Better than most

User Rating: 8.3 | Black (Platinum Hits) XBOX
Black for the Xbox is one of those awkward games where it is hard to quantify how good it is. It doesn't really break any new ground for the FPS genre, but it does take the established model and push everything to the boundaries. The story is somewhat convoluted and is detailed through cutscenes in between levels. They consist of an interrogation of what I believe is a special ops agent. He seems to have broken some rules and now is paying the price. In between the levels it breaks down your journey and what went wrong and then you play the level and live exactly what was told to you. I didn't really pay much attention to it and it's not really what the game is about. When you actually get to play (you can't skip the cutscenes) the weapons take center stage. They all have and excellent sound and really make you feel like you wield some heavy power. I will say that despite the power of the guns, the enemies do take a fair amount of shots. The graphics are as good as anything you will find on Xbox, and in my opinion rivals Far Cry as the best looking game on the system. The environments are destructible and give a nice feeling of carnage. There is also some great sun flare and lighting effects. The gameplay is standard for the FPS genre and does nothing to add or detract from the experience. My biggest gripe with the game was there is seemingly no way to save during a mission. So you have to commit about 30 to 60 minutes and know that you can't stop playing without losing your progress. This game can be found for about $20 and is certainly worth the time and money. If you haven't gotten a next gen system yet this game can certainly hold you over.