Blacksite: Area 51
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6.1
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When Midway released the last console generation's Area 51 in 2005, many gamers wondered how the age-old arcade franchise of the same name would port over to major gaming platforms. The end product was a decent if unremarkable shooter that was met with mildly warm reviews and a so-so reception from gamers. Apparently, someone thought that it was successful enough to warrant the creation a similar title for next-gen systems, and so as part of the gaming industry's holiday rush, Midway has again attempted to revive the action/conspiracy subgenre with Blacksite: Area 51.
Though this latest title is not at all connected to the 2005 Area 51, it shares a relatively close premise: alien technology has made its way to Earth, and the US government has been using it for reasons that they're not all that eager to explain. The story begins during the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, where the player, Aeran Pierce (an American soldier), with the help of a few squadmates, fights his way through Saddam's Fedayeen in search of WMDs (which, as you might have guessed, aren't exactly the same WMDs that Colin Powell was talking about in front of the UN). While this setting and subject matter may seem rather bold for a video game, it's only the beginning of a long series of attempts at subtle sociopolitical commentary in Blacksite. The game is literally overflowing with cheap shots at the Bush administration and the Iraq War in particular, and while these might have been effective if the game could be taken seriously, as things turned out, they don't really have the intended effect.
Blacksite plays like a standard shooter. There are a handful of weapons to choose from, only about three of which are actually worth using, and hordes of enemies to neutralize - be they human, non-human or somewhere in between - but even with these, there are only a few major variants. The game attempts to incorporate some primitive squad mechanics into its gameplay, which sounds like a good idea considering that there are usually two AI companions around the player at any given time (as well as a lot of useless NPCs). Unfortunately, most of the AI's tasks are things that the player should be doing independently, such as opening doors or bashing them in. While squadmates can direct their fire on designated targets, this is of minimal value, since enemies appear and die in such rapid succession that the focus fire feature is only worth the trouble one or two times during the entire game. The only real purpose that the AI serves is to distract enemies while the player reloads, and since it's not too bright, this usually leads to squadmates being knocked unconscious, causing the squad's overall morale to drop, which, unsurprisingly, has no significant impact on gameplay.
The campaign progresses in about as linear a manner as possible, spread across six chapters that most gamers can tear through in well under an hour each (higher difficulty levels may take longer, but only because Pierce can't take as much damage, not because there's a genuine challenge). There are some on-the-rails vehicle segments where the player sits still and fires a machinegun at anything that moves, as well as one or two driving sequences where they're actually behind the wheel. While the vehicles are at least functional, they have a very awkward control scheme that's pretty confusing and ends up simplifying the driving sequences, which was quite possibly the intention of the developers. On-foot controls are slightly better, though there are still several unused portions of the control scheme - testament to how watered down the gameplay really is. The boldest move the developers made here was the inclusion of a "cover system", which basically translates into the player crouching behind objects while being fired at. Don't expect enemies to have the same sense, however, since they're apparently more interested in either standing still while being shot apart or rushing headlong into their own deaths.
Midway used the incredibly powerful Unreal 3 engine to create Blacksite - the same engine that fueled the graphically flawless Gears of War - and as a result, Area 51's visuals are its strongest suit, if only a fraction of what they could have been. The raw power of the Unreal engine gives the game an overall impressive look - lighting effects and overall texture detail seem to be about where they should be, but that's where the visual appeal ends. Mercilessly repetitive textures, bland environments and tons of graphical bugs, such as the game's annoying tendency to pop-in not only entire textures, but objects (with some disappearing and reappearing in front of the player, depending on the angle that they view them from) hold the game back from coming anywhere near the sort of greatness that other games built on the same graphics engine have achieved.
Sound-wise, Blacksite earns a decent grade, but that's about it. Sound effects are no better or worse than most games in the shooter genre, and the voice acting is just OK - not nearly good enough to effectively illustrate the political statement that the game is trying to convey. What dialogue does exist is usually brief and not particularly informative - the game's few attempts at explaining what's actually going on are usually muffled by gunshots and explosions. What soundtrack does exist in Blacksite is understated and forgettable, making for a fairly average aural experience.
With so many underwhelming parts making up its whole, one might hope that Blacksite has one or two tricks up its sleeve to make it stand out. Multiplayer might seem like a potential contender here, but sadly, it doesn't cut it. The online multiplayer mode included is as buggy and unsatisfying as the main campaign is, and since there are maybe a dozen players tops online at any given time, few people will play all of the different maps and gametypes - one of which, an infection-style frenzy - might actually have shown some promise if the game's netcode wasn't so horrendous that bullets stream past their targets seconds after they've been fired. With the lack of solid multiplayer to add replay value to the game, there's not much to take its place, aside from a few hidden items with some superfluous bonus content attached to them and increased difficulty settings, neither of which add much substance to a game that desperately needs some.
The last hope for redemption in Blacksite lies in its political undercurrent, which, if nothing else, is distinct from the traditionally binary "good guys vs the bad guys" theme that has dominated shooters since their inception. The problem is that the game has no real message to deliver, but is instead satisfied with taking lots and lots of swipes at the Bush administration and its handling of the war on terror. This is especially disappointing considering that the project lead was also one of the creators of Deus Ex, a politically-charged sci-fi shooter that wove one of the most complex and intriguing stories in the history of gaming. While Blacksite probably could never have reached the same intellectual depth as a game like Deus Ex, it could have done a much better job of inspiring thought and discussion had the developers put some more effort into it.
When looked at as a whole, the same assessment that applies to its political commentary applies to the game in general: it feels incomplete. It's rife with bugs - just barely above the threshold of being playable - its level design feels rushed, and its attempts at being cinematic and making the player care about its cast fail all around. Quite simply, if Midway was indifferent to the game while creating it, then consumers will feel the same way when playing it. Blacksite: Area 51 is an example of what happens when an average shooter is further crippled by a half-hearted and rushed development cycle - a subpar product is delivered that, when compared to vastly superior titles like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, is difficult to recommend.
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6.5