An FPS like none other that will blow you away!!!
The Bad: Game is over before you know it. You could've been playing on any mission for about 15-20 minutes and if you lose you'd have to start over from a point way earlier.
Black is an FPS that can't likely be compared to any other FPS game, mostly because of the gameplay. You have to remember one thing when you play Black: "Don't try to use your ammo wisely, but blow anything that gets in your way or use around 100 bullets on just one enemy, just for the fun of it." In Black you are provided with an enormous ammount of ammo. I remember entering a room and emptying 500 bullets on just 3 enemies and afterwards I had no ammo left. But after collecting ammo around the room that my enemies left behind I was once again locked and fully loaded with exactly 500 bullets.
Black is an amzing looking game. When I first inserted the game in my PS2 and was ready to play, I was expecting graphics like the PS2 Call of Duty 2 which is also made by EA Games, but instead these were graphics like the PC and X360 Call of Duty 2 graphics. Everything looks great in black, from guns to ammo to environment including characters. When you shoot, you can see the shells coming out as well as you can see the bullets flick of a wall. Unlike shooters like F.E.A.R. and Doom, there's no blood in Black. When you shoot your enemy you will see him fly into the air and at the same time shaking up becuase of the huge amount of bullets being fired at him, but you'll never actually see any blood come out which I don't think any player will mind. The shooting and graphics make up for all that. At certain point where you are encountered by a huge amount of enemies and you and they are firing at the same time, it will be like a hurricane of bullets, shells coming like rain comes down from the sky, bullets flying like a huge flock of birds when migrating, the air filled with dust and you can barely see anything.
The story in Black is very movie-like and it's a whole flashback where you a prisoner are being asked questions about some serious criminal operations. As your character tells the story, you are playing the game, kind of like Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and The Two Thrones. Story might get a bit confusing but most likely you wnat be paying much attention to that because EA Games made this game to focus you in the gameplay, the shooting.
Blow everything up. That should be this game's catchphrase ot motto or whatever. Almost everything you see in Black can blow up except your enemy of course, they don't blow up, they just die. You can blow up things like barrels, cars and even buldings. Fire at the pillars holding up a building and watch the building collapse and take down an enemy close buy. Almost everytime you see a group of enemies together look for a place to shoot where something will collapse or blow up to take them out all at once. When you aim dot turns red it means that shooting that object will cause an explosion or a collapse.
The whole action wears off soon after. While the missions are quite long in Black, there's only a few of them and the game only lasts less than 10 hours. There's really nothing that really challenges the player in this game except the fact that you will hate it when you play around 20 minutes, lose and then retart from a point way earlier in that particular mission, which is really stupid. The checkpoints are set apart quite far from one another. What sucks is that you can't save at a checkpoint, so if you're not looking forward to doing the previous checkpoints, you better finish the whole mission so you can save the game.
AI can be really stupid at times, more like AD (Artifical Duma$$es). Once an I entered a room, the enemy saw me and he started pacing back and fourth, then he went farther away from me and started firing. Even though AI get smarter as you progress through the game, they still react weird at times.
One last thing before I wrap this up: When you sit down to play Black, don't sit down to play half an hour or less because it will be a waste of time. If you do that, all you're gonna do is get past a couple of checkpoints, and then if you turn off your system, you'll have to replay through those checkpoints again. So, make sure you're sittmg down to play for at LEAST 1 hour. Notice that I capitalized all the letters in (least.)
If you're looking for a shooter that all you want to do is shoot the hell out of your, then this is the game for you. But if you're looking for an FPS that has something extra to it besides just shooting, then you should look at other franchise's of EA Games or anyother game company.
Once again, Black is an amazing shooter and with stunning visuals that seem like next-gen graphics.
Presentation
The Introduction is a bit too long. Before every mission, the main character will talk to an angent telling him what he knows about the bombings. They have actual people doing these cut scenes.
Graphics
Black just looks amazingly realistic with graphics that can compete with next-gen graphics. Everything you shoot at reacts a certain way. Dust-filled air because of raining bullets.
Sound
It sounds great, from voice acting to firing sounds. When you throw a grenade you'll hear you enemy yell "Granada" which mean grenade in his native language.
Gameplay
Like graphics gameplay is also very realistic. Shells will come out of the gun for every bullet you fire. Enemies will be quick to react to your firing. The best thing in Black is the gameplay.
Lasting Appeal
Not much replay value. The game will have gotten old once you're done with it, unless you just wanna experience the crazy shooting and the next-gen grpahics in your PS2 again.