Guns don't kill people... Iain does!

Getting shot hurts. That's pretty much a universal truth. And if it doesn't hurt, you're either dead or Chuck Norris. However, it's this very fact that most shooters don't seem to appreciate, or at least relegate to minor concern. There have been precious few times in recent years where I've been playing a first person shooter and I've actually been aware of the need to avoid being shot. And most recently, those moments have been provided by this title.

Unfortunately, by sheer weight of numbers it's practically impossible to avoid taking damage in BLACK. At pretty much any given moment in the game there's enough ordnance heading in your general direction to make even Norris take cover (of course he wouldn't, because... you know, he's Chuck Norris). Fortunately, you always have a plentiful supply of firepower of your own with which to reply, because there's another universal truth in operation here. Guns are the solution to all your problems. If you find yourself in a situation that cannot be solved with guns… you're not using enough bullets.

In essence, BLACK isn't so far removed from the slew of mediocre shooters that find their way to market year on year. It's basically just a standard shooter with pretty graphics and lots of things that make banging sounds. The thing is, the graphics are very pretty, the things that make banging sounds make a lot of them, and almost everything else is periphery. That might come off sounding like a negative point, but it really isn't. To paraphrase George Lucas, it's the same again only faster and more intense. And look what Criterion did with that philosophy and the racing genre when they created Burnout.

The first thing that will strike you as you enter the game (apart from a couple of well aimed rounds from that guy on the roof over there and probably an RPG or two) is just how good it looks. The RenderWare engine (developed at Criterion, and now the most widely licensed console engine around) has always had a reputation for getting the best out of a console visually and this is the perfect example. It actually looks better in motion on PS2 than a lot of the 360 launch titles do on their massively more powerful machine, that's how good it is. Obviously, it doesn't benefit from the high definition textures that the 360 is capable of pushing around, but that doesn't really matter because the action is so frenetic that you're not going to have to time to notice that the texture of the wall you're cowering behind looks a bit blurry.

And even if you do, that's more than made up for by the stunning gun models, the even more incredible explosions and the fact that the wall is actually falling apart under the heavy enemy fire. Put a couple of rounds into the obligatory explosive barrels that litter the levels and you'll swear you're playing a next gen title as blue-edged flames bloom out engulfing everything in the vicinity, putting a hole in a wall and giving someone a flame-filled final few seconds upon this mortal coil, leaving a thick plume of black smoke behind as a macabre ethereal tombstone.

It isn't just the visuals that are of note though. Importantly, the aforementioned banging noises that are so very prevalent are also impressively well done. There's a subtle score that rises to a crescendo with the on-screen action but the majority of the soundtrack is provided by the report of your weapon and the crack of your enemies returning the favour. Not to mention the thud of the rounds as they punch through whatever cover you're taking, turning the crumbling concrete into even finer dust. And the distant rumble of explosions ripping through buildings and bodies as if they were paper. And the ominous burst that indicates an incoming and uncannily accurate RPG, about to slam into the ground unnervingly close to where you're standing. And the... I'm sure you get the message. Basically, the soundscape that builds around you, taken as an entity in itself, is just as intense as the visuals. Which is exactly how it should be.

As satisfying and even at times exhausting as the action is, it is let down slightly by the story. This is one area of the game where the "same but more" ideology doesn't apply, and they've just settled for "same". The story is played out in flashback fashion in a series of live action cut-scenes that serve as inter-mission filling and explain briefly why you were where you were, and why you were shooting the people you were shooting. The cutscenes themselves are surprisingly well done, eschewing the dodgy reputation that live action sequences have earned in the past, but unfortunately the plot that they tell is tired and at times superfluous. This isn't helped by the occasionally forced nature of secondary objectives that seem to have been crowbarred into the levels rather than being an integral part, and the (admittedly optional) sometimes laborious find-and-collect objectives.

These are but minor gripes though, and the carnage that ensues during the missions does more than enough to ensure a quality gameplay experience. If you will excuse the poor punning, this really does redefine the phrase "more bang for your buck".

GAME's Verdict

• About as adrenaline-fuelled as shooters get
• Stunningly good looking
• Enemies will hunt you through levels

• Story is tired and generic
• Poor signposting of objectives sometimes makes navigation difficult
• While they will hunt you, they're not capable of much else in the way of tactics

Review by: Iain Thomas
Version Tested: PS2
Review Published: 09.03.06