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This sci-fi first-person shooter might just make you forget about Half-Life: Counterstrike—for a little while, anyway. If you're used to playing shooters on the PC, give yourself some time to get used to playing with a controller instead of a keyboard and mouse; once you do, you'll be intrigued by the richly detailed, fully explorable environment. We found an epic sense of story in this game, with its well-developed plot and decent voice acting. As for play modes, if you are lucky enough to have a friend (or friends) with both a Microsoft Xbox and a TV, you can set up a LAN with the built-in Ethernet port on the console. You can play competitively (death match, vehicle race, and capture the flag), or you can complete the single-player mission cooperatively. And using third-party software with your PC, you can connect your Xbox to the Internet for Halo multiplay: Check out GameSpy (www.gamespy.com). Finally, you can play in multiplayer mode on a single Xbox—but the split screen detracts from the competitive nature of the game, since you can see your opponent sneak up behind you.