Game Review: Black

[El Karacho1647545492]

You've all see the commercials: exploding vases, decimated pianos, and fine marble turned to shrapnel. All of this watched over by a classical soundtrack and a flat panel TV showing the game Black in full force. This production from Electronic Arts is the latest and greatest of the first-person shooter genre, and completely redefines the "run-n-gun" mentality that has been lost in a world of Metal Gear Solid, Grand Theft Auto, and Rainbow Six. Games are now incorporating intense storylines that attempt to draw the player in; to have feelings for the characters, and to be enticed to interact with other characters with ulterior interests in mind. The Metal Gear Solid trilogy earns my utmost respect because of its absolute genius design that incorporates both cinematic superiority with excellent gameplay and plot. However, every once in a while, I have the urge to "get my gun off" and simply run into a building guns ablaze to clear out a room of AK-47 toting bastards. Black lets me do just that for several hours straight.

 

Plot 5/10: The plot of the game is rather unclear, but here's what I can draw. The back of the DVD case has very little about the game: "As a BLACK operative, you'll obey no laws. know no borders, kill without mercy, and live by the Five Rules of Guncraft.

1. Guns are the stars.

2. Every bullet is your baby.

3. Bigger guns, louder explosions.

4. Leave a trail of destruction.

5. Get creative with your kills."

What I gather from playing the game is that you are a BLACK Ops operative. You have been incarcerated for carrying out unapproved murders and operations in the name of the United States. You're given a chance to repent by telling your interrogator all you know, and that is where gameplay begins. It is four days ago, as you tell your interrogator, and you're in the streets of a war-torn city dominated by the Seventh Wave terrorist faction. You work for the United States BLACK Ops, a secret agency, and you're sent in to take Seventh Wave apart. Basically, this is where the plot disappears and the gameplay begins, which is just how I like it. No plot, all killing.

NOTE: Unofficial sources say that this is the beginning of a trilogy, so that after the game reaches the present-day status (basically the end of the game), you're left hanging. It should be good.

 

Gameplay 9/10: I give this a nine comparing it to the wonderful playability of games such as Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, a pair of the highest rated games ever.

Virtually everything in this game is destructible, from petroleum tanks and cars to walls and tombstones. There are at least three or four ways to kill every enemy, and the most fun thing in the game is utilizing each of these. The setting reminds me of Half Life 2, with a war-scorched city with enemies lurking in every direction. There is inevitably a sniper or RPG-carrying enemy around every corner (but almost always on the very top of a building). The first level is wonderful. There is almost no tutorial though none is needed. Look at the booklet, and you'll realize the controls are elementary and you could use a SNES controller if you wanted. Now the guns. The guns are absolutely enthralling, and you can only carry two at the same time; a feature that people like me will love. Here's a list and short description.

DC3 elite: Basically a Berertta 92FS that occasionally comes with a silencer. Powerful, but slow rate of fire.

Glock 19: Essentially the same as the DC3

Magnum: Think Half Life 2. Six-shooter that'll take anyone down in one shot, but is a bitch to reload.

Mac 10 Elite: A small submachine gun with a high-capacity magazine that has a removable silencer. Good for close combat, button-mashing, fast fire, but not the choice for anything more than medium-range (100 feet) shooting. High rate of fire.

Uzi: Same as the Mac 10, with slightly less recoil, more accuracy, and a slightly smaller mag. Does more damage upon impact, but for taking down the "big fellas" your only hope is multiple headshots (if they're wearing a helmet).

FN P90: The highest rate of fire with one of the highest mag capacities make this seem fun, but it is completely inaccurate beyond 10 feet and does very little damage against the enemies in the levels that you use it. Not a favorite by any means.

MP5: Uses the same ammo as the Uzi and Mac10 (SMG Ammo), but is overall a better gun. High rate of fire and good accuracy with removable silencer make this a favorite for those that like a covert approach with some more firepower if necessary. It makes an amazing sidearm.

Remmington 870: Pump shotgun with an extremely slow rate of fire, but with amazing short-medium range power. It holds 8 rounds per reload, and you can just add slugs if you're short a couple without having to go through a whole 8-round loading process. Another good sidearm for a level with lots of closed spaces. It also lets you blast down locked doors and shoot through weak walls with ease.

SPAS 12: Same as the Remmington with a slightly higher rate of fire and smaller round capacity (6). One of my favorites to carry around in case any of the highly-armored shotgun-toting baddies decide to run up in front of you. Those guys take 2 shotgun rounds to kill, or about 100 rounds otherwise. Personally my favorite sidearm for enclosed levels in buldings, etc.

G36C: Those of you that play Battlefield 2 won't be disappointed with this gun. It is powerful, accurate, and has amazing mag capacity and rate of fire. Uses Assault Rifle Ammo that is sometimes harder to come by (depends on the level), but is a favorite.

AK-47: The classic terrorist weapon. High damage, good rate of fire (and accuracy on full auto), and easy to find.

M16: High damage, high accuracy, removable silencer (if you can ever find it), high rate of fire, and high mag capacity make this a favorite among weapons. Good for taking down those shotgun-toting bastards.

M249: Extrememly high damage, high accuracy, high rate of fire, and enormous mag capacity make this a prime choice. The only draw back is its extremely long reload time, so whenever possible I keep this as my sidearm. A few enemies per level use this gun, and boy do they suck to try and kill.

Walther 2000: Sniper rifle. Takes forever to take out and aim, but with 2x and 5x zoom levels, its great for those "non-confrontational" approaches.

RPG: Good luck finding rockets lying around, but when you do this is the weapon that'll git-r-done. Aim in the general direction of an enemy sniper or RPG tower, and listen for the explosion. Takes forever to reload, and finding ammo is a bitch, but if you're lucky enough to find one, USE IT.

M203 GL: Basically your average stand-alone grenade launcher. I would prefer to see it as an attatchment to the M16, but I hear rumors of that as an unlockable asset. Slow reload and toughness to aim mean it is a seldom-used weapon.

Hand Grenades: Crates of these are abundant in the game, and when you throw them enemies run. Lacking the ability to prime them, your best option is to throw it then immediately shoot it with your gun when it gets near an enemy. You carry these along with your two other weapons.

 

That's about it for the weapon descriptions. This game reminds me a lot of Mercenaries as far as the greatness of it. You can blow shit up whenever you want, and the two-gun rule harkens back to that as well. Ammo is your most abundant resource, and health packs are never too hard to come by if you're smart. With over 1.4 million attainable bullets in the game, conservation is something you should definitely throw to the wind.

 

Graphics 8/10: This is harder to guage. I'm playing on a 27" Magnavox Flatscreen (not flat panel) tv in my dorm. The game utilizes lighting fairly well, and the dust that rises whenever you blow up a wall is great. Enemy deaths are not quite as good as the ragdoll/gravity interaction in Half Life 2, but there are various ways someone may die depending on where you shoot them. The graphics are great, and though I'm pretty sure this is unintentional, sometimes when you go into a room 3 feet away from guys shooting at your face and you start firing right back, the game slows down. I don't know if this was intentional, or just a byproduct, but I love it. It speeds right back up after everyone dies and the dust settles, but for that few moments its just barely slower to give you a cool effect. When you reload everything but your gun goes blurry (you can bypass this by doing a combination of actions at the same time and still reload). Overall, the graphics again remind me of Half Life 2, and not much was spared in making sure this was a great game.

 

Fun Factor 10/10: "So there's a sniper, huh? And a guy with an RPG, on two different towers? Damn. Well, peek around the corner and see if you...yep...there it is. A truck laden with explosive barrels right at the foot of each tower. And my targeting reticle turns black when I aim at it? Well then, its clearly destructible." Thus is my train of thought when I'm playing this game. So you're stuck with an Uzi and SPAS-12 and you're 100 yards from the sniper, but due to Pathagorus's magnificent theorum, you're only about 30 yards from that truck. Well, pop out, start running and gunning, and before you know it a fireball belches skyward and knocks the tower down, taking that trigger happy "Rocketman" along with it. The two "boss" levels, if you can call it that, have several pillars in the middle of the room that simply are waiting to be destroyed. As people shoot at you wildly, chunks of tile and cement fly off in a dusty storm preventing you from aiming at anything other than their muzzle blast. This game has enough variety from a simple run-n-gun that you can't help but be satisfied.

 

Overall 8.5/10: It is kinda expensive, but this is the most fun you'll ever have not being careful in a game. After spending several of the last few weeks playing Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm, I had to retrain myself to forget about stealth, leave the silencers off, and simply run around killing everything I could.

 

I just realized how much this is to read, and how little CR likes to do that. Oh well, for those of you that got here, I hope you enjoyed it.

[black00ws6]

sweet.. just d/led it last night, gonna have to upload it to the ol' xbox now.

[Rustlestiltskin]

Just got done playin black this week and beat it on normal. Def. a fun game but shooting the terrorist 2334023509 until they die is not too appealing. 1 shot head kills usually work though

[El Karacho1647545492]

Just got done playin black this week and beat it on normal. Def. a fun game but shooting the terrorist 2334023509 until they die is not too appealing. 1 shot head kills usually work though

yeah, that is defintely true. headshots ftw.

[The Pikey]

+1 on the review I know how you feel sometimes. I love games with strategy, but sometimes I just want to go gun blazing, and not have to think for a while.

 

Scott

 

peace

[black00ws6]

sometimes I just want to go gun blazing, and not have to think for a while.

 

 

Full Metal Jacket style... AAAAAAHHHHHH GET SOME, GET SOME!!

[Cougar1647545494]

Bad Mother Fucking Ass Game