RedMaN
15-03-2006, 09:47 PM
Developed by the team over at Criterion Games, the company known for it’s hugely successful car-demolition Burnout series, Black is an action packed and explosion laden first-person-shooter affair. Just like the Burnout series, the emphasis is on destroying things in your path whilst trying to reach the target.
You play the role of a jolly soldier chap called Keller who has been pulled in for interrogation over his role in trying to capture a bunch of arms-dealing-terrorists called the Seventh Wave. Full motion video cut scenes tell the story of your interrogation, leaving no small detail out, and the story plays out as you recount previous missions to your captors.
As previously mentioned, the essence of the game is destruction. There’s no need to crawl around, sniping enemies from a distance and conserving ammo… Black actually encourages expelling whole magazines of ammo towards a target, in hope that nearby fuel drums, cars, trucks or other destructible items will explode and may just help you in your quest to find out the truth. In addition to encouraging itchy trigger fingers, "style kills," are also rewarded where you use your environment to take out your foes with explosions or falling debris. You can have just enough fun playing the game, as well as trying to think of new ways you could take down the bad guys.
There are three different difficulty levels available (easy, normal and hard) plus an unlockable Black Ops level for those gamers who want to go back and complete the game at that higher level. The range of weaponry is pretty standard fare and they only differ in the amount of range and recoil.
In terms of graphics, Criterion pulled out all stops to push the aging Xbox hardware with some really nice eye candy. Lens flare and sunsets make for a nice touch whilst traversing the terrain but the king of all effects, the explosions, is the trump card of this title. For a console title, exploding buildings and trucks has never looked so cool. Since the focus of the game is on the weapons, there’s some fluid gun animations when reloading… very smooth indeed.
Audio wise, this game has been designed to sound like a blockbuster Hollywood action film. Sound effects for the guns and explosions are top notch… a notable mention was the sound of bullets smacking into concrete walls and columns, very realistic. Radio chatter during the missions also adds to the immersion. The soundtrack for Black is very dynamic also and reflects the current gameplay. Just like the sound effects, the accompanying audio sounds like it belongs in a blockbuster… smashing stuff.
Now let’s get down to the cons… two major gripes that I had with this game, the enemy AI and no multiplayer. The AI is extremely disappointing and I would have liked Criterion to spend a bit more time refining this part of the game. A good example of this is… in no specific area of the game (as it happens quite frequently), you may wander across two bad guys standing next to each other near a doorway, in plain view of each other. After you dispatch one of the soldiers with a clean headshot and watch him crumble down to the ground next to his fellow soldier, the remaining soldier just stands there, oblivious to his surroundings. Memo to Criterion: If you’re going to take the time and produce a decent FPS, make sure you inject more cash into AI research and development. This is not the standard of AI we would come to expect from first person shooters these days.
The missing multiplayer aspect is also a big no-no. Considering the single player campaign consists of eight levels, you should be able to finish Black in approximately 6-8 hrs. Some multiplayer action to extend the longevity of the game would have been welcomed.
Black, developed by Criterion and published by EA, is a refreshing look at the FPS genre that has become quite stale of late. That said, just like the genre, the excitement begins to wane and it just becomes too repetitive after the first few levels. But if you’re looking for some quick single player, gun-toting action complete with explosions-a-plenty, Black is your gaming Achilles heel.
You play the role of a jolly soldier chap called Keller who has been pulled in for interrogation over his role in trying to capture a bunch of arms-dealing-terrorists called the Seventh Wave. Full motion video cut scenes tell the story of your interrogation, leaving no small detail out, and the story plays out as you recount previous missions to your captors.
As previously mentioned, the essence of the game is destruction. There’s no need to crawl around, sniping enemies from a distance and conserving ammo… Black actually encourages expelling whole magazines of ammo towards a target, in hope that nearby fuel drums, cars, trucks or other destructible items will explode and may just help you in your quest to find out the truth. In addition to encouraging itchy trigger fingers, "style kills," are also rewarded where you use your environment to take out your foes with explosions or falling debris. You can have just enough fun playing the game, as well as trying to think of new ways you could take down the bad guys.
There are three different difficulty levels available (easy, normal and hard) plus an unlockable Black Ops level for those gamers who want to go back and complete the game at that higher level. The range of weaponry is pretty standard fare and they only differ in the amount of range and recoil.
In terms of graphics, Criterion pulled out all stops to push the aging Xbox hardware with some really nice eye candy. Lens flare and sunsets make for a nice touch whilst traversing the terrain but the king of all effects, the explosions, is the trump card of this title. For a console title, exploding buildings and trucks has never looked so cool. Since the focus of the game is on the weapons, there’s some fluid gun animations when reloading… very smooth indeed.
Audio wise, this game has been designed to sound like a blockbuster Hollywood action film. Sound effects for the guns and explosions are top notch… a notable mention was the sound of bullets smacking into concrete walls and columns, very realistic. Radio chatter during the missions also adds to the immersion. The soundtrack for Black is very dynamic also and reflects the current gameplay. Just like the sound effects, the accompanying audio sounds like it belongs in a blockbuster… smashing stuff.
Now let’s get down to the cons… two major gripes that I had with this game, the enemy AI and no multiplayer. The AI is extremely disappointing and I would have liked Criterion to spend a bit more time refining this part of the game. A good example of this is… in no specific area of the game (as it happens quite frequently), you may wander across two bad guys standing next to each other near a doorway, in plain view of each other. After you dispatch one of the soldiers with a clean headshot and watch him crumble down to the ground next to his fellow soldier, the remaining soldier just stands there, oblivious to his surroundings. Memo to Criterion: If you’re going to take the time and produce a decent FPS, make sure you inject more cash into AI research and development. This is not the standard of AI we would come to expect from first person shooters these days.
The missing multiplayer aspect is also a big no-no. Considering the single player campaign consists of eight levels, you should be able to finish Black in approximately 6-8 hrs. Some multiplayer action to extend the longevity of the game would have been welcomed.
Black, developed by Criterion and published by EA, is a refreshing look at the FPS genre that has become quite stale of late. That said, just like the genre, the excitement begins to wane and it just becomes too repetitive after the first few levels. But if you’re looking for some quick single player, gun-toting action complete with explosions-a-plenty, Black is your gaming Achilles heel.