Black Review

Overall Rating

Beautiful Graphics
Great soundtrack
Plenty of action packed into each level

Not enough levels
The story is pretty bad
It can be extremely difficult

Black it the shelves back in 2006 to re-invent the dying FPS market. Criterion stated that they were to "do for shooting what Burnout did for racing - tear it apart". They certainly did.

Lets get started on what is obviously the greatest feature of this game by far. The incredible graphics. Black is often referred to as 'gun-porn'. The detail they put into each piece of weaponry is truly explicit. The way the environment around you blurs during reloading, putting the weapon in the spotlight is truly artistic. It really is that good, winning it IGN's 'Best Graphics Technology on PlayStation 2 in 2006'.

The soundtrack of Black is a key part of the game. The music is produced by the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra, and it takes quite a special game to pull of a score such as that. The music comes is at the the perfect moments, helping strengthen the mood and overall experience. And whenever you aren't listening to this music you have the whistling of bullets, echoes of explosions and cries of eastern European terrorists to keep you company.

There is plenty of action crammed into each level. There isn't a moment in this game when you aren't aiming that grenade, lining up that headshot or just going mental at shooting at every moving thing. The environment is also pretty dynamic as well, scattered round each level are explosive crates, big vans and a wide variety of others for you to destroy. It never gets old.

The sad thing is that it is all over before it begins. With only 8 levels the play life isn't long, the game can be completed within a day. This is a terrible loss, as by the last few levels you get the strong feeling that it's only just getting started.

The story. It isn't worth your time, although you are forced to sit through one of the painfully slow cut-scenes at the start of every level. Each one of these scenes is staged in an interrogation room, which isn't really the ideal environment for a fast paced shoot 'em up like this one. The basic story is there is a terrorism group loose and it's your job to take care of the problem. There are many failed attempts at a plot twist in this game that just fall flat on their face. And the ending! Well, you'll have to find that out for yourself.

When you crank up the difficulty all the way to Black Ops mode, you will wish you had never been born. It seems that every villain in the world is after you, and they won't stop until they achieve their goal. Health Packs are also missing from this mode, so you really have to be careful and plan each move you make.

Overall, Black is recommended, but you should remember that there is no two player mode and it dies pretty quickly. Maybe it would be best if you got it second-hand?