Blacksite (PS3 game review)

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Dermik Joined: April 21, 2008 Status: Offline Posts: 3 Rep:

Sun Apr 20, 2008 4:52:52 PM #51376 Perm Link

Game: Blacksite
System: PlayStation 3
Score: 5.0
Review by http://www.testfreaks.com/playstation3-games/

Midway's first stab at turning Area 51 from a blazing arcade lightgun blaster into a first-person shooter was a formidable one when it gunned its way on to PS2 back in May of 2005. With a twisty, turny storyline, Marilyn Manson as Edgar the alien, Powers Boothe as a kick-ass Major and David Duchonvy in a career-killing performance as the game's hero with a gun, Ethan Cole; aside from the latter, Area 51 was actually pretty damn good and a solid hit for Midway.

Known issues
Naturally, a sequel, BlackSite, was green-lit. Unfortunately for Midway, this follow-up has been fatally tarnished, no thanks to one of the game's designers, Harvey Smith who thought it might be a smooth career move to stand in front of an audience weeks after the game's Xbox release and a few before the US PS3 shelf date, publicly slam his game and welcome the impending lukewarm reviews it was to go on and receive from US games mags and sites.

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You won't find him in the Midway office anymore. Sadly, and despite the incredibly bad move on Smith's behalf, he was right in a lot of ways. BlackSite does actually feel like a massively rushed experience encompassing mediocre gameplay, soulless level design (the opening missions are achingly bland) and an eye-bashingly bad framerate that caused more than a few headaches around the office.

It's a bloody shame because despite this, BlackSite does have a few solid moments including some stellar extra terrestrial creatures, a few awesome action-flick setpieces and some nice looking graphics during certain missions.

It's just a shame then that terrible squad AI, awful writing and a completely irrelevant squad-based morale system shatters all of this in a heartbeat. What could have been a fairly enjoyable romp of a shooter quickly unravels all-too quickly into a mess of sci-fi clichйs, poor plotting and lacklustre action.

There's an equally tepid approach to the multiplayer side of the game - plus some horrible driving missions - and we can't help but wonder what in Christ's good name went wrong with this one?

Barry Keating PlayStation World Magazine
Overview
Verdict
A damn shame really. This isn't what we had hoped for when we first signed on. It's just not a patch on the original PS2 remake. Get that instead for around £10 and give this one a miss.

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Aron Schatz

2014: Year of change. Joined: August 3, 2001 Status: Offline Posts: 10753 Rep:

Re: Blacksite (PS3 game review)

Sun Apr 20, 2008 4:55:22 PM #51377 Perm Link

In response to Dermik #51376

Welcome to the site?

If you didn't include so much information, your post would be spam.

2014 is going to be a good year. More content, more streamlining. Be a part of history!

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Dermik Joined: April 21, 2008 Status: Offline Posts: 3 Rep:

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Sun Apr 20, 2008 5:56:28 PM #51380 Perm Link

Excuse me, why?

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Aron Schatz

2014: Year of change. Joined: August 3, 2001 Status: Offline Posts: 10753 Rep:

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Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:54:42 PM #51382 Perm Link

In response to Dermik #51380

Are you related to that site?

No offense, but you posted a link to another site on your first post. No hard feelings... and like I said, you included more information so it isn't spam.

2014 is going to be a good year. More content, more streamlining. Be a part of history!

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Dermik Joined: April 21, 2008 Status: Offline Posts: 3 Rep:

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Mon Apr 21, 2008 12:33:20 AM #51386 Perm Link

Hmm.. How can I be related to TF as it's well known site? Smile