BlackSite: Area 51 – Xbox 360 Review
Those who visit our site often and have listened to our podcasts already now we enjoy playing FPS games. I have to laugh thinking back when Jason and I downloaded the demo for BlackSite Area 51 from the marketplace. Jim heard us talking and during one of the shows and he actually downloaded the demo also. Even though the demo was short, we all enjoyed the interesting storyline.
One thing I have learned is never judge a title by the demo. Even a bad demo can bring out a great full version. The same thing goes for a great demo in that the final retail copy can stink. With the history of Area 51, I was looking forwarded to checking out the game. Was Area 51 really a secret military base that held UFO’s and an alien life form? After all these years people still have strong opinions on what really happens at the site. I do know that gamers also have a fascination with aliens and UFO’s, so the game has a good start. Read on to see if the tie in with the secret base and the stories make for a good FPS game in my full review of BlackSite Area 51.
Gameplay
The single-player mode will have gamers playing as Pierce, leader of the elite Echo Squad. The game takes you back to an unforgettable mission in Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction. Sounds a little too familiar but Pierce and his team find something more deadly than WMD’s. The government explains the Iraq mission as something gone wrong and a case of exposure to a new bio chemical weapon. Basically the first mission sets the storyline and gives you a chance to learn the basic squad commands.
Three years later the original team from the mission is reunited including the young female contact that aided you in the Iraq mission. The location is right outside of Rachel, Nevada, which happen to be near the real Area 51 site. You get your mission briefing but something just doesn’t add up. Your team heads out to locate the hostile protesters as they were explained in the so called briefing and from there things get weird. I liked the angle and I even enjoyed the tongue and cheek humor from the squad at times. The script is filled with bad puns and one-liners but it adds to the story.
Here is where the game takes a turn and not exactly the right one you need to drive to the city of Rachel. Unfortunately the way you control the vehicles is by the left and right analog sticks. I know other games have used this method and I never liked it personally. A vehicle has a gas peddle and a brake not sticks unless it’s an amphibious vehicle or some proto-type. I think they may have thrown in the style on purpose to try and make it harder. So after learning the way to handle the vehicle you make your way to Rachel, Nevada.
Of course the roads are blocked and you get chased by military helicopters fully armed. No one is saying they are yours yet they have US markings and weapons. Your squad gets the orders to return fire and the plot thickens. Along the way you pick up dossiers which unlock bonuses later on. The game has a solid story for the most part and the game is fun, but it has some issues that get in the way. The squad commands don’t always register right away and the team seems always a few paces behind you. It also has a few bugs which get in the way. For example, I had to restart a mission since I was stuck and unable to move.
Overall the game is decent but seems to have slipped by the testers perhaps to meet the deadline of the holiday rush. It’s not unplayable, but the bugs pop up at the most annoying times like right at the end of fight that loads a check point. If you know this going on, you can adjust and enjoy the game knowing that some things are going to happen. I just know Midway is very capable of making good games after the release of Stranglehold; they proved that. I also couldn’t help feel the game needed a Co-Op feature. It would have worked great for this one and with all this added up; the single-player mode goes from something that could have been great to being decent at best.
Control
Learning the Squad Commands are easy since you only use the right bumper. Learning the timing is the hard part. The one button commands seem to have been added for the constant fire fights and action, but I would have like something a little deeper. Controlling the vehicles is simply a pain, but most will learn to adjust in about 10-15 minutes of playing. Everything else is where you would expect like the zoom and grenades. Overall it is not a bad control system just at times a little awkward.
Xbox Live
There is an online mode and it supports ten players, but the games I went into had 6 players at most and it just seemed added on to increase the selling point. The mode is the standard deathmatch with a capture the flag element thrown in. I enjoyed using the different weapons human and alien and it had some great moments. It just suffers from lack of anything exciting to keep you playing. Here is where the Co-Op angle would have been better suited for this game and they could have dropped the other online mode. As it stands the online mode is okay but gets olds quick.
Graphics
BlackSite Area 51 uses the unreal engine and the squad and environments look great. When playing the opening Mission in Iraq, it looks very realistic and starts out fantastic. Even when the graphics look a little washed out, the game still has the right look for the story. Each weapon looks real and the alien forms you fight look stunning at times. Then like the gameplay, it seems to slowly fall apart in places. It looks like the game never went though a real quality test before release.
I really enjoyed the graphics and they just can’t go from great to an odd glitch without being noticed. Despite the issues, the game holds up well but needed tweaked and had more potential in the graphics area. I have to hand it to the team though for adding some cool and at times funny site gags like the Alienware store with the neon sign “excellent” job. After seeing what they did right added to my questions of what went wrong.
Audio
Sound effects are decent and the voice-over work is well done but at times cheesy. The actors stay in character and it fits the game fine although at times some lines are hard to hear.
Replay Value
The game offers three levels of difficulty to choose from easy, hard, and expert. All are color coded of course. If you stick it out and know that the game has some issues, you can have fun and enjoy the game. I really can’t say the game has a high replay value though. If they would have added a Co-Op mode and tweaked things, then yes but as it is you’ll have fun playing the single-player mode and then probably move on.
Bottom Line
Overall Score: 6.1/10.0
Additional Comments
I really got into the game early on and when the issues started to appear I was disappointed. The game had the potential of being a great title and that’s the sad part. With the bugs and issues, it went from good to okay but still interesting. Fans of FPS would probably benefit most with renting this one and enjoying what it offers then beating it. I still like what Midway was trying for but sometimes a game just doesn’t go as planned.
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Filed under: Reviews • Xbox 360
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