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A lotta fun, but...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: May 06, 2006
Author: Amazon User

A lack of savepoints within missions ultimately makes this one of the most frustating games I've ever played. The checkpoints you are given are VERY few are far between, and if you die be prepared to spend another 45 minutes getting back where you were. At this point, I'm tired of leaving my machine on all day and night with a Post-It note attached that says "Please do not turn off Xbox or switch games", because I can't save the freakin' thing. I'm finished with this one.

HORRIBLE!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 8
Date: May 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game is horrible! When you reload, the screen fuzzes, the controls are too 'soft'. Does not feel natural. NO POINT TO THE GAME!!

Great gameplay but SERIOUS probelm.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: March 13, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The missions are VERY long and there is NO IN-GAME SAVE. When you die in a mission you revert to the last checkpoint but you cannot save these between sessions. As an older gamer I just don't have the time to devote to completing a mission everytime I pick up the controller. Sorry, I would not have bought this game had I known this and will not buy further games from this company or series before I find out if they rectified this. I can forgive the stupid movie before every mission that you can't skip as I just go get a cup of coffee when it starts up. What idiot at Criterion decided we needed to see the cut scene EVERY FRICKIN TIME we wanted to play the game? Still, this is minor to the no in-game save feature. And why no jump or lean ability? Is this 1985 all over again or haven't the developers read people's comments on other FPS's or at least played HALO for 5 minutes to see what great controls are like? Coupled with the overly long missions, this was a serious error in design.

Extremely Over Hyped

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: March 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Black is probably one of the most over hyped games I've played in quite a while. There are some good moments in the game but most of the remaining moments are split between two category's: major flaws and minor flaws.

First the minor flaws: unlimited ammo but it takes at least four times the amount of bullets to kill any one guy. The bright spots in the game are so bright that the game prompts you to change the brightness factor from the default which is set all the way off. The glare is completely unrealistic. The reticule, which is white, is a tiny white dot that changes red when it is on a target. It's nearly impossible to see in certain firefights and you will find yourself relying on your naked eye to aim. Also if you're used to Halo's quick button reaction time, you'll be very disappointed here.

Major Flaws: there are few in game save points. If you are going to start a level you will almost undoubtably have to finish said level before you can stop playing without losing all saved info. And you have to watch all of the cutscenes every time you die and restart at the beginning. Besides the fact that the story is so unimportant that i cant imagine why they made it so you couldnt skip the cut scenes. And the game offers no diversity. The only difference between the early levels and the later levels difficutly is the number of villains that you take on which makes it entirely uninspiring. Especially since any seasoned FPS Vet will be able to finish most of the early levels with 30 minutes each. By the time you get to the last level you cant quit the game, no matter how far along, without losing all saved info from said level. Oh and one more thing, you cant put any of the saved levels onto a memory card to transfer finished levels to a friends house. This game is so stripped down i cant believe it was made this year. Yes, the expolosions are neat, but it never overwhelms the games many design flaws. Wait till it comes in used, which it will since it has absolutely no multi-player games or replay value.

Needlessly dull and dimwitted...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 29, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Black is one of those games that you either like or dislike - no middle of the road. In my opinion, this game has no redeeming qualities. The explosions are fun, but don't even kill the enemies 90% of the time. The guns are impressively rendered, but don't even kill the enemies 60% of the time - you have to unload an unreal amount of bullets into an enemy just to make them hop around on their foot. And the enemy spawn points are so ill-designed - you destroy a room completely with bullets and explosions and then an enemy comes from behind a box that survived the mayhem. All and all, I really wish that I had wasted my money on some game that had a good story, had interesting levels, and gave me good replay value for my gaming dollar. If you want to try this game, let me know and I'll send you my copy! Be forewarned - you'll be bored before you're even halfway finished...

Insufficient Savepoints

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: May 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Would it have killed EA Games to program a few savepoints into this thing? I mean, seriously. How hard is it to let you save your progress within a level? Is it their idea of fun to have to endlessly repeat the same things over and over? Even on Easy difficulty, you find yourself dying moments from the end of a level and having to go so far back you want to hurl your Xbox at the wall. Get with it, EA. You've ruined an otherwise enjoyable game.

Don't waste your time or money on this game

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: May 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is fairly good for being an original Xbox game but if you play it on your Xbox 360 it will freeze so many times that you will probably stop playing it like how I stopped. My advice is just to stick with the new games that come out and forget about the past "Platinum Hits."

There's better "Gun Porn" available elsewhere......

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: March 30, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Initially, Black was a disappointment, I felt like I was playing a game not much better than that of Terminator: Rise of the Machines, but Criterion's FPS turned out better than my initial impression. Black has been in development for as long as many of us can remember. And even after it's announcement, the title was quite elusive. But finally, Black is on store shelves, though it has met lukewarm critical and communal review, giving off the impression of an over hyped and generic shooter. And while to a significant extent it is indeed somewhat generic, it still offers some admirable qualities.

The story in Black really isn't why you play it, which is good because it is fairly simple and not very involving. You play a loose cannon named Jack Kellar, a CIA black ops agent who is facing dishonorable discharge and life in prison if he doesn't cooperate with the higher ups in pursuit of information on a weapons dealing terrorist operation known as "Seventh Wave", run by an ex-operative known as "Lennox". The story is told in an interrogation room, four days after Jack's first mission in Veblensk. This is the gist of Black's story, it's simple and nothing we haven't seen before in other first person shooters of this sort. While the subject of terrorism is timely, there is nothing truly captivating or interesting about the plot or any of the characters involved. Had Criterion payed more attention to this facet, Black would have been more motivating and appealing. Other than that, what it does, it does well in this respect. The cutscenes aren't hard to follow, and they certainly look great, but I did find myself hammering on the A and Start buttons trying to get to the next mission.

In the gameplay department, Black comes out shooting, and seriously never stops. Really, that's all you do. It's not that I mind old fashioned gameplay design all that much, but a lot of time has passed, and something more would have been ideal. Black really improves nothing, everything you see in Black has been done in series' like 007 and Volition's Red Faction, which featured destructible environments thanks to the GeoMod technology. Although unlike Red Faction and in some cases 007, there are no vehicles, so there is nothing to break up your primary activity. In fact, the amount of shooting in Black gave me a headache if I played for longer than a half an hour without a break. The game does not let up, cars are exploding, grenades are bursting, architecture is being utterly demolished, mines are blowing in chains of destruction and death, all while smoke is filling the air. It's a game that should be beaten one mission at a time. But even then, the fact that many missions are over a half an hour long, and your checkpoints aren't valid if you turn off your console and come back later, makes it even harder to load up the next day to finish a 45 minute mission. It's the most frustrating thing in the world when I reach a checkpoint but am tired of playing, and have only two choices: redo half of the mission or pause my game for the night. There is no practical choice, if you can't save at any time, anywhere, you should at least be able to save at checkpoints and turn off your console without having to start the mission all over again when you come back. This one aspect really bothered me about Black, because it is essentially forcing me to beat the level, when I either don't have the time, or am weary from the repetitious gameplay.

A game like this is nothing without a quality arsenal, and gladly Black delivers on this front with seventeen weapons at your destructive disposal. Sadly, the rate at which you can obtain these weapons is somewhat disappointing, in that in a given level there aren't many weapons. And the worst part is that the best weapon in the game, the Magnum, is only obtained on the latter half of the last mission. So unless you have cheats that can unlock all weapons, you may be somewhat disappointed in the fact that there are only a few different guns that you can actually utilize in each mission. What makes this worse is that in a game like this, where there is even more shooting than Halo, you should be able to carry more than two guns at a time. I mean for a game billed as "gun porn", Criterion should have let you carry more than two weapons, and should have placed more weapons in each level. Despite my squabbles, the weapons themselves are quite good. And the fact that a handful of the guns can be silenced makes me especially happy. Although I found that I could only silence my gun after a certain point in a given mission, which is somewhat of a head scratcher. The sniper rifle, while of extremely limited use due to the fact that ammunition for this particular weapon is scarce, isn't bad, but you are unable to use it without the scope view. It makes sense, but I enjoy my options. I'd say the four best weapons in no particular order are the GLOCK 19, the Magnum, the MP5 Machine Gun, and the M249 SAW. Bottom line: Gun junkies will be happy with this arsenal.

Much of the environments are destructible, and while the game world isn't quite as destructible as I had thought it would be, I certainly couldn't complain. It actually enriches the gameplay in that, sometimes you will need to blast down doors and shoot through walls to progress through a level. It's simple incorporation, but it makes a big difference because Black without it's physics wouldn't be near as entertaining, not only visually speaking, but gameplay wise aswell.

Sadly, Black's AI is terrible. For example, at the start of the Graznei Bridge mission, you encounter two guards standing next to a car, leaving an open opportunity for you to shoot at least one of them in the back of the head from behind. But here's the problem, when you shoot one of them, the other doesn't react. Even though he is standing a mere six feet away, he doesn't even move. And I tested this over five times, and every time it was the same exact reaction. In a game with such limited gameplay options, why did it take this long to ship, and why didn't Criterion take some time to create a competent AI system? One that is consistent. If only guards reacted to slain comrades like snipers react to enemies, because Black's enemy snipers are highly competent. But what especially bothered me about Black was the fact that it takes up to ten bullets to take down even the lowliest of enemies. This is not only unrealistic, but also inconvenient in that when you have to spend so much time on one enemy, you can't really defend yourself against those around you. It should have gone in accordance to wound. If an enemy is shot in the leg, there should be a corresponding effect. But if I should him in the legs five to ten times and he dies instantly, that is disappointing, and something seen in far too many games today. Even if the hit detection wasn't that advanced, I would have been happy with better head shot detection and maybe three bullets for the basic enemy soldiers. There are only a few enemy types, basic soldier, sniper, RPG, masked shotgun toter(who take twice the hits to kill), and these shield carrying S.W.A.T types that show up later in the game. It's probably one of the most generic enemy lists with the most generic combat capabilities I've ever encountered in an FPS. There is nothing particularly interesting about any of them besides the fact that the masked goons pick themselves up after taking a shotgun blast from five feet away. Who made that design call?

Oh, did I mention the fact that there is no multiplayer whatsoever? It's a seven hour experience at best, yet it has no mutliplayer component to keep you coming back? I think we know why Black is priced at $40, there just isn't a lot of value here.

Black's gameplay isn't anything new or particularly special, but when ignoring some of the bigger flaws and taking into account the physics and the great arsenal, you might come away satisfied with the gameplay experience offered in Criterion's FPS.

Perhaps the greatest single thing about Black is it's outstanding sound. Criterion had Michael Giacchino(of Call of Duty fame) and Chris Tilton(also of Call of Duty fame) compose the music for Black, which is a huge plus for the sound department. The music is moderately stirring with it's action movie charm, but even in it's quality, it takes a back seat to the amazing sound effects for weapons and explosions. The sound of every gun is perfect, every single detail is present, from the echoes to the reloads, it all comes across with the highest precision and polish one could ask for. The voice acting is fittingly convincing for a game of this style, especially in cutscenes. I was actually surprised with the amount of swearing I found in Black. The industry is definitely not as shy as it once was concerning the F word and everything in between. Black actually uses it to a level which I found completely unnecessary. In truth, Black could have easily been a T rated title, had it not featured such strong language. That aside, I couldn't praise Criterion's attention to detail enough, the sound in Black is ace all around.

The source of Black's hype was largely due to some initial screenshots that showed off defined gun models and the destructible environments. Just as with Path of Neo, we find that the hype wasn't quite as founded as many had previously thought. Hype aside, Black's graphics are good. The gun models are all high quality with exceptional attention to detail, and very little aliasing if any at all. The texturing on the environments are good but again we have a multiplatform game that doesn't make up for it's technical disadvantages with some sort of unique art style. Therefore it goes for a more realistic look, but lacks normal mapping and other advantages that we're seeing in the Halo's of the world. So while the hype was entirely unwarranted, the fact that the physics are so good, and the core look of the game isn't bad, Black's visuals are not hard to look at, and will definitely satisfy anyone who hasn't been playing Doom 3, Half Life 2, Halo 2, or Far Cry for a year straight without exposure to any multiplatform console FPS's. The framerate is also consistent, which is a plus.

The Black hype machine captured the community's attention initially, but wasn't able to deliver the kind of quality many of us had hoped. The graphics are only good, there is nothing overly impressive or distinct about them besides the physics. And again the sound is really what's most impressive in Black, but superb sound isn't anywhere near enough to warrant a purchase. What you have in Black is an average FPS that is moderately fun for a weekend, but not really worth anyone's money when all is said and done. If you're an action junkie, you might just want to rent Black.

Fantastic gameplay and little else...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 10
Date: March 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

As always let's start with positive because everyone likes good news. The core gameplay is phenomenal. Phenomenal. Guns sound realistic, environments blow up and can be destroyed, there is always plenty of ammo, many objectives to complete through out a mission, seriously this is a very well put together single player game. Yeah, I said single player - I'll get to that a little later. The men and women of Criterion are the same people who brought you the fantastic Burnout series and have decided to take a swim in the FPS pool. In my opinion, they've nailed the gameplay. While the game is a blast to play (pun intended) it's not without its flaws...

As for the bad news. The game is single player. Criterion said they purposely did this to focus on the best single player experience possible without having to divert any effort into making a possibly flawed multi-player add on. The focus was single player all the way and I'm very glad they took this path. Now, while the single player is great - it seriously is way too short. For those of us lucky people who've played the demo, you can beat the first mission (there are 8 total missions) in under 10 minutes. I'm not even joking. I tried to go as fast as I could and ended up besting mission in under 4 minutes. Sad. Granted, the rest of the missions take anywhere from 25 min to 35 min, any seasoned FPS player can beat this game in under 5 hours. For a game that launches at $40, that may be a bit steep.

Let's talk replay value. 4 difficulty levels. Beating the game on normal gives you silver weapons which means unlimited ammo. Beating the game on hard gives you sliver weapons and unlocks black ops difficulty. Conquering black ops will give you a wonderfully powerful gun that no one has ever heard of before in a FPS game. Ready for this one? It's an M16 with grenade launcher. Thrilling. And for that awesome BFG, it's nothing more than a large machine gun with 500 bullet capacity with 150 round clips. I mean, it's not like I've spoiled anything by telling anyone who's ever played a FPS game about weapons that every game already uses. So there you have it, those are your incentives for playing through a second or third time.

To close this review on a positive note, I'd like to say that I did love this game. I loved every minute. It is short. It does have some short comings but if you can see past these things and just want a game where you can blow up everything in sight and use destructible environments to your advantage against the enemy, this game couldn't give it to you any better. It's still in my top 5 for FPS games. My only suggestion to you the consumer is that you first rent or borrow the game. Unless you will keep it to play again to relive the ultimate destruction, you may feel a bit ripped off. I know many of the people that have this game reviewed haven't played through the entire game. They will see what I'm talking about. For what it's worth, I applaud Criterions first effort into this genre. I applaud loudly. Everyone who has played this, I can guarantee, is going to be looking forward to Black 2.

Luck and load

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: June 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I'm hunkered down in a corner of a room on the second floor of what once was a metal hospital. The limp body of the last soldier to cross my path lies across a thin, stained mattress on the floor. I'm down to the last of my shotgun ammo, my AK's down to 20 bullets and my heartbeat is thrumping insistently. I try to regain my composure and take stock of my surroundings, using precious time to plan my next move while the enemy closes in. That is, until the world begins exploding around my ears. Above my head, a section of the wall is ripped away by a teeth-clenching shotgun blast. As I stand and turn to face my assailant, the windows to my right are diced with a spray of automatic fire. It's pointless to return fire as the afternoon sun has made any attempts to pinpoint the shooter(s) location blindingly unrealistic. I run for the door, only to find two more armed goons awaiting my arrival. Unfortunately, they remembered to bring heavy machine guns with them.

This is the world of Black - one of the more realistic and satisfying shooters to come out in the past few years. The graphics are at times stunning, owing much to the realistic lighting. The way moonlight reflects from the barrel of your gun is often breathtaking, and the harsh glare of the afternoon sun is as beautiful as it is frustrating.
Much has been made of the designer's attempts to create fully destructible environments, and they do succeed to a point. But keep in mind that it's impossible to turn a city street into a flat, rubble garden. While you can fire a rocket launcher and take out a few stories of a building, the building will (in most cases) remain standing. Also, barriers such as fences, walls, and other obstacles that delineate each level are indestructible, which only makes sense. That it's impossible to pull a "Rampage" and level everything in sight is a minor quibble, and those who claim otherwise are missing the point.
This game is all about the guns and the pleasure that firing these guns provides. If your enemies are behind cover, then destroy their cover and pick them off. If your being shot at by a sniper in a building, then a few shots into an adjoining propane container will take out your foe and necessitate several architectural refurbishments.
The designers intentionally make your enemies harder to kill, thus necessitating an assessment of your environment, the positions of the enemy, and ways in which to exploit your surroundings to your advantage. While this can, at times, be frustrating - you'll certainly find yourself killed at least once by an opponent that you just emptied a clip into with little effect, causing you to swear like a sailor and throw down the controller in disgust. But trust me, in five minutes you'll be back. In time, you'll recognize the importance of strategy over run-and-gun heroics, and will reap the satisfying rewards of several well-placed headshots and a nicely timed grenade throw or two.

Now, the game has some problems, which does bring down the rating. For one, it is short and an experienced gamer who takes his or her time playing at the "normal" level will likely finish the game in about 10 hours. While this doesn't affect the initial excitement and playability, the lack of a multiplayer mode (either online or otherwise) seriously diminishes the replayability. Also, since the "Hard" difficulty and "Black Ops" difficulty are so insanely HARD (no health packs!!!) and the save points few and far between, few players will glean any satisfaction from making incremental progress through a game they have already completed. Like the real field of battle, there is no learning curve and while the enemy may not wear as much armor in earlier levels and use cover less effectively, their bullets still do as much damage.

Another problem comes from the AI. While they are semi-intelligent and do a good job of working co-operatively and defensively, you will soon figure out that, in a fire-fight, they move in a predictable pattern from position to position - over and over again. Therefore, it makes it easier to take down your opponents, but not in a satisfying way. In certain missions you'll be teamed up with AI soldiers who will help you during the level. Fortunately, they're tenacious fighters who cannot, under any circumstances, be killed. Unfortunately, they also can't hit the wide side of a barn from 10 feet and will let enemies shoot you without bothering to assist. It seems that they were included to make the game feel a bit less Rambo, and help alert you to dangers as they appear. They also shout orders like "Take out that RPG!" which becomes even more annoying when you've just taken your third hit of collateral damage from that RPG and realize that if you were working with soldiers who knew how to aim, RPGs wouldn't be much of a problem. As far as the co-op missions go, you're still on your own.

Finally, the lack of save points has been a major complaint from people who've reviewed this game in the past. While it's understandable and would have been nice to have more of them - it also would have made the game too easy and equally unsatisfying. There's an exciting sense of dread when you're hunkered down, health meter close to gone, surrounded by heavily armed opponents and know that, if you get killed - it means spending another 45 minutes getting back to this point. It gives you a reason to weigh your options, proceed with caution, and maybe - just maybe - you'll make it through this alive.

That said, the game probably isn't worth owning. But once the price drops a bit, it'll be worth checking out. For now, renting is probably the best option - since the long term possibilities are limited (4 difficulty levels and that's it) although the ability to drop into a level once you've completed the game and cause some mayhem may help you while away a few hours when you're bored.

As for the pickle I'd gotten myself into in the mental hospital, the second I stepped into the hall I knew it was over. I managed to take one guy down with a hip shot from the shotgun, but caught one round too many as I furiously tried to reload. Then, everything went to grey. Then I screamed for the tenth time that day and loud enough for my neighbors to hear, how I would never "play this *$%#@ game again." And I'd shout the same thing ten times more before I was through. When a game can be equally frustrating, satifying, and fun - it's definitely worth a gamer's attention.

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