BlackSite: Area 51

A cliché it is not...

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Approaching an FPS isn't a scientific process. You pick up the controller and if it feels right you play on. If it feels clumsy or unrealistic (as is a problem with controllers and shooters) then you stop. A vast majority of FPS titles fall foul of the console gamer due to two factors: almost all are better suited to a mouse/keyboard combination; most (Resistance, I'm shooting at you) require an unreasonable amount of patience before the player is given something back. I've missed out on many a decent game because I have better things to do rather than spend two hours running through hoards of enemies and mundane terrain until something decent happens. Call of Duty 4 got it perfect, throwing you headfirst into drama without blowing its load ensuring the rest of the game is as playable as the first 30 minutes.

BlackSite gets it wrong. The first hour is so unimpressive and dull that even when the ante is upped with the odd explosion it feels a conceited effort to keep you interested. And none of it does, not a single second of BlackSite's opening gambit is worth playing...but...it is. A stupid contradiction it may sound, but it works for the game as a whole. Think of it more as work you must put in for the greater good. BlackSite, following the dreariness, tightens up ever so slightly and the game truly begins. The narrative gets going and the game starts to flow.

You're Aeran Pierce, a Special Forces assassin for the US Army. You also happen to be the last remaining hope for mankind. Without giving away too much, as the story is the point of BlackSite, you start in a three-man squad of grunts in present day Iraq. You have to rendezvous with a chopper that's going to scoot your botty out of there. Naturally it all goes tits up and you have to sort yourself out, with the aid of a hummer-mounted with a machine gun that's pretty much the mainstay for the rest of the game. NormalFPS fodder, you might think, but things go amiss as mutants/alien/genome soldiers (or enemies thereof) rear their heads and that turn of pace mentioned earlier begins to unfold. Finish the level and you're back in Yanksville, Nevada to be exact - Area 51.

Yada yada. Vehicles play a big part in BlackSite and you're often asked to choose your role as driver or machine gunner as you make your way to what essentially is the next level. Rather than teleporting straight out of one mission and into the next it's actually quite nice to make your own way in a logistical fashion. On the way to said missions you encounter characters and 'things' that push the story along and create the occasional genius moment - one particularly pleasing part, about a quarter in, sees you search through an apparently abandoned UFO themed restaurant - naturally it's not and a rescue attempt for the proprietor suddenly becomes your MO. Meanwhile the front of the is restaurant besieged from all angles by a previously unmet enemy - this all in the space of five minutes.

Any one mission, or indeed submission, can only be completed with the help of your hapless squad. There's a one-button squad command function that works well on the whole. There are a few moments of frustration as the NPCs refuse to do exactly what you've ordered but it's rare and easy to overlook. It comes into its own when the situation calls for sending your squaddies into the fray to test how dangerous a situation might be. They'll fire in the direction of otherwise hidden enemies and be fired upon. This gives you information on how and where to attack before putting yourself in danger. Rather pleasingly it doesn't always work, your squad mates aren't invincible one-man armies, they're as vulnerable to damage as you are and forcing them into battles outnumbered, outgunned and without hesitation will either get them killed or seriously hinder moral. Moral being especially important as your squad performs better with high spirits; if their pee'd off they're useless. Never fear though as a heroic sprint at the bad guys, capping a few on the way, will see moral boosted by your courage.

There isn't much negative to say about BlackSite, probably down to the fact that I wasn't looking forward to playing it. It isn't a breakthrough title, it doesn't move the genre forward in any way, but its solid and progresses at a steady pace. While the plot is clichéd in places, it's still largely engaging and well scripted. Visually, especially through HD, it's a treat. Explosions and the clap of gunfire are realistic and satisfying, the bad guys kick up dust when they move, and the draw distances more than hold their own with recent next-gen titles.

Unfortunately BlackSite is likely to suffer in the wake of some of the best releases in modern gaming. BioShock, Halo 3, and the Orange Box all demand more than BlackSite ever will and it's inevitable that people will ignore it. In actual fact I found this, while admittedly less spectacular, as enjoyable as anything else I've played on the 360. BlackSite never attempts to be innovative, but knows what it does best. A well-oiled working game is ridiculously hard to find these days and, if nothing else, BlackSite is certainly that.

85%

By Gary Flavell