Guns and Ammo

Game: Black
System: Playstation 2
Release date: February 28, 2006
Developed by: Criterion Games
Published by: Electronic Arts

For the developers behind Black, a no-nonsense FPS released for the PS2 and Xbox in 2006, the game was no doubt an ambitious undertaking. Black was intended to shift the focus in shooters to what Criterion Games considered its true stars: the guns. Each weapon in Black, some of which are modeled after guns used in Hollywood films, looks, sounds and fires exactly like its real-world counterpart. But realistic firearms are not enough to justify greatness; Black is too short and ultimately too forgettable to be a new classic.

Black takes place four days after a series of controversial black ops missions conducted by the game's protagonist Jack Kellar. As Kellar is interrogated by an unidentified man, the game jumps backwards in time allowing players to fight through each mission. The villain of Black is Seventh Wave, an arms smuggling and terrorist organization.

Players can choose from several difficulty levels; since Black is mission-based higher difficulty levels require each player to complete additional objectives, including recovering top-secret files, collecting blueprints and destroying parts of the environment.


The destructible items and architecture in Black, along with its real-world firearms, certainly separate it from the first-person shooter pack. With enough bullets and grenades, Kellar can set fire to cars, blow holes in walls, even bring down entire buildings. It's reminiscent of Red Faction's geo-mod (geometry modification) technology which allowed players to destroy bridges, walls, etc. The most original feature of Black, however, is the real-time blur that fills the screen each time a weapon in reloaded.

Black is by no means a poor shooter; it simply doesn't boast enough substance to compete with its contemporaries, on the PS2 and elsewhere. Its brevity and lack of multiplayer modes especially hurts its standing. With so many FPSs on the market today, each has to prove its excellence even more convincingly.

Score: 82/100