Blacksite: Area 51 Review

It feels, sometimes, that the criticism end of the industry can be a little unforgiving. Titles that don’t stand up to the might of the GTAs, Halos and Marios of the gaming sphere are sometimes unfairly penalized for not achieving the high standards of concept, design and gameplay. It’s undue denigration. If a title doesn’t accomplish similar levels of unique and careful sophistication there’s no reason to dismiss it. The game in question should be deemed of its worth on its individual merits. So with that in mind, does Blacksite: Area 51 stand up on its own?

Unsurprisingly, the action is centred in and around the eponymous military research facility in Nevada, bar the prologue in Iraq. The plot concerns alien life forms, mutated humans, genetic engineering and a whole host of other B-movie-esque garbage that can easily be ignored. Less easily ignored is the heavy-handed political allegory Blacksite hammers home at any given opportunity. Your teammates comment on The War on Terror, the injustice of the military’s treatment of prisoners, and the ethics of torture. Such political ramblings would likely fare better if they were woven into the plot with a little more subtlety. Instead Blacksite hints towards the subject with a nudge and a wink, and as such the ham-fisted attempts to wedge it into the game feel contrived (for instance the not-so-subtle mention of the US armament of the Afghan mujahedeen).

Then again, maybe it’s unfair to criticise Blacksite’s symbolic shortcomings. It should be commended for at least attempting to offer a more compelling narrative than the dross most FPSes are content with. It’s not the only game trying to propel gaming forward as a medium with a political agenda; the Tom Clancy games, Army of Two and upcoming Haze also join Blacksite in this endeavour. Blacksite’s relative clumsiness in the handling of this topic aside, it’s indicative of a teething period in this range of interactive storytelling – something that will evolve as time goes on.

Blacksite takes its cues from genre staples like Half-Life 2, keeping the player anchored to the first-person perspective. However it’s a technique that comes across as merely functional, lacking the subtle environmental narrative and absorbing NPC behavior that made Half-Life’s approach feel so fresh.

The action doesn’t all take place on foot. The inevitable vehicle sections are split between driving – which feels a little too light to the touch – and on-rails sections spent manning guns on either vehicles or air craft. Despite the rigidity of these levels the dexterous combination of action and motion stands out. Blasting monstrous creatures from a circling ‘copter is rewarding on a level almost attaining that of Hollywood (appropriate considering a film is in the works). This is matched only by Blacksite’s other set-pieces, namely fighting huge creatures with a Javelin missile launcher in wide-open spaces.

The squad tactics and morale system fail to complement the gameplay in any distinguishable way. You can order teammates to move on a location or attack a certain target, but it’s rarely needed as you can usually take out large groups of enemies single-handedly. The most use you can get out of your squad is asking them to open doors for you, which on occasion they refuse to do. This is tremendously frustrating as you can only pass through such doors with their help, meaning you’ll have to restart from the last checkpoint to get the AI to act accordingly.

The morale system is equally useless. Obviously Midway were searching for some way to set Blacksite apart, the morale system being the result of this. As the players takes more damage the squad will start to lose morale, meaning they suffer a decrease in accuracy, damage and aggression. If the player performs well in battle the opposite will occur, with the NPCs charging in with well-placed shots. At least, this is how it’s means to work. It’s unlikely player’s will notice any difference bar from the text ‘Squad morale low’ appearing on screen, as combat plays out practically the same way whether your squad are getting their kicks or not. It’s nice that Midway tried to implement at least one new idea, it’s a pity it’s so unimaginative.

Even on ‘threat level red’ (the hardest setting) the most casual of players won’t have any trouble making their way through the game’s six chapters in as many hours. The short play time is matched by a deficiency in weaponry, which consists of the usual pistol, assault rifle, sniper rifle and rocket launcher, and the obligatory ‘alien’ weapons – which in Blacksite come in the form of a feebly disguised shotgun and grenade launcher. It’s hard not to feel a bit short changed, even more so when the game stops throwing new enemies at you about half way through, recycling the same models until the credits roll.

The graphics are worthy enough of a mention. They subtly improve as the player progresses, the last level in particular making the best use of Midway’s modified version of the Unreal 3 Engine (also used for Stranglehold) with an environment rich in detail and scope. The rest of the game is nicely polished too, if not a little too washed-out from time to time.

Nevertheless it’s difficult to enjoy the visuals when your attention is constantly drawn by a plethora of bugs; be it the persistent problem of guns floating once dropped, context-sensitive dialogue is said out of context, or AI becoming confused about what it’s meant to be doing. It’s the kind of stuff that serves to slap you in the face and remind you that you’re playing a game – something that works in direct opposition to Blacksite’s attempts to keep the player involved in both the game and the narrative. Harvey Smith, lead designer, publicly announced how strained the game’s development schedule was, resulting in the failure to test the game properly.

Blacksite was also set to have a co-operative mode, something axed in the title’s final stages due to the same constraints. Although co-op is becoming more predominate in action gaming it’s doubtful its addition here would be of any major significance. The shamelessly linear nature of Blacksite’s level design would doubtfully support co-op in any way that would radically change the game experience.

As with many games in this arguably oversaturated market Blacksite fails to distinguish itself in any meaningful way. The attempt at political allegory signifies a change in the way writers are approaching gaming, but when such embellishments are brushed away it’s another game about marines shooting aliens – arguably one of the oldest videogame clichés.

Blacksite is fun enough, and you can’t fault it for satisfaction. The guns feel like they should and taking down enemies is relatively rewarding. It’s just not gratifying on a constant enough scale to elevate it above other games of its ilk. Blacksite is average. There’s an average story, average attempts at political commentary, average combat, average AI, and pretty much average everything else. There are times when it shows glimpses of something better, but they’re always quickly contradicted by moments of technical or aesthetic inferiority. Blacksite is blatantly lacking the final refinements of which it is so badly in need.

5/10