Blacksite Area 51 Russound X75
BlackSite: Area 51 (RFree) (RUSSOUND. Players will find out what happened behind the walls of one of the most secret facilities in the United States.Blacksite. Drivers License Center Pa Dublin there.
Expectations can be a bitch. If publishers want their games to get out and get onto the wishlists of Pete and Paula Public, they have to showcase screens, movies and all sorts of stuff that makes an award-winning impression. However, that quick glimpse or play test is just part of the product that's coming down the pipe. Perhaps the game will surpass the initial look or perhaps it'll fall short of the lofty goal.
Sadly, is one of the games that falls short. Coming into its release, it seems most people have a pretty positive impression of BlackSite whether it's from the impressive movies Midway's released or from previewers -- like myself -- who had the chance to play sections of the title at events such as the E3 and the German Games Convention.
Those perceptions are understandable because there's a lot to dig about BlackSite on the surface. If only I could see! You're cast as Aeran Pierce, a silent badass who leads a team of military grunts into battle on a daily basis. On a mission to Iraq, you come across a fragment of alien origin, lose one of your guys to it and blackout. The story picks up three years later as the crazy crap you saw in the Middle East -- grotesque men with tentacles hanging out of their mouths, gigantic exploding bugs and a bunch of creepy-crawlies -- has sprung up in Nevada and it's up to you and crew to snuff it out.
The graphics are one of the higher points in BlackSite -- and especially in the crisp PC version. When I first started my mission, I got pinned down by some hostiles behind a concrete divide. I sat waiting for the foes to run out of ammo and begin reloading when suddenly the barricade began breaking apart under their fire.
Not every environment is destructible but lots of the cover you take will be. The alien shotguns look good as they glow, a massive worm beast wrapped around a bridge and swinging at your helicopter is an intimidating sight, and enemies aren't afraid to spring out from corners and come at you.
Those jump-out-at-you moments are just one example of BlackSite's attempt to fuse its arcade roots with a free-wheeling FPS. Yeah, you'll be able to wander around battlefields and come at anchored enemies from whatever direction you like, but there are going to be those moments with a single-file line of exploding bugs pours out from around a corner or you walk into an area to find enemies popping up from behind boxes just like you'd expect in your typical arcade shooter. No running by the pool. The news gets bad from there.
The biggest failing of Area 51 is that it's a wholly forgettable game. The first two levels (fighting in Iraq and then driving around Nevada) feel linear and empty; the characters are all lifeless stereotypes you'll never connect with (Grayson's the tattooed-cursin'-womanizin' loudmouth), the same seven or so enemies repeat over and over (Exploding bugs again?!), the story is an afterthought (alien tech was bringing 'dead' soldiers back to life), and multiplayer is a shallow and generic experience (Capture the flag, deathmatch, etc.). In fact, that basically sums up BlackSite. It's not bad, just Generic. Early on, Midway made a big deal out of BlackSite's morale system. If you were performing well as an individual, the squad's morale would be high and they'd perform better.
If you were sucking it up on the battlefield, the team would be down in the dumps and thus be less effective. That system made it into the final game, but it's worthless thanks to a terrible AI that's never helpful.