Black

Black is from Electronic Arts' Criterion Games studio, the same folks behind the Burnout games. If you've played the Burnout games, you know to expect easy-to-grasp gameplay, flashy visuals and plenty of destruction. That's exactly what Black delivers, in first person shooter form.

Black doesn't seem to have a lot going for it initially. While the graphics are very high quality, with impressive and moody lighting effects, glossy surfaces on glass, and very convincing particle effects, there are just eight missions in which to experience them. The levels are reasonably large though.

Sound effects are also commendable for the most part, though the sound of actually picking up ammo sounds straight from a shooter of 1994. In fact, the basic gameplay of Black might give you some major flashbacks of a less complicated time: it's more or less a run and gun game, and there's no multiplayer.

What Black does have going for it, is physics. Black's levels are full of destructible objects, and a nice suite of weapons with plenty of ammo to spray them with. While you and the bad guys are shooting at each other, the glass around you breaks, small objects get knocked over from bullet hits, and dust particles hide targets in a big dusty cloud.

After a long gun battle, the walls are dotted with bullet trails, and every bit of wood and glass has been splintered and shattered. In many games, damage effects tend to disappear after a time, but with Black you'll be amazed at how many things remain behind. Bodies, piles of shell casings...after you get pinned down, be sure to turn around and look at your cover. It will look like a three-day long meteor shower hit it.

This not only looks good, it factors into the gameplay. If your enemies are taking cover behind something, you can shoot it up until it's gone. Your bullets will gradually chew away even concrete. Yes, that means foes can do the same thing to you, so wooden pallets aren't the wisest choice of shelter, particularly with the amount of gunfire you'll be taking. If you're fighting indoors, you might shoot out the walls to get around, and get at your foes.

The physics, sound effects and graphical detail combine to make Black's gunfights some of the most believable ever. As a result, the levels are a lot more interesting than they would be otherwise. My personal favourite involves a crawl across a cemetery, with enemy snipers looking for you. You'll take shelter behind gravestones, but they'll shatter under enemy fire, so you must keep moving.

All of this is good fun, but it won't take you long to get through. Any reasonably proficient FPS player is going to put it away in an afternoon of play, or a couple of sessions. To extend the gameplay, the checkpoints tend to be further apart than normal. Plus, if you turn off a level in progress, you have to start from the beginning of the level next time you run the game, checkpoint or no. Tougher difficulty levels are unlocked by beating the game, but I wasn't particularly moved to try them.

Black's AI is also not as robust as its physics. Your enemies aren't overly dim; they will use cover fairly effectively. But there are obvious loopholes. Foes tend to stay behind cover, even if you are consistently tagging them with shots. They may be surprisingly deaf too, with guys upstairs apparently unaware of the Shootout at the OK Corral one floor down. They also tend to take cover near things that explode a lot. Convenient for you, as you can waste a handful of them with a spray of bullets across a red-coloured crate, but not particularly believable.

Though Black's gameplay is pretty simple, there are a few areas of depth I like. You can put suppressors on your guns to take out adversaries silently, and the game allows you to get away with a reasonable amount of stealth. Since foes are well-armoured, a surprise shot to the head matters a lot.

Black also has some very slickly produced cutscenes. They're movie quality, and they even use full motion video--when was the last time you saw that? Tragically, Black has one of those maddening Wait For the Sequel Non-Endings that plagued Half-life 2 and Halo 2.

I enjoyed Black when all is said and done. It's very satisfying to hose a building with bullets and leave nothing standing when you're finished. It just might not have the lasting value you're looking for. Play it safe and rent it, or wait until the price drops.

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