Black Review
This game does have a sluggish turn speed, and with an absence of jumping and climbing, I felt a bit like a rat trapped in a maze. With that said, the outdoor areas sometimes provide multiple ways of reaching your objectives. Black’s environments range from indoor areas, bunkers and camps to outdoor urban areas and forests. Everything sounds the way you would expect it to, from the boom of rocket launchers to the chitter of insects.
The button layout is totally customisable, and can be reformatted to suit each individual player. I believe this is always a worthy addition to a computer game. Black features the standard weapon lineup: rifle, shotgun, pistol, uzi etc. All of the guns are fun, and some come with the option of using the D-Pad to add a silencer during the game.
The way to survive Black is to prolong your life with health packs. I recommend playing on ‘hard’. Most enemies drop health when killed, and there is so much that you really need to mess up in order to get killed.
The AI is pretty respectable. The enemies strafe, run for cover, change positions and even hide.
You can hear them communicating when they spot you, and some will run away to gather reinforcements. Frendly AI is good too. They take cover if needed, and let you know if you are being flanked.
Unfortunately this is a short game, with a simple “Black Ops, get the terrorists” storyline. I finished it on ‘hard’ in about six and a half hours. Black also has no multiplayer or co-op availability.
There is no doubt that Black looks incredible and has strong AI, but I think it lacks that special something that keeps players coming back.
