The word 'terrorist' is becomingly an increasingly blurred term in today's society. Without wishing to get too heavy and political, the difference between a 'terrorist' and a 'freedom fighter' is merely media slant, a choice of label. At least the concept of the "bad guys" in a computer game is a simple and necessary distinction, though it shouldn't make the leap to the real world quite so easily, doubtless.

As you've probably guessed, Global Operations is a first-person shooter all about hypothetical terrorist/anti-terrorist operations across a number of environments, from hydro-electric power plants to governor's mansions. There are some 13 missions in total, each of which can be played out on either of two sides, in single player or multiplayer modes.

Sadly the single player mode is quite disappointing. In this you play with a team of computer controlled "bot" players, against another team of bots. The bots, however, have rather rubbish artificial intelligence, which makes the experience a dull and lifeless one - though at least you can learn the levels and what the objectives are (where hostages are and so on) to prepare yourself for the real game; namely, the online multiplayer version.

If you've played Counter-Strike, then you'll be quite familiar with the way the game operates. You join one of the two terrorist/anti-terrorist teams and try to achieve your specified team objectives. There's a big selection of usable weapons and you earn cash to purchase them by completing objectives, eliminating the opposition and generally being successful.

Global Operations is different in that it gives you a choice of characters to play. From the all-round commando to the specialist sniper or demolitions man, there are six in total. A seventh class is the intelligence officer who doesn't play a 3D shooter, but rather a tactical game using an overhead map to direct his team about. This is a very interesting concept, but it isn't very well executed, the interface being rather difficult to suss out.

A positive point is that there's far more variety with the different missions than Counter-Strike possesses. Global Operations also lets you respawn and return to the battlefield, with a time delay, after you're killed (whereas in CS, you're dead for the match full stop). Whether you like this depends on how realistic you like your gaming to be.

The realism of Global Operations' collision detection, however, could do with some work. Often you can spray bullets at an opponent and apparently miss them at close range, which can be frustrating. The graphics are only of a fair standard and Global Operations isn't a Counter-Strike killer on balance.

Global Operations is not a particularly original concept - it's very similar to Counter-Strike in many ways. To be fair to the game, it does bring some new ideas to the table and in its own right it's a perfectly playable and enjoyable game. The single player option is pretty pointless though, and the collision detection could be better.