BLACK by Criterion (the same people who brought you the Burnout racing series) is all action, all the time. It places you right in the middle of the action from the get-go and doesn’t let up. But after a few hours, you’ll wish that there was just a little something more to the game then non-stop run and gun shooting.
In BLACK you play as J.Kellar, some sort of prisoner, but it’s never really explained exactly how he got there. You’re being interrogated by a very stereotypical dark cop trying to get all the info he can out of you. As your story unfolds you’ll find out that you were trying to
"The FPS BLACK by Criterion is all action, all the time."
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capture a man by the name of "Lennox", the head of a terrorist organization called "Seventh Wave". All of the dialogue between Kellar and the cop takes place in live action cut scenes between missions in a dark and dreary room. You never really have a clue as of what they’re talking about until after about the third or fourth mission. However, there’s a nice twist at the end that I didn’t see coming. The biggest problem is that the game ends very abruptly right after the climax, marking play time at around six and a half hours. It feels like there could have easily been another three or four missions right after the big climax. For the most part the cut scenes are dull and really don’t add anything to the game that we haven’t seen before.
Although the story is a little disappointing, it’s not the reason we were all eagerly anticipating the arrival of BLACK. It was the thrilling non-stop action that had us marking February 28th on our calendars. For the first five levels (especially level five) all of the gun slinging, balls-to-the-wall action is great. But after that it just starts to feel tired, and you’re waiting for some kind of change of pace. All you get, though, is more of the exact same... run into a room, shoot a red barrel, gun down everyone that the explosion didn’t kill, do it again. There could have and should have been more to do in BLACK. You can search around the levels collecting "Side
"The game excels in both the audio and the visuals department."
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Objectives" which consist of finding secret documents in laptop computers, safes and such. The Side Objectives are spread out in the most random of places, for example finding a laptop computer placed in a barn in the middle of nowhere or a notebook with top secret files in it under a bridge. When you do come across them, though, you just think you yourself "what the f*** is this doing here?!"
I never encountered any problems with the game’s controls. They felt right for all of the different varieties of weapons, which vary all the way from Magnum hand guns, to Uzis, to RPGs. They all work just as they should, with the proper recoils that has become a standard in all FPSes the past couple of years. Although it doesn’t really matter which weapon you use, most of the time since you’re just unloading on gasoline tanks or cars trying to induce all of the chaos you can through the explosions. Occasionally you’ll reach a few parts of the game where you’re not going to be able to blow everything up to kill your enemies--you’re going to have to outsmart them.
This leads me to a very big issue with the game, the A.I. All of the opposing soldiers seem to be completely brain dead. There were many instances where I would snipe out one guy while his buddy right next to him seemed to not even notice a thing. You can easily throw a grenade right in front of a guy and it’s 50/50 whether he shouts "GRENADE!!!!" and run off, or just stands there looking right at it. It’s little things like that that just hold down BLACK from being a great game.
"There isn’t anything that sets BLACK apart from other FPSes."
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Now that you know what’s wrong with BLACK, here’s what couldn’t have been done any better. The game excels in both the audio and the visuals department. The sounds for all of the different guns are great. When you hear commands from your teammates on the battlefield you can tell there was a significant amount of time spent on nailing the lines (even though most of them are just people shouting out curse words). However, what really sets the mood in most of the levels is the musical score, even though its awesome soundtrack is only present for short amounts of time. It’s still one amazing soundtrack from the opening theme right down to the tense theme right in the heat of the last level. The other highlight of the game was the visuals. Easily some of the best graphics you’ll see on the PS2 and Xbox, it really brings you into the experience when you see how good the environments look, and how much better they can look after you’ve blown it all away. The lighting is also very well done, looking like something right out of "Citizen Kane" when you walk into some of the different rooms. Although the frame rate slows down some when the action really picks, it’s excusable since it seldom happens and it’s very brief when it does. Even though all of the enemies basically look the same, they look good and detailed. I really liked the overall look of the game, from the menu screens to in-game effects. The dark look keeps up throughout the entire game, keeping you in the experience.
One of the biggest things holding BLACK down is the replay value. It’s a relatively short game; it took me about six and a half hours to complete it on normal difficulty. It’s worth a second play through on hard, but that’s about it since there is absolutely no multiplayer at all.
Overall, BLACK is an intense edge-of-your-seat experience for the first few hours, until it starts to get stale. The game is still fun later on, since the challenge picks up a bit, but there isn’t anything that sets BLACK apart from other shooters. I’d recommend BLACK to anyone, but mostly those who want a quick and fun gaming experience. You’re likely to have some fun with the game but just don’t expect to be blown away by it.
