For those of you out there holding out a bit on jumping headfirst into the HD era, you're going to need something to keep you occupied, no? Unless you want your Xbox to be collecting dust, you're going to need something to play. Groove Games is going to try and alleviate your pain (just a tad) by bringing you WarPath, a no-nonsense first-person shooter along the same vein as Unreal Tournament and Painkiller.

Though it may not admit it outright, WarPath is centered on a multiplayer experience. It does include single player (with bots), but with the amount we've seen of it so far it's not going to offer a whole lot in the way of rolling solo. To attempt to compensate for this, WarPath is putting in some elements that hopefully should add some depth and variety.

What WarPath does is take the most familiar piece of a first person shooters, the weaponry, and gives it a tier-system in which allows you to upgrade each to varying degrees as you engage in your killing sprees. Defeating enemies has them relinquish either ammo or "Met Kits", which is like a currency system that is used to plug into your guns to beef them up. Add a Met Kit to your rocket launcher at the first level and it gets some lock-on capabilities; add a second Met Kit and not only can it still lock on, but now it can fire multiple missiles at a time.

Additionally, progression in the single player section of WarPath is made a bit more interesting by being handled as a conquest mode. There are three factions in WarPath, and each one has possession of certain territories that also represent control of a particular weapon. Each match determines whether or not you take a certain section, and thus the weaponry to aid you in your conquests. Furthermore, between missions you're going to also have to expect previously conquered territories to be contested and require that you aid in their defense.

The controls in WarPath are solid. The Xbox version controls just as well as you'd expect from any AAA title on the platform, and the control layout is laid out pretty intuitively. Switching from weapon to weapon and upgrading them in the heat of battle wasn't the overwhelming task it sounds like, so hats off to Digital Extremes for being on the right track as far as control mechanics go. A good thing, as WarPath supports up to 16 players total in a multiplayer match, so having you struggling with controls and worrying about a barrage from your opponents would be a blemish this game really can't allow for.

Where WarPath looks a little weak right now is in its multiplayer load out. It has the standard modes: deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag and "assault" modes, but unfortunately those aren't anything anyone hasn't seen before. Possibly more disappointing is the fact that the weapons may be a bit too familiar; shotguns, machine guns, energy weapons - it's really all par for the course these days. The art direction in game is a little odd as well. Level design is interesting, but character and weapon models don't really stick out as unique or memorable.

Unfortunately, from what we've seen so far WarPath isn't much more than a poor man's Halo 2. That's alright, though, as it's set to release as a budget title at $29.99 U.S for the Xbox version, and $19.99 for the PC. WarPath can get away with its faults because it doesn't seem like it's making any bones about what it's attempting to do, but whether or not it's going to be worth throwing down for is why you should check back with us later this Spring for a review.