Always Bet on BLACK

Criterion Games, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Electronic Arts, has already established itself as one of the software industry's premier developers. Credit goes to the chart-busting success of the company's last two titles, Burnout® 3: Takedown™ and Burnout Revenge™.

Symphonies of Descruction

Less concerned with speed and more about eye-popping carnage, these masterpieces—each a staggering symphony of destruction—showed just how powerful an experience a videogame could be. Now the firm's next project, BLACK™, aims to do the same for first-person shooters.

Incredibly visceral, the game focuses on the exploits of one Jack Kellar, part of a black ops agency that answers to no man. Although its existence is denied by the government, the organization—charged with protecting America from the direst domestic and international threats—is responsible for countless covert operations around the world. Unfortunately, the most recent assignment appears to have gone terribly wrong, as the tale is told in grim, almost film noir-type flashback form.

And the walls came tumbling down…

Never mind the storyline, though—it's just an excuse to blow the living crap out of Eastern Europe. More than any title that's come before, BLACK emphasizes ridiculously over-the-top, Hollywood-style gunfights.

Shoot Anything That Moves

Predictably, it also takes great pains to make sure all are set within "gasoline-soaked" environments. Touting Glocks, AK-47s, and SPAS 12 shotguns, splatter everything that moves in spectacular fashion. Believe me … when it comes to armed combat, you've never seen anything this intense or well-produced before.

Forget gun battles—each confrontation is a
choreographed symphony of destruction.

Controls are straightforward enough: Crouch, zoom in for more precise shots, reload and turn your head on command. The right thumbstick handles aiming, while the left is responsible for movement. Likewise, using the left and right shoulder buttons, throw grenades and fire, respectively. (Wouldn't you just know it—explosives and extra ammo magazines are extraordinarily easy to find.)

There's even a D-pad option to select whether weapons fire in single shot, semi-automatic, or fully automatic mode. Thinking men will also appreciate provisions for popping a silencer onto your gun at a moment's notice, so it's always possible to take a stealthy approach to any given scenario.

Sheer Mayhem

Avoiding trouble isn't the point, though—you're out to raise some serious hell. Sound the alarm by brazenly peppering sentries with hot lead or blowing a supply truck sky high (try popping a few shots in its gas tank). Battles aren't just simple armed engagements; each is a finely micromanaged, intensely choreographed display of sheer mayhem so polished that mere words alone can't do it justice.

See you in the afterlife.

Suffice it to say that you simply have to see the action to appreciate its finer points, such as the painstaking damage modeling and authentically modeled physics. In the heat of battle, bullets rip plaster from walls, pillars crumble, and bodies jump and jiggle as they're riddled with slugs. Shots that strike the ground cause dirt to catapult upwards in a smoking geyser.

Ultimate Destruction

Blasting flammable canisters can actually cause an entire building to shatter, sending debris flying high into the air and flames licking towards the sky.

With multiple ways to approach each scenario, the possibilities for entertainment are endless. Every stage is worth tackling several times too, given that no two conflicts ever play out the same. Thank brilliant enemy A.I., which powers foes capable of circling your position, seeking cover and fanning out across forested areas in search of their prey.

All of which, of course, just makes taking these chumps down that much more satisfying. Enemies go out with a bang, twitching and spraying bullets into the air, as they tumble head over heels or collapse in a quivering heap.

Good thing their aim's off!

The bottom line? BLACK isn't your average, everyday run-n-gun experience. It's your own personal "one-man army" action movie waiting to happen. Only here, you're the star. The only thing you need to enlist for duty and start saving the free world today? Xbox® and a copy of the game, naturally—see for yourself firsthand, if you dare, why it's an early candidate for Game of the Year honors.

Article by Chris Zimmerman