Black (2006) – Old-School Shooter That Still Hits Hard | Retro Corner

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• DEVELOPER: Criterion Games
• PUBLISHER: Electronic Arts
• PLATFORMS: PlayStation 2, Xbox (Also made backward compatible on Xbox 360 and Xbox One via digital re-release)
• GENRE: First-person shooter (FPS)
• RELEASE DATE: February 24, 2006 (Europe) / February 28, 2006 (North America)
• REVIEWED VERSION: PlayStation 2

Driven by nostalgia, I’ve decided to start replaying PlayStation 2 games. I want to compare these older titles, like the original God of War, God of War 2, and Budokai Tenkaichi 3 with modern games. To kick off this journey, I’m starting with Black, the first-person shooter from Criterion Games and Electronic Arts. Released on both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, Black is renowned for its destruction elements and intense shooting.

It’s surprising that Criterion Games, primarily known for the Burnout racing series, shifted gears with Black, aiming to “do for shooting what Burnout did for racing” by focusing on destruction and realistic weapon handling. The detail in the shooting mechanics is impressive for an older game: you get blurry vision when reloading, and weapons offer three firing modes (single bullet, semi-automatic, and automatic). The game features realistic damage, where a headshot is instantly lethal, but hitting a protective vest requires more sustained fire.

Black delivers big booms, tight gunplay, and a few stubborn relics of its era

Adding to the fun, as mentioned, is the destruction, you can fire a bazooka to destory a building or blow open doors with a shotgun or grenades, but also shoot at other objects around you. The game rejects the typical zoom-in feature for shooting; instead, the camera zooms in slightly for most weapons, making it generally easy to shoot and move. Furthermore, there isn’t the kind of expressive recoil you might find in games like Counter-Strike. While recoil does exist if you fire constantly, it’s usually simple to control. Because of this easy handling, being careful is essential, as healing items are scattered stingily across the map.

Despite its strengths, Black isn’t without its underlying issues. Primarily, there is a severe range limitation on most weapons; only the sniper rifle is effective from a distance, leaving smaller guns like UZIs and pistols largely useless in open areas. Additionally, grenades feel clumsy and unreliable as their throwing range is very short and they don’t bounce realistically when thrown.

The enemy AI is also hit-or-miss. While they sometimes make rational decisions, like intelligently using cover, they also exhibit odd glitches, such as moving erratically or colliding with one another. However, for an older title, the AI often remains challenging because the game compensates by spawning a massive number of enemies per map. Though variety is low, consisting mostly of standard terrorists and the bigger, shotgun-wielding attackers, the sheer volume, combined with scaling difficulty settings, ensures a constant tension.

Narrative falls flat, but missions and atmosphere keep you locked in

I personally found the friendly teammates to be pretty useless. They shoot at enemies, sure, but they don’t really do much; they’re mostly just there for the sake of the story. Speaking of the story, it’s not really the most important part of the game. You play as Jack Kellar, a US Army soldier on a covert anti-terrorist mission. What is cool is how the story is told through voiced-over cutscenes before each mission that feature interesting images and moments. The only downside is that these cutscenes are unskippable, but thankfully, they don’t last very long.

Black uses a mission-based progression system. Higher difficulty levels improve the challenge by introducing additional objectives, such as gathering intelligence or destroying key targets, which are indicated by changes in the HUD crosshair. When your health is critically low, the game adds to the tension and immersion by having the screen change to black and white with the heartbeat sounds, and slowing down time.

While objectives aren’t difficult to spot, they are often hidden, requiring thorough exploration to find them. Each map can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to finish, depending on its size and your pace. The game stays engaging because each mission brings something unique and constantly changes the environment. Although the levels often lack fine detail and can look bare-bones, the intense gameplay keeps you focused, so you rarely notice these graphical shortcomings.

Reminder of when shooters were simpler but louder

Graphically, Black was very impressive back then, offering detailed textures, smooth animations, and dynamic environments. What really made the game famous, though, was its sound design. The authentic, satisfying weapon noises were so good it mad ethem win major accolades, including a BAFTA award for audio excellence.

In summary, we can’t truly compare Black to modern, faster titles like Call of Duty or Battlefield, though it certainly offers satisfying gunplay. I genuinely enjoyed my experience with it. There’s just something about this game that makes you want to keep playing without watching the time. If you want to dive into some retro gaming and see what older shooters were like, this is a fun choice. You can also play it on Xbox via the EA Play service.

While Criterion wanted to make a sequel, they had creative differences with EA, preventing its development. Because of this, the original team created a new game called Bodycount, which served as a spiritual successor when it launched in 2011.