When aliens invade us...
Back in 2005 the same Midway gave us Area 51,a game that I didn't like, but that implicated high costs.Imagine aquiring the licence & Marilyn Manson's voice.Now Midway just released an other FPS with "Area 51" in its title,Blacksite Area 51.It had really good advertising campaign,even an unique emblem here on GS.But how good is the game?
Graphics-9/10
Really good graphics.Well of course,because Midway used the pretty Unreal Engine 3 for it,& even though it's not as good as it is in Unreal Tournament 3 or Medal of Honor Airborne,Bioshock,it works fine.I mean it really does,even on medium-spec PCs,& that's good.The bad thing is we DON'T have a graphics adjuster in the options menu,& a nasty blurr effect that is used every time you move the mouse is really annoying,& can't be deactivated.
Sound-9/10
The sound is good too.Especially the voice-acting of your teammates, who know when to be serious or funny,& they sound really convincing.Than the alien's creepy sounds are greatly realised,the music suits the game very well (a sountrack like the one in Delta Force Black Hawk Down),& if they would have worked a little bit more on the gunshots & explosions sound effects,it would have been 10/10 sound from me.
Gameplay-6/10
Unfortunatelly,good graphics & sound doesn't mean that Blacksite is a great game from the start.The game should be a squad-based first person shooter.Well,you have your squad that's always following you (at least this way you won't creep out in a dark corridor where aliens swarm,because the teammates will be covering your back).Giving the orders is done trough a single button,& that means "regroup" , "follow me" ,"go there" or "open that door".If you have a high squad morale,you'll all be more effective,but if you're pinned down or shot & the morale lowers,it ain't really nice.Enamies? 6 or 7 models troughout all the game,excepting the bosses.Then the driving,which is fun but repetitive.Well,the whole game is repetitive,you just open doors & shoot aliens.Pathfinding?It's easy,because there always is just one path & that is marked quite well,so no prob here,only that it gets boring.Really boring.But I like how the environment is designed.Objects get destroyed in a cool manner,because it's Havok physic engine plus Ageia PhysX.
Storyline-5/10
Nothing special.You first go in Iraq where you encounter some strange creatures & loose a squad member,then in the US happens the same thing:an alien invasion.It is a bit interesting,but very clicheed,so you won't e shocked when you'll discover that your X-teammate is now the leader of the aliens.
Impression-7/10
Good graphics & sound,not so good gameplay & story.Overall a pretty cool game,better than Area 51,with relaxing driving & shooting,but nothing special.If you buy it you'll have some fun with it,if you won't,you will not miss any major revolution in the FPS world,that's for sure.