A game worth the wait and packs a major punch.
Black is an extremly fun shoot 'em up kind of game with explosive gameplay, great sound, and fast action. You are a covert anti-terroism operative that has been recruited to track and destroy a group of terrorists. Each mission starts with a cinematic entrance where you are briefed about the mission. From there you can choose your challenge level. The harder the level gameplay, usually means you can unlock more weapons. During each level you are expected to meet all of your primary objectives and at least some of your secondary objectives. The difficulty setting determines how many objectives you have to meet in order to acheive mission success and move on to the next level. Objectives consist of gathering intel, destroying documents and computers, and of course killing the enemy. If you attempt to cross the checkpoint before yo reach your objectives, the result is a mission failure and you have to start the mission over again. This game is destructive! It's destruction like you've never seen in a PS2 game before. Almost everything is completely destructible. That means you can blow open doors, blow out windows, blow up cars, buildings or just about anything. It allows you to have one primary weapon and one secondary weapon along with grenades. You can switch either of your weapons with ones that are dropped by killed enemies. You have two different health packs you can pick up. Quick health, which gives you immediate relief and backup healthpacks, which you can carry 3. You can use these when your health gets down to critical levels and bring yourself back up. If you let your main health expire, you die, whether or not you still have health packs left.
This game will blow your mind with just how much destruction you can get away with. You pretty much will destroy everything you come in contact with. It's fun game for teens and adults but a little coarse for younger kids. Some bloddy cinimatic scenes and bad language perminate the game so the younger ones might be a little taken back. All in all this is a great game for those of you who like fast paced, destructive FPS type games.
Gameplay:
Solid gameplay helps this game out but the only thing I didn't like is that you can't jump or lay down on your belly. You can squat but it slows you down. It's a shame that there is no online play with this game. 1 player only so you have to watch your friends as they blow their way through each level. Other than that the controller works well and is laid out nicely. AI is pretty intense although a lot of the time they just run and gun at you but as you move on to the harder levels, they run and hide and sneak up on you. Just the fact that you can destroy almost anything is reason enough to buy this game.
Graphics:
Graphics are pretty incredible. Lots of flashy explosions, buildings crumbling, cars blowing up, glass flying, bullets ripping through the air, RPG's zipping by your head with a smoke trail, grenades blasting open doors. The graphics are very clean, the models movements look very realistic and there isn't much tearing. The maps are extensive and sometimes you can even get lost. The detail would rival that of half life or call of duty.
Sound:
I think that the sound is the best part about this game. The silenced weapons just sound awesome on a Dolby setup. If you do have this set upon a speaker system, the explosions will rock your room. Deep sounds of gunfire and the grunts and screams of your enemy as you blow them to bits make the gameplay even better. So hook it up to your surround system and crank it, you'll be glad you did.