BlackSite: Area 51 beaming down this summer

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted Jan 26, 2007 4:01 pm PT

Last console installment of arcade-inspired series will arrive on the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 soon; new screens and trailer inside.

BlackSite: Area 51

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LAS VEGAS--Last night at the Hard Rock Casino, Midway assembled a coterie of journalists and analysts for its 2007 Gamers' Day. Presiding over the event was Midway CEO David Zucker, who touted the fact that Midway has spent over $100 million to create an internal development staff of more than 700. "Our plan to revitalize Midway is to succeed on the new consoles," he told the crowd.

At the centerpiece of this plan is BlackSite: Area 51, a new shooter being developed by Midway Studios - Austin, the shop formerly known as Inevitable Entertainment. Though the existence of the game had been unofficially known for some time, the Vegas event marked its first public unveiling.

Though its title makes it sound like a sequel to Area 51, the tepidly received 2005 shooter based on the classic arcade game, BlackSite is an all-new game written by Gears of War scribe Susan O'Connor. Its story follows a group of covert military operatives charged by the US government to put down an alien invasion in a remote Nevada town, which is the site of the titular top-secret complex. Midway said the story would have some branching elements that would put players in a moral quandary as to whether or not to follow their orders, Deus Ex-style.

BlackSite: Area 51

Check out the first trailer of Midway's new man-vs.-alien shooter.

Like the other Area 51 games, BlackSite is primarily a first-person shooter. Demo stations on the Gamers' Day show floor saw players wielding an assault rifle tricked out with a grenade launcher against a variety of spindly, Resistance-esque alien troopers. However, the game also introduces squad tactics, letting players command their fellow troopers around the battlefield. The game will focus on "emotionally intense" firefights with aggressive enemies, according to the game's developers--one of which GameSpot interviewed in Las Vegas.

BlackSite: Area 51 is set for release this summer on the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. No rating or pricing information is yet available, but GameSpot did get some hands-on time with the game at the Midway event.

51 Comments

  • hotdork70minus1

    Posted Jan 29, 2007 12:13 pm PT

    I never thought I would say this but does every studio need to make an FPS ? This looks cool and all but damn we are getting alot of these.

  • nemes1s3000

    Posted Jan 29, 2007 11:05 am PT

    I'm drooling as we speak.

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Jan 29, 2007 6:01 am PT

    i'd like to see the old area 51's on Wii's virtual console!!!

  • DiscGuru101

    Posted Jan 29, 2007 12:12 am PT

    I will be keeping an eye on the 360 and Pc versions. --wii message!

  • K1LLSWITCH

    Posted Jan 28, 2007 7:41 pm PT

    The single player campaign to the last installment of Area 51 was decent, not the best, but decent. With that said playing the game online sucked. I personally don't like playing in hallways and thats what players did online in Area 51 which was disappointing.

    Before the game released Midway talked about their online strategy on how the game will be constructed, and they mentioned that when there is only a few people playing the doors to the map will be locked so that the map wouldn't be boring because of it's large size. But when more players entered the map the doors will unlock and the map will expand. What ever happened to that?

    All in all the voice acting was suprisingly good but the online needed work, badly.

  • JLCrogue

    Posted Jan 28, 2007 6:00 pm PT

    Hopefully this one will be better than the mediocre last-gen version. I have confidence in them!

  • anarchicgoth

    Posted Jan 28, 2007 3:25 pm PT

    This should be cool- the first one was pretty fun- i wonder in Marylin Manson is returning?

  • nightwing930

    Posted Jan 28, 2007 12:56 pm PT

    this is going to be very interesting since it's a area 51 game and it looks really great

  • B-boy

    Posted Jan 28, 2007 12:32 am PT

    It look cool awesome!

  • thekey

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 6:32 pm PT

    I'm glad its NOT PS3 exclusive.

  • peacenutman

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 4:55 pm PT

    I bet if this was X360 or PS3 exclusive, haters would start to say:"Meh, another alien shooters, the graphics is mediocre, the gameplay looks lame."

  • damned_beast

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 3:45 pm PT

    sounds like its going to be better than the first

  • saadniazi

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 3:29 pm PT

    YEAHHH MIDAY!!!!

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 2:34 pm PT

    it looks alright...in the interview the guy said some stuff i didn't like

  • Frags-o-Plenty

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 12:15 pm PT

    Looks good to me, but I think I'll wait for a while longer before making a decision.

    Though I do have to agree with Tor; those aliens kinda' look like the Chimera from R:FoM. Vaguely, at least.

  • pidow

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 11:14 am PT

    Looks good to me!. I played the other Area 51, not great, but playable. This one look 100% better, I will play!.

  • okassar

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 10:22 am PT

    Good god! When will these people learn that all Area 51/outsider(stereotypical) alien games have always been unsuccessful and odd.This is going to be a bitter failure,I don't care if nobody has ever played it.Its going to be bad.Ahahahahha the guns look like the wierd guns from the timesplitter series,which died.But you never no,I was even hesitant to pick up Halo 1 back in the days and I went crazy over it.

  • mjwickstrom1

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 9:56 am PT

    This could be an interesting game. I may have to check it out!

  • makemeweak

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 8:37 am PT

    Might be good. Here's hoping.

  • ldksparda21

    Posted Jan 27, 2007 7:47 am PT

    "RaiKageRyu " you are right most recen games have been shooter, i just though of it too. a bit odd if u ask me.

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