Black

Moby ID: 21453
PlayStation 2 Specs
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Description official descriptions

Sgt. J. Keller is a Black Op and he has just failed his operation - badly. He has been incarcerated and is interrogated to reveal his mission and to find out what went wrong. The player goes through Keller's failed operation in eight areas, wasting enemy soldiers and trying to stay alive. There are primary and secondary objectives, such as reaching a rendezvous point and gathering intel.

Black is a traditional first-person shooter with variety of weapons and interactive scenery - interactive meaning destructible in this case. Enemy soldiers can be killed by destroying a nearby fuel tank for example, and weak shelter, like a wooden fence, can be shot to pieces in order to expose the enemy.

The game can be played in four difficulty levels: easy, normal, hard, and black ops. In easy mode, only the primary objective is required. In normal and hard modes, some of the secondary objectives are required. In black ops mode - unlocked after completing the game on hard - all objectives must be reached. New weapons are also unlocked after finishing a level.

Spellings

  • 黑煞 - Simplified Chinese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (PlayStation 2 version)

365 People (356 developers, 9 thanks) · View all

Music Produced by
Original Score by
Performed by
  • Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra
Live Action Sequences Directed by
Live Action Editing and Visual Effects by
  • Ntropic
Performances by
Voices
English Voice Casting by
IT Manager
IT Support Engineers
Senior HR Manager
Senior Recruitment Manager
Executive Producers
Producer
Lead Designer
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 78% (based on 75 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.3 out of 5 (based on 77 ratings with 6 reviews)

Lots of strange design decisions make this visually and aurally impressive game a flawed one.

The Good
Where can I start? First, I guess I must confess I still have not finished the game, I've completed several missions, but I have no idea how far into the game I have actually progressed. The game is a bit too hard for me, but that isn't a negative point since I love challenging games which takes a long time to complete.

Now, on to the actual review:

When you start up the game, you are greeted by an excellent intro video, with movie quality visuals and soundtrack. Short clips of terrorist attacks, scenes of war, dead bodies in the streets, accompanied by a fantastic score featuring industrial rumble and marching drums. The intro cinematic sets the tone perfectly for a dark, violent FPS game.

You then get to the title screen, where the only sound is off the various weapons the game features, emptying their clips. This too is a great touch to set the tone - this is a game more about violence and weapons than intriguing storylines. Next up is a very good looking menu system and you then get into the first mission of the game.

Every mission is introduced by more great looking and well edited video clips, and when you get the mission started you are stunned by the fantastic graphics, well above anything you though the Playstation 2 was capable of. Sure, there are better looking games available for the next generation consoles today, but this game won't ever be considered a bad looking game, not even in 10 or 20 games when the industry has probably achieved photo realistic graphics in games.

There are so much great looking details, sunlight shining through the blinds into a dusty dark room, smoke, fire, the explosions are huge and impressive and there are some very detailed natural environments, with good looking trees, grass, rocks and everything you'd expect.

A lot of the things you see in the game are destructible, fire a few rounds on that car on the street and it explodes (OK, they do not do that in real life, but it is the world of Hollywood we're playing in), fire a rocket into a building, and you get a huge explosion blowing out all the windows, "hmm, the corridor is blocked, but those walls look pretty weak, maybe I can blow a hole in them?" - and you can.

The weapons are very well modeled, and feel pretty realistic when you shoot (as realistic as it can feel with a gamepad), the AI isn't too stupid, they often take cover and generally behave somewhat intelligent, they often see you when you expect them too, and often do not notice you when you hide from them.

The levels contains several primary and secondary objectives, the primary objectives always have to be completed to finish the level, and the others depend on which difficulty level you play on, but completing can result in some bonuses.

And now for the bad stuff ...

The Bad
Again, I don't know where to start, this game is filled with really strange design decisions. The most stupid of them is that you can't jump. No, really, you can't do that little thing you've been able to do in every other FPS game created after 1995. Sure, the jumping isn't done in a realistic way in most of those games, but not being able to jump over an obstacle that is at most 30 centimeters high is just ridiculous - and they use the lack of jumping in the most annoying way to lead you in the 'right direction' I've ever encountered. In one level, you walk down some stairs, then you notice "hey, that last step of the staircase seems to be missing" - and yeah, that little missing step makes it impossible to walk up the stair again. Congratulations! You've progressed to a new area of the map, and since the game designers thought you were too stupid to understand that you should progress further, they made it clear by making it impossible to go back the way you came in. I don't think I've played any FPS this linear ever before. There are a lot of mission scripts in the game that assume you play the game the way they want to.

Your fellow soldiers shout "Hold position and wait for reinforcements. Don't go in there", if you follow their orders and wait - nothing happens at all. Everything is silent, your allies are just standing there, doing nothing - until you do as you were expected to, walk into the building, fall down the broken floor to the floor below, and then you get your next objective.

There are no alternate solutions to any problem in the game. Try to avoid being spotted by the enemies on that bridge by swimming across the river below them - you can't since the river is closed off by a non-climbable railing and some small stones. You have to go over the bridge, fighting off 20 soldiers at once on your own. Great.

Maybe I expect too much after just having played Deus Ex on the PS2?

No, really, I think they should at least give an explanation of why the alternate routes I see on the map are not possible - something like - patrol boats in the river? Piranhas? Strong currents? No, nothing. The river looks peaceful, and on the other side I can see a shore that you shouldn't have any problems getting to in real life, but here are stopped by the inability to climb over a low railing.

Enough on that point, now on to my next problem with the game: The lack of in-game saving or even (since this is a console game after all) save points. The game saves your progress only after a completed mission, you can not save manually anywhere in the game, if you don't have the time to complete a mission (and some of them are fairly long, I'm not a fast player, but I do think that several of them would take over an hour to complete even for the experienced console FPS gamer, even though someone could surely do a speedrun in 10 minutes or something, but how funny are those?), you have to start again, from the beginning. This is really annoying for those multi-part missions where you kind of expect to at least come to a save-point when you complete your first main objective and get your next one. And you can't keep your weapons between missions, even though they - according to the plot you get in the cinematics - are supposed to follow each other directly.

You go from the city, through a forest, to an industrial area, and can not keep the good weapons you've found from one area to the other, but start with one rather weak weapon at the start of every new mission. And, about weapons - and I know this is my personal taste only - they use that "you can only hold two weapons" system as made famous by Halo and Cold Winter. Sure, it's kind of the standard for console FPS games, but I personally don't like it.

Of course I think it's silly when you can carry 15 heavy weapons at the same time as in Half-life of Red Faction, but surely you would at least be able to carry 3 in real life?

This gets really annoying when the game expects you to have a particular weapon at a particular place in the game, like - you have to have the RPG and shotgun to kill that RPG guy on the roof and open that door (no, you can't open any doors in the game without shooting at them, another strange design decision), but you'd prefer to have the AK-47 since there are a lot of enemies around.

You have to drop the weapons you want to pick up the weapons the game wants you to use - and then, you can only hope that the game does not put some boulder or broken floor between you and your favourite weapons when you want to get them back.

Well, now to my last and least issue with the game, you look around, turn and aim really slow in the game, and it does not seem to be configurable in the options.

By the way, the game does not have any multiplayer mode. Not even split screen. That is really sad since I think that might have added some replay value to the game.

The Bottom Line
This is, in my opinion, a rather poor game when it comes to gameplay, it lacks a lot of features you expect a modern FPS to have, it is so linear it should be criminalized, and require you to have a lot of patience, in completing your missions in one run - since you can't save in a mission.

On the other hand, this is the most visually impressive last-generation console game I've ever seen. I really did not think that these kinds of visuals were possible on the Playstation 2, and the music and cutscenes are great as well.

I think that whether you would like this game or not is a lot up to your personal taste, for people who do not have any issues with playing extremely linear games (and I know this isn't the only linear FPS game out there - the non-linear ones are pretty much the exception from the rule), but remember that the replay value of the game is very limited - you can find some bonuses - but there is no multiplayer available.

Check it out if you love FPS games, especially console FPS games and if you'd like to see what kind of visuals your PS2 is actually capable of.

If you find the game cheap, it might be worth to check out for other's as well, but to most people I think I'd recommend Cold Winter instead, a not-too-different but in my opinion much better FPS (even though it's graphics aren't as stunning as in Black) for the PS2 which also includes multiplayer.

PlayStation 2 · by Joel Segerbäck (641) · 2008

Feelings Are Dumb; I Just Wanna Blow Sh*t Up

The Good
The implementation of fully-destructible environments has been a coveted Holy Grail for action games of all sorts, especially immersive games such as first-person-shooters. Amongst the FPS genre, there have been several attempts, Red Faction II being one of the most well-known examples, to weave destructible environments into the flow of combat and interaction within a first-person virtual world, but most attempts have been particularly unremarkable. At the very best, a few breakaway walls and exploding pieces of terrain have given environments a semblance of the desired effect.

It is in this category where BLACK rises to the top. Apply bullets and explosives vigorously to whatever you see, and objects, walls and whole buildings will explode or shatter into dust, fragments and splinters of whatever object, facet or structure they used to represent. Not only do the flames, smoke and dust of explosions look gorgeous, but the destruction is woven seamlessly with the action and gameplay. Sometimes, it's as simple as blowing a door off its hinges with a shotgun or grenades to access the next room. Other times, the player will be faced with the pressure of blowing holes through walls to flank a fixed enemy position. And every once in a while, the player will inadvertently level entire buildings and structures from afar.

And to do all of this fun stuff, the player has a varied and beautifully rendered assortment of guns and explosives at hand. BLACK probably has the most thoughtfully rendered and animated guns in any FPS. One of Criterion's focuses for the game was to create "gun porn' which they certainly achieve. All the guns sound, look and fire with intense virtual weight; it's hypnotizing just to watch the avatar reload or switch firing modes with the natural sway and bob that an actual person would exhibit.

And to control all the mayhem, Criterion has made sure that players controls match perfectly with all available functions. Controls could be comparatively likened to those of Halo 2, but the controls in BLACK feel tighter, more weighty. In addition to the standard use of analog sticks and triggers, the D-pad is smartly deployed as the main console for weapon management, firing mode s for burst/single/automatic fire, extend stocks and thread suppressors. And most importantly, the controls mesh perfectly in response to their relevant animations and how they affect player interaction within BLACK's world.

Beyond its highly polished gameplay features, BLACK also gets a few points for intangibles; presentation-wise, BLACK does so many things well. BLACK's menu design, music and immersion outside of main gameplay contribute greatly towards sucking the player into its dark world of assassination and secret warfare. Criterion goes through sincere lengths to make a player feel that they are entering a world where guns and death are gods.

The Bad
Through a combination of addictive gameplay and a cliffhanger narrative, the game feels painfully short. For all the bodies that get piled up and all the buildings that get leveled, I still wanted more when I was done. Due to its brevity, the game's narrative will come off a tad less sincere than what most players will hope for when spending full-price ($40) on a game.

The enemies, though masterfully rendered, animated and implemented, are relatively unvaried from beginning to end. Expect to see slight variations of the same soldier over and over throughout the game. In addition, the enemy AI is not particularly sharp; on my first run, I ran into plenty of dumbfounded and ineffectual formations and groups of enemies which ignored me until I got right in their faces.

The biggest crime of all is a total lack of multiplayer. BLACK could probably be one of the most addictive deathmatch/co-op games in the history of the First-Person-Shooter genre, but that possibility is closed and totally shut down. It was known from day one of announcement that BLACK would not feature any multiplayer, but it doesn't sting any less once one finishes the single-player campaign.

The Bottom Line
BLACK is a slice of deep-fried gaming. Havoc, destruction and mayhem will be available in abundance, but expect to want more. But despite any of the aforementioned criticism mentioned above, I'd highly recommend BLACK for what it does so much better than anyone else.

Xbox · by ET2600 (15) · 2006

One of the best FPS on the PS2...

The Good
This game kept me entertained for a long time. I haven't played a FPS so much since Goldeneye on the N64. The levels are massive and the enemies present a decent challenge. There are plenty of awesome weapons at your disposal, and much of your surrounding environment is destructible, which makes for some cool strategic possibilities.

The Bad
Overall I'm quite pleased with the game, but in my opinion it's a little short. Other than that though, everything is awesome!

The Bottom Line
One of the more enjoyable, quality FPS on the PS2. Reminiscent of Goldeneye on the N64 and Killzone.

PlayStation 2 · by Kid Fraser (13) · 2008

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Finding Intel Brian Leach Jan 30, 2008

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Black appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by karttu.

Xbox One added by Plok.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, FatherJack.

Game added March 1, 2006. Last modified March 15, 2024.