Xbox 360

BlackSite: Area 51

Overall, BlackSite: Area 51 is a solid arcade shooter for casual gamers who are looking into a straightforward FPS. The gameplay is simple to pick up and the action is non-stop. The graphics are excellent and very clean throughout, allowing you to see clearly what you’re shooting at. Thanks to the all-in-one action button, you have more freedom to execute other offensive and defensive strategies. Squad tactics are literally at your fingertips! The biggest downside of the game is that it is missing a cooperative mode but that’s forgivable since the single-player campaign gives you plenty of exhilarating moments.

BlackSite is a good shooter, but in a season packed with game-of-the-year caliber FPS offerings, "good" might not be enough to get it noticed; seems Midway would've done themselves a financial favor by releasing this during mid-winter when we're starving for quality titles. If you're looking for a ground-breaking experience or a robust selection of multiplayer modes- BlackSite's don't offer much more than a weekend distraction--this isn't it. However, if you find the idea of fighting aliens in your own backyard appealing, you won't do better than BlackSite's relatable, the-truth-is-out-there experience. Master Chief might be a universe-saving hero with a beam-of-blue-light hottie for a sidekick, but has he ever felt the satisfaction of turning a trailer park into a mass of alien-ooze-splattered twisted metal?

Blacksite is a decent enough FPS title that's the gaming equivalent of a summer action blockbuster: it sure as hell won't win any Oscars but it delivers just enough thrills to make you feel like you got your money's worth.

Overall, Blacksite isn't a bad shooter at all. I was surprised when I started playing as I thought it would be pretty bad, but I enjoyed it very much. BlackSite seems to be a pretty under rated game, but it is a very good game for when you get bored of Halo 3 or COD4.

Bis auf die paar technischen und spielerischen Macken hat 'BlackSite' alles, was ein Shooter haben muss – nur leider auch nicht mehr. Bei der großen Konkurrenz, vor allem bei den Blockbustern, die in letzter Zeit erschienen sind, wird 'BlackSite' trotz aller guten Aspekte wohl leider untergehen. Mehr als Standardkost ist es nun mal leider nicht geworden. Ein bisschen mehr Feinschliff und eine größere Auswahl im Multiplayer-Modus hätten da einige Prozentpunkte retten können. 'Midway' hätte das Spiel einfach nicht zu früh auf den Markt werfen dürfen, wie es jetzt geschehen ist. Und mal ganz im Ernst: die deutschen Synchronsprecher sind teilweise wirklich abartig unmotiviert und langweilig. Allerdings bin ich trotz aller negativen Punkte als eingefleischter Akte X-Fan und Shooter-Spieler nicht enttäuscht worden. Ganz im Gegenteil: es hat mir richtig Spaß gemacht, E.T. mal wieder richtig in seinen außerirdischen Arsch zu treten.

While the game was well paced, there wasn’t much depth to the individual gameplay facets used to break up regular running and gunning, and the lack of variety in weapons was disturbing for a shooter.

BlackSite is a solid game, but has several notable flaws. The plot is subpar, but the story is decent. Its ultimate leftdown is that it fails to travel in a new direction and lodges itself right in the middle of the sci-fi FPS genre without offering anything particularly new or exciting.

I can see FPS fans having fun with BlackSite since it provides all the standard FPS rollercoaster thrills, but most of us have been up and down those hills a few too many times.

Overall, the game does just enough to be good, but stops short of being great. Still, if you're an FPS fan looking for a break from Halo 3 or CoD 4, Blacksite: Area 51 is definitely worth taking a look at.

If you're itching to take out some aliens, you could do worse than visit BlackSite, but don't expect greatness.

While the game tends to be quite fun when you begin, after a while you'll feel the boredom setting in. The story is nothing new or even all that interesting, which is surprising for an Area 51 setting. The graphics and sound are good, but nothing extremely special. The online is just like every other FPS as well, though it was quite fun. Basically, the game isn't terrible, but it is nowhere near amazing. It felt generic and forgettable in almost every aspect. If you like alien themes or FPS games in general, I would definitely recommend it, but it won't have any lasting effect or win any awards.

Blacksite: Area 51 is a decent game overall, however it feels like a game that is a shooter by numbers; offering very little that we've not seen before in other games. I'm confident that you'll find enjoyment within the first play through, but beyond this I doubt anyone other than gamerscore hunters will want to carry on with subsequent plays. The multiplayer feels tired, and is something not many people are playing (at least when I was online). I would think carefully before parting with cash for this game; and would probably advise to rent it beforehand, to see if you really would want to keep it in the long term.

BlackSite ist ein solider Shooter, der leider jede Menge Potenzial verschenkt. In fast jedem Bereich gibt es gute Ansätze, die dann durch meist unnötige Fehler wieder relativiert werden. Die extrem kurze Spielzeit von ca. 6 Stunden setzt der Sache noch die Krone auf. Technisch zeigt man an manchen Stellen was man kann, um es sich dann an anderen Stellen wieder mit dem Spieler zu verscherzen. BlackSite ist in jeder Hinsicht ein zwiespältiges Vergnügen, das aber dennoch Spaß macht solange es dauert. Shooterfans dürfen einen Blick riskieren, denn ein schlechtes Spiel ist es keineswegs, alle anderen greifen zu den deutlich besseren Konkurrenten.

A decent shooter, jam-packed with targetable Black Ops soldiers and aliens aplenty and showing moderately good production values, despite a few hitches. However, it's lightweight fluff compared to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and The Orange Box, especially when it comes to the slapped-together multiplayer and lack of story depth.

Für ganz harte Shooter-Freaks ist das Spiel vielleicht interessant. Wer nur ein bisschen mehr Hintergrund wünscht, der greift auf alternative Titel zurück, die es zuletzt in Hülle und Fülle gab, und lässt dieses insgesamt gerade noch "gute" Spiel links liegen.

Having enjoyed Area 51 and hoping for a return to the "X-Files with Guns" vibe, I was looking forward to Blacksite: Area 51 ever since it was announced, and I fervently hoped that it would do well. Taking advantage of the rumors and hearsay drawn from today's headlines in much the same way that Area 51 pulled together the conspiracy theories surrounding it in pop culture, it sounded like a daring experiment in political commentary coupled with exciting, squad-based gameplay. Unfortunately, Blacksite's FPS action offers nothing beyond what already exists and has been done better by the competition. With a disappointingly forgettable story, solid but unremarkable action, and with little else to look forward to in the multiplayer mode, there's not much of a reason to dig for the truth behind this particular conspiracy.

Overall, BlackSite: Area 51's worst enemy has been the high level of expectation built from the numerous previews and snippets of information available prior to release. The promise of fantastic squad features falls flat due to the poorly applied AI throughout the game. The gameplay borrows from several other more successful titles, but fails to form a cohesive package nonetheless. If you couldn't get enough of the original Area 51, you'll probably adore BlackSite, as it has a better story, superior graphics and is as a whole, a better game. However, when compared to anything other than its predecessor, BlackSite just doesn't do enough to compete with this year's great first-person shooter releases.

With all this said it might sound as if BlackSite is the worst game ever known to man, or at least shooters. But this isn’t really the case; BlackSite is well and far away from being even a painful experience. The game is merely another mediocre bag of wasted potential tossed out that simply begs you to lower your expectations right before diving in. BlackSite doesn’t quite fail as a game, but it certainly comes close to offering too little for any satisfaction. If a little exploration and killing aliens is enough to keep you satisfied then BlackSite might be worth renting, just don’t expect anything beyond just that.

Não há nada terrivelmente errado com "Blacksite: Area 51" (exceto quando congela tudo, o que acontece de vez em quando). É um game de tiro em primeira pessoa até competente, principalmente no modo de campanha. O problema é que ser apenas passável não é suficiente num gênero tão disputado como esse, em que desfilam alguns dos mais sérios candidatos a jogo do ano, principalmente para PC e Xbox 360. Ou seja, é muito mais negócio conferir esses jogos imperdíveis primeiro.

Unfortunately BlackSite: Area 51 isn’t nearly as fun as it should be and while the game strives for political relevance, the gamer is bludgeoned with political commentary every step of the way. It might be subversive, but it’s also hamhanded — so much so that I felt like every reference to the Bush Administration or the ongoing war in Iraq cast a larger, grimmer shadow over the gameplay. I mean, BlackSite can be traced back to a classic lightgun arcade game. What’s next, a Mad Dog McCree game where the healthcare system is raked over the coals?

In the end Blacksite is at times a fun shooter, but in a gaming landscape where games like Halo 3, Orange Box and Bioshock are currently available, Blacksite does little to make itself stand out. While technically, at least for the most part, a solid game, it still suffers from a general feeling of incompleteness and seems to be a title that simply needed more time in the oven. Featuring a storyline that at times intruiges and some enemies that boggle the mind by sheer size, it all quickly falls apart with bad pacing and a slew of glitches. If anything, I can whole heartedly recommend Blacksite as a weekend rental for fans of alien conspiracies who want to blow off a bit of steam shooting freakish mutated aliens, but sadly nothing else.

BlackSite: Area 51 surely would have benefited from more time in containment…err, development. Bugs and glitches are indicative of a general lack of polish while most of the game’s features are underdeveloped, underutilized or feel out of place. Apart from exciting moments that are few and far between, the game is dull and uninspiring. The single player campaign is about a half dozen hours in length so a rental will satiate any curiosity one might have. Ultimately, considering the truly great shooters available on the market this holiday season, you can do better than this.

The one aspect of BlackSite that stands out from the crowd is its not-so-subtle political commentary — for example, every mission is titled with a Bush-ism, like “Stay the Course,” “Mission Accomplished,” and “Regime Change,” and the game leaves nothing to the imagination regarding its designers’ political viewpoints. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is up to you, but we just wish they’d woven it in a little better — no one likes being preached at when they’re trying to kill alien scum.

BlackSite: Area 51 is a noble attempt that really doesn’t shape up into anything. I disappointed that BlackSite didn’t manage to capture the unique feel and ambiance of the first thrilling Area 51 game. Even though Area 51 was underrated, it was one of my favourite shooters I’ve played and I was expecting BlackSite to bring out the same feelings of wonder, fear and excitement that Area 51 extracted. BlackSite is extremely flawed in its straightforward objectives, squad tactics and obvious storyline. BlackSite needed to slow down and refocus its attention to what made the original so great. If you need a boost to your achievements or a fun simplistic game to blast through in a weekend then give BlackSite: Area 51 a shot as a rental, otherwise stay away from the infected.

With Blacksite: Area 51 Midway disappoints me for the second time this year (the first being Stranglehold). The game is ugly, linear, boring and even badly finished. Even fans of the original really shouldn't look into this one. Those wanting a decent shooter better buy one of the other games I mentioned above.

Of course, you won’t find any blood or gore here! BlackSite was only given a T-rating. At least, despite all the little nagging issues I have with the game, I can still confidently say that this is an average shooter. The single-player campaign will end after only a few hours. You won’t cherish the time spent playing as Captain Aeran Pierce, but you won’t regret it, either. Should you decide that you really like the game, you can play a variety of multiplayer matches via Xbox Live. Basically, the game is good enough to rent and play through, and it should give Area 51 fans something to enjoy. Anyone looking for a more serious FPS – something with sterling graphics, fierce enemies, awesome design, and a great multiplayer mode – should look elsewhere. BlackSite: Area 51 doesn’t have any of those things, though I don’t think it ever seriously entertained the notion of becoming the newest big FPS title.

I haven't played a First Person Shooter this bad since Turok Evolution. The game is certainly playable and you can see that there are ideas that if implemented well they could've worked out to be something interesting. In a holiday season as busy as this one with a lot of great FPS's there is no reason to buy this game. If I got this game for Christmas instead of Bioshock, Call Of Duty 4, or The Orange Box I'm pretty sure that fisticuffs would ensue.

Well-done propaganda is usually subversive and flashy. Unfortunately, in spite of the creative direction of Harvey Smith of Deus Ex fame, Blacksite: Area 51 is neither. As a shooter, it's an awfully generic game that we're hard-pressed to recommend among the smorgasbord of significantly better FPS titles out there right now. As a political allegory, it's undermined by poor audio with no subtitles, heavy-handed storytelling, and little to emotionally invest in these characters. Visually, it's not ugly, but there's not much about it that's distinguishable, and the framerate bottoms out every once in a while. Multiplayer has some issues such as lag and weapon imbalances that don't render it unplayable, but don't help it at all, either. By no means is Blacksite a bad title. It is, however, quite mediocre.

Quelque part, bien au fond, Blacksite avait sans doute le potentiel pour faire un bon jeu scripté. Mais allez savoir à quel moment il a complètement déraillé. Sa trame est digne d'un premier jet de scénariste de téléfilm, sa technique part complètement en sucette et il nous offre une démonstration de ce qu'il ne faut pas faire en matière d'I.A. Sa progression, plate et prévisible aurait pu être sauvée par quelques affrontements impressionnants contre les créatures géantes mais là encore, le coup du point faible qui clignote en disant "tire-moi dessus et ce sera fini" balance tout par la fenêtre. Vu la concurrence solide en matière de FPS scriptés (CoD 4 au hasard), on oubliera vite ce médiocre Blacksite.

I didn’t even go into detail about the multiplayer aspect of Blacksite: Area 51, because it honestly doesn’t matter. The single-player experience is weak, and Blacksite’s relatively generic online modes certainly aren’t worth the cost of admission alone (and nothing you can’t find in many other titles). Blacksite: Area 51 ultimately tries and fails to rely on its controversial storyline and mediocre gameplay.

Having been a fan of the previous Area 51 this is a major disappointment, a game that rarely looks or feels finished. But I’d like to sum up on a positive note so I’ll just say that the on-rails Hummer ride that happens early on in the game was exciting and fun, and some of the set pieces including the “Blackhawk ride” (also available as a free demo on the 360 marketplace) and special effects are spectacular. I’d really recommend that you avoid this game, but if you’re a FPS addict then maybe rent it or pick it second hand, if nothing else it’ll make you appreciate how polished some games, such as Halo 3 are.