Are you a major fan of the 1st Person Shooter? Do you live, eat, breathe, and exist for the 1st Person Shooter? Have you played games like KillZone, Halo 2, Call of Duty : Big Red One, Medal of Honor : European Assault, and any other 1st Person Shooter that comes to mind and now need a new fix for your 1st Person Shooter addiction? Here you go… go the rental route ‘cause owning this is a waste of your money.

Black, the newest 1st Person Shooter you can get your hand on, is all about the pretty graphics and lovely imagery, but is mostly flash and circumstance signifying not very much (in Shakespearian terms).
Yes, while Shakespeare has never written the plot for the ideal 1st Person Shooter he does have a point when it comes to the pomp of Black, which is pretty eye candy but delivers only the run of the mill shooting in terms of gameplay. The game, set in a war against terror type setting, has an innovative mix of live action footage and hardcore graphics making for an interesting game… and by that I mean it’s completely basic 1st Person Shooter gameplay that looks pretty but does nothing for the franchise of 1st Person Shooters.
First off the “live action” footage. Talk about base minimum footage! All the live action footage seemingly involves two guys sitting in a dimly lit room which is supposed to be in a

prison, trying to act all tough… bleah. Talk about a waste of live action actors, let alone live action film. Cutscenes would have been better than this “live action” mediocrity, which is two guys trying to act tough with a ton of fillers of actual archival footage from news media outlets worked into the “story“ to make it more intense… bleah.
I liked the story of KillZone better than this tripe. Ditto with who was doing the voice acting in KillZone, a far better spin over this whose actors underwhelm (to the point of the lead trying to be very David Duchovny like in his acting though I don’t remember seeing his name on the credits… god I hope not).

As for the story? I didn’t pay attention to it, neither will you, but it seems to have something to do with some terrorist organization called the Seventh Seal or something like that who you were chasing four days ago until you somehow ended up (in such a short period of time) in prison… oh, and the guy whose talking to you plans to declassify all you did and blow you away in the media… uh… in such a short period of time too no less! So what the heck did my David Duchovny mimicking badboy that means I can be threatened with this stuff… short of his obsession with being the Duchovny that is. Well, I guess it could have something

to do with the whole lot of killing going on in 9 or so levels of same old same old 1st Person Shooting “action” that you find yourself wading through!

Yes, it’s all pretty and looks cool but you’ll find that a 9 level or so 1st Person Shooter won’t last you long.
Add too that the fact that while you can stock up on ammo for all possible weapons in this game you can only carry one weapon at a time, which is abit of a drag since you have to hunt around for a new weapon if the one you’re holding runs low of ammo.
Then there’s the low amount of levels (most games has a nice selection of levels), and (evil evil) the lack of an online multiplayer option (which should be considered a death kneel for 1st Person Shooters) then you’ll find that this taste of 1st Person Shooter will only last as a snack sized tiding of shooting until you get your next fix, but this is really and truly only a rental only fix. With a lacking amount of depth, replay value, or anything to really make you jump up and take note of this game? Rent only.
Just to get the point across… breakdown time.

Black Breakdown
What’s Hot?
With excessively pretty graphics and gameplay you’ll have a nice pretty shooter to rent…

What’s Not?
…and that’s it. Once you find out the game is nothing but an endless dark cycle

of shooting and shooting you’ll soon see the boredom this game has hidden within it’s pretty gift wrapping.
Along with a lack of variety in weapons (or the ability to carry more than one weapon), a lack of levels, the quickness you can finish this as well as a lacking online capability for multiplayer? This is just no good.

Moments to Remember?
Ah… the shooting… I guess. Nothing else to remember here.

What to Ignore?
…and that includes the lackluster story, the misuse of “live action” cutscenes, the lack of depth and (again) the lack of online capacity. Boredom will ensue with Black, so hold your horses for a better game… like the PS3 Halo Killer known as KillZone 2 for instance.

Overall?
Rent. Rent. Rent. Rent. Rent. Rent. Rent. Rent… and if I didn’t say it enough, rent.
No, no, I don’t mean the Broadway musical turned movie which is now available on DVD, I mean the concept where you go to a video store and rent underwhelming games that will only last you a week or so in gameplay before you get sick of it and quickly return it to the shelves ASAP.
So rent, oh 1st Person Shooter lovers, rent away… and save your money for something better, of which I am sure there is something better out there for 1st Person Shooter fans… somewhere. I don’t know, Far Cry : Instinct for the Xbox, Condemned or Call of Duty 2 for the XBox360, something.