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Blacksite: Area 51 (PC DVD)
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| Description:
If the U.S. Army ever does come into possession of a crashed UFO then the very worst place to hide it would be Area 51 - considering that's exactly the first place everyone would think to look for it. If real aliens are anything like the ones in this follow-up to the 2005 hit though they're better off kept a secret. Like the last game this is a first person shoot `em-up with no pretentions about complex storytelling or realism, just the ability to fight lots and lots of bug-eyed monsters. It turns out they've escaped from the titular army base and you're cast as a Special Forces soldier sent to invade their space. Thankfully you're not sent in alone and you have full control over a squad of ally soldiers, as you order them around by sending them to specific areas or telling them to target a particular bad guy. Each soldier will have their own level of morale, where doing badly makes them poorer shots and eventually convinces them to make a run for it. Thankfully the opposite is true if they're feeling confident though. You'll also be able to hitch a lift on various vehicles, from jeeps to helicopters, for one of a number of fun on-the-rails shooting sections. The game also comes with a wide range of online multiplayer, including a co-operative mode for two people. If there really are any aliens in Area 51 one then this should convince them to stay exactly where they are.
Harrison Dent
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4/5 |
Pretty good game
(August 28, 2008) |
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I don't know why this game gets negative reviews, I think for £7.00 or so this is well worth the money. OK it's not the best shooter, but you will get quite a few hours of fun and it is, a bit different. |
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1/5 |
pants game
(August 17, 2008) |
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this must be one of the wrost games I have ever owned the graffics keep changing they are jerky and the plot is pants stay away from this one its not for buying |
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4/5 |
The reviews almost put me off - glad they didn't!
(July 14, 2008) |
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I decided to give this game a chance (whilst waiting for others to be released) and so bought and installed it, and then installed the rather large patch (version 1.2) from the Blacksite website.
I've been playing the game for a good number of hours now and it's a good FPS. It's missing something that I can't quite put my finger on that would take it into the realms of greatness that COD4 and Half-Life to name but a few have, but all in all this is a highly enjoyable shooter.
Its a shame that others have experienced issues with it - maybe this was before the latest patch - but my recommendation would be that if you give the game a go (and patch it), then you'll have hours of gaming enjoyment.
Edited 18/07:
Now that I'm further into the game, I thought it worthwhile to come back and update my review. The game does suffer from intermittent freezes which does detract from the enjoyment, but having said that, it doesn't ruin the game at all. In fact, if you can ignore those, then the game is actually rather good.
Set around a military base, a town and the road in between opens up some very good gameplay. From battling in the middle of the road to picking your way through residential gardens and cul-de-sacs, the location of the gameplay is quite varied.
Edited 27/07:
Just completed the game and found no further issues. This is a fantastic romp and a superb FPS.
Only other point to add is for Vista users. The Windows Experience Index for the game is 3 minimum, 5 recommended. |
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1/5 |
Didn't work
(July 01, 2008) |
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Well, I started off enjoying this game. However, about half an hour into the game, I ran into some pretty major issues with it. For a start, the textures just would not load at all. Ever tried playing an FPS where all you can see is your gun and an enemy, floating in a black void? On reloading, I wound up with the textures back, but the lighting engine kicked into overdrive, vomiting bloom into my face like there was no tomorrow - equally impossible to play. I tried reloading several times - even tried a reinstall - no luck.
My system is hardly low-end - A GeForce 8800gts, 3gb of RAM and a fairly decent processor all let me play Crysis on medium settings, and slightly older games like FEAR on full whack. Combine this with buggy controls (half of the commands didn't work, or didn't work as the tooltips/help popups suggested), bad level design, boring enemies... all in all you have an experience that's just downright dull for as long as it'll let you play, and then too frustrating to even bother with at the point where it decides it doesn't want you playing it any more.
And let's not even THINK about the 15gb install. |
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1/5 |
Good Game, possibly....
(March 25, 2008) |
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Bought this a while back as i'd seen some pics of it online and thought the storyline was appealing. Installation went generally well, although when it requires the second disc it gives an error saying it can't find it yet carries on installing :S. Playing the game doesn't seem too bad, but the jumping everytime you go near an object begins to P*** you off after an hour.
The storyline looks good to me, but there is no way that this is an acceptable game for RTM, I quote from somebody else, there are more bugs than the amazonian rainforest, the constant freezing in game is terrible, the resolution resets to 1280*720 every time you load it up again and the AA feature doesn't work - according to Midway games "this is not a feature of Blacksite" even though it's in the options. Gonna try and sell this somehow, get C.O.D4 it's much better. |
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