Games you've recently finished

Well the last game I completed was BLACK for the PS2. I'm not a huge FPS fan but given how BLACK was being touted has having "next gen" gameplay I had to give it a go.

Graphics/Presentation: 4/5
For a PS2 FPS the graphics are beautiful. From the environments to the weapons, explosions, firefights and those effects and lighting. The presentation is topnotch too from the looping title menu to the animation for the weapons and how they "feel". You know, the little details which is why I enjoyed Killzone. The levels are quite large too and there is no loading despite that.

The framerate is pretty consistent too and experienced little to no slowdown. I guess my only gripe for the visuals would be the lack of enemy variants as it's usually the same 2-3 soldiers.

Controls: 4/5
Responsive and a simple setup especially since I'm not used to FPS on the PS2. All the usuals for a FPS including Melee, Primary and Secondary Fire for R1 & R2, Square to swap weapons with those found on the map, X to Reload etc. I must admit though since I didn't bother to read the booklet I wasn't aware of the 3 different firing modes...

Story: 1/5
The story in BLACK is presented via live action cutscenes, that cannot be skipped, at the beginning of each mission. It's obvious that the actors in the movies are being dubbed over and really I didn't pay that much attention given how much the only 2 people you see rambled on nor really caring about a villain or main enemy that I never see.

Sound/Music: 5/5
Most of the score is going to the sound effects alone since they're so good. From the different sounds of each weapon firing to reloading, firefights with explosions going off and debris falling all around you and ricochets. Really good stuff.

There really isn't much music that I can recall aside from the title menu's music is just a simple beat. Most of the "music" is nothing but the sound of your weapon and enemies...whatever it be.

Replayability: 2/5
The problem with BLACK is that it's too straightforward and the fact that there are only 5-6 missions in total which each taking around 1 hour or less to finish. So that's pretty much 6 hours of gameplay and that's it. There are 4 difficulty modes to play through with the harder modes requiring you to find every objective on a level to complete it but that's about it. There is nothing more to the game as well as a lack of any multiplayer, which usually I wouldn't give a toss about but a 6 hour game with nothing to go back for could of benifitted from some kind of multiplayer.

Overall: 3/5
BLACK is fun in small doses because the game can get repetitive real quick and only provides around 6 hours of fun, other difficulty modes aside. Issues such as dumb A.I, enemies taking far too many bullets to kill than they should and the length know the score down a great deal. With the outstanding presentation and sound design along with the simple gameplay of just "blowing shit up" BLACK makes a great rental but I wouldn't recommend anyone dropping $40-50 for the game.

Jam it back in, in the dark.