Fans of FPS games used to have to wait months for a new title to hit the shops. Nowadays there's one out practically every other week and with games like Halo 2, Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 now with us, the FPS really has come of age over the last few months. Whilst PS2 owners have to make do with reasonably decent offerings along the lines of Killzone, Xbox gamers are truly spoilt for choice. The modern Xbox shooter now tries to encompass a gripping storyline packed full of twists, thrilling open-ended gameplay, an endless list of impressive and futuristic weaponry and, if you're lucky, a fleet of awesome vehicles, purring at your fingertips. Some games are more successful than others at this, Halo 2 most definitely being the perfect example. With Pariah, the new Halo clone on the Xbox, Digital Extremes try their hardest to pull off the ultimate FPS à la Halo, but does it really cut the mustard?

The storyline in Pariah starts off with a bang. You play a Dr Jack Mason, complete with snazzy space suit and an oddly receding hairline. Mason is hired to escort an infected patient over an enemy war zone, but en route, his army escort disappears and he and his cargo are shot out of the sky. Everyone dies a grizzly death in the crash landing except for Mason, some random co-worker and the patient, the beautiful Karina. In a botched attempt to save Karina's life in the opening scenes, Mason gets a mouthful of her infected blood and his body's veins accept her deadly virus. So the scene is set. You're an ill doctor on some godforsaken planet running around looking for a similarly ill sex-pot called Karina, with a hoard of faceless masked gunmen chasing after you, intent on finding her first. Even from the early cinematic scenes, you can't help but notice the "f" word randomly peppered throughout and can't help but feel that it doesn't really fit, unlike GTA, which uses colourful language to realistic effect.

As you clamber out of your space wreck, you find yourself equipped with what they call a 'bonesaw'. This takes the place of a gun and is basically a serrated knife, ideal for close combat. The manual states that it's perfect to shear off your enemies' limbs but as much as I tried, the limbs remained stuck fast to my foes' torsos. I didn't really find the bonesaw to be of much use. By the time you've run up to the bad guys, you've taken on board enough hot lead to fill a year's supply of pencils. Of more use is the healing tool, a handheld injector that fires shots of health into your left wrist. The procedure takes some time, so it can often lead you vulnerable to incoming attacks, which makes regaining health a tactical dilemma, usually involving ducking behind rocks on the battlefield to get that all-important 'hit'.

Mason can do what every able bodied FPS character can, in that he can jump, crouch and zoom in with his weapons. There's also a sprint button that I didn't actually find until the last level, so it's not a complete necessity. What the game lacks is your usual tutorial prompts at the start telling you the basic controls. Thinking back to the many gunfights I almost died in, the sprint button might have been more than helpful. The environments that Mason can hop, skip and jump about in really are very impressive. There are beautifully rendered gullies, canyons, riverbeds and mountain ranges, all lying in the sweltering heat beneath a crystal clear sky. I haven't seen such impressive visuals since both the Halo games and this is something that Digital Extremes should be very proud of. You'll genuinely find yourself taking time out from mission to mission to gaze lovingly at an azure sky or examine the shimmering surface of a mountain stream. Even the indoor levels inside mountain bases or clambering about through the sewers all look very pretty - but it's on the outdoor levels that Pariah shows off the best of its wares.

As Clarence Boddicker would say, "Guns, guns, guns". No FPS can stake any claim to greatness without a bone smashing, blood spurting array of weaponry. Every weapon in Pariah, with the exception of the pitiful bonesaw, packs some serious punch. Pariah doesn't even bother with a pistol, unlike other FPS titles. You've got the Bulldog, a machinegun that chews through bullets at a phenomenal rate, then your usual suspects such as a grenade launcher, shotgun, sniper rifle, missile launcher and plasma cannon. Whilst the grenade launcher is great at flinging enemies' corpses about like rag dolls, I found that the Bulldog was my weapon of choice. Its fire rate is so high you can dive for cover, laying on a blanket of gunfire, plus I've always suffered from the nasty habit of blowing up myself when it comes to explosive shelled weaponry in FPS games. One real shame is the lack of power in the sniper rifle. The zoom feature on the gun is so short that you may as well not even bother using it. Digital Extremes should really have sorted this out, as some FPS games really stand out from the crowd for their lethal sniper rifles. I need only think of four player marathon sessions on expansive GoldenEye levels to make that point.

One nifty feature is the ability to upgrade your weapons throughout the game. Each weapon can upgrade up to three times throughout the game. Benefits usually include increased shot power and quicker reloading. Some of the upgrades really can be helpful, such as the option to upgrade your rocket launcher to a multiple rocket firing, heat seeking sonofabitch. All the weapons sound great, as does the whole game. I fired on a set of Logitech headphones to really get involved in the action and could feel every blast, punch and scream. Some of the voice talent did seem quite flat though, particularly the main character, who sounds more than a little bit bored. Perhaps he's a failed actor in real life, miffed at being in a mere video game.

So we've done guns. What about vehicles? The back of the game box claims that you can "use assault vehicles to carry out merciless combat". The vehicles in Pariah are so crap and difficult to control, the only thing merciless is your enemies' relentless gunfire as you gimp about trying to do a three-point turn. I can't stress this enough. The vehicles in Pariah are more of a complete hindrance than anything. They may have bikes and trucks and jeeps but I'd find myself giving them a seriously wide berth, as they'd usually involve my untimely demise. It's pathetic when you find yourself blown up by a guy with a machinegun when you're driving a four-wheel cannon mounted jeep. They even sound awful. All four of the vehicles available seem to have been given the sound of an old tractor living out its final days on an abandoned farm courtyard. Advice for Pariah 2 - scrap the vehicles or take a leaf out of Halo 2's book.

Whilst the single player game is pretty good fun, Pariah 2 on Xbox Live really does kick ass. There are plenty of maps to play on but the game also has a very easy-to-use level designer, so you can knock together your own battle zones and invite over your friends online. There's no lag or slowdown and whilst it's not as good as a Call Of Duty or a Ghost Recon 2, Pariah does provide a lot of fun to any discerning Xbox Live user. Having played the game extensively online, it seems that Pariah already has a decent following and Xbox Live users are twitching for news of a sequel.

I really like Pariah. It plays well, looks lovely, sounds great and even shows glimmers of a truly great FPS such as Halo 2. I can see a lot of people not really being that interested in Pariah, as we've all been really spoilt with some amazing FPS titles in recent months. With Pariah, as long as you go into it with an open mind, not even trying to compare it to Halo 2, there's a real fun blast of action packed entertainment to be had. Whilst this game doesn't yet elevate to the ranks of an FPS classic, I think that with a little tweaking, Pariah 2 could be a real and definite challenger to the Halo 2 throne.

Reviewed by Ross Alexander for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).