The early 00's were a very formative time for video games. This was especially true of console first person shooters.
FPS' were dime a dozen on the PC, but it was still a bit of a struggle to get them right on consoles. The first real success, at least to me, came in the form of a handful of really solid Doom ports to the 5th generation consoles, as well as some noble efforts to port the FPS giant to 4th gen hardware (I played a tons of SNES Doom, and I still find it very enjoyable despite the fact it's definitely not the best way to play the game). Turok: Dinosaur Hunter gave way to Goldeneye, which gave way to Perfect Dark on the N64. And if those titles were the seed of FPS' as a viable genre on console, Halo was the tree they eventually blossomed into. Look, I don't like Halo nearly as much as most people do. But you absolutely cannot deny it was revolutionary in terms of graphics, presentation, gameplay and especially control scheme. Halo did for FPS on console what Super Mario 64 did for 3D platformers and Street Fighter II did for fighting games. Simply put, it set the standard for modern FPS and I really don't think they have deviated that much from that standard in the last 20 or so years. Of course, when something is that successful, there are going to be imitators.
In 2006, EA decided to throw its hat into the FPS ring (because EA never leaves money on the table) with Black, a simply titled FPS for the PS2 and XBox. For the purposes of the review, I played the XBox version, but the two are largely identical. I shouldn't say this game was an imitator, because even though it followed a similar progression structure to Halo it did plenty different in the gameplay department. If you like complex, realistic FPS titles with precise gunplay and true to life mechanics...you should play a different game, because that is absolutely not what Black was. The cover of the boxes for these games featured the title imposed over a pile of bullets, which was both eye-catching at the time and also very appropriate. This is the kind of FPS where you can run at enemies with guns blazing, ripping through clip after clip. You have a huge health bar and the levels have abundant health pickups and provided you avoid explosives you can take tons of hits. Of course, the enemies are sponges, they can take tons of punishment and frequently don't die from direct headshots. The environments are filled with explosive barrels and destructible building just asking to be demolished. It's a crazy, mindless series of one insane gunfight or massive explosion after another. I, for one, am all for it.
While Black doesn't have the deepest gameplay, it does have a surprisingly elevated story. You take control of Sgt. Jack Kellar, a member of a top-secret CIA Black Ops unit. The game starts with Kellar being led, in handcuffs, to an interrogation room. An unknown interrogator begins questioning him about his involvement in an operation involving a terrorist organization called Seventh Wave. After disobeying orders and rushing headlong into a building controlled by the enemy, Kellar is ambushed by one of its leaders...an American national and former CIA operative by the name of William Lennox. Kellar recounts his mission to the interrogator, with the events of the game taking place as a sort of flashback. The conversations between the two are presented via cinematic cutscenes that almost feel more like they belong in movies than video games. These look great, especially for 6th gen games, and the actors involved give surprisingly strong performances, especially by video game standards. Black even starts with a film style intro, complete with credits. EA did a great job giving this game the feel of a big budget blockbuster while also still playing like a video game. This is something that I find developers often struggle with, a lot of games like this feel like you are just watching a movie and occasionally interacting. Black presents itself like a movie, but goes right back to video game mode as soon as you press start. It's kind of similar to Halo, but in my opinion, I think you actually have more gameplay freedom here.
The game takes place over the course of eight levels, which range from massive battles on city streets to infiltration missions under the cover of night. The gameplay isn't all that diverse, all of these stages devolve into wild shootouts eventually, but at least the locales and the challenges they present are different. The levels are very long and semi linear, you have a few paths you can take to objectives, but they will all meet up eventually. I kind of like that, it gives you a little bit of freedom that a lot of FPS stopped giving you at this point. The layout is similar to Halo with its reliance on set pieces, but it definitely feels less streamlined. Jack can carry two guns at once, with most having a variety of firing modes, and a handful of grenades. There will be the occasional sniper section, but the abundant health and ammo encourage you to get up close and personal with your foes. You can't quite run out into and open field blind firing, but you can definitely take out 5-7 enemies on your own without any really tactics. The big selling point here is that most of these environments are destructible. Enemy hiding behind a rock? Use grenades to blow it up and take them out from a distance. Having problems clearing out a building? Nearby explosive barrels will allow you to blast a hole in the wall. There isn't too much thought involved, but in a way that's fun and unique without being monotonous.
It almost gets to the point where it's too much. Black has some really impressive animations, but it kind of works against it. Enemies take tons of hits and they flop around in the most ridiculous way. It's kind of funny, but I really can't call it a positive that guys dance around like marionettes as they get riddled with full AK-47 clips. And I don't care how much of a ridiculous, crazy gunfight vibe they are going for, headshots should be one and done in every FPS unless you are fighting some sort of non-human. Really, the seriousness of the narrative and the insanity of the gameplay are very disparate and I found that to be problematic. There are a lot of little things that drag the gameplay down as well. I found it very difficult to see where I was being shot from, especially in darker missions. The game usually doesn't give you the means to take out enemies from a distance, you will occasionally find sniper rifles, but they are relatively rare. What's worse, taking one is going to prevent you from taking a weapon that's better for the wild gunfights in one of your slots. It's not a huge deal, but it was definitely a noticeable problem in a few levels. I also found the controls to be a little bit stiff. They are responsive, but your characters turns so slowly that you will end up taking extra hits in combat and avoiding exploration because it takes so long.
Overall, Black was a good, solid FPS from and era where they weren't all that common on consoles. It epitomizes the genre during the post-Halo/pre-Modern Warfare era, anyone who has played a lot of FPS could probably have told you exactly when this came out. The layout, controls and gameplay are examples of what better games of the era had on offer for console gamers. I still don't think it quite measures up to PC shooters of the time, but Black is good, solid fun for fans of FPS that reward aggressive play. It had its flaws and it did kind of wear out its welcome, even after just eight levels. But it was still fun and unique, especially with its environmental destructibility. That's something I wish more shooter, and games in general, featured. It may not have been a masterpiece, but Black was a strong FPS that's still worth playing, even for fans of modern games.
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