Neotokyo

Now I Remember why I stopped playing Counter-Strike: it was causing me to suffer from severe, crippling fits of rage. It's easy to see similarities in NeoTokyo as one minute you'll be happily navigating a level and then, suddenly, you'll be dead.

There's no warning - your health just drops to zero. A few moments later, the reason behind your demise is made clear: your opponent de-cloaks and runs off down the corridor. A silent kill, followed by a hasty retreat. This mod doesn't reward you for running around, shooting randomly at anything moving.

Think tactically in NeoToyko, and you will, slowly and surely, begin to rack up some kills. Promotions come swiftly, and it's not long before you're creeping up on new players, and assassinating them. Quick, decisive combat is what drives NeoTokyo.

Don't let the comparison put you off, though - NeoTokyo isn't just Counter-Strike with some invisibility. Set 40 years in the future, Toyko looks much the same as now. (One level takes place in a Japanese garden with traditional pagodas alongside near-future tech.)

Much like in Ghost in the Shell -NeoToyko's main influence - in this future the Japan National Security Forces' Group Six (the result of crossbreeding hi-tech SAS-types and the police) are in a constant battle against terrorists (the Jinrai).

You get three classes to choose from: the Recon has light weapons, a long-lasting cloak and the ability to zip around the map; the Assault is the jack-of-all-trades; and bringing up the rear is the Support, who has no cloak but is allowed to don heavy armour.

You're not just running around aimlessly - the game's intention is to make you work as a team in an effort to capture a ghost (a half-finished robot). Once you've grabbed it there are multiple extraction points to choose from. The player in possession of the ghost can see their enemies' positions. They really need to relay these to their teammates, as the opposing team can see you - and they will come for you.

As usual, expect to be in the midst of lots of try-hards, spouting ultra-serious nonsense as if they were actually in a combat situation. Something like: "There's an enemy Recon 800m southwest approaching the ghost." There's nothing forcing people to do that, but the quality of the mod (and a lack of other interests in life, perhaps?)

NeoToyko does make you work together with your squad, admittedly, and choose your shots carefully, as you'll be punished for wasting your cloak or going off on your own. With proper patching to resolve some technical issues we encountered, there's no reason why this can't be a legitimate substitution for the original Counter-Strike.