BLACK
 

In this thread you can tell me about how awesome the game BLACK is which came out this past feb. 28. For me the expierence of watching the trailers themselves was practically orgasm inducing. Unfortunately I don't personally own a PS2, but I'm condsidering looking to get one for cheap.
So is BLACK worth all the fuss?

http://ps2.ign.com/objects/668/668817.html

Uh, BLACK is not a PS2 exclusive title.

Well the only other thing I have to play games on is the PC, and it's not coming out for the PC as far as I know. Also those Xbox people can make their own BLACK thread if they feel like it.

Moved to General Gaming.

Tube, thanks for the report. We have a better method of viewing reported posts now, so the report alone is all that is necessary.

K... Can anyone confirm whether or not there is no jumping in this game? I am kind of anxious to know.

Not on the XBOX version, there is also no multiplayer/online mode...

Ok... then I am assuming that also applies to all versions. I'm guessing if it's not avaibable then it's not nessecary but still... wtf.

It's supposedly a very short game (6 hours or so). I'd definitely consider it as a rental.

Rented it, and played through it. The game does not live up to the hype, and is a fairly generic shooter if you ask me.

There is this extremely annoying blurring effect everytime you reload. It gave me headaches after awhile, to the point where I was looking away from the screen whenever it happened.

If you want to play what in my opinion is currently the most impressive singleplayer FPS experience to date, play FEAR. I believe Black was going for that same visceral experience, but it just pales in comparison.

It's not worth more than $20, in my personal opinion, of course. I'm dissappointed it doesn't have multiplayer..

The FMVs are hilarious. They're all live action (is this Sega CD), and they try to really emulate the "intensity" of things like MGS or 24. You can also tell that the voices don't match the actors shown on the screen (especially since the main guy's mouth is obscured most of the time). There's one particular scene where one guy tosses the other a pack of smokes (in dramatic slow mo). Main guy blows smoke into the other guy's face, and the other guy "coughs", except you can totally tell he isn't really coughing.

Despite that, the game is a fun popcorn flick so far. Everything blows up nice and loud. It's a bit of a pain to shoot someone with 60 bullets until he finally dies, but it's still good fun.

I was very skeptical of buying thisd since I read that it had only a lifespan of 6 hours with no bunchload of extras and multiplayer. I mean, sure, everything blows up and I'm pretty impressed by it but come on, it could've been a better game with multiplayer. I mean, Darkwatch was much longer.

Rental would suffice here. I'm not spending 40 bucks for 6 hours, dammit.

I really couldn't tell you why, but I'm really interested in this game. I'm not that big into FPSs (the only ones I have on PS2 are Red Faction, TimeSplitters 2, and XIII), yet I want to play this game really bad. I probably won't actually get it though until it's like $20 (the only one of those above games I bought at full price was TimeSplitters 2, and I only did that because I had played a demo first). The game doesn't even sound terribly to interesting, yet I still really want to play this. Can anyone explain this?

Also, how does this game compare to Killzone? I played the demo of that game, and thought that it really sucked, but it's the first game BLACK reminds me of.

As some have said before me. This game is like a "popcorn" flick, pure entertainment and visceral action. Sometimes you want to shoot stuff and watch things explode.

That's about the ONLY thing you can do in this game. :rolleyes:

Pshaw, I really like this game. The sound and light effects are amazing to look at and hear (feel if you have a subwoofer), and the game is manic fun. It might be a little short, but at least you've got some replayability with the silver weapons.

I'm not a console FPS kind of guy -- FPSs are meant to be played with a keyboard and mouse IMO, but Black's controls were really well thought-out and easy to use, so I'm enjoying the game.

Wow... so many negative comments. What a let down. D:

Yeah I love FEAR, but I've played through it 4 times already. I figured because I liked FEAR I might like BLACK aswell. FEAR was sooo easy though even on the hardest setting. And I am not very good at video games in general so it kind of surprised me.

I rented it today and gave it a try. Pretty good experience so far, mayham breaking out all around you while blowing just about everything up. Weapons handle surprisingly well with some great sound effects. I mean the gameplay is pretty simple and just a case of shooting anything or anyone that moves or shoots at you. I quite liked the reload effect as the background blurs out of focus while your weapon reloading stays clear and focused before resuming, I gather though the effect is for technical reasons similiar to the blur effect in Shadow Of The Colossus.

Solid visuals and presentation though and for the record I rented the PS2 version. One gripe about the controls is the look/aim sensitivity as it's pretty damn slow and you can't adjust it at all.

I'll drop some more impressions when I've finished the game but so far so good.

Yeah actually that blurrying effect sounds like a really cool idea. I mean it's realistic. Try it yourself put your out in front of you and focus on them then focus on whatevers infront of you. Interesting aslong as its not an extreme blur, like I'd hate to get a headache from playign a video game like Newbie1234 said they expierienced.

Get HL2 Jan if you need a FPS fix... then download the many mods for it :D

I'll probably do that since I don't even have a PS2 and I just upgraded to 2gb ram for my comp. I was also thinking of getting the Doom 3 ressurection of evil add on. Yes, I still play Doom 3.

I don't have any negative comments, I for one don't care how long a game is as long as it is fun. That, and the blow up shit real good gameplay is my type of gaming experience to begin with. Perhaps, I am the only one... ;)

In this case, maybe it's the fact I got the game for $25 that is making me feel less pissed off than most?! I don't know! :D

It's alright, cool gfx and all but it doesnt have that thing that keeps you playing. I played it for a hour and went "right a hour now... I'll just turn this off now..".
Nice try for Criterions first try, but it's over hyped and not worth your money.

Probably the negative comments because it's short? gets repetitve? graphical interface and texture getting on people's nerves?

I'll just rent this one out. I heard besides the hype, it's awfully short.

Hell for all I know, another purchase of the same caliber was Genji: The Dawn of the Samurai. Genji was roughly around 6 hours too and nothing much to do after that.

Well, even Genji had a bit more replayability than Black does. At least with Genji there was a sort of epilogue quest with the Blacksmith and finding everything/creating everything. Oh, and those portals. I think....I'll trade Black in. I might pick it up again once it goes down in price but...eh.

I am a few hours into the game, the 4th mission IIRC. Actually, it's on pause now in the other room while I check my email and GFF. Was going to turn it off as well, but figured I'd have nothing better to do but move forward...

I think I'm on the 4th mission too...or 5th? I just got done with the refinery and weapon plant. I'm having plenty of fun with Black but then I'm also not sitting through mission after mission and pretty much going through one mission, taking a break from the game and then giving it another go later on.

I have to say though the visuals for the PS2 version are pretty impressive.

Ive been sick with a slight fever and a really bad cough/cold so while ive been missing school, im lying in bed playing. Im at the bridge mission which is like the 7th i believe. I cant seem to put it down, its a bit repetitive sure, but something about it brings me back.

I just bought my copy of Black of eBay a few days ago. after reading and viewing the numerous reviews, i'm looking forward to this game. i'm not into shooters that much, but the graphics alone sold me! those explosions are almost "hollywood-esque".

I have played so many games uptill now and have to admit that the SOUND in this game rocks.Best sound ever.

I agree. From the sound to the gun models, along with physics and other details you can see that Criterion was really trying to make a top notch shooter. And while perhaps a bit on the short side, one can still admire how hard they worked on this title and how well they pulled it off.

Some may say that the story is too simple, but with BLACK it's slight simplicity is what makes it's story a breath of fresh air in the current chaos created by the spider webs of other elaberate but weak storylines of other titles. And from what I can tell by the ending video of BLACK, the situation is about to become much more complicated.

As far as I'm concerened though, it's the best single player campaign that I've played for an FPS yet, and has raised expectations for upcoming FPS games. Hopefully they can measure up to BLACK. (who needs a 360 and PDZ when you've got BLACK?)

BTW, anyone else get to the final mission? Just got past the checkpoint and the final battle is pretty cheap IMO. Enemies no matter how many you take out keep re-spawning. I understand what to do, but to do it, it would help if once I find cover an enemy didn't respawn every 10 seconds in that exact space. Decided to quit for the night... ;)

Damn the game was easy up till this point and didn't have to restart a mission but a few times. Oh well, I'll try again, but this comes off just as a cheap gimmick to make an otherwise easy game, hard!

I remember seeing a preview screen for this game about a year or so ago. I had high hopes for it, but its too short. It would of dazzled a year ago, but with games like fear and PDZ out now, its just not impressive.

Hmm... two questions. What has better graphics? FEAR played on highest graphics settings or BLACK? And does BLACK have realistic shadows in it or shadows at all?

Well F.E.A.R and BLACK have totally different engines so it's hard to tell. BLACK have best graphic and music from all FPP games on PS2. I was writhing Review of it for one Polish magazine and I gave 9/10 for Graphic and 10/10 for Music.

As for the game it self it's to short. 6-7 hours of playing is not much for game so awesome as BLACK.

You don't want to rush in just yet - step too far into the chamber, and the entrance door closes behind you. Instead, remain inside the doorway and kill as much as you can with the M249 (yes, it's very possible to squeeze off single shots with this beast; as always, aim for the head), with the revolver being reserved for those tangoes headshots on whom are impossible from your position. It's also good for the shotgun troopers (two hits from it will put them down for good). The shield-carrying elite troopers are problematic, because they have revolvers of their own; use grenades to make life easier.
Yes, the respawning is practically infinite, but it comes in waves. After 2-3 of these is as good a time as any to commit; collect whatver you need on your way to cover (most likely one of the cubbyholes on either end of the near catwalk).
More killing, and the end is in sight: RPG troopers start spawning, one at a time, on the far catwalk. Given the extreme threat they pose, and the fact that they move around a lot... well, they're really what the revolver is for.
A little more, and the two machine gun nests at the far end of the room come online. Once this happens, rush to the cubbyholes nearest them (again, collecting what you need along the way) and feed them grenades until they, ah, involuntarily disassemble. Walk through the resulting opening to end the level.
NOTE: do not be surprised if you can't do this on the first try, especially if you're initially playing on Hard.

So ive kinda hit a road block. Im at the bridge crossing level, now it takes me forever to cross the last section of the bridge because i tend to hang back and pick people off, then i get to the last part, blow up the mines and proceed to the barracade then a whole bunch ambush and proceed to kill me.

Actually, that's what I have been doing! But, unless you go in the RPG enemies won't appear. Anyway, went through about 10-12 times, as I said, cheap... :D

I myself managed to do it on mysecond try. But I'll admitt that it wasn't easy and that 70% of it was dumb luck. If you're stuck, try playing the previous levels on hard and then try it again. You'll get experiance from playing it on hard that should give you the upper hand on the final part on Normal.

Just a thought. Either way may the gods of destruction be with you ;)

If your comparing FEAR to BLACK, go with FEAR, hands down. Its longer and has a nice little story too it. Ill admit it kinda gets repetitive toward the end, but youll enjoy it regardless. Its also fairly long.

While I liked the originality and difficulty of FEAR's gameplay, along with everything else. I found that the firefights in BLACK were more intense. But in the end are they really comparable? In my opinion, not really. It was kind of like when people tried to compare Killzone to Halo 2, but in the end most realized that depite that they were both in the same genre, they really were nothing alike in how you had to handle the situations in each game and I feel that the same can be said between FEAR and BLACK.

BLACK is a little more run & gun while FEAR is more focused on presentation and tactics.

It's just my opinion though. Take from it what you will.

Well, my main comparison point was with the effects that bullets leave on the terrain and enemies. Of course im talking about FEAR on top notch settings, but I think in terms of intense firefights FEAR could go toe to toe with Black.

Theres nothing better then blowing an enemy half in two with a shotgun at point blank.

You're right there. The intense AI and effects, especially the intense slo-mo makes for great firefights. But I just never felt that they were at the same scale as BLACK. But like I said, each game was shooting for different gameplay types. I'm not saying that BLACK is better or worse then FEAR or visa-versa, I'm just saying that they're both amazing games for different reasons.

F.E.A.R felt alot more visceral to me than BLACK. The dust, particle and gore effects were all top notch and added an awesome atmosphere to the game, especially in tense fire fights. Black feels more like a toned down version of that (not necessarily a bad thing) with more focus on explosions and the guns. Oh how i wish there was blood in black =( I suppose i could always just go play FEAR though =P

Heh heh. I totally get where you're coming from. ^^

You kinda need to take into consideration that Black is a console only game. The graphical prowess is limited, and it proably limited the effects they could throw in there. I think they did a good job for a console game.

Wait... THERE IS NO BLOOD? Why?

Because the amount of awesome would make your head explode.

I believe because they were using the Burnout Revenge engine which does not have a blood splatter effect within the engine. And seeing how BLACK was just a side project (as many great games are, Katamari anyone?) I can't really see Criterion tearing down parts of the engine just to add blood, where it wasn't REALLY important. Sure it would have been nice, but during gameplay I never really stopped and said "where's the blood?"

Well, since the emphasis in BLACK are the ballistics and the guns themselves, I just think they could of done something cool with the blood to make the overall presentation that much better.

I just noticed earlier today that you can go in further to the room than I thought before the door closes. Because of that I was able to stay in the tunnel much further back and keep the M249 SAW were it is located and held on to a RPG with a few rounds for later. I also found the Magnum the best weapon to use, with it's 1-2 shots to kill rather than the spray bullets and hope weapons I was using before...

Basically, I was able to take out enemies I couldn't before, so, it helped keep me alive until the RPGs came out.

I ended up dropping the difficulty to Easy and using the Magnum to take out most of the enemies until I needed the M249 during the last phase of the battle. All in all, I was able to take out most of the problem enemies before even running out of ammo. Then, grabbed the other to take them out while positioning myself to take out the bunkers with the RPG and grenades.

Still, it was a frustrating experience however. Ended up having to replay it just as many times as I had before and strangely enough it took all of my RPG rounds and every other weapon to it's depletion to complete the level. When the bunkers blew and I headed in, I had one bar of health and no ammo. Lucky for me the melee attack took out the guys who rushed at me inside.

Damn, I love the game! But, that whole last part just pissed me off to no end! :D

K. It's just that if I think of a game like FEAR. It just wouldn't be the same without the bloody mist and gore. Maybe I should just stay out of my thread until I've actual played this game. >.<

Well I finished the game awhile agom My final thoughts? Beautiful looking the PS2 and the sound effects for all the weapons and firefights are excellent. The game is fun is small doses though as it gets repetitive real quick, I mean I limited myself to pretty much 1 hour/mission a day.

My main gripes range from dumb enemy A.I to the fact that all the enemies in the game are bullet sponges that take around 20 hits to bring down. The game would of also benifitted from having some blood in there not just for "ZOMG! GORE!" but mainly would of acted as nice visual indicator as to whether or not you're hitting the enemy's armour or exposed body parts.

Overall I'd give Black a 3 out of 5. It's pretty fun (gripes aside) while it lasts, which isn't long...6 hours in total 1 hour for each mission, and would make a great rental but I wouldn't drop $40 or 50 for it. There's no real replayability after you've completed it once aside from extra difficulty modes.

FEAR is not better than Black for me.FEAR has worst level design with minimal decoration.Repetitive models some times makes the game look so empty,that i cant even describe.

Seeing that comparing this game to F.E.A.R. is a running trend, I have to say that Black wins out on ballistics and the environment being detailed and at times realistic to functionality, whereas F.E.A.R. does better with the visceral carnage from firefights and storyline. however, it has the unfair advantage of being patchable to correct its errors and thus improve, something Black cannot do.

Still, Black is a good game to rent and will be good to buy once/if it hits the greatest hits label. While all the hype surrounding it wasn't exactly true, it is a worthwhile play through for at least two times. The lack of multiplayer is what really kills it, and even if Criterion didn't want to make that mode in fear of screwing it up badly, even a flawed version would be better than none. A single player campaign can only entertain so much.

Just wondering but but graphics settings were you playing FEAR on? Doesn't sound like you were able to crank em all up or something.

God damn we need who quoted me feature back...

I went through this on a rental over the past weekend (Xbox version), and honestly I thought it was a pretty generic shooter. Some of the graphics are great, and the sound is amazing. Buuuuuuuuuuuuut:

-It's really short
-Why do some enemies take 80 bullets to kill? WTF
-The blurriness when you reload is really annoying and bad on the eyes
-Very straight forward and non-linear, "bonus" objectives are crap.
-A lot of the weapons suck.
-Blowing stuff up is cool, but some of it doesn't look that hot, and the game is littered with "red objects that blow up." I thought games had gotten past exploding barrel shit.
-Story....what the hell?
-AI terrible. I had enemies run PAST me, then face the other way while I shot them in the back, etc.
-Unclear what you need to do at times.

It's not a bad game, but it's not a good game either. I'd probably give it a 7/10. Worth a rental if you're bored, but that's about it.

Like someone had already said like a million times already, F.E.A.R had a story and the atmosphere excellent. I don't see it as another BLACK type where you run around, shoot the living hell out of every single thing in existence including inanimate objects that break down and get destroyed and the story vague.

BLACK is a good game in its own right that provides an adrenaline rush while F.E.A.R gets you involved in the story and the setting. I suppose that BLACK is just too overhyped.

As a matter of fact i did play on very heavy system,fulldetail!
But maximizing detail isnt enough to help empty level design(what i meant).
When i said worst,i meant the levels are so empty at times , harbor level for instance looks like its some MOD ,like counterstrike with Pixelshaders.
Fear is hardware Hog coz of bad programming not because its the best eycandy out there like Farcry.Thats why FEAR needed a 200 mb patch , i mean give me a break 200 mb.
There no such thing as art direction in levels.
Guns are more flashy than realistic.
The sounds of guns are more realistic in Black,infact perfect sounds if one has tried those weapons in reallife.

I agree Black

Was short.
No multiplayer.
No story.

However,i like Black over games like FEAR because Black is organic.The Levels and environment are interactive in a sense that evrything blows up.The particle system,dust particles,debris,holes in walls etc.
Shoot anywhere to see reaction,where as FEAR is lifeless ,i shot on cylinder and i didnt explode.:doh:

Yeah. I played Black on my mate's Xbox. 3D Shooters on consoles still suck balls, and this one is especially shitty.


We played it for about half an hour and then went back to something a lot more awesome: Burnout. :tpg:

BEST REVIEW EVER

EDIT: To be fair, blowing up stuff is pretty cool, though. I shot a rocket at some guys in a building and the whole building collapsed on their sorry heads. That was exciting. And it sounded fairly good (though not as good as Half Life 2 or Halo or Doom 3).

I'm enjoying this game. Ever since I played Half Life 2, I've been looking for intense, cluttered, chaotic warfare. FEAR didn't give me that, but this game is.

Too bad I'm stuck on the second level because I suck at taking cover :(

You guys are all fucking homos.

Black is one of the most enjoyable games I've played in ages. I've got the Xbox version and it's easily the best looking fps on the Xbox, blows even Battlefield 2 out of the water.

I'd hardly say it's short. If you're being a bit cautious and looking for all the secondary mission objectives then each level can take getting on for an hour. It's certainly as long as the original Halo.

Most of all though, it's just so much damn fun!

You don't need to think about it, you don't need to wank about with a sniper rifle, you don't need to conserve your ammo. You just charge in, dodging from cover to cover spraying bullets about like a loony and blowing shit up. Crank the sub up to 12 and feel the floorboards shake while you do it.

I think some of you kids take your games a bit too seriously these days. Black is way more fun that any other fps I've played in ages.

Admittedly, my pc isn't up to running modern games very well so I only really play on consoles but I think it's an awesome game.

Also, I like the blurry reload effect so there.

YEAH HOMO FOR NOT BUYING HYPE.
gtfo plz.

Dude, I don't enjoy it because it was hyped. I enjoy it because it's simple, unashamed fun. Try actually playing games for fun once in a while rather than analysing the shit out of everything and trying to look all HARDCORE GAMER and cool in front of your mates.

It was a bad reply i admit it. but you called everyone homos because we didnt like the game, which makes your post no better then mine. Sorry.

Well, anyone who doesn't like a game that's this much fun must be a homo, right?

To be honest, Eleo's was the last post I saw before replying and "Homo" was the first insult to spring to mind.

hahahaha ok.
I couldnt enjoy it because of the reasons in my first post. But sorry if i sounded rude (i wasnt like serious).

I'm not really into FPS all that much, but i have to say, this game is amazing. It's solid as hell, but also enjoyable at the same time. I'm on the fourth mission currently ('cause it's pretty damn hard, even on easy!) and i'm really into it. The funnest thing is when you get the RPG, and you can blow people into smitherines. One of the best FPS' i have ever played. Better than Perfect Dark i think, and that;s my favourite FPS (the original, not Zero, i don't own a 360 :()

I lol'ed.

Anyway, thanks for your input Shin I figured that would be the same way I would look at it since I like to search around and take my time, it would probably take me about that amount to finish each level judging by what you said.