Blacksite Review

By Kristan Reed Published 30 November, 2007

Day of the Tentacle.

Version tested: Xbox 360

Maybe it's just creative fatigue. Maybe it's just an attempt to go with what sells. Maybe it's just another US government conspiracy to train us to be elite super soldiers against an impending alien invasion.

Maybe aliens have already landed and have sucked out the creativity of modern game developers. Whatever it is, the absolute deluge of shooters appearing these days can't be a good thing. Not for the reviewers such as I playing their 15th inside of four months. Not for Joe Public stuck wondering which ones to buy, and certainly not for the publishers who end up releasing less-than-brilliant offerings that are pushed to one side as the genre juggernauts roll over everything else.

Blacksite is, like it or not, just another shooter. It's not a turkey, but nor is it even close to providing the kind of thrills that its heavyweight contemporaries have managed so forcefully during the latter part of this incredible year for games. Quite simply, what probably looked like an exciting, cinematic prospect in the early part of development now finds itself completely out of its depth, unable to bring anything new to the table both in terms of gameplay, nor technically - where it arguably struggles most. It is, also, criminally short, with its six episodes all clocking in at well under an hour each. It you stuck on Blacksite after dinner, chances are you'd finish it before bedtime, with ample time for a toilet break, a quick check of the footy scores and a drink break between episodes.

'Blacksite' Screenshot 1

Sometimes it reminds you of Duke Nukem with an irony bypass.

Undoubtedly designed primarily to appeal to a US audience, Blacksite is nevertheless a thinly veiled attack on the Bush administration, and the climate of military dissatisfaction of recent years. But enough about politics. The game kicks off with a fairly humdrum episode set in Iraq, where you, Aeran Pierce, lead a band of generic military beefcakes on a forgettable mission that culminates with the discovery of some kind of alien infestation. A few years later, it transpires that this same threat has found its way to Nevada, and you find yourself seeking out the source of the disturbances, set against a backdrop of moral dilemmas and often baffling military orders.

Reborn again

With the exception of a few genuinely impressive set-pieces (the ones you'll have seen in the many videos), the thing that'll strike you immediately about Blacksite is how rarely it attempts to stray away from regulation FPS territory. From the word go, you'll look down your sights, easily kill the rather sleepy enemies, then try shooting without the sights and realise there's absolutely no recoil to worry about. Ok. (Dakka dakka dakka death.)

You'll also start to mentally note down a whole load of other little oddities, like the hugely forgiving recharging health system, and the amazing number of shots you can tolerate before the screen goes a bloody shade of red. You'll experience the same, predictable waves of AI-free enemies, and quickly realise how easy it is to take them down from distance without really having to try too hard.

'Blacksite' Screenshot 2

Help! I'm being eaten by a road!

The whole 'morale' system will strike you as particularly undercooked, seeing as it really makes no difference whether they're in high spirits or not. Supposedly if the two or three people accompanying you are experiencing low morale they'll be more cautious than when it's high - but you won't really notice or even worry about that. The main problem isn't their performance, it's whether they're currently incapacitated or not. Given that there's not even a cursory attempt to make you worry about their health, all you can really do is look after yourself. If they help out with the odd kill, great. If not, no great loss. They'll wake up in a minute anyway. It's only (the 432nd) flesh wound today. You can, by the way, instruct your team mates to fire on a target of your choosing by hitting RB over the designated target, but there's rarely any point. They'll only blunder in and get killed anyway. You really are better off just doing the killing yourself, and only using your squad for their miraculous ability to open doors that you can't.

Don't Die Hard

With careless enemies, an absence of gun recoil and an over-generous health system, it might well be some way through the second episode before you even come close to dying. To say that Blacksite is a challenging game would be a lie as big as the one about this being representative of a next generation shooter. Even on the middle difficulty (deemed 'Hard') you'll barely flinch.

And if the so-so opening episode with its ludicrously easy 'boss' seems a tad ordinary, the second is far, far worse, thanks to some truly awful driving mechanics. Placed at the wheel, you accelerate with the left stick and steer with the right, and wonder who on Earth thought that this ham-fisted system was a good idea. You might get used to the wobbly handling in a few minutes, but it feels about as natural as Jordan's boobs during a jog. Now and then you'll be forced to get out and negotiate with some tentacled aliens to clear a road block, but in the main it's a case of simply driving as fast as you can and trying not to steer in the path of those annoying exploding gits that pop out of the ground. Avoiding giant fireball-spewing worms is fine, but through a mixture of cheap game mechanics, bad luck and terrible handling, you'll die a few boring deaths before you get it right. But then all that's left is a succession of truly mediocre levels, full of samey, middling combat, over enthusiastic dialogue and uninspiring and overly linear locations.

'Blacksite' Screenshot 3

The ginormous boss encounters are undoubtedly the highlight of the game. Maybe a better idea would have been to base the entire game around meeting such behemoths...

The game tries to spice things up with some on-rails sections set in a chopper, as well as some meaty boss encounters, and for a brief period there's a sense that Blacksite could have gone onto deliver increasingly intense scenarios against an overwhelming enemy. But no sooner do you dispatch these monumental enemies, it's back to the dull, dire routine of seeing off perfunctory enemies with low hit points and even lower artificial intelligence. For a game put out as a flagship, full-priced offering it's not really acceptable, and, somehow, isn't even as engaging as the rather undervalued Area 51. Certainly, as a piece of conspiracy pulp fiction Blacksite falls flat on its face, which is the very least of its worries, sadly.

Unreality

Given that it's the Unreal Engine 3 behind it, we at least expected the game to wow technically, but sadly that's rarely the case (unless you're only looking at the great stills). Not only is the frame-rate permanently in the doldrums, basic techniques like dynamic shadowing are handled absolutely horrendously in Blacksite, with the kind of wince-inducing chunkiness overlaid on otherwise pretty detailed character models. All manner of other jarring glitches and weird shimmering constantly trouble the texturing, and the amount of pop-up and jaggies on show make you wonder what kind of tortured development process lead to the game being allowed out of the door in such a painfully unoptimised state. Factor in the often bland, lifeless, linear environments, the inherent repetition in the enemies and a ludicrously short single-player campaign, and it simply feels like a game that was booted out of the door way before it was anywhere near finished. There's genuine talent not being given a chance to shine with this game, and we're quite sure there are plenty of frustrated individuals connected with this near-miss project.

'Blacksite' Screenshot 4

The screenshots (and even the gameplay movies) gave no clue to how desperately average the game would end up. But that's what reviews are for, eh readers?

Of course, we could tell you how much Blacksite has been rescued by amazing, innovative online multiplayer, but that'd be the biggest lie of all. It does what it does, with a routine checklist of modes including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Abduction, but nothing it does hasn't been done far better in dozens of other titles. Worse still, the mooted co-op mode for the single-player campaign was ripped out, while modes like CTF suffer by only offering two maps out of the available eight. Not only that, the multiplayer is online-only, and supports a mere ten players at once. Whoop. The Abduction mode is perhaps the only one to offer anything interesting in that you have to try and stay alive to remain human, or hunt down the humans as the Reborns, but it'd be clutching at straws to suggest that this rescues the game from its other sins.

Blacksite had clear potential to be an exciting battle against a twisted government conspiracy, featuring hostile unusual enemies and an interesting squad-based twist on the combat. The truth is somewhat more harsh than that, with the game ending up as little more than a seriously undercooked run-of-the-mill shooter that labours along with poor AI, botched squad handling and undemanding combat. With a desperately unfinished feel about it, Midway has ended up rushing a mediocre game onto the shelves at precisely the point when there's an embarrassment of riches for shooter fans. Even if you were a big fan of Area 51, this is one game that should come with government restrictions attached.

5 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (72) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • DUFFMAN5 #1 4 years ago

    I will stick with COD 4 then

  • The-Bodybuilder #2 4 years ago

    No wonder the producer new the game was cack. 5/10 are a time like this with so many great AAAs is devastating.

  • urban #3 4 years ago

    no surprise.

  • Scimarad #4 4 years ago

    I wasn't that interested in this game anyway but I have to say I don't think I see eye to eye with EG on FPS after their Resistance review...AND their Bioshock review...AND...their Halo 3 review.

    That said, I can't really remember who it was that reviewed those games.

  • sweetcheeks #5 4 years ago

    EG has been spot on with their fps reviews.
    fanboyism aside, and Halo 3 is superb get over it

    in other news 360 becomes the new home of half assed fps

  • Scimarad #6 4 years ago

    Er...I have a different opinion. Get over it, yourself;-)

  • Landmaster #7 4 years ago

    "Zombies Ate My Neighbours" is Ultimate!

  • 3william56 #8 4 years ago

    A black mark for Blacksite. Or Blacksh... oh never mind.

    Scimarad - maybe the reviewer fatigue mentioned in the article explains it a little (except for the unjustified gush on Halo3). Just be glad you don't have to waste your life playing through tosh like this.
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/07 @ 07:43

  • Clive_Dunn #9 4 years ago

    "EG has been spot on with their fps reviews."

    Finally, someone that agrees with EG's FPS reviews, I suggest we stuff him and mount him on the wall.

  • Aretak #10 4 years ago

    The demo (the first demo at least) was actually pretty good, technical issues aside. Shame the game's turned out to be a turkey.

  • spookyzombie #11 4 years ago

    Say what you like about past EG reviews, but Krudster's got this score bang on. Unfortunately COD4 makes this title look pretty average.

  • General Coxykiller #12 4 years ago

    COD 4 stays in the tray!

  • mkreku #13 4 years ago

    All I know is that Bioshock did NOT deserve a 10. I'd rate it an 8. I guess that makes every FPS review from Eurogamer score +/-2 from their written score (compared to my taste). So this game could be everything from 3-7/10.

  • SlackMaster #14 4 years ago

    Shame that both Blacksite and Kane & Lynch were poor games... I agree Bioshock was not a 10, but I think that Mass Effect deserved a lot more than an 8.

  • jiveguy #15 4 years ago

    "in other news 360 becomes the new home of half assed fps"

    They had another home?

  • krudster #16 4 years ago

    Readers in different opinion to the reviewer - shock!

    Full details to follow...

  • Arnold__ #17 4 years ago

    Serves them right for the thinly veiled attack on the Bush administration. Keep that out of video games please. Clearly knowing that the game is subpar, they tried to drum up support by making a political statement hoping to strike a chord with spliff smoking, liberal, out of touch gamers?

    On another note isnt Aeron Pierce the name of the president's bodyguard in 24? How original.

  • Aretak #18 4 years ago

    "Readers in different opinion to the reviewer - shock!

    Full details to follow..."

    At least Midway can't really get you fired. :)

  • the_dudefather #19 4 years ago

    saw something yesterday about how the producer dosnt even like how the game turned out (no time for QA or something) can't find a link just now

  • DB2k #20 4 years ago

    COCK. I was going to get that.

  • Katsumoto #21 4 years ago

    Luckily, i've agreed precisely with every score ever given on EG (including games I haven't played yet, but instinctively know what they should receive) - the second that changes i'm never coming back.

  • Xerx3s #22 4 years ago

    But that's what reviews are for, eh readers?

    Err...no. That's what forums & metacritic are for.

    EDIT: No offence. I just find them far more reliable than anything else.
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/07 @ 09:11

  • TheDudesRug #23 4 years ago

    This never looked like being any good.

  • OllyJ #24 4 years ago

    I quite liked the demo, I know it was short but it had atmosphere and made me want to play a bit more.

    quite suprised this has turned out to be bad, although i'm still tempted with a rental ;D

  • thesombrerokid #25 4 years ago

    why does everyone like COD4 so much i personally think it's a four our long version of COD1 with a new engine and a desperate attempt to elongate the game with random unfair deaths.

    i thought harvey smith was making a mistake going to midway, this game confirms it, the alegory with the current bush administration is boring atthe best of times and cringe worthy most of the time, the AI's are cheesier than Gears of War and as useful as wet sticks except when they miraculously open a door that you can't, my assumption is that one of the pranksters glued the gun to your hands before the game starts.

    the really annoying interactive supposedly moral choice of do i or do i not trust the doctor who's injecting me with 'vacines' oww wait i'm not allowed to speak or leave te room till i take it, whats the point in making it optional if you can't progress without it, & this is trying the half life main character has no need to speak thing except he does and AI's regularly ask you questions in which you completly ignore them, sometimes one of your comrades is there to bail you out and respond for you but usually you just leave them hanging for an embarrasing momment.

    one thing that isn't fair in this review though is the performance issue although i played it on the PC it ran at 1280x1024 with everything up full (which isn't a hell of a lot for the unreal engine) at a solid 60fps, but that was on my new 8800gt and all my unreal engine games perform the same.

  • Garulon #26 4 years ago

    "one thing that isn't fair in this review though is the performance issue although i played it on the PC it ran at 1280x1024 with everything up full (which isn't a hell of a lot for the unreal engine) at a solid 60fps, but that was on my new 8800gt and all my unreal engine games perform the same."

    "Hi, I'm a PC owner. Let me tell you the intimate details of my 'rig' and how amazingly powerful it is until you shit your brain out of your arse with boredom"

  • menage #27 4 years ago

    Screw you guys. Bioshock was an 11.

  • Headache #28 4 years ago

    "But that's what reviews are for, eh readers?

    Err...no. That's what forums & metacritic are for. "

    Ok, but metacritic only exists because it compiles review scores so you take away reviews and metacritic vanishes as well.

    As for Blacksite I was hardly even paying attention to it, there are enough great FPS' around at the moment that anything remotely average I'm not going to bother with.

  • Nikanoru #29 4 years ago

    an embarrassment of riches for shooter fans.

    Haha, that's one way to call being drowned in generic repetitive FPS clones.

  • Lexx87 #30 4 years ago

    Don't tease them krudster :p

  • ZuluHero #31 4 years ago

    well i liked the demo (the first one at least) - does the game just carry on like that for the next few hours?

    I don't see how they could have gone so wrong from those first very promising steps.

  • menage #32 4 years ago

    Jeez.

    Since when are Halo 3, Orange Box, CoD4, Bioshock, the Darkness, etc half assed generic repetitive FPS clones. have you been living under a rock or are still waiting for the second coming.
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/07 @ 09:30

  • mkreku #33 4 years ago

    kridster: Readers in different opinion to the reviewer - shock!

    Having differing opinions is one thing. Being dead wrong is another :p

  • Paukl #34 4 years ago

    Suggesting that only supporting 10 people for multiplayer is a bad thing seems a tad harsh, aftaer all, I had a lot of fun with the 8 player Gears of War.

    That said, the game sounds so God awful I can see why you'd be viewing it all somewhat negatively.

  • reality_cheque #35 4 years ago

    Abduction sounds EXACTLY like Halo's infection, which was no doubt copied from somewhere else.

    I liked the first demo, and the helicopter bit on the second but not enough to spend more money on games I'll never get around to playing.

  • Royal Fool #36 4 years ago

    37 replies and only one Jeff Gerstmann/GameSpot joke so far. Shape up, EG folks!

    *ahem*

    If a 6 gets you fired, what does a 5 do?

    /runs

  • SharkVLion #37 4 years ago

    You shouldnt take EG's scores as fact for gods sake; it's just some knob who has a play and decides whether he likes it or not (and whose motivations for scoring as they do only being known to them); everyone will have a different opinion.

    Halo3 was never a 10/10; most people who've played the game through and arent total 360 fanboys would likley agree with that; but the EG knob who reviewed it is entitled to his opinion; just see it has his warped opinion ;)

    Simple solution; just download the demo of a game, if you like that then thats good enough, don't need to be told by some brainless teenager what they think of it :) Or at the very least look around all the other review sites; dont just rely on the EG kiddies to tell you what the crack is ;)

  • FooAtari #38 4 years ago

    "Since when are Halo 3, Orange Box, CoD4, Bioshock, the Darkness, etc half assed generic repetitive FPS clones. have you been living under a rock or are still waiting for the second coming."

    Well IMO...

    Halo is the definition of generic to me. Faceless dull super marine takes on aliens in sub-par story. If it wasnt an exclusive that was markted to hell by MS I dont think it would have gotten anywhere close the same recognition.

    Orange Box. Well Half-life is the best FPS ever IMO, 2 and its Episodes are superb although not quite as good as the first game.

    CoD 4. Very short but a lot of fun. Multiplayer is my favorite game on Live since PGR 2.

    Bioshock. Man I couldn't get passed the first couple of hours no matter how hard I tried. Absolutely hated how the game controlled and felt to play. Cumbersome and Sluggish.

    2 out 4 aint bad I dont suppose. (never played The Darkness)


    Does no one else get bored of people moaning about review scores and slagging of reviewers. So you dont agree with the score. So fcking what? You will never agree with anyone 100% of the time. We are individuals with our own opinions after all. Well except when it comes to Halo 3 and Bioshock where the reviews were totally wrong :p
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/07 @ 10:07

  • Apologie #39 4 years ago

    I predicted the final score... such a shame, it had potential.
    Kane & Lich on the other hand, i don't care what reviewers say about the game, i will buy it day one along with Uncharted.
    In what concerns FPS, none can come close to COD4... both single player (altough too short) and Multiplayer. No more FPS till Kilzone 2 and Haze hit the shelves, by the way, Orange Box is outdated shit.

  • HairyArse #40 4 years ago

    /waves farewell to Krudster

    Surely he'll get sacked for such a low review score?

    ;)

  • krudster #41 4 years ago

    Eurogamer: rubbing up people the wrong way since 1999...

  • menage #42 4 years ago

    "Orange Box is outdated shit."

    No Haze and Killzone 2 look like bastions of originality. It's like calling the FPS Godfather am old fart.

  • CatWeazle #43 4 years ago

    "in other news 360 becomes the new home of half assed fps"

    and let's not forget that when this comes to the ps3 it'll still be halfassed, but will also be half the framerate

  • Xerx3s #44 4 years ago

    Ok, but metacritic only exists because it compiles review scores so you take away reviews and metacritic vanishes as well.

    The difference being that it's an average of opinions.

    Abduction sounds EXACTLY like Halo's infection, which was no doubt copied from somewhere else.

    It originates from a game mode invented by Halo 2 players (zombies).

    FooAtari: Not saying anything about the reviewers but I trust people I know and play with a bit more than 1 opinion from a reviewer I don't know. I.e. EG claimed that SR was shit while people who played claimed that it was the best online shooter of the year. TBF, I'm glad I listened to them and not the reviewer.

    I'm sure that reviewers are writing the best reviews possible but I just trust friends more than anonymous people.

  • Xerx3s #45 4 years ago

    No Haze and Killzone 2 look like bastions of originality. It's like calling the FPS Godfather am old fart.

    TBF, Portal is the only fantastic game in the box. ¬_¬

  • Daymare #46 4 years ago

    It's getting really boring reading all this bitching about EG reviews (the same ones, no less) over and over and over again. You didn't like some of the scores, get the fuck over it and grow up, they're not gonna change it to suit your tastes. I don't agree with Halo 3 review either and I don't nag about it every time some new review is up.

    And every time I hear "it's only some bloke's opinion" I wonna kill someone.. Opinions are not equal, get that in your thick heads! Sure, at the end of the day, we listen only to our own, but if we didn't play some game yet, where are we gonna get worthwile opinions? From developers, publishers, store clerks? Or maybe, I don't know, from game reviewers, who probably got their job 'cause they fucking know and love what they do!? When you're sick, do you go see a lawyer or a doctor, ffs?

  • FooAtari #47 4 years ago

    I do not understand the Hype around Killzone 2. The first game sucked. So why would the sequel get any kind of hype? I'm not saying its guaranteed to be a bad game but it needs to prove it's self as a finished game before getting recognition. Maybe I don't understand how the fan boy works.

    As for HL2 eing outdated. Personally I feel that Half-life, a game 10 years old, still stands above 90% of FPS's released today. The A.I. of the soldiers still impresses me more than most current games... The only area it cant compete with current shooters is graphically obviously. Half-life 2 has an atmosphere (very 1984ish) that I haven't felt in many games since.

    Instead of all these average FPS's some developer needs to see the complete lack of any sci-fi space flight sims. With the exception of maybe Eve there hasn't been a good once since Wing Commander 4 and Privateer 2

  • menage #48 4 years ago

    "TBF, Portal is the only fantastic game in the box. ¬_¬"

    Maybe. I still prefer HL2 over 90% of the generic half assed shooters out there. Simply because all of them would probably be even worse without HL and HL2.

  • N-Al #49 4 years ago

    "near-miss project"

    5/10

    Eh?

  • krudster #50 4 years ago

    The hilarious thing about the discussion about scores (like Halo 3) is that you assume everyone at EG thinks it's a 10. We don't. We have varied opinions just like you lot, but unless you get the same person to review every single game, the kind of consistency some of you demand simply can never happen. If Tom, Rob, and myself all reviewed the same games every time (not possible, obviously) we'd all end up giving them different scores for our own personal reasons.

  • FooAtari #51 4 years ago

    @Xerx3s

    Im not saying you should trust the reviewer or that he/she has some expert opinion over all others, far from it. I just get fed up of the moaning. Their opinion is as valid as anyone else's for the most part. There are some things which are simply bad design that the majority of people would agree on, but a lot of things in gaming is subjective. I too would trust a friend with similar tastes over a single review.

    I read reviews just as general guide. If I'm interested in a game I normally read more than one to get a good idea if it's going to be worth me getting it or not.

  • menage #52 4 years ago

    @ krudster

    Why not add scores of the other reviewers as well then, alongside 2 or 3 sentences motivation, Problem solved. Seems far more balanced IMO.

  • FooAtari #53 4 years ago

    So true Krudster.

    I've said it loads of times. Its not a case of EG's reviews suck or are a great, or Gamespots reviews suck. It's the review of one person who writes for that site, and because of that perfect consistency is impossible.

    @Daymore
    "And every time I hear "it's only some bloke's opinion" I wonna kill someone.. Opinions are not equal, get that in your thick heads!"

    Agreed. While I think, generally, all opinions are valid, not all are equal. I hope that a person reviewing a game is totally subjective and is not in anyway a "fanboy" or easily influenced. I would also hope they have extensive knowledge of games, and as the nature of theior job probably played a hell of a lot more games than me. And of course that they can write well to to properly review the game.

    I read reviews to get, erm, a quality (cant think of a better word) opinion on a game I guess.

  • FooAtari #54 4 years ago

    Thats a good point menage. Except for you are expecting every reviewer to play every single game to completion, in time for the review to get posted. That's quite a task, especially at this time of year. Im sure they have other things to do at work than just play games and write reviews.

    Also kind of complicates the review a bit imo. I can only imagine the comments thread with 3 or 4 scores for every game...
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/07 @ 11:05

  • krudster #55 4 years ago

    @ Menage - in a perfect world, we'd all play the same games at the same time (to completion, and 15 hours multiplayer) and have a panel viewpoint, with 12,000 words of detailed analysis looking at every version, with technical comparisons.

    But the reality is, there are dozens of games coming out all the time, and everyone's doing their own thing, trying to get their specific job done. Even expecting a second opinion of a few paragraphs is nigh on impossible because we get one copy of the game, and are scattered across the country.

    What we offer, for free, with such limited resources is a miracle if you actually saw how the machine works :)

  • gmmonkey #56 4 years ago

    krudster, you do this for free?

  • krudster #57 4 years ago

    The content is free. Of course I don't do this job for free ;)

  • menage #58 4 years ago

    @Krudster

    I don't mean for every game, but massive releases like AC or Halo 3 or going to be discussed in such a huge way it would be advisable to add another viewpoint, especially when dealing out a Halo 3 10 or a AC 7. If like you said Halo 3 wasn't a 10/10 for everyone, I would have liked to hear that.

  • krudster #59 4 years ago

    In theory, yes, and for Halo 3 I wanted a dual opinion, but Tom and I were in Tokyo covering the TGS, so Rob had to do it.

    With Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft could only let us have one copy of the game, and at the time I was reviewing no less than three triple A games at once. It simply wasn't practical. We do try to give second opinions on the big games, but generally those big games come out at the very point when we're at our busiest.

  • Apologie #60 4 years ago

    I do think that is a waste of time to talk again about Halo 3 score... but i must say, that game is pretty average and don't deserve 10/10.... on the other hand, Gears of War got 8/10 when it should be higher.

  • mash the x button #61 4 years ago

    Maybe, maybe, maybe.
    Maybe it's yet another dull cliche ridden fps made by a mediocre developer.

  • RichGL #62 4 years ago

    @krudster

    I don't think you need to explain anything. The typical whinger that brings up these score based moans on a regular occasion isn't going to be swayed in the least by rational explanations of how Eurogamer has to operate.

  • Nikanoru #63 4 years ago

    Jeez.

    Since when are Halo 3, Orange Box, CoD4, Bioshock, the Darkness, etc half assed generic repetitive FPS clones. have you been living under a rock or are still waiting for the second coming.

    I never said they were half-assed. :p Just generic and repetitive. I'm sure they spared no expense writing pretty HDR effects and creating epic cutscenes and moar bigger guns.

  • gmmonkey #64 4 years ago

    It'd be good to see a "games revisted" type article where all you guys give a general input score for the bigger games. At the end of the month or quarterly or something.

  • menage #65 4 years ago

    "I don't think you need to explain anything. The typical whinger that brings up these score based moans on a regular occasion isn't going to be swayed in the least by rational explanations of how Eurogamer has to operate. "

    For the record. I'm not a typical whinger. But he said himself that not everyone on EG shares the same viewsd on games. Seeing as EG is still a medium which presents itself as a whole, I was just suggesting that they clarify if some views of the crew differ. If possible of course.

  • menage #66 4 years ago

    "
    I never said they were half-assed. :p Just generic and repetitive. I'm sure they spared no expense writing pretty HDR effects and creating epic cutscenes and moar bigger guns."

    Like every soccer game has a ball in it or what?

    What do you expect then from a FPS for god sake. Some truly original shit that nobody would buy (like Oddworld)?
    Edited by 1 at 30/11/07 @ 14:52

  • Nikanoru #67 4 years ago

    Good call, I hate soccer games. :)

    Seriously though, surely even you can't deny that something could be done with the levels other than "get from A to B while killing stuff". Like in, oh, Doom 1? That had more creative level design than any standard FPS recently. Seems like we've regressed instead of moved forward. Then again, the same could be said for other genres. :(

  • menage #68 4 years ago

    Maybe A & B should come to us goddammit.

    I agree to some point, but the A to B mantra is present in a lot of games. Mostly caused by narative which needs a solid timeline.

    I actually think games like Mass Effect or Metroid are a great place to start to make it different. Less linear without losing story.

  • Garulon #69 4 years ago

    "I do not understand the Hype around Killzone 2. The first game sucked. So why would the sequel get any kind of hype?"

    Because Sny commision a CG movie, lied their lying asses off preteding it was running on Playstation 3 (which did not even EXIST off a fucking blueprint at that stage) and all the mindless weak-wlled Sony fanbois beleived Sonys lies just like they did on the Playstation 2 because they have the memory of MAGGOTS. And they smell.

    When KZ2 limps out at the tail end of 2008 and makes this lump of generic shit just reviewed look like deep-fried genius I'm going to laugh my bloody head off.

  • Raiten #70 4 years ago

    After purchasing this game and trying it there's only one thing to say about it. PC owners steer away from this title, avoid it like plague, in case you're one of the unfortunate who bought it ( like me ) there's a 90% chance it wont work on your computer.

    This game is a perfect example of craptastic quality control on multiplatform releases especialy on game that's developed primarly for console and ported over to pc, menus barely work if they work at all, settings sometimes revert back to default after chanching them, sound issues, crash issues.. anything you can think of, this game deserves a 1/10 score not 5/10.

    oh i should mention that even the patches released for the game wont necesarily patch the game and in case they do patch the game, chances is that it wont work still.

  • Darren #71 4 years ago

    @Raiten - So it should be called Blackshite then? LOL

  • CHACK #72 4 years ago

    Krudster said "Eurogamer: rubbing up people the wrong way since 1999...
    ignore poster"

    Thanks, that's all the proof I needed based on your so called review.