Not a horrible game, just very cliche and uninspired.
Then I borrowed the game for about a week. It's not that Black is an awful game, it's just that the game itself is so uninspired. Basically, this game takes elements from Perfect Dark Zero and Halflife 2 and tries to make a game that will blow your mind. This game dissapointed me in every way i can think of.
First off, the controls are solid. They're responsive and easy to ease into for all the casual gamers out there. Just about anyone can pick up and play Black, which will definately boost the sales.
Graphics are some of the best the Ps2 and Xbox has to offer, which is quite remarkable considering how many impressive games there have been. The particle effect are pretty, and the guns look just plain awesome.
Now onto the real letdown: gameplay. Black said it would be fully destructable and would be 'gunporn' to all the fps fanatics out there. Technically they delivered on the promise, but they didn't do it very well. I understand how cool destructable environments are, but when shoot a wall once, the wall shouldn't crumble or fall apart. Also, why is it that you can blow cars up with only about ten bullets? This game reall needs to get a reality check. I've never seen such unrealistic physics in a game like this before.
The AI is also horrid whgen it comes to firefights. They stand around like idiots, run at you, and sometimes don't even notices when you're ten feet away from them. It's pretty ckear the developers spent most of their time on graphics and presentation more than on the AI.
The missions Black offers are standard affair, and offer no new innovations in the genre. (Though I really dislike Halo 2) Halo 2 offerred fresh missions and a great atmosphere. Black offers a dusty atmosphere with simple uninspired missions.
Everything about Black is just stereotypical first person shooting. There is no multiplayer, no replay value, paint by numbers level design, unrealistic physics, and awful AI. It offers some quick fix fun for all the casual gamers, but for hardcore Halo, Halflife and Counter Strike players, just pass it on by. You won't be very impressed.