zero is the first major update to Counter-Strike and, although it offers more to those who wish to play it alone rather than online, it should still prove enormously popular. When played online, the primary improvement concerns the graphics. A number of detailed changes to weaponry, new maps and so on have been introduced. Players might find it disappointingly similar to the original.
But Condition Zero marks Counter-Strike's emergence as a credible single-player game, thanks to the introduction of AI-controlled "bots". You can play full-blown multiplayer-style games by picking a team of bots and fighting enemy bots, or work through an 18-mission single-player campaign and, as you progress, upgrade your team with improved AI-controlled team-mates.
The Counter-Strike theme of counter-terrorists taking on terrorists is so appropriate, and Condition Zero's single-player mode offers a good way of acquiring the skills to prosper in competitive online first-person shoot-'em-ups.
Steve Boxer
Unreal Tournament 2004
PC, £19.99 Epic/Atari,
****
You have to hand it to Epic when it comes to value. UT 2004 is packed with so many maps, weapons, vehicles and gameplay modes it makes rivals look threadbare. In the world of online shooters, you can never count on loyalty, and UT's fans have been drifting away.
Well, Unreal wants them back and to show how much, it offers around a dozen multiplayer gaming modes, adding ideas such as Onslaught to the more traditional Capture the Flag or Deathmatch varieties. New, too, are around 100 maps mixing stunning outdoor arenas with traditional interior settings, and the long-awaited inclusion of vehicles. So far, only Halo has made multiplayer vehicles fun, and hardcore types may lament their inclusion - but Epic has embraced a future where every hero can shoot from the back of a quad-bike.
One other trick is a single-player skirmish mode that puts up a fight. Others have used AI-bots to simulate human players, but this is the first where the result makes enjoyable gameplay. If you own UT 2003, this is hardly a quantum leap forwards. Neither is it a Fifa-style makeover. For multiplayer fans, it provides a massive fix of the turbo-charged mayhem they crave. For the uninitiated, it's the best introduction to what online gaming is about.
Mike Anderiesz
Painkiller
Dreamcatcher/Mindscape PC, £29.99,
***
Polish developer Dreamcatcher has literally lost the plot. Painkiller throws characterisation and script into the bin and then blows it up with a massive gun. This is an old-school shooter that gives you heavy weaponry, a pile of ammo and an undead horde to obliterate. And that's about it. Reflexes are all you need. Simply enter each area, kill everything and then move on - simple, yet effective.
Even the hidden areas - another homage to Doom and Quake - aren't that hard to find. But the action is relentless and not for the faint-hearted or RSI-afflicted. The varied and incoherent levels - from haunted house to industrial complex - betray not so much a lack of developer focus as an unapologetic desire for simpler gaming. In Painkiller, there is no branching non-linear storyline or complex strategy focus - here, you shoot, run and die.
Unfortunately, Painkiller fulfils too many PC gamer stereotypes. Its heavy metal music and cliched demonic setting betray the developers love of black shirts and goatee beards. And the anachronistic action does nothing to push gaming forward. But throw in the impressive graphics and popular multiplayer mode and you have a game that will certainly help you de-stress.
Greg Howson
