BlackSite: Area 51

This fall has been a paradise for fans of the first-person shooter genre. Between Bioshock, Halo 3, and Metroid 3, there has not been a shortage of triple-A titles. And I’m just going to be honest, the bar has been raised in gaming – especially in first-person shooters – and this game just does not live up. Every once in a while, a game will slip on the shelves that obviously had some thought put into it and some resources, but in the end that game feels unpolished and ill conceived; Blacksite: Area 51 is that title.

The story is, in some ways, clever and relevant, but the way it’s executed leaves a lot to be desired. The narrative begins as you and your squad are heading into modern-day Iraq to investigate a potential cache of WMDs (Wait, I’ve heard that tall tale before…). Not to spoil anything, but when they get there, it’s not WMDs they find. As quickly as you can say “Mission Accomplished,” the story is lifted out of Iraq and into the alien haven of Nevada, where militiamen have infiltrated Area 51 and are going to out the secrets of the government.

While the story is at least dealing with current events, it does so very awkwardly. In the initial Iraq setting, the same posters of Saddam are plastered up everywhere, to the point where I think the developers thought that “where our bland art design fails, we’ll just put up a sign that says ‘Hey!, you’re still in Iraq.’” The dialogue is occasionally funny (we are fighting aliens, you know), as your comrades will spout the occasional pop-culture reference, or comment on Bush’s low presidential rating. But the macho riffs run out of steam very quickly.

The levels inside buildings function around a simplistic squad mechanic: you hit the shoulder button and aim where you want your team to go. Rarely is it necessary to have any tactics, though, because the enemy AI is too predictable to require it and your team’s AI is too dumb to leave your sight! However, the simple commands do add something to what could have just been another lonely first-person shooter. When you get to Nevada and beyond, the game takes a queue from Half Life 2, making you drive from deserted outpost to deserted outpost killing generic aliens.

The graphics and design fluctuate from decent to horrible. The level designs are just plain and bland, with big, wide-open corridors with tiny scenery elements few and far between. The outdoor environments have the same vacuous and uninspired feeling. The character designs and animations are adequate, but when compared to a game like Half Life 2, whose character interactions and animation set a new bar, this game falls flat. The guns from your first-person perspective have little polish or detail, and the aliens you shoot at have the same bland appearance. Contrastingly, the graphics of walls and canyon faces do have some texturing, but the developers went overboard and even gave the sand you walk on a shining texture coat, which looks like you’re walking on a glass floor.

As you can probably guess, the controls seek to redefine nothing. Turning is so slow that my thumb literally hurt the first time I started playing it, as I was trying to whip around to shoot the various attacking aliens. But, then again, the mechanics aren’t necessarily bad. Shooting is fun and the breakaway scenery helps add to that visceral feeling. Aside from the limited squad command, there is a morale system that Midway implemented. Depending upon how well you are doing, your squad morale will change, and therefore their performance will shift accordingly. But their A.I. is so poor that whether your A.I. helps you or not really doesn’t matter.

There are quite a few technical issues that really show the lack of polish in this game. If the action ever speeds up or if more than two enemies come on screen, the framerate will drop accordingly. Also, I would occasionally just freeze in position, unable to move around. Ammo boxes and guns will frequently just be suspended in mid-air.

The whole time I played this game, I had visions of Gears of War and Bioshock running through my head. I would think “Why didn’t they do this here?” or “Or, didn’t the developers play Half Life 2?” Whenever I was in a shootout with cover, I kept thinking “Why isn’t my guy sticking to the wall.” If this game were an Xbox 360 launch title, it might have gotten a higher score, but, again, the standard has been raised and there’s no need to look back.

Gameplay: 6.5
The shooting mechanic is passable, but aiming is excruciatingly slow. The morale mechanic is pretty forgettable.

Graphics: 7.0
While the game occasionally has its graphical moments and impressive visual moments, 90% of the game is bland art design.

Sound: 6.8
The voice acting is decent, but sometimes confusing. Nothing special here.

Difficulty: Medium 

Concept: 6.5
The story and dialogue is occasionally clever, but this is no Bioshock.

Multiplayer: 7.5
There are the basic online modes, and while I wasn’t able to test them, Abduction Mode sounds interesting.

Overall: 6.5
Blacksite: Area 51 is fun to play – sometimes - but when you compare it to other FPS’s on the market like Bioshock, Halo 3, and CoD4, there is no comparison. Playing a game like this makes you really appreciate how far games have come, and what a little extra polish will do to a game.