There has definately been no shortage of Shooter games this year, however, many of which were pure horse shit.

Counter Strike ultimately is only a deathmatch style game, unless you have xbox live or have the PC version, i'd say not to even bother with it. Its only fun online. A fustratingly addictive game to say the least. Though the accuracy of all the guns in the game has been fucked with, its still great. Goodluck hitting the broadside of the barn if your just starting out.

SWAT: Global Strike Team looks like crap. This is one of those low budget versions of a real squad based game. There are a total of 5 guns you can use in the entire game. What you start with, you had better get used to. The shotgun at least works like a shotgun in that game, not just a pea shooter like most others. You shoot someone with it and they are dead. No ands ifs or buts about it. Flak Jacket? Don't matter. 20 rounds of auto-shotgun fury will drop em all. You have unlimited ammo in that game too. Far too easy.

Unreal Championship is a fast pased Death match style game for xbox. Took awhile to get used to the speed of the game when i first played it. Depending on the species of the character you pick, you will have an added bonus to your stats, or even a penalty. I'll take the fast jumpy mo fo over the juggernaughts anyday. Sure they got a great deal less health but you can outrun missiles and strafe your way through firefights. Well, untill some asshole comes along with a minigun... shredded.

Aliens vs Predator is an aging game for the PC. An old favorite of mine. From back in '98 or so it came out. You could be the Marines, the Alien or even the Predator. Alien being able to scales walls and run at blinding speeds, jumping half a mile in a single bound. Only draw back is its low health and lack of attacks. Got the head bite instant kill, claws to rend with and a tail with a huge ass spike on the end. The Predator has a fountain of health, can cloak, a variaty of deadly weaponry and several vision modes. Thermal gives lock on capabilities to humans, electrical to androids and xenomorphs (aliens) the last works for predator vs predator battles. The marines have by far to most exsplosive weaponry of them all. Since just about anything can drop them in a single hwell placed it its obnly fair. Smartguns with auto-locking to anything that moves, flame throwers, grenade launchers, fragmentation grenades, proximity mines, SADAR rockets and the almighty 800 round minigun. usually the only way to kill a guy with a minigun to to come from behind.

Halo is getting old sure. But its still the most origonal and revolutionary. Graphics are better then most out nowadays too. oddly enough. Get an 8 player system link going and its fun for hours. Its raised the bar for shooter standards but this is of course no news to anyone. If you haven't heard about Halo its probably time to crawl out from under that rock.

Ghost Recon along with its expansion Island Thunder are very good games. A slower pace then the rest. Base more apon stealth then all out warfare. You pick your weapons set before each mission or round and once your ammo runs out, your hooped. There are no health or ammo pickups to speak of in this game. Though, its hard to run out of ammo, 400+ rounds for whatever you have is more then enough in most cases. If you find a way to run out... you are one trigger happy bastard. Clancey games are the best.

Rainbow Six: 3 is another Clancey game, currently the best squad based shooter out there. The graphics are top not and the weapon selection is a chore. There are simply so moany weapons to choose from, it can take awhile before you find one that suits your style of play. Flashbangs turn any threatening room into a cake walk. That shit fucks you up. Being on the receiving end means death unless you can find a hole to hide in while blind and deaf. The single player campainge is huge and involving. Good storyline and good AI make it a challening yet fun game. Online or link play is where it really shines though. like any First person shooter worth its salts. Its best played online against faceless enemies and allies.

Conflict Desert Storm 2 is the only xbox shooter game yet to let you use your own music. It too is squad based, in a 3rd person prospective. You'll have a medic on your team along with everyone carrying medpacks so its virtually impossible to die. You'll have 2 lifebars. Yellow you are healthy, once it runs out you will have taken enough damage to fall unconscious and then a red bar will pop up where the yellow was. once that runs out your man will finally die. Only a soldier with medic skills can revive fallen allies. After each level depending on how well you do, your troops will gain level ups and get better in skills you have used to complete that mission. The game itself got boring after the second level. And thats where i stopped playing. Its not a horrible game but it lacks key elements to keep my interest.

The Timesplitters or Red Faction games not even on the list?

SHAME!

To be honest i had forgotten about those games

Red Faction 2 was decent, the ability to blow the shit out of nearly everything was a nice touch. Be sure to get through the stairwell before you nuke it. Its often the only way up. Being able to kill all your traitorous partners along the way is a nice part of the story.

Time Splitters 2 since i never played the first, the first level is all too much like the Dam off Goldeneye. The graphics are very similar. Weapons identical. Only difference in some of the character models is that everyone seems to look like they are wearing bell bottomed pants. An excutiatingly long game. But fun to the end. Traveling back and forth through time, from shoot outs in the old west to infiltrating the aliens base and fending off an invasion. Its all here. A good all round game.

Bungie has finally put an official release date on Halo 2. Must wait until fall this year for its long awaited arrival. A plus is that they have a few new screenshots over at the site. Multiplayer is going to be sweet.

That's the joy of online play guys...try out Wolfenstein esp....though I must say Rainbow's is far superior, you can killinate people better in Wolfenstein...

Live is good with the voice chatting...you get a real feel for who you're playing with, I think...though multiplayer in person does kick the shit out of that, most of the time.

Gum Shoe?

And Duck Hunt would get more love if it weren't for that G-d darn dog! Fucking bastard!

Gum Shoe was a NES game that used the light gun like Duck Hunt.

You played a private eye who had to solve some crime. The guy (Gum Shoe) would move across the screen horizontily and you would shoot him to make him jump. Almost the entire he game you had to continueously elevate him into the air by shooting his feet, as the ground was usually never solid. If you got lazy and stopped shooting the board would continue moving leaving Gum Shoe stranded to die. But shooting blindly wasn't good either as enemies would fly at you & their would be obstacles you had to move Gum Shoe around (walls, cliffs, etc.)

You also had to shoot the various enemies that came at Gum Shoe.

I'll wait for Killzone and Timesplitters 3

I use the Famas or the M60 for depending on what I think is needed, you should look me up sometime, maybe get in line with the Suck Squad (I need to get my Box back from my friend's house though...Halo session).

The Famas is by far the best weapon in that game. Zoom isn't too strong like the Aug so you can run about and leave the zoom on which is handy. Not the funnest to use though. Weak weapons that can't get through body armor make things more interesting. Its fun to see people flee like cowards after you hit them 17 times in the chest in under a second without causing any actual damage.