Nostalgia - Black: The game that made shooting walls fun
When one thinks back to their ‘first times’ many things come to mind. Someone’s first day of school, first football match for their team, first batch of freshly baked cookies and while some may live happily in the memory of their first kiss, others reminisce
in the first time they fired a rocket into the side of a building and brought half of it down.
Such an experience was most memorably provided by EA games’ destruction savvy title, Black which was released on the two major consoles at the time: the Xbox and the PlayStation 2.
While environment destruction may not have been something new at the time, the way Black executed it and allowed players to take an active role in triggering the events made the game revolutionary.
Destruction had always been a case of ‘place C4 or any other explosive on object – press button to trigger animation of huge explosion’ as opposed to each bullet doing lasting damage to the environment which Black delivered in satisfactory fashion.
Players who did not know what to expect from Black when they ran it on their consoles, were blown away by the game. As a matter of fact even the people who did know what to expect were pleasantly surprised.
While the game was not big on storytelling, with a series of confusing and somewhat meaningless cut scenes, it more than made up for it in the gameplay department.
Dual wielding weapons was satisfying, shooting enemy AI was intense, the destruction that a player could cause was revolutionary on the console, but most importantly, it was fun as it rewarded players for holding the trigger down rather than taking the time
to aim.
While it may sound like something similar to Serious Sam, it was anything but. Black was set in a reality based setting and though the carnage was intense at times, it was still realistic. Stray bullets would damage the walls, enemy AI would react intelligently
as opposed to being cannon fodder.
To sum it up, it felt like a modern day Call of Duty game on steroids which was being turned into an action packed movie by Michael Bay. While it may sound too much to handle for some it was an enjoyable experience.
However, as with anything the game had its fair share of downsides as well. It was short in terms of completion time and players could blast their way through on the same day as they bought the game once they got the hang of it.
There was not much in terms of re-playability as the game gave all it had to offer on the first playthrough and there was no split screen co-op or multiplayer either.
While these may not seem like big issues for a game that was so enjoyable to play they ended up being its Achilles heel. Gamers could not share the experience with others, as they could in say Syphon Filter or Medal of Honour: Rising Sun, both of which supported
offline multiplayer and co-op.
All one could do was talk about their own individual experience of their first playthrough. So while Black was fun while it lasted, it lacked the ability to keep players hooked. Much like one of those movies a person enjoys watching once but would not watch
a second time.
Nevertheless, Black was a unique and memorable experience and any gamer who has not tried it at least once, it is highly recommended that he gives it a go.
The views expressed in this article are solely of the writer's and do not reflect the official editorial policy of Bettor.com
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