2006 video game
2006 video game
Black is a 2006 first-person shooter video game developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic 🍌 Arts. It was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in February 2006. The player assumes control of Jack Kellar, 🍌 a black ops agent being interrogated about his previous missions involving a terrorist operation. Gameplay involves players confronting enemies by 🍌 using firearms and grenades. The game is notable for its heavily stylized cinema-inspired action as well as its sound quality 🍌 and focus on destructive effects during gameplay.
Black received generally positive reviews upon release. Critics praised the gameplay, sound design and 🍌 presentation, but criticized the game's short length and lack of multiplayer. Despite Criterion's desire to develop a sequel, creative differences 🍌 with Electronic Arts ultimately ended plans for one. As such a spiritual successor, Bodycount, was created by the same developers 🍌 at Codemasters and released in 2011.
Story [ edit ]
Black is set in Ingushetia and Chechnya, Russia. The protagonist is Sergeant 🍌 First Class Jack Kellar (Marty Papazian), an inadequately disciplined member of a CIA black ops unit. The unknown interrogator (Paul 🍌 Pape) questions Kellar about an arms smuggling terrorist organization and gang called the Seventh Wave who have been responsible for 🍌 a number of terrorist attacks and homicides. Kellar is soon shown that, unless he co-operates, he and his actions will 🍌 be declassified, meaning he will be convicted at court-martial, dishonorably discharged, and imprisoned for life. Though initially resistant, Kellar agrees 🍌 to tell his story.
Four days earlier, Kellar and his military unit were attacking a Seventh Wave stronghold in the city 🍌 of Veblensk. Kellar kills three high-ranking members of the cell but then disobeys orders by rushing inside a terrorist controlled 🍌 building, where a hitman suddenly ambushes him. However, this hitman did not cause Kellar’s demise, and Kellar learns that his 🍌 captor is an American, William Lennox, a former CIA wetwork operative. After faking his own death in Cairo, Lennox has 🍌 apparently become the leader and gang boss of Seventh Wave.
Kellar's next mission is to cross the border into Treneska and 🍌 traverse the Vlodnik Canal to destroy a base and weapons cache. He then meets a female black ops soldier named 🍌 MacCarver (Cree Summer), the commander of black ops Team Bravo, after fighting a wave of terrorists at a farmhouse. Kellar 🍌 and MacCarver then move to destroy an arms factory in the city of Naszran. To complete the mission, they must 🍌 navigate an old graveyard and town, both heavily defended. After doing so, they assault the town's iron foundry, destroying its 🍌 productive capacity. They then meet a third member of the team, Solomon.
They learn that Valencio, one of the four bosses 🍌 of Seventh Wave, is hiding in Tivliz Asylum. The team decide to attack the asylum yard, with Keller rushing into 🍌 the asylum despite Solomon protesting that their order was to hold. Keller finds Valencio after blowing up a concrete machine 🍌 gun nest and briefly interrogates him for Lennox's location.
Based on information gathered from the mission, Team Bravo proceeds to a 🍌 well-defended dockyard, clears the area, and links up with Alpha Team. Alpha Team, however, is destroyed in an ambush while 🍌 Lennox escapes. In light of the disastrous result, the operation is declared cancelled. Despite this, Kellar leads a retaliatory assault 🍌 against the Graznei Bridge before leaving his team at the gates of Lennox's compound to successfully penetrate the defenses both 🍌 around and inside the Spetriniv Gulag. During the attack, Keller triggers an explosion resulting from the destruction of two concrete 🍌 barricades, and subsequent explosions in the final room of the underground bunker, presumably killing Lennox.
The interrogator then reveals to Kellar 🍌 that authorities had, in fact, always known of Lennox's involvement in Seventh Wave. Kellar had acted predictably, doing what his 🍌 profile said he would, while his pursuit of Lennox was both expected and welcome - but Lennox is not in 🍌 fact dead. Kellar is told that a false "death" in a car crash has been arranged for him to provide 🍌 cover so he could continue his pursuit of Lennox. The game ends with Kellar being told to get ready for 🍌 his next assignment.
Gameplay [ edit ]
The player, armed with a SPAS-12, faces multiple enemies on the Naszran Foundry chapter. The 🍌 red crescents in the center of the screen indicate that he is taking damage from multiple angles.
The gameplay is essentially 🍌 a straightforward first-person shooter. Players can only carry two weapons at a time; therefore, strategy is needed when choosing weaponry, 🍌 with weapons differing in characteristics. The player can also carry grenades, which can be thrown without switching weapons. Land mines 🍌 and grenades can be detonated prematurely by shooting them.
The game is mission-based, with each mission separated by a cut scene 🍌 video. On harder difficulties, there are more objectives that must be completed before the player can progress. These extra objectives 🍌 involved collecting various intelligence documents, blueprints, or destroying parts of the environment. These are all indicated by the HUD cross-hair 🍌 changing color when the player points at the relevant object.
Successful completion of the objectives over all missions in all difficulties 🍌 above 'Easy' results in the awarding of Silver Weapons (infinite bullets) and unlocking the M16-A2 (40mm underslung grenade launcher attachment) 🍌 as the starting default weapon with infinite 40mm grenades. When unlocked, these features are permanent and cannot be removed without 🍌 starting a fresh storyline.
Development [ edit ]
Criterion intended to "do for shooting what Burnout did for racing - tear it 🍌 apart",[1] with dual emphasis on destructible environments and the handling and behavior of real-world firearms. Bullets that hit buildings, terrain 🍌 and objects leave visible damage; moreover, the guns are rendered with great detail and accuracy, though some weapons' features are 🍌 stylized or exaggerated.[2] The emphasis on the appearance, function, and sounds of the weapons led the developer to label the 🍌 game as "Gun-Porn".[3] Another notable and original feature is the use of real-time blur while reloading, giving a depth of 🍌 field and more perspective to the game. Similarly, when the player drops below two bars of health, the screen turns 🍌 black and white, the sound of the character's heartbeat become the dominant noise and the game goes into slow motion, 🍌 and the large and small motors in the control pads match the sound of systolic and diastolic part of the 🍌 heartbeat.
The game was not developed with an overarching plot structure in mind and this was implemented as something of an 🍌 afterthought towards the end of development. The initial idea for relating the plot in-game came from Black's director, Alex Ward, 🍌 who wanted to have a radio-play-style voiceover spoken over a 'black' screen.
Sound [ edit ]
Emphasizing the game's action film heritage, 🍌 sound effects for the weapons in the game were based on various sounds from films. For example, Bruce Willis' Heckler 🍌 & Koch MP5 in Die Hard, Jack Bauer's pistol in 24, and Arnold Schwarzenegger's Uzi in True Lies.[4]
Realizing in the 🍌 chaos of a heavy gun battle the heavy mix of sound and music would produce a cacophony of noise, the 🍌 sound designers developed the "choir of guns" concept. Whereas, traditionally in a shooter game, each weapon model would be assigned 🍌 a different sound, Black assigns each enemy their own "voice", similar to the way in which each member of a 🍌 choir would have their own distinct voice. For example, there are three enemies firing, one would be assigned a low 🍌 voice, another a medium voice, and the third a high voice. This allows all the weapons being fired in any 🍌 particular scene to harmonize and deliver a distinct sound for the game. Black's sound was nominated for Best Audio at 🍌 the 2006 BAFTA Video Games Awards, and won Best Art & Sound jointly with Burnout Revenge (another game by Criterion) 🍌 at the 2006 Develop Industry Excellence Awards.[5]
The music for Black was composed by Chris Tilton, using a theme co-authored with 🍌 Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino. It was recorded at the Newman Scoring Stage.[6]
Reception [ edit ]
Black's PlayStation 2 version received a 🍌 "Gold" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[27] indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in 🍌 the United Kingdom.[28]
Black received "favorable" reviews on both platforms according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.[25][26]
In Japan, Famitsu gave the 🍌 PS2 version all four eights, for a total of 32 out of 40.[11] The Times also gave the game four 🍌 stars out of five and stated: "As the entire game is played at fever-pitch, you soon find yourself looking forward 🍌 to the next mission briefing, if only for a chance to catch your breath. The only mystery to Black is 🍌 why there is no multiplayer mode, since such intense battle settings would make for great competitive bouts".[24] The Sydney Morning 🍌 Herald similarly gave it four stars out of five: "Little strategy is required for each stage, with abundant health packs 🍌 and aggressive opponents of little intelligence. But there are many strategies and the use of cover is vital".[29] Detroit Free 🍌 Press gave the Xbox version three stars out of four and said: "The action is intense and the effects are 🍌 splendid, though the un-reality applies also to the worlds in which you battle".[23] However, The A.V. Club gave the game 🍌 a C+, stating that it was worth playing for "six hours. Pretty good hours, but still, The A.V. Club can't 🍌 stress that number enough"; and added "that was awesome for Doom, a free download with 16 extra maps available after 🍌 registration. But 40 bucks for Black's eight levels, with no multiplayer mode, and unlockable difficulty settings the only incentive to 🍌 replay? The question is really whether renting this lovely oversized tech demo is worth a whole weekend".[30]
During the 10th Annual 🍌 Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Black for "First-Person Action Game of the Year" and 🍌 "Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition".[31]
In 2013, IGN listed the game at 99 in the list of "Top 100 Shooters".[32]
Future 🍌 [ edit ]
In an interview, co-creator and designer Stuart Black revealed that plans for a sequel were underway, but are 🍌 now scrapped due to differences with Electronic Arts. Stuart Black and many of the developers of Black worked on the 🍌 now released Bodycount; a spiritual successor to the game which, developed by Codemasters, was released on the PlayStation 3 and 🍌 Xbox 360 during Q3 2011.[33][34]
