So, I gamefly'd Blacksite, and am so far not liking it much at all. Which sucks, because I really liked the first demo, and had high-hopes for the game. Seriously though, why have there only been like, 2 UE3 engine games that are actually good so far?

Anyway, there seems to be a lot of things not quite right with the game, so I'll just kinda hit it out as a list, then expand on them.

1. Unrealistic Gunplay
2. Driving
3. Unrealistic Physics
4. Rail Shooting
5. Difficulty is really off-balance
6. Pretty dumb AI in general
7. Turrets

1. So basically, the main weapon you start out with (Think it's a M16 or a M4 or something), has pretty much zero recoil at all. When shooting while aiming down the sight, the gun kinda shakes around withing a 1 inch circle, but as long as the reticle is red, you're hitting the enemy. This is supposed to be a tactical shooter in a sci-fi environment. I really don't like the fact that my, "tactics" can include holding down the right-trigger relentlessly until the enemy dies.

2. The second level of the game lets you drive a jeep. First and foremost, the level just feels really disjointed. I'll explain by comparing it to a (much much much better game) that came out earlier this year. In Half-Life 2: Episode 2 (This isn't much a spoiler, trust me), there is a section of the game where you're driving through the mountains and you stop every once in a while, be it at a little village along the road at certain spots to find supplies.



This is more-or-less the same premise of the 2nd level in blacksite... But the difference is that in HL2:Ep2 it made sense doing this. You either A. Needed the supplies, or B. Were just curious and wanted to get out. Did you have to get out? No. You could just plow right through the entire section of the level.



But see, in blacksite, they FORCE you to get out. They force you to get out so you can either A. Clear a path to keep moving along in your humvee, or B. Traverse some sort of rubble or debris (Usually killin' dudes on the way), only to continue progression onward down the road in another humvee (Which for reasons unknown are always behind giant train wrecks and other various forms of debris).



It just feels really disjointed. Like, I could see one of those sections making sense in the middle of a level, but you go through 2-3 sections in a row like that. "Drive down the road, stop and get out, kill dudes, traverse underivable terrain, continue down road in another hummer, repeat.".

Also, the driving physics are really really floaty, and unrealistic. There are a lot of jumps you have to hit, and you get a good 2-3 second hang-time off of all of them.



3. This ties into the driving, mostly. When you're driving down the road not only do you float for multiple seconds off of a lot of jumps, but if you happen to hit some sort abandoned vehicle, it will flat out go FLYING. I'm sure there are other examples I could find, but I really don't feel like it.



4. Rail shooting is boring. Thats pretty much all I have to say.



5. Now this is probably my worst gripe with the game so far. I'm playing on "hard" difficulty (which is in between "Casual" and "Extreme"), and the first 2 levels are a freaking cake-walk. While I died on the second level quite a few times, it was mostly due to trial-and-error. But then I get to the third level, and it's just insanely difficult, the weirdest part was that it got insanely difficult after a boss fight. A boss fight, mind you, that was very very easy, and not much of a boss fight at all.



This happened in the second level for me, too. The entire level is insanely easy to beat aside from 2 or 3 areas.



Theres also an abundance of ammo EVERYWHERE. Which I guess I can't complain about right now since I'm at a point in the game where there's only 3-4 weapons available.



6. One of the big focuses of the game was on, "Morale" of your squad mates. Which is kind of ironic since even if you have "high morale" they really don't do much of anything.



7. As if rail shooting wasn't boring enough, I think I've spent more time on a stationary turret, than I have walking. Turrets, like rail shooting, is boring.



There are quite a few other qualms I have with the game (Like how annoying destructible cover is when everything you stand behind instantly gets instantly destroyed) but these are just the main ones...



So yeah, rent it if you really like aliens or something, I guess... Otherwise, I'd stay away.