Hands-On Preview: BLACK

February 27th is currently marked as the release date for EA's "gun porn" title, BLACK (Official Site). Recently a demo CD was released to the masses - of course, I got my hands on one to see what all the hub-bub was about. With Criterion at the helm (Burnout series), it couldn't be that bad, right?

Well apparently, after numerous rebuilds and Criterion being bought by EA when Acclaim went under, EA decided to change its hype title from "gun porn" to "run-of-the-mill shooter."

The demo starts off with you inside a blown-out building. The door is locked, so you blow it open with your shotgun. Of course, eye candy is abound just like every other EA title. We're supposed to be blown away by the fact that we can shoot doors off their hinges - like it was an innovative feature. Er, Red Faction did this in 2001 and you could even do it in Rainbow Six back in '99. Anyway, the door tumbles out and against another wall like you just placed three large C4 charges on it; you reload your shotgun and face the dangers outside the building.

There are quite a few baddies running around and shooting at you erratically, so you switch your shotgun out for an assault rifle, which luckily is lying at your feet (that are invisible, like every other FPS - First Person shooter). You blow up a car some idiots are hiding behind, shoot up a guy that runs straight at you, the usual stuff. EA said that you could make entire structures collapse and get a "death from above" bonus by making it fall onto your enemies. None of this so far.

You run down the street and manage to meet up with your team, who happens to be wasting so much ammo firing at the surrounding enemies it's odd that you aren't standing on a pile of empty casings. A dozen bad guys later, the demo is over.

It's about 10 minutes long. Probably one of the shortest demos I have ever played.

I hope EA isn't trying to make this into a realistic FPS. The idea Criterion had when it first started development - no ammo restrictions, running through levels destroying stuff - could've made this a prospective buy. As it stands, I think I will keep the $50. Maybe rent it so I can continue to rant about it in a review - but I hate uninspired FPS games as much as I hate stepping in piles of my dog's crap.

Demo Score: 2/10

-Casey