Jump to navigation

Black Comments by Kristan Reed

22 February, 2006

This one goes up to 11.

Read entire article.

Want to comment on this article? Log in, or register!

« previous 50 | Comments: 101-150 of 159 in total | next 50 »

Poster
Comment Low-scoring comments hidden. Log in to see them!
Talha
23/02/06 @ 03:47
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
8/10? Oh, but it is short. 8 hours is too, too short for a shooter. I agree here with an earlier comment that this game has a SOLID 8 wherever it has been reviewed. Meaning that it is an above average shooter, if not quite in the league of Far Cry and HL2.But hey people, what were you expecting? Half Life level of storytelling? Criterion made it clear that this is not what they set out to do. What the game does, it does in an unparalleled fashion. I am no technical person, but somehow I feel to get the same level of effects and graphics on my PC, I would have to burn down my system and re-build it.

The savepoint scheme sucks. The best scheme IMHO is that of CoD 2(PC).

Edited 1 times, most recently on 23/02/06 @ 06:23
spidermanalf
23/02/06 @ 08:47
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
This is a cracking game, I am playing through it on the Xbox and think its fantastic. There are a few niggles though, 1 has been mentioned and that is the save, it would be nice to save at checkpoints. The other is - jumping! No jumping, thats annoying when you are stuck behind a tiny wall, and have to walk round it. Also when you have reloaded a gun, especially a sniper rifle it doesn't remember that you were zoomed in looking at someone, and you have to sort out your zoom and aiming again! Not good under pressure!

And mo multiplayer, especially as the levels are PRIME for multiplayer action, you have grave yards, dock yards, bombed out cities and bridges, all would be fantastic, even if it was just 2 player deathmatch!

But I think 8/10 is a good solid score, and it is great blowing the crap out of everything, and it looks and sounds fantastic.

Some people don't like the blur when you are reloading, took me a while to realise why it does it, but it's like real life, you are concentrating on your gun and clip and focusing on that, and not anything else. Clever touch.

If you have no life and can afford to play it none stop for X hours, then rent it. If you have a life and job etc its deffo worth a buy as you can spend a few hours completing a level and not have to relearn all the buttons!

Thank you and good night!

crashVoodoo
23/02/06 @ 09:13
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
anyone cleared it on hard yet ?

i finished normal t'other night and have the silver weapons. nowt spesh just inifinite ammo

going at hard dificulty now ... want to see if anything other than 'black-ops' and the 'destruction' secondary objectives is unlocked.

i don't see why they didn't shove a bity of gore in like someone said. at first i thought it was for the rating but our lad jack uses the 'f-word' quite frequently.

Edited 1 times, most recently on 23/02/06 @ 09:16
kangarootoo
23/02/06 @ 09:29
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
@krudster

"The game lets you off enough as it is by providing a sort of "last ditch" recharging health system so that when you're really in trouble you can always run off and catch your breath, recharge those last two bars of health and most likely pick off the guys you need to"

Well that makes some difference. Could have mentioned that in the view maybe ;)


""Remember that hectic section in the prison in the middle of Half-Life 2 ... Well imagine that level of onslaught for the entire game"

Aww, that was my least-favourite bit of HL2. I was glad when that annoying bit was over. "

I agree. It just seemed like filler to me. After the first wave of soldiers it had a bit of a wash/rinse/repeat feeling. And playing it on a high difficulty setting meant I ended up needing several tries before getting past it. Was glad when it was over.
kangarootoo
23/02/06 @ 09:33
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
"i don't see why they didn't shove a bity of gore in like someone said. at first i thought it was for the rating but our lad jack uses the 'f-word' quite frequently."

I think it may have been GFX overheads.

But then It may have been the rating (currently 16+), gore would likely have pushed it up to 18+.
zErOb_cOOl
23/02/06 @ 10:09
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
Hmmm, the review hasn't convinced me to buy this really. Think I'll stick with Half Life 2 and far Cry.
AtomicBanana
23/02/06 @ 10:29
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
They spend all that time making it look pretty, only to waste it on one of the most generic enviroments I've ever seen. Typical EA/Criterion rubbish.
krudster [mod]
23/02/06 @ 11:56
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
Hmm, generic? If making real-life urban locations realistic and exceptionally gritty yet glorious to behold is generic, then fine. Maybe alien or fantasy worlds are more your thing.
Edited 1 times, most recently on 23/02/06 @ 11:57
AtomicBanana
23/02/06 @ 12:38
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
'Hmm, generic? If making real-life urban locations realistic and exceptionally gritty yet glorious to behold is generic, then fine. Maybe alien or fantasy worlds are more your thing.'

The point is, for me anyway, we've seen enviroments like that 100's of times before. The whole thing has just been done to death of late. I personally don't find the main mechanics of the game good enough for it to escape from the same sort of settings we've seen so many times before. I'm not asking for it to be in space and everyone to be glowing neon pink, I'm just asking for any degree of 'woah, I've not seen something like that before'. Strikes me heavily as all style and 0 substance. aka EA/Criterion of late ;)
Stickman
23/02/06 @ 12:50
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
Yeah, whenever I'm just walking around I hate how generic all the buildings are.

I think things like this have been done 100s of times before because that's what stuff actually looks like surely?
Teeth
23/02/06 @ 13:08
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
I hate estates too, man. You're not alone.
Stickman
23/02/06 @ 13:17
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
When they make an FPS where I can blow away chavs on scooters, or lob a grenade at a group of twatty kids outside a newsagents, then I'll be happy
AtomicBanana
23/02/06 @ 13:31
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
'Yeah, whenever I'm just walking around I hate how generic all the buildings are. '

You didn't pay money to be entertained by those buildings - I don't see the comparison.

All I'm saying is, despite the new things it does, it's still mostly a game we've all played before - I can't understand the massive hype surrounding it.
azmol01
23/02/06 @ 13:42
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
'When they make an FPS where I can blow away chavs on scooters, or lob a grenade at a group of twatty kids outside a newsagents, then I'll be happy.'

2nd and then some, Nintendo will you please have one ready for the Revolution launch?

You can call it Super Mario 4 Mushroom City Takedown.
SeesThroughAll
23/02/06 @ 13:45
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
Rambaldi, why would MS want to enable the XBox Black to run on the 360, when they're about to launch Halo 3 next month? The less competition the better.
redd
23/02/06 @ 14:01
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
besides the technical merits, the game is crap.
- very rudimentary and repetitive gameplay experience
- dreadful AI
- uninteresting story (to say the least)
- frustrating checkpoints
- few weapons
- way too short game

by far worse than half life 2, far cry instincts, halo 1 and 2, red faction 1 and 2 (yes), just to name a few.
have no clue how the hell it managed to get an 8 out of 10 here.

edit: forgot to mention that you get to shoot some 4 different enemy models (or should i say skins) some 2000 times for the whole 6 hours worth of game that you get.
Edited 1 times, most recently on 23/02/06 @ 14:04
Cubfan
23/02/06 @ 14:18
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
For a review more in line with my personal opinion of the game:

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/black/review.html
Stickman
23/02/06 @ 14:34
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
"You didn't pay money to be entertained by those buildings - I don't see the comparison."

Yeah, I was being a bit twatty. What I meant was that a building's a building. They could make them all have mushrooms for roofs (rooves? Is it like hoof/hooves?) and they'd be completely original but also not actually anything like buildings in real life.
Quiiick
23/02/06 @ 14:47
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
I've played 4 levels of "Black" so far and I must say: I'm utterly disappointed!
Even the very similar "Killzone" (which was terribly underrated by EuroGamer) is much better than this.
The game-play of "Black" is terribly repetitive. The looks are great, no doubt, but the enemy-AI is beyond stupid.
Very sad, I was hoping for much more. "Black" is definitely no "Gun-Porn" !!!
Edited 1 times, most recently on 23/02/06 @ 14:50
krudster [mod]
23/02/06 @ 15:34
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
Absolute nonsense. Killzone deserved 5 for being a boring cookie cutter experience. Black is similar in feel, but does everything Killzone promised, and does so with a technically amazing engine.
redd
23/02/06 @ 15:41
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
ok i just went to check my profile.
I finished the game on normal difficulty, here are my stats:

game time: 5:32:31
total enemy count: 1,439
total bullets fired: 20,736

i sincerely dont know where the EG guys went to find almost twice the enemies on whom to spend twice the bullets.

plus, on my previous comment, i forgot to mention two utterly annoying thingsthat this game features:
1- sometimes you get to go some 20 minutes or more in a mission before any checkpoint, if in the meantime you die you have to sit through the whole fmv again! cant skip the thing (it only they were actually any good it wldnt be such a bummer)
2- boy those enemies sure dont mind taking bullets in the chest, cuz a lot of the time i keep hitting an enemy who is far away in the chest, say with an mp5, and he doesnt make an effort to hide himself, just takes the 10 or 12 shots (!!) required to kill him, standing there like a statue... >_>
jiroczech
23/02/06 @ 16:07
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
The weapon damage model is whack. Why make the game all po-faced and semi-serious (which is clearly an afterthought) but retain the stupid damage model. You're positive encouraged to snipe folk, single shot to the head at a distance, by the way weapon damage is handled. Everything else about the game is screaming at you to go Rambo but do that and you have to shoot everone a million times as they fall to one knee and get up again over and over. The know they've overdone it too - that's why there's those stupid armoured mask wearing shotgun guys and the twats with the riot shields.
krudster [mod]
23/02/06 @ 16:49
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
It's possible, I suppose, that they toned down the difficulty after the review build. The disc supplied is a Jan 9th build, but it should be identical to the retail version (which I only got the day after I'd written the review).

Oddly, it appears that hard mode is available on the retail version from the off, whereas only Easy and Normal are selectable from the start on the review build.
Edited 1 times, most recently on 23/02/06 @ 16:55
krudster [mod]
23/02/06 @ 17:23
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
Hint: read the review ;)
redd
23/02/06 @ 17:42
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
before you think of buying this game, check your games collection and, if you dont see psychonauts there, go buy that instead of this. Otherwise, buy some good 2005 game that you havent played yet, it'll probably be a much better bang for your buck.
Quiiick
23/02/06 @ 19:33
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
@ krudster
Quote:
"Killzone deserved 5 for being a boring cookie cutter experience."

That's what "I" call nonsense !!!
Killzone had a wonderful multiplayer AND an entertaining single-player.
Black only has a boring and very short single-player mission.

But, ohhh, I understand: Black's developer is from the UK and Killzone is from Holland. This fact alone deserves the difference of 3 points for the rating. ;-)
swisstony99
23/02/06 @ 20:37
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
"- very rudimentary and repetitive gameplay experience
- dreadful AI
- uninteresting story (to say the least)
- frustrating checkpoints
- few weapons
- way too short game "

Redd, have to disagree. Try the game on Hard and then Black Ops mode, it's a totally different game, Edge picked up on that, perhaps you could too. Uninteresting story? It's about the action, don't tell me the story in Commando moved you? Ain't that kind of game. Long checkpoints? Agree with the reviewer, you've got to concentrate. HL2 is my all time favourite, but it was so easy. Dangerous bit coming up? Save. In Ultima Online when you stepped into a dungeon, obviously no save, you were on your wits. Any PC game that allows you to save at any point is lame.

Few weapons? Why have 30? They all boil down to categories anyway, and I'd rather have weapons high on budget and distinctive than 15 assault rifles. Wouldn't you? Did you use all 70 odd cars in Burnout 3???

Dreadful AI? Halo blows, HL2 blows. None of them are great. Black's AI is at least as good as Halo's and don't tell me that all that commander/grunt stuff worked out, most of the game I had stupid dwarves in space suits running away arms flailing. Yeh, let's shoot some stuff in the back and watch big purple guys move like Quake 3 opponents. No better than Black. HL2, what was so special about it's AI that makes Black's AI "dreadful"?

Audio's been missed in most reviews. It is awesome audio, truly standout in 5.1. You can't play this game in an office or while the wife's trying to do the ironing, you need it really loud.

@other comments.

Generic environments? Sure, there were homage environments to the movies that inspired the game, lobbies, asylums, a great graveyard bit that I've not seen in other games, but if you're setting a game in eastern europe, quite what are you expecting? The palettes and lighting in the levels is second to none. I think a few other developers have now realised that, next gen or not, they need to work a lot harder to create atmospherics. In that respect this is an influential title. The work that's gone into the lighting and environments is wonderful. Or, you can run through the Library in Halo 15 times....Awesome!!

Hype? Black was behind closed doors for 2 E3s, and you can't blame EA for making a big fuss about one of it's titles. Sure the developers did some video interviews, jesus, there's millions of dev blogs and interviews, why is Black attracting so much attention for hype? GTA or Lara anyone? Neither have been any good in their last incarnation to warrant the hype but they keep making covers of mags etc.

I can't be the only person in the world who didn't hear Criterion's Producer make claims about 'whole world destruction'.

I agree the game's too short, wonderful, but short. Wonderful because for the first time in an fps, pulling the trigger actually is rewarding. Jumping, checkpoints, storyline, meh. It's an fps. Pull the trigger on this with the volume up. Then put any other title in. Pull the trigger. That most basic basic element of shooting a gun simply hasn't been done like this. That's what impressed me for all it's other flaws. Finally a shooting a gun game that gets shooting a gun.

"I'm just asking for any degree of 'woah, I've not seen something like that before'."

Graveyard approach, awesome explosions, asylum lighting and final asylum checkpoint, forest audio and graphical ambience. I thought woah anyway :)

Repetitive gameplay? It's an fps. Like all the others, you wander around killing people with guns. I guess my problem with Fight Night was you were always punching some guy:) Dear god.

Anyway, that's just my view on it. I think an 8 is fair, and I look forward to more.
redd
23/02/06 @ 22:34
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
swisstony99: about the AI, its not that its bad, it simply just doesnt exist in some cases! Just as an example: the RPG dudes are terribly scripted, specialy in the last 2 levels (seems like these were pretty much rushed). When you get to the end of the bridge in the 7th mission, theres an RPG soldier on a catwalk above the door, that guy will move from point A to point B recursively, shooting a rocket everytime he stops. Thats it, its all he does, and in the last level you get some more of this dudes. You can even throw a grenade a bit to his side cuz he is going to make the walk from point A to B no matter if the ground is on fire or the devil is on the other side! Also, dont you find it strange that the enemies dont have a single grenade? Is that hard making an enemy lob something at you? In the review the reviewer mentions a part when two shielded guys surprise him, thats in the last level, what he didnt try is shoot them in the back through the window while they are coming up the stairs, they wont look back to you, theyll just stand there and get shot in the back till they die (which takes a while).
But youre right i havent tried the game on hard, ill check that tomorrow.

And please dont compare this games AI to that of Halo's foes, its just not comparable. Want a single player FPS? Buy riddick or far cry instincts instead of this, or even area 51 or snowblind for the ps2, if thats your platform, these are all far better game experiences.

krudster [mod]
23/02/06 @ 23:36
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
Swisstony, finally, someone who actually 'gets' this game, and has properly played it through. The reason it's so draining defending this game is you're essentially talking to people who've either played it for no time at all and think they know it all (and miss the point) or people who've decided they want to hate it. So many cynical joyless gamers out there. It's very very easy to slag a game off. Any game.
Quiiick
23/02/06 @ 23:50
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
Ohhh ... , you need to play BLACK on HARD to "get" this game.
Thanks for the info!
redd
24/02/06 @ 00:15
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
"Swisstony, finally, someone who actually 'gets' this game, and has properly played it through ... It's very very easy to slag a game off. Any game."

Indeed it is very easy to do so, as EG seems to do now and then. However, i dont do so, my opinion on games is only based on the quality of my experience with them, and i could tell you of a bunch of games that have been slaged off by EG, and are by far superior (as in more fun and rewarding) experiences than Black.
This quote from Jame Price's review of stubbs could be, reflecting my opinion of this game, successfully applied to Black (except the soundtrack bit):

"After my first playthrough of Stubbs the Zombie - which, incidentally, took less than eight hours - I sat and reflected that there were only a handful of moments that I recalled with any degree of clarity. Playing again, with the difficulty level increased, I realised why: it's just an eminently forgettable game. Average execution, terribly repetitive combat, lots of reasonable ideas that don't quite work, a general lack of cohesion: it's not diabolical, but it's far from great. It has some lovely touches - particularly its soundtrack - but it's really, contrary to my expectations, nothing special. Shame."

While i'm at it, its a 6/10 in my book.
Genji
24/02/06 @ 00:52
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
"However, i dont do so, my opinion on games is only based on the quality of my experience with them"

And this is different from EG opinions how?
Royal Fool
24/02/06 @ 04:03
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
Well, after playing it to level 7 (Or was it 8?), I felt compelled to turn it off in disgust.

It's got very pretty graphics and realistic sounds. The environments are varied and unique for each level, although certain elements like buildings and interiors keep popping up again and again and aren't as varied. Crazy particle effects and very amazing how much can be happening on screen at one time, with barely a hitch in the framerate (Playing the Xbox version). Overall, one of the prettiest games I've seen in a while.

But... it has extremely dull and repetitive gameplay. Although it's fun for a while and probably more so in short bursts, it cannot be denied that this game offers very little variety in gameplay. Walk into an area, shoot a guard or wait until they spot you. Kill all the baddies that swarm onto you. Advance to next area. Rinse and repeat. The occasional "stealth" sections and different weapons that the baddies use are welcomed, but it's still just the same. Picking off guys 400 metres away with a shotgun just feels weird.

There's no platforming or puzzles, since you lack the basic ability to jump. Therefore, when boxes are in your way, you have to completely shoot them up, including the small wooden debris that remains at the bottom. Apparently the black ops veteran is incapable of walking over a few pieces of broken wood. I was also surprised the hero didn't want to walk up a staircase because it was missing one step. What a challenge!

And then there's the storyline, or lack thereof. I appreciate that Criterion at least tried to include one to give the missions a sense of purpose, but it all fails horribly. The cutscenes are rather badly dubbed, nonsensical and don't even have subtitles. None of the game has subtitles, actually, which can sometimes make the radio chatter hard to hear because of firefights and distortions. Not that it matters, since you're just walking from point A to B and blasting everything that moves. But in any case, the objectives are so transparent that you totally forget what you're supposed to be doing.

Then there's the stars of the game - the guns. They feel good to use and there's a decent variety of them: rifles, machine guns, RPG, grenade launcher, sniper rifle... basically what you would expect to battle terrorists with. But the terrorists aren't very fearsome to behold, or fight for that matter. The basic ones can be rolled over with ease, the ones sporting metal masks and heavy weapons usually take a few shotgun blasts or direct hits to the head, and the shield guys are easily taken out with grenades and a few pops with your weapon of choice. It's just that they don't really fight you with any smarts.

When I was directed to go down into a generic underground complex (again), shoot more machine gun nests (again) and run around blasting generic terrorists with my shotgun (again) while collecting obscure documents and items (again), I just felt I'd had enough.

This game feels too empty.

[Maybe I should submit this as a review... anyway, I give it a 6/10.]
swisstony99
24/02/06 @ 06:38
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
Fair enough redd re halo comments. I found glitchy AI in Halo too. I didn't really notice more than the odd guy not doing his thing, and I've not known a game where there were no glitches.

"Walk into an area, shoot a guard or wait until they spot you. Kill all the baddies that swarm onto you. Advance to next area. Rinse and repeat. "

Halo - walk into an area, shoot or wait till they spot you, kill all the baddies that swarm onto you, advance to next area, rinse and repeat. Or Shadow Ops, walk into an area, hit totally obvious trigger point, kill enemies, proceed through area.

What part of an fps isn't about walking through areas killing baddies? A plot? HL2 is the daddy. Halo 2, awful cutscenes with poor animation, a story so far up it's own arse you need some geek on the internet to pull it apart.

If I'm walking through areas killing baddies I want noise, particles, tension, a challenge. It gives all these things in a firefight. I'm sure once the developers learn from the mistakes of their first ever attempt at an fps, we'll get a stronger attempt second time out for sure. Right now, I just have a smile on my face when I pick up an SMG. No gun in any aforementioned title has ever made me smile.
Triggerhappytel
24/02/06 @ 08:18
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
"Black is the new Halo."

Not even close. Black is a slightly above average explosion fest, with questionable pacing, little lifespan and repetitive gameplay.

Halo was an event in videogaming; a truly seminal game which has influenced hundreds of games and still remains at the top of it's field over 4 years after release.

There is no contest.
kangarootoo
24/02/06 @ 09:45
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
Seems like a divider of people for sure.

krudster, I've never seen you get so parental about a game before in the face of grumpy forum posts (whatever amount of actual game experience they are based on).

@swisstony99
"Halo - walk into an area, shoot or wait till they spot you, kill all the baddies that swarm onto you, advance to next area, rinse and repeat."

There is no way you can do that on legendary difficulty. If baddies swarm onto you in that mode, you are probably going to die. I really found that cranking the difficulty up in Halo opened up elements of the AI that simply aren't present in easier settings.

Sounds like maybe Black is the same though, where an easy difficulty setting gives you dumber enemies. Might be worth everyone slating the AI in Black giving it the Legendary treatment and then refreshing their opinion.
Stickman
24/02/06 @ 10:22
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
I think this is the longest comments thread I've ever seen that hasn't descended into name calling, and remained interesting. Well done to all concerned!

Personally, my interest has never been particularly piqued by this, and I wasn't much more interested after reading the review (a little, thought I might rent it at some point), but after seeing krudster defend it so much and just implore people to just give it a proper go, I might revise my opinion and tootle off to get it.

To be fair, I don't really want storyline, or even stellar AI from an FPS. I want it to go 'BAAANG!' and stuff to fall apart!
redd
24/02/06 @ 10:25
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
I wont waste anymore of my time on this, already wasted about 10 euros per hour with the thing.

swisstony99: yes black is like halo... the library level again and again only with pretty explosions and some destructible stuff. :)
Quiiick
24/02/06 @ 10:43
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
@swisstony99
Yes, Black is very similar to Halo regarding the gun-fights. But how many vehicles can you drive and battle with in Black? Zero !!!
So comparing the dullness of fights in Black with Halo is just not fair.
If Black had some armored tanks or cars to drive with, it would of course be a completely different story. Likewise with Killzone.
Edited 1 times, most recently on 24/02/06 @ 14:01
mash the x button
24/02/06 @ 11:29
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
Has krudster's critical acumen been compromised by the ads that run next to the review?
Royal Fool
24/02/06 @ 11:41
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
There just simply aren't enough things to toy around with and explore IMO. The game is rigidly stuck to it's basics, which is to shoot everything. That's it. And while I'm sure that's fine for some people, for me it just gets boring and horrendously repetitive.

(And a lack of plot and interaction with characters around you, as well... you can argue that it doesn't belong in a shooter, but I can't agree with that.)
Edited 1 times, most recently on 24/02/06 @ 11:42
KTroopA
24/02/06 @ 14:40
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
Black is a good game, once you play on Hard and 'get it'. But it does lack a little something. I think most players who like this game, will agree with smething more to the story or better pacing, it cud have been fantastic. Goldeneye 'status'

either way, this game is COOL..
Eighthours
24/02/06 @ 16:14
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
Cyhwuhx on rllmuk has been complaining that the game is nothing like the version he played back in September, which had more of a "Burnout FPS" feel to it, and which he says is far, far more fun than the finished game.

"Although I still like it may I say that this is

COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY DIFFERENT TO WHAT I WAS SHOWN BACK IN SEPTEMBER!

I don't get it... The Burnout style awards for special shots, the audio-drop with big explosions, the really big explosions themselves. Gone. All of them...

It's still a nice shooter, but it's fallen into mediocrity. I'm utterly baffled. I thought the demo was a build from before what I had seen in September, only now do I realise it was a build from after.

Worse yet it's only 'till level 5 that I'm getting some proper action which I had been waiting for since the start. Scrap that the demo has a more intense version of the very first level than the game itself.

I don't know what evil forces are at work at EA/Criterion but removing all the arcadey goodness from this has not worked in its favor. Also making it piss-easy is not good (I can headshot just about every enemy) and as if the game knows it's easy, it sometimes gives enemies metal plates for protection and worse at times doesn't even register headshots at all!

When it gets rolling it waltzes right over everything, but goddamn did they scrap about 80% of the good stuff or what!? This is definitely not the version Vemsie, VeloS and I saw."

And later...

"
They TOLD and SHOWED me differently though. I'm utterly flabbergasted how they have turned a fresh arcadey and plain FUN game into a generic serious me-too shooter that would fit more at home at Ubisoft with Tom Clancy's in front of it. The controls are great, but the game underneath is a mere shadow of what it was. That's what bugging me. There's not much wrong with the game on it's own.
But this is worse than Molyneux false promises. They actually HAD all the functionality in place making it a real stand-out title. They showed it. They demonstrated it. Rubbed it in that it would indeed be in the game. Just compare my mumblings now to what I was saying back then. I feel like Jesus claiming God doesn't exist. They've ripped the good stuff out, for no sane apparant reason. It doesn't make any sense."

Interesting stuff.
Bates
24/02/06 @ 16:22
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
Wow, this clearly proves the EG review wrong.
Eighthours
24/02/06 @ 16:26
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
Wow, this clearly proves the EG review wrong.

Nah, it just seems strange how all the previews way back when were salivating in glee over the OTT nature of the game, and now it's here and the reaction has been strangely muted. Seems that it's a good game, but not as good as was "promised". Could a sudden change of emphasis decided on as late as the Autumn be something to do with this?
swisstony99
24/02/06 @ 19:08
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
For me the thing that might qualify Halo as an event was the online. Driving vehicles, well, that was cool, there's no doubting it. The comments "with questionable pacing, little lifespan and repetitive gameplay. " apply to Halo single player as far as I'm concerned. I can see why with online plus vehicles there's 'more to do', but to be honest, hosing down the museum in level 1 of black was a more visceral 2 minutes than the entire Halo game. I guess it's horses for courses, of course I'd love to see Black integrate storyline and other characters more for that added dimension, I guess I'm just a little surprised at how it got the shooting SO right, audio and visual, and yet so few people are saying, 'you know, almost every other fps I can think of doesn't in fact have really good shooting in it, in fact, I wonder if they were even trying'....for all these other games' merits.

A comment on pacing, within levels there are 'quiet bits' usually where music kicks in. I didn't think it was really end to end mayhem. In terms of pacing across levels there is that level 5 peak in the asylum, but I felt that it did ramp up well from there, while I enjoyed how level 1 hits you hard and level 2 changes the pace, taking you into Town which is quite challenging again, raising the bar with steelworks (interior at least) and then the almighty asylum. I guess the Docks slows it a bit, but from there the Bridge and last level are pretty good.

I think back to Halo, and there was the Silent Cartographer, which was awesome, then the whole game went to sleep in samey interiors. I guess I don't understand the pacing criticism so some more detail might be good :)

Re the comments on the demo being more difficult, yep, I did notice that there were more enemies at the very start. It was hard, I'm not great at fps. Perhaps they felt that widespread appeal (by starting it off a bit easier to give non hardcore a time to orient) was the way to go.

Repsode
24/02/06 @ 23:59
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
Nope! Not for me. Just another cookie cutter FPS that looks just that bit nicer than the others.

Demo bored the hell outa me.

Not the Burnout of FPS, where's the fun of Burnout?

The best FPS have that "something", Halo, Doom, Half-life, not Black.

It's weird, It does everything right, yet can't persuade me to buy it.
Teeth
25/02/06 @ 00:17
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
Didn't Cyhwuhx used to post here? Does he still? Or where am I recognising that name from then?
Razz
25/02/06 @ 02:19
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
I rather enjoy this game
gerald
25/02/06 @ 11:54
0
You buried this comment
Comment below viewing threshold
Show
I may not be qualified for a final verdict since I played only level 1 and 2 yesterday, but these levels are the most fun with shooters I had in a long time. i will complete both of them on hard before moving on... this is about shooting, blowing things up and finding cover it gets all of this right.

Better than (singleplayer) Halo? yes - for me ... so far...
Halo's driving and outdor-play is great, but its cheap room-after-room approach in buildungs ruined it for me. Since i don't play online, i don't care for multiplayer.

Shooting a rocket at a building and seeing all its windows including two enemys bursting towards me in a cloud of dust and debris convinced me. Shooting things in Black not only looks better - it feels better than in any other game i played. Every bullet has an impact. To short, lame story .. . sure - but i don't care.

It's a guilty pleasure, because I actually hate gun-fetishism.

« previous 50 | Comments: 101-150 of 159 in total | next 50 »

Want to comment on this article? Log in, or register!

Advertisement

X View gallery