I popped the DVD into my PS2 and was immediately impressed with the graphics. I started a game and was thrilled at the look and feel: stuff starts exploding right from the first minute of play and doesn’t seem to ever stop. I suppose it was those first few minutes that distracted me from realising that I was struggling with the controls-for PC gamers, it’s very hard to get used to moving using one hand and looking using the other-and not having a mouse. Viva la [W][A][S][D] mouse!
The Story
You’re a soldier named Keller. You’re a member of some elite anti-terror squad, and are here to save the world-ho hum. Anyway, you’re being interrogated by the typical spy-cum-government-suit-type, and you spill the beans, recalling how you killed all members of a terrorist group called Seventh Wave, including the leader.
The best I can say about the storyline is that it’s sketchy, and doesn’t seem well integrated with the game. It’s always just some nonsense cutscene that gets in the way of the fun you’re blowing stuff up!
The Playing Experience
Run-n-gun! That’s the short description. Black becomes a lot easier to play when you give up your stealth tactics, and just start running up to enemies and filling them up with lead, instead of trying to avoid them, sneak up on them or get headshots in from far!
Everything begins to feel scripted after a while: at first you see a bunch of soldiers standing next to something that can make a big boom, and you get all excited. You blow them to smithereens, are thrilled by the visual of the explosion, and then, soon enough, you find even more soldiers idiotically standing next to something else that can make an even bigger boom! Like shooting fish in a barrel-or in this case, shooting the barrel to kill all the fish at once! After the 8762345th time, this gets boring!
There’s enough ammo in the game to let your character start World War III. Kill an enemy and you can pick up his ammo. Since all you’re doing in mercilessly killing and blowing up your enemies, ammo is the last thing you’ll ever want in this game.
You can only carry two weapons at a time, which is stupid, because this means that though your character seems fit enough to handle heavy guns and rocket launchers, he cannot carry two pistols and a light sub-machine gun instead of an AK-47 and a rocket launcher!
| Rating: 5/10 Developer : Criterion Publisher : Electronic Arts Distributor : Milestone Interactive Web : www.milestoneinteractive.com Price : Rs 2499 Platform : PS2 |
AI
They’re stupid. The only time I thought the AI was good was when I chucked a few grenades at them and all the enemies ran helter-skelter for cover. It took so long to explode, I thought the grenade was a dud. Thankfully, a few tips off the Net made me realise that I could shoot the grenade and blow it up faster-really cool!
Of course, the enemy is still too stupid to cause you any threat, and any FPS fan should be able to finish the game in about eight hours.
To Buy Or Not To Buy?
Remember one thing: unlike other FPS games, you cannot jump in Black. This is irritating, especially when a brick or twig is keeping you from entering a place on the map.
The story is pathetically over-used-terrorist vs. anti-terrorist: sound familiar? The controls are a nightmare to master for any PC gamer.
The good things are that the Internet community calls Black “gun porn”, because of the sheer amount of shooting and exploding happening. So if “rat-tat-tat. Boom!” is your desire, look no further than Black.
Overall, the experience will leave you wanting more, and longing to get back to your PC. A rating of 5/10 is what I award it-four of those points because of the spectacular explosions!