The main characters in the game are the weapons, and there are plenty of those available to the player. Before starting work on the game, Criterion spent 2 months at shooting ranges, testing whatever weapon they could get their hands on. This to make sure they knew how the guns would handle and what they needed to alter to make things more convincing in-game.

Not that the weaponry that’s available is the same as their real-life counterparts. Each weapon has been altered in some ways to make it a lot more convincing and fun to use as Criterion doesn’t think real weapons are impressive enough. Silencers will go for ever (in reality, a silencer will degrade the more you use it), machine guns have bigger clips so that you can fire longer (still at the high pace of the real gun, something that isn’t present in any other game), and so on. Sound is also important so Criterion has used the original sound of the weapons but added some layers to them to make things sound cooler and more convincing. Metal scraping when changing clips, echoes for shots, impact noise from bullets, … it’s all been improved and really puts you into the action. Of course, the Dolby Digital 5.1 surround that comes with the game makes the whole experience even more impressive.

Call of Duty is known as one of the most action-packed and immersive first person shooters on PC. Black will no doubt get the same title for console shooters. We got to see a small part of the first level and already there was non-stop shooting all the time. And what makes things especially fun is the fact that you can blow up everything you want.

Got some hostiles in hiding near a building? Just shoot some cans near them and the explosion will most certainly kill them! Or a guy standing around the corner? Ricochet kills are mighty fine! Or is there a roof or advertising board? Shoot it down so that everyone under it gets splashed! It’s all possible and gives you an enormous freedom that you probably have never seen before in a console fps and to make things even more fun, these special kills are counted and you can make combo’s that give you an increasing level of skill.

The build we got to see was only 60% finished but was looking already incredibly good. We got to see Black right after a presentation of The Godfather and believe me that Black makes mashed potatoes from The Godfather when it comes to visuals. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would never believe we were being showed a PS2 game. Tons of particle effects, ragdoll physics, magnificent explosions, and everything looking very realistic… Black is just amazing! To quote the product manager: “Black is next-gen, current gen!”

One thing people these days will probably start nagging about is the fact that Black is single player-only. Criterion has specifically decided to not include any multiplayer as this is their first attempt at a first person shooter and they want to be sure they do it perfect. Unlike other games, they do not want to make compromises and have either a great single player with mediocre (or bad?) multiplayer, or the other way around. Personally, I’m all for this decision as it has clearly given them the possibility to polish the game as much as possible as what we’ve seen looks better than anything on PS2 yet and it’s still until February before it will hit retail.

Oh, we would almost forget one thing: the storyline (yes, there actually is one present!): As part of the secret Black Ops Squad, you and your team have to repatriate a bad American dude from Eastern Europe. Unfortunately, the bastard has surrounded himself with hired mercenaries. You didn’t think it would be easy, now did you?

The game will have 9 levels that are divided in several sections and will be available on both PS2 and Xbox in February 2006. There are currently no plans to create a next-gen version but it remains a possibility. What sadly isn’t a possibility is a PC version. Reason for this according to the product manager is that Criterion are primarily console developers and there’s already a ton of good FPS games on PC available. Being an avid PC FPS gamer myself, I can only say that we’re being left out on a great experience with Black!