f13.net forums - Black - Criterion Studios

If you can remember back far enough, Black (an FPS, in case the uber-generic name confused you) was released at a time when there was pretty much nothing else noteworthy coming out for the Xbox, which gave this title more attention than it deserved. It looked pretty, the press releases went on about "destructible environments" and FPS-on-console players *insert your own joke here* salivated at the idea.

Then Black was released and was pretty much forgotten a month after launch. This is because Black is the gaming equivalent of a one night stand - pretty enough, thrilling in some points, but when you say goodbye about 7 hours later there is not much else on offer to bring you back for a repeat visit. Although it contains a lot of destructible items and some fantastic set pieces that cause lots of pretty explosions, it all becomes a bit same-y after a while - move forward, headshot some guys, maybe blow something up or destroy something else, repeat. The animations also become repetitive - head shot a guy on a raised platform, watch him flop over the side, do it again for the next enemy. The AI is also pretty questionable - having enemies just stand there looking at you is something you run into from time to time, while enemies also duck out and duck back into cover in a way reminiscent of moving ducks in a circus tent.

A minor gripe is that Black tries to be gritty and realistic while also being neck deep in action movie realism. The plot (such as it is) is an American Black Ops soldier being interrogated by a CIA agent about the missions he'd been on recently, and the weapons are all well detailed, but you can put eight AK47 rounds through the torso of an enemy and they'll still be shooting back at you while riot shields apparently protect their holders against grenade blasts. Black tries to have its cake and eat it too here, but fails in really pulling off the best of both worlds here.

If FPS developers were to take anything from Black, it is the destructible environments. Seeing things fall apart as you shoot them, or setting things exploding in chain reaction can be lots of fun. But for the rest of the game, you probably won't be playing it through more than once.

Also: no multiplayer.

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Rent it.

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