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| | Title:
Black
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System:
Playstation 2
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Genre:
First Person Shooter
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Publisher:
Electronic Arts
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Developer:
Criterion Software
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Release:
February 14, 2006
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Online:
No
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ESRB:
Rating Pending (RP)
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If there is anything the guys at Criterion are known for it is for making games fun. Burnout 3 gave the racing genre a good kick in the shorts when it took the most frustrating aspect of any racing game (wrecking) and made it enjoyable. Burnout 3 won numerous game of the year awards and currently has a sequel in the works, Burnout Revenge.
But Black is not a racing game. Instead the boys at Criterion wanted a new challenge, in the form of a first person shooter. This is actually a very interesting choice because of the incredible popularity of first person shooters thanks to the Halo, Half-Life and Unreal franchises. It seems like every feasible idea has been done with this genre of games and one has to wonder if Criterion can do for first person shooters what it did for racing. Surprisingly, it looks like they just might. Criterion is taking some unique design approaches towards the game that just might usher in a breakout hit.
There has been no information released on the story of Black. Primarily what has been showcased in the screenshots and trailers is the gameplay. Criterion is taking an approach similar to what they did with Burnout 3; all you have to do is make it fun. Since Black is a first person shooter the most important component Criterion has to work on is the guns. More specifically which ones will be chosen and how will they interact with the world? There have not been any announcements of licensed guns (real life models) a similar design choice when it came to Burnout 3 with its cars. All that is known about which guns are going to be in the game is from the screenshots and trailers. Guns confirmed for Black are a pistol, assault rifle, double-barreled shotgun, rocket launcher, and SMG. The final number of guns is unknown at this time. Dual wielding will be an option in Black since one screenshot shows two SMGs being held.
If there is one thing Criterion is known for its destruction. So it should come to no surprise that Black will feature a fully destructible world. It’s not only how the guns fire but also how they affect the world around them. Plaster will blow off walls; holes will be punched into cars. Even entire buildings are not safe thanks to the release of one screenshot, which shows a massive explosion erupting from the side of a building courtesy of a rocket launcher.
How the A.I. will respond to a world with such amazing guns and a destructible environment is still unknown. It can almost be assumed though that a good portion of the gameplay will focus on using the guns and environment to the player’s advantage. And since Criterion is known for making aspects of a game where destruction is involved to be over the top, the character models and how they die is probably going to be amazing.
Overall, it looks like Criterion is doing to first person shooters what it did to racing games. That is, making a new fresh experience by focusing on what it most important in the genre. In racing it was speed and crashing. In Black its guns and how they affect everything they come across.
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