Black (video game)

Infobox VG
title = Black


caption =
developer = Criterion Games
publisher = Electronic Arts
designer =
engine = RenderWare
released = vgrelease|PAL Region|PAL|February 24, 2006
vgrelease|North America|NA|February 28, 2006
vgrelease|Asia|AS|March 3, 2006
vgrelease|South Korea|KOR|March 25, 2006
vgrelease|Japan|JPN|April 6, 2006
genre = First-person shooter
modes = Single player
ratings = ESRB: M
PEGI: 16+
CERO: C
OFLC: M
platforms = PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox Originals
media = DVD
requirements =
resolution = 480i (SDTV)
480p (EDTV)
aspect ratio = 16:9 or 4:3
input = Controller

"Black" is a first-person shooter for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, developed by Criterion Games (also the developers of the "Burnout" games) and published by Electronic Arts. The game is notable for its heavily stylised cinema-inspired action.

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. On February 11, 2008 "Black" was released for the Xbox 360's Xbox Originals download service.

Criterion Games have recently stated that they are not currently working on a sequel. [ [http://ps3.psu.com/Criterion--no-plans-for-Black-sequel--a0002726-p0.php Criterion: No plans for Black sequel.] ]

tory

"Black" takes place in western Russia, placing the player in the shoes of a "black ops" soldier named Sergeant First Class Jack Kellar. Kellar tells most of the story in first-person at an interrogation four days after the events in the story begin.

Kellar is a poorly disciplined member of a CIA black ops group and a veteran of several conflicts including Guatemala, Colombia, Iran and Croatia. The unknown interrogator questions Kellar about an arms smuggling and terrorist operation called the "Seventh Wave". Seventh Wave have been responsible for a number of terrorist attacks. Kellar is told that, unless he co-operates, he and his actions will be declassified, he will be dishonorably discharged and imprisoned for life. Though initially resistant, Kellar at last agrees to tell his story.

Four days earlier, Kellar and his group were assaulting a Seventh Wave strong-hold in the city of Veblensk. Kellar kills three high-ranking members of the cell but then disobeys orders by rushing inside a terrorist controlled building, where a terrorist ambushes him. However, the man did not kill Kellar, who learns that his captor is an American, a former CIA wetworks operative, William Lennox. After faking his own death in Cairo, Lennox has apparently become the leader of Seventh Wave.

Kellar's next mission is to cross the border into Treneska and traverse the Vlodnik Canal, destroy a base and weapons cache, then meet an agent named MacCarver, the leader of black ops Team Bravo, at a farmhouse. Things did not go as planned; however, Kellar defends and clears the farmhouse and later meets MacCarver.

Kellar and MacCarver begin a mission to destroy an arms factory in the city of Naszran. To safely complete the mission they must navigate an old graveyard and town, both heavily defended. After doing so, they assault the town's iron foundry, destroying its productive capacity. The two black operatives then meet a third member of the team, Solomon.

The next operation resumes the search for the Seventh Wave leader "Valencio", who has recently sheltered in an abandoned asylum. After destroying all resistance, Kellar again disobeys orders and tortures Valencio for information on Lennox.

Based on information gathered from the mission, Team Bravo has proceeded to a dockyard, cleared the area and linked up with Alpha Team. Alpha Team, however, is destroyed in an ambush while Lennox escapes. As a result, the operation is cancelled as too risky. MacCarver, however, dupes Kellar and Solomon into a continued pursuit of Lennox.

The team finds Lennox's location in an abandoned gulag. They must cross a suspension bridge littered with mines and defended by RPG- and machine gun-carrying guards. After successfully navigating the bridge, Kellar enters the gulag alone, while Solomon and MacCarver stay behind to secure the perimeter. After a surface battle, Kellar uncovers a bunker system beneath the prison. A long battle with Lennox's elite bodyguards ensues, ending with Lennox's apparent death.

The interrogator then reveals to Kellar that authorities had, in fact, always known of Lennox's involvement in Seventh Wave. Kellar had acted predictably, doing what his profile said he would, and his pursuit of Lennox was both expected and welcome - and that Lennox is not yet dead. Kellar is told that a false "death" has been arranged for him, providing cover so he can continue his pursuit. The game ends with Kellar being told to get ready for his next assignment.

Development

Criterion intended to "do for shooting what Burnout did for racing - tear it apart"cite web | url=http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=59477 |title= Black preview | work=Eurogamer.net | accessmonthday=3 July | accessyear=2008 ] , with dual emphasis on destructible environments and the handling and behavior of real-world firearms. Bullets that hit buildings, terrain and objects leave visible damage; moreover, the guns are rendered with great detail and accuracy (though some weapons' features are stylized or exaggerated)cite web | url=http://www.criteriongames.com/black/behindthescenes/blackart/ |title= Black Art | work=Criterion Games.com | accessmonthday=3 July | accessyear=2008 ] . The emphasis on the appearance, function, and sounds of the weapons led the developer to label the game as "Gun-Porn." [Game Informer Magazine #156] 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 drops below 2 bars of health, the screen turns black and white, the sound of the character's heartbeat become the dominant noise and the game goes slower, almost as if in bullet-time, and the large and small motors in the control pads match the sound of systolic and diastolic part of the heartbeat.

Gameplay

The gameplay is essentially a straight forward “run and gun” shooter. Players can only carry two weapons at a time; therefore, strategy is needed when choosing weaponry, with weapons differing in characteristics. The player also carries a number of grenades, which can be thrown without switching weapons. Land mines and grenades can be detonated prematurely by shooting them. This is a particularly useful tactic, as enemies will run from a live grenade and escape its blast. It is interesting to note that throwing a grenade or firing a rocket into a small windowed building, will completely destroy the interior and throw its occupants out the windows, regardless of their position and distance from the explosion, in spectacular fashion.

The game is mission-based, with each mission separated by a cut scene video. On harder difficulties, there are more objectives that must be completed before the player can progress. These extra objectives involved collecting various intelligence documents, blue prints, or destroying parts of the environment. These are all indicated by the HUD cross-hair changing colour when the player points at the relevant object.

Weapons

"Black" features a wide range of guns based on real world weaponry, including RPG and grenade launchers, great emphasis is placed on their performance and detail. Most weapons, specifically rifles and submachine guns, can have their firing modes switched between semi and fully automatic and most weapons can be equipped with suppressors. While Black's weapons may look, sound, and operate distinctively, they inflict similar damage characteristics, for example, the M16 inflicts the same amount of damage as the DC3 Elite pistol or the AK-47 assault rifle. Instead, weapons are distinguished by rate of fire and accuracy.

Despite Black's emphasis on real world weapon detail and function the design of the game gives precedence to visual style and gameplay. For example, magazine capacity is exaggerated as in the game most guns hold two to three times their real life capacities. Many weapons have various parts (charging handles, forward assists, fire selectors, and mounting rails) added or deliberately placed in incorrect positions. For example the Uzi's charging handle is on the side, rather than the top. Weapon artist Chris Healy explains, "we realised that some guns, while looking great as a side profile, simply looked bad once elevated in a 3d form, from the player's perspective. Scopes would interfere with the line of sight, areas of the gun close to the player would look dull and uninteresting."

Most of the weapons in the game are based on real-life weapons, the exception being the "DC3 Elite" pistol. This is a hybrid of the Desert Eagle and the Beretta 92.

Weapons Include:

*Glock 17
*DC3 Elite Pistol
*AK-47
*M16 Assault Rifle
*H&K G36C Assault Rifle
*Colt Anaconda .44 Magnum Revolver
*IMI Uzi
*Ingram Mac-10
*Fabrique-Nationale P90
*RPG-7
*M249 Squad Automatic Weapon
*H&K MP5
*Walther W2000 Sniper Rifle
*Fragmentation Grenades

ound

Emphasising the game's action film heritage, sound effects for the weapons in the game were based on various sounds from movies. For example Bruce Willis' MP5 on the roof in Die Hard, Jack Bauer's pistol in 24 and Arnold Schwarzenegger's Uzi in True Lies.cite web | url = http://www.criteriongames.com/black/behindthescenes/choirofguns/ |title = A Choir of Guns | work = Criterion Games.com | accessmonthday = 3 July | accessyear=2008 ] Realising in the chaos of a heavy gun battle the heavy mix of sound and music would produce a cacophony of noise, the sound designers developed the "choir of guns" concept. Whereas, traditionally in a shooter game, each "weapon" model would be assigned a different sound, Black assigns each "enemy" their own "voice", similar to the way in which each member of a choir would have their own distinct voice. For example, there are three enemies firing, one would be assigned a low voice, another a medium voice, and the third a high voice. This allows all the weapons being fired in any particular scene to harmonise and deliver a distinct sound for the game. It should also be noted that music is never used during fire fights.Black's sound was nominated for Best Audio at 2006 BAFTA Video Games Awards, and won Best Art & Sound jointly with Burnout Revenge at the 2006 Develop Industry Excellence Awards.

oundtrack

The music for "Black" was composed by Chris Tilton, using a theme co-authored with Oscar-nominated composer Michael Giacchino. It was recorded at the Newman Scoring Stage. [ [http://www.scoringsessions.com/sessions/2592/ Scoring Session coverage for BLACK] ] A soundtrack album was released on iTunes by Nettwerk Records.

Reception & awards

VG Reviews
IGN = 8.6/10
GI = 8.5/10
GSpy = 80/100
GSpot = 7.4/10
Edge = 8/10|
compilation = yes|
GR = PS2 - 80% (based on 72 reviews)
Xbox - 77% (based on 70 reviews)
MC = PS2 - 79% (based on 62 reviews)
Xbox - 77% (based on 65 reviews)|
award1 = IGN Best of 2006: nowrap|Overall Best Use of Sound, nowrap|PS2 Best First Person Shooter, nowrap|PS2 Best Use of Sound, nowrap|Xbox Best Use of Sound, nowrap|PS2 Best Graphics Technology
award2 = 2007 AIAS Interactive Achievement Awards: nowrap|First Person Action Game of the Year Finalist, nowrap|Outstanding Achievement in Orginal Music Composition Finalist
award3 = 2006 BAFTA Video Games Awards: nowrap|Technical Achievement Nomination, nowrap|Artistic Achievement Nomination, nowrap|Best Game Nomination, nowrap|Best Audio Nomination

The game gathered considerable attention from the video game community while in production, and since its release has received generally good reviews from critics. Particular praise is awarded for its explosive style and sound design, and its cutting edge graphics.A common criticism is its lack of depth in terms of gameplay and story. Its lack of multiplayer contributes to the game's brevity.

References

External links

* [http://www.ea.com/official/black/black/us/index.jsp Official EA Black website]
* [http://www.criteriongames.com/black/ Official Criterion Games Black website]
* [http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbx/black?q=Black Metacritic Review] (Xbox)
* [http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps2/black?q=Black Metacritic Review] (PS2)
* [http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=9491&type=mov GT Video Review]
* [http://ps2.ign.com/objects/668/668817.html IGN Review]
* [http://news.spong.com/article/9669 EA shocked as "Black" for Xbox leaks to the internet]
* [http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=2130 "Black" videos] at GameTrailers
*moby game|id=/black |name= "Black"
* [http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/review/920890.html Reviews] at GameFAQs