Game #938: Black

  I prefer yellow.

 Every bit of praise Black gets is fully and completely deserved, it's one of the best First Person Shooters I've played on the system and one that holds up incredibly well.

 On first glance it looks like a Call of Duty clone, with it's militaristic setting and the awful first-person cutscenes in-between levels. But as soon as you start playing the game you'll quickly realize that this is pure Arcade bliss. While the 2-weapon limit and iron-sights aiming are here, there's no such thing as regenerating health, having to rely on enemy drops or conserving med kits. There is a serious narrative in here... but can't say I cared, I just wanted to shoot down baddies cause it felt SO good.

 And really, that's where the game shines, its feel. Shooting every kind of weapon feels great thanks to the audio visual feedback. The shooting sounds great, the recoil is just right, the enemy crumple animations are on-point and the rumble is just as strong as it needs to. I can't stress enough just how great shooting down enemies feel, and this is what makes the game SO good.

 To top it off, the levels are pretty bombastic, featuring a highly destructible environment and very intense shootouts. It's funny, because your walking speed is pretty slow and there's no sprinting, but once the shooting starts the game suddenly feels very quick-paced, despite how slow you actually move. And I loved it so much. It really does feel like an arcade shooter, with simple mechanics, very fast paced, and tons of chaos everywhere.

 My main gripe falls with the objective system, on every level you have a 'main objective', which is usually just moving forward and shooting down everything, and having to complete at least 3 out of 12 side objectives. Side objectives are nothing involved, more akin to a scavenger hunt, having to find silly collectibles or destroy safes or stuff like that. To be honest, I always cleared more side objectives than needed, and I didn't feel like I was going too out of my way for them, but they do feel like an unnecessary condition to finishing a level. AS for the main objectives, sometimes it might be hard figuring out what to do. Like on the seventh stage, it says to destroy a couple of doors. And you shoot explosive rounds and nothing happens, so you start exploring and nothing. Defeated, you throw grenades at the door.... and it breaks. Most destructible stuff shows wear as you shoot it down, it would've been nice if these doors did so too!

 The game lasts 4 hours, which made me a bit sad because it was so good, but it probably ends right where it needs to, and the short length of every mission makes it quite replayable.

 Yeah, Black is definitely a good one. I feel like the greatest games are the ones that manage to make their core gameplay feel great, and this one succeeded in that regard. I'd go as far as to call it one of the best FPSs on the system.

 8.5