The one neat touch is the ability to cheat. After (if?) you are hit by an opposing team's paintball, a little bar appears on-screen. If you can stop a moving marker right in the middle, you can wipe the paint off yourself and keep playing. It seems sneaky and underhanded, and it is. But once you do it a few times, you'll get good at dealing with the marker and getting shot evolves from a serious, game-ending penalty to a minor annoyance, kind of like marching an over-leveled team through the first dungeon in an RPG. The game never makes you answer for this move, either, so you either cheat or you don't, but the only one hurt by playing by the rules is you. Lame.

Beyond the single-player career mode, there are also local and online multiplayer options, but nothing outside the realm of every other shooter available on the 360 right now. And to be honest, most won't even bother to finish the career, making the multiplayer an addition that will more than likely never be enjoyed by anyone other than the hardcore 1 percent of gamers who love either 360 gamerpoints or the sport of paintball. If you know that guy, I'd love to meet him… if for no other reason that to verify that such a player exists.

NPPL Championship Paintball's biggest fault is the "sport" it is based on. When held up against AAA shooters like Call of Duty 4, Halo 3, Gears of War 1 and 2 or Rainbow 6: Vegas, the boring gameplay based on a bunch of dudes in masks shooting each other with overgrown Super Soakers seems like a huge waste of time. Personally, very, VERY few shooters have been able to hold my attention without the combo of an interesting story/setup and great, easy-to-use controls. While this game controls pretty well, there is absolutely ZERO drive to get to the end. Basically, if you want to play paintball, go play paintball. Keep the hours you spend gaming centered more around stuff that you can't go down the street and do. What's next? A DMV simulator? A game about shopping for new slacks? Cleaning the bathroom - to the extreme?

In my younger years, a kid who lived up the street, let's call him "Bad Pete," had a bright idea involving some frozen Gobstopper candies and his paintball gun. The giant purple welts that followed were far, FAR more painful than playing this game, but not by much.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 45%.

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