Video Game Review: Black

Have you been looking for a game that allows you to rein total destruction upon anything and everything in your path? If so, you may be in luck. Black offers just this to fans of the action-shooters video game genre.

The story starts out with you playing as Keller. Keller is a part of the world's most elite and highly trained military force. This military force is known as Black. Black answers to no one and can use any means necessary to combat global terrorism.

The actual story begins with some strange flashbacks involving Keller being interrogated by a strange military group. Flashbacks occur throughout the game and lead you to wonder what exactly is going on with Keller? As the story progresses, Keller and his team must take out a man named Lennox. Lennox is the leader of the terrorist organization, Seventh Wave.

Now for the game play! Black is all about blowing things up and shooting everything. And I mean everything. The entire environment is reactive. A single bullet that wisps through the air reacts to everything it passes through: trees, windows, boxes, walls...people. Never has there been a game where this was possible. The environments are open to allow you to shoot and destroy all of it as you see fit. Heck, you can take out a whole city if you'd like!

Now how do you go about destroying things? Well, there is a huge array of weapons. Some are: pistols, shotguns, rifles, Uzis, Mac 10s, M16s, G36Cs, and MP5s. Grenades are also always in abundance, along with fuel tanks. If there is a fuel tank near a building full of enemies, why bother entering the building when you can just shoot the fuel tank and blow up the entire place? Or, shoot out the windows and toss a grenade in. If an enemy is in a vehicle, just fire a couple of rounds at their vehicle and take the whole thing out!

Most of the levels are straight forward. There are 8 in all. You complete a level by obtaining the prime objective. Difficult levels require you to obtain secondary objectives as well. But trust me, it's not difficult. You can complete each level as you wish. You can sneak around and snipe your enemies, but the game isn't very difficult so you don't really have a need to be stealthy. It is made so that you can blast your way straight through. You can carry up to 2 weapons at once. You merely switch them out when you find a better one. You replenish your health with health packs that you find in the environment or on your fallen enemies. You can carry up to 3 of these.

If you were hoping for a great story, well it just isn't there. But this game wasn't made for a story. It was made for you to destroy things. The game play itself can get repetitive. There always seems to be fuel tanks and grenades lying around. It can get a tad boring to constantly blow up your foes in the same manner. Also, the enemy AI seems to be a tad on the stupid side. They never seem to notice you until you actually start to shoot at them. You can walk right by without them noticing you right away. The AI also doesn't seem to have the best of aim. If you actually get injured, the health packs are in huge abundance. All this makes for the game to be a bit on the easy side. No multiplayer mode is available either! Lastly, the actual game only lasts 8 hours.

But don't let this get you down! All of these downsides are just blasted away by the stunning visuals. Not to mention the fact that you can literally destroy everything! Each time you fire a weapon, the way the environment reacts will just leave you gasping. The light and shadow effects are stunning. The audio is excellent as well. The gun fire sounds realistic. The explosions make you feel like you are in a movie theater. Lastly, the actual soundtrack really puts you in the mood for some carnage!

Black is available on Playstation 2 and XBOX. It is rated M for mature. This is because the game contains strong language and violence. A strategy guide is available for those of you who think you need some help. Happy hunting!