Killer explosions and destructibility can only last so long in Black.
In Black, you assume the role of an operative by the name of Keller. In the first cutscene, Keller is pushed into a deal to keep himself out of jail by revealing what he did in preceding missions. The cutscenes are told through flashbacks and have you doing these shooting missions in-between each cutscene. As you watch Black’s full-motion-videos you’ll be told information about a terrorist division called Seventh Wave. You’ll also find out that you’re hunting for a suspect in the Seventh Wave known as Lennex. While the first few cutscenes will easily get your attention, the videos get boring fast as they always show Keller talking about uninteresting information. The storyline itself isn’t that great, it’s along the lines of your typical action movie blockbuster like Commando. While the game seems to try and create an interesting story, the reality is that it bores more than it interests.
It’s true that Black won’t in anyway astonish you with its storyline; but you’ll be spellbound by the game’s mind-blowing action. When Black was first unveiled the game had one major focus: complete and utter destruction. And this is what Black does extremely well-providing a lot of eye-popping devastation along with constant thrills. You’ll be tossed into loud, in-your-face combat while exploding cars, shattering buildings apart, sending enemies flying with your guns, and that’s just on the first level. You’ll be battling in warehouses, old factories, piers and bridges throughout Black. Seeing how much you can destroy in Black is quite impressive at first. However, you’ll slowly start to get used to the amount of damage the environments can take and become less impressed. Nonetheless, Black’s intensity and annihilation make up for the otherwise monotonous shooting.
A key part to what makes the destruction, especially the explosions in Black so impressive is the game’s graphics. Without a doubt, Black is one of the best-looking games to have been released on the Xbox and PS2. There’s some good lighting used to effect throughout Black, such as the reflections off the weapons when exposed to sunlight and when you fire. Black also has tons of great textures and detail on both the environments and the character models. What are even more impressive are the guns and explosions. The guns have been given great graphical treatment and look almost life-like, especially when reloading. As for the explosions, only one word can describe them: “Whoa!” When you blow something up you’ll be amazed at how great and realistic the explosions look thanks to the great particle effects from the fire and smoke. What’s even more impressive about Black’s appearance is how smooth the framerate is. Throughout your experience in Black you’re likely to have absolutely no framerate problem, which is saying a lot with all the chaos on-screen. The destruction, particle effects, and great textures easily make Black one of the most extraordinary-looking games ever.
Not only does Black have great looks, but it’s got the right sound too. The voice-acting is used well, especially over the static radio. Your enemies also have a few varying voices, although it’s hard to tell what they’re saying as they speak in a different language. The credits you watch before playing Black are boring, but there’s some great music to be heard. The dramatic, orchestra-like music is fits the game very well and, had the story been rethought to something original, could’ve impacted the game much more positively. Also, while the cover doesn’t say so, Black has the custom soundtracks option which, as always is a nice treat. However, it’s the sound effects that will truly blow your mind and make you rush to the store for the newest surround-sound system. The guns are loud, large and combined with the huge, louder-than-heavy-metal explosions give Black some of the most astounding sound effects to have been heard in a game.
Black is a blast to play, I mean, with loud sound effects and unrivaled destruction how can’t it be fun? Playing Black is as easy to play as the next first-person shooter; you shoot with the right trigger, toss grenades with the left trigger, reload with A, and so forth. You’re able to change the rate of fire on the rifles and machine guns in Black between fully-automatic, three-burst shots and single-shots. Also, there are two forms of health that you use for your health meter. Some enemies will drop health kits that automatically replenish a small amount of your health. Then there’s the first-aid kits-which you can carry up to three of, which fill up about seventy-percent of your health and are activated by pressing down on the D-pad. This use of health is surprisingly useful and innovative; I hope other games start copying Black for this little mechanic.
Explosions and destruction aside, the real stars of Black are the guns. There are a total of thirteen guns in Black, ranging from pistols, to revolvers, AK-47’s, RPG’s, sniper rifles, shotguns, Uzi’s and so on. Just the look and feel of the guns in Black is mesmerizing; you’ll be having a hard time deciding between looking at the guns or the destruction. While the guns are amazing, most of them don’t vary much from each other. Whether you pick an AK, Uzi, SMG or some other machine gun, it barely matters. The only real difference between these guns is their range and recoil. Also, you can carry a lot of ammo; you barely even run out. The only way you can really run out of ammo on a machinegun at least, is if your aim truly sucks, or you’re just shooting stuff to see if it’ll blow up. While this is a small disappointment, the weapons are still a big part of why Black is such an excellent thrill ride.
While Black is plenty of fun it is a rather short and easy game to beat. Experienced gamers will easily be able to beat Black in five to seven hours on the game’s normal difficulty level. Black isn’t that tough either, most gamers should be able to beat it dying three to five times at most. While you’ll take a good beating from your enemies for a few occasions, you’ll be finding health packs all over the place, so it’s pretty easy to stay alive. There are a total of eight levels in Black which take just over forty-minutes to beat each one. Also, the game’s AI is mediocre, although at times aggressive. Your enemies usually just walk around shooting at you, barely taking the chance to cover or hide. There are even times that the enemies will just stand around letting you shoot them, which does tarnish the experience.
Another fault with the game is that its ending isn’t that great. Black’s ending is similar to Halo 2’s ending-it ends like a cliffhanger ending, leaving you to assume there will be another Black. Beyond beating Black all you can do is play through the game again, as there’s no split-screen, no co-op, no online play, it’s all a single-player game. This will immediately be a turn-off to those who were expecting much more out of Black. Especially since the game seems to be built with the intent that it would be a great multiplayer shooter. Upon beating Black on normal or higher you can unlock silver weapons-the same as the regular weapons except they have unlimited ammo. This, along with the adrenaline rush Black provides might be enough for certain gamers to play it again, but the majority of those that buy Black will probably get back to Halo 2 or Burnout after beating it.
Black comes out as a good shooter that while fun and certainly enthralling, could’ve been a whole lot better. The Hollywood-style action in Black makes for some chaotic and intense action that will keep gamers going for the few hours the game will last. Those that find reason to play the game over and over for more destruction will be the ones that most appreciate Black. However, without any form or multiplayer or online play, Black falls short and leaves the impression that if more time been put into the game that it could’ve been vastly improved.