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Black is a first-person shooter for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, developed by Criterion Software and published by Electronic Arts. The game gathered a lot of "buzz" from the video game community while in production, and since its release has received above average reviews from critics, who generally praise the game for its explosive action, but criticize its lack of depth. Black is essentially a run-and-gun video game, with few mission objectives and a “kill 'em all” general strategy. There is a distinct lack of blood and gore in the game however, perhaps as a tie-in with its Hollywood stylings. The final rating was "'M' for 'Mature'" (17+) in the United States and 16+ in Europe.

The game was released on February 24, 2006 in Europe and on February 28, 2006 in the United States. A demo was released January 18, 2006 that required pre-ordering to receive.

The March 2006 update to Microsoft's Xbox 360 allows Black to be backwards-compatible with that console.

Development

Criterion stated their intention was to apply Hollywood action movie sensibilities to the game, with dual emphasis on destroyable environments and the handling and behavior of real-world firearms. Bullets impacting buildings, terrain and objects leave visible and persistent damage while great attention to detail has been paid to the guns' appearance (though some weapons' features are very stylized or exaggerated). The great deal of emphasis on the appearance, function, and sounds of the weapons led the developer to label the game as (tongue-in-cheek) "Gun-Porn". Many critics have also agreed that the game is very realistic. Another notable and original feature is the use of real-time blur whilst reloading, giving a depth-of-field and more perspective to the game. Similarly, when the player gets below 2 bars of helath, the screen will turn black and white, the sound turns to sound very muffled and the game goes slower, almost as if going into bullet-time.

Story

Black takes place in Eastern Europe, placing the player in the shoes of a "black ops" soldier named Jack Kellar. It has been revealed that the creators want to adapt some elements of J. J. Abrams storytelling, with relevance to current events . The story is told mostly through Kellar at a debriefing four days after the events in the story begin.

The game begins as Kellar is brought in chains to an interrogation room. He is a member of a CIA black ops group and a veteran of several conflicts including Guatemala, Colombia, Iran and Croatia. His results are impressive, but he tends to be a bit of a loose cannon and prone to disobeying orders. The interrogator, whose identity has not yet been revealed, begins to question Kellar about an arms smuggling and terrorist operation known as Seventh Wave. Seventh Wave have been responsible directly, or indirectly, for a number of domestic and international terrorist attacks. Kellar is told that, unless he cooperates with the authorities, he and his actions will be declassified, he will be dishonorably discharged and confined to a prison for the rest of his life. Hesitant at first, Kellar agrees and begins to tell his story.

Four days earlier, Kellar and other members of his black ops group were assaulting a Seventh Wave strong-hold in the Eastern European city of Veblensk. During this operation, Kellar killed three high-ranking members of the cell. He then disobeyed orders by rushing inside a terrorist controlled building after being told not to, where he was ambushed by a member of Seventh Wave. However, the man did not kill Kellar, who was surprised to learn that the terrorist was American.

It is revealed that the American is a CIA wet-works operative named Lennox. Highly trained and incredibly dangerous, he 'went rogue' after staging his own death in a bombing in Cairo. Lennox has eluded capture time and time again, either escaping from or fighting his way out of danger in two Governmental attempts on his life. Lennox, apparently, is the leader of Seventh Wave.

Kellar's next mission was to cross the border into Treneska and traverse the Vlodnik Cannal, destroy a base and weapons cache, then meet up at a farmhouse with an agent named MacCarver, the leader of black ops Team Alpha. Things did not go as planned, however, Kellar defended and cleared the farmhouse and later linked up with MacCarver.

From there, Kellar and MacCarver began their mission to destroy an arms factory in the city of Naszran. A conventional military attack was deemed too dangerous and too politically inflammatory, so the black ops team was brought in. To safely complete the mission they had to navigate an old graveyard and town, both heavily defended. After doing so, they assaulted the town's iron foundry, destroying its ability to produce weaponry. The two black operatives then met up with a third member of the team, Solomon.

The next operation resumed the search for the Seventh Wave leaders. The target was a man named Valencio who had recently turned an abandoned asylum into a hideout. After destroying all resistance, Kellar again disobeyed orders and tortured the Seventh Wave superior to gain information on Lennox. Kellar's interest in capturing the turncoat was becoming an obsession.

Based on information gathered from the mission, black ops Team Bravo proceeded to a dockyard, cleared the area and linked up with Alpha Team. Alpha Team, however, got wiped out in an enemy ambush while Lennox managed to escape. Because of this, the operation got deemed too risky and was cancelled. MacCarver, however, duped Kellar and Solomon into a continued pursuit of Lennox. Later, Kellar learns he was again disobeying orders.

The team pin-pointed Lennox's location to an old abandoned gulag. To get there, they had to cross a heavily defended suspension bridge littered with mines and under the guard of RPG and machine-gun toting guards. After successfully navigating the bridge, Kellar entered the gulag alone, while Solomon and MacCarver stayed behind to secure the perimeter. After a surface battle, Kellar uncovered a hidden bunker system that ran deep below the old prison. A long battle with Lennox's elite bodyguards ensued until Kellar believed he had finally killed the traitor.

The interrogator then reveals to Kellar that they had, in fact, always been aware of Lennox's involvement in Seventh Wave. Kellar had acted predictably, doing what his profile said he would, and by doing so he alleviated pressure from Congress to pursue Lennox freely. Kellar is told his "death" has been arranged for when he travels to his hearing, providing cover so he can continue his pursuit of Lennox. The game ends with Kellar being told to get ready for his next assignment...

It should be noted that Black is the first of a planned trilogy of games, and the open ended storyline is to be continued in the sequels. The fates of Solomon and MacCarver are unknown but may be revealed in a later game.

Levels

The game is approximately 5-7 hours in length and consists of eight levels:

  • Veblensk City Street (prologue, approximately ¼ the size of the other levels)
  • Treneska Border Crossing
  • Naszran Town
  • Naszran Foundry
  • Tivliz Asylum
  • Vratska Dockyard
  • Graznei Bridge
  • Spetriniv Gulag

Weapons

It is not known whether or not Criterion obtained all of the licensing for the real life weapons used in the game, so it is assumed that they modified some of the weapons as to not infringe on trademarks (or simply took artistic license with them in keeping with the game's exaggerated Hollywood style).

The weapons available to the player include:

Reviews

Note: To avoid redundancy, Metacritic is the only site listed as it lists nearly every available review for a product such as this (Black).

Extras

  • Completing Easy Mode will unlock Silver Weapons for that setting (certain versions, this occurred on a PS2 version), Normal mode will unlock Silver Weapons for that setting, and Hard mode will unlock Silver Weapons for all difficulty settings. Silver Weapons are silver in appearance and have infinite ammo. Hand grenades are not affected by Silver Weapon mode.
  • Completing the Hard difficulty setting will also unlock Black Ops mode, in which the player must complete all primary and secondary objectives in order to complete the mission. A set of secondary objectives, called "Destruction" requires the player to seek out and destroy explosive items, such as ammunition crates, cars, and other flammable items. Black Ops mode also grants the player Silver Weapons and an M16 assault rifle fitted with an M203 grenade launcher and suppressor. The M203 is fired by pressing the grenade button and also has infinite ammo.
  • Completing Black Ops mode gives the player Silver Weapons and the M16/M203 weapon on all difficulty settings.

External links

2006 computer and video games | Criterion games | First-person shooters | PlayStation 2 games | Xbox games

Black (jeu vidéo)

 

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