NostalGame: Black (2006) Review

The PS2 era has had a significant impact on modern gaming, with games like Resident Evil 4, God of War 1 and 2, Mortal Kombat, and Dynasty Warriors being some of the most important titles from that time. However, one game that often goes unnoticed is Black, a linear first-person shooter released in 2006 by Criterion Games and published by EA. Black is considered by some to be the first-born of modern first-person shooters, despite Modern Warfare being credited with modernizing the genre.

Although Black's surreal amount of particles and visual effects can be a little irritating, the game is still aesthetically pleasing for a PS2 game. The game has an impressive variety of guns, and the gameplay and explosive action were well-made for the time. The experience of playing Black can be frustrating, depending on your starting perspective. Most missions involve walking around galleries with many easily-killed enemies, making the player feel like a superpowered character. However, in reality, it's like a little kid killing ants. The game takes around 6 to 8 hours to complete, depending on the player's playstyle and skill.

We only played the game for a short time upon its release, but 16 years later, decided to give it the attention it deserved. Although the game wasn't exceptionally good or bad, we felt that there was something to say about it. This feeling led to the creation of a video about the game. Black's great visuals and impressive variety of guns, combined with the game's explosive action, made it an enjoyable experience. However, the game's inability to be customized made the experience frustrating for some players. Most objectives involve going from point A to point B and killing everything in between.

Black, a first-person shooter game, has both good and bad aspects. The majority of the game's scenery is generic and industrial, making some missions repetitive, and the color profile of the game is boring. The AI is not intelligent, as they ignore dead bodies and run towards the player without cover. The story is mostly told through live action cutscenes with exposition, and the last mission involves fighting hundreds of generic enemies with an open ending.

Despite these issues, the gunplay is good, and the soundtrack is amazing. There is something satisfying about playing these simple old shooters. Every environment in the game has its share of possibilities of destruction, such as walls and doors, which is an interesting aspect of the game that is not present in many games today.

Black is a product of its time and was important for many people, filling the gap for a popular and well-marketed PS2 FPS game. It is a direct-to-the-point FPS, but it ignores storytelling and character development, making it not memorable. Black is like a popcorn action Hollywood movie, where the player is in control of the protagonist.

The game is everything one would want in a run and gun “shoot everything” type of game with no story. The game's focus is on the gameplay, and it's good enough in that aspect, but there's a feeling that something bigger, invisible, and intangible is missing. Black has a big cult following, and it would be interesting to see the game revisited or remastered.