Blacksite: Area 51 Demo Impressions

This demo made a visitation to the Marketplace pretty much out of nowhere. I was hunkering down in front of the Box yesterday for a session of Rainbow Six when my friend IM'd me to download the Crackdown updates and Blacksite: Area 51 demo. Demo what? Oh snap.

Blacksite is the next-gen installment in a line of alien shooter games developed by Midway. The series began as a light gun arcade box, which I have some fond memories of playing as a university student back in the late '90s. In the early '00s, the game transformed into an under-appreciated PC and console FPS. The franchise has done well enough to warrant the latest incarnation of Blacksite, which is still a ways off from release (September 2007) but if the demo is anything to go by, should be yet another hot game to watch for.

Full demo review after the jump.


The Blacksite demo is a relatively short download at 580 or so megabytes. Unfortunately, that also makes for a very short demo experience. Do not expect a lavish, meaty sales pitch like in the recent C&C 3 demo. You are introduced to the most rudimentary aspects of the game play (not to say the game play has a lot of depth anyway) and taken through two brief skirmishes against some bad-ass looking aliens. Expect the usual climax teaser where shit suddenly hits the fan (in this case, a gigantic alien bug-thing) and the game fades out to the "Coming Soon, Buy It!" closing credits.

The preview videos of Blacksite had me daydreaming about the possibility of meshing the run-and-gun mayhem of your typical sci-fi shooter with the more tactical undertones of a game like Rainbow Six: Vegas. Make no mistake, Blacksite's game play is grounded in a more realistic approach in comparison to previous entries in the series. You play the leader of a 3-man squad, staffed by the usual muscle-bound marines. There are no special powers to speak of, only your fast reflexes and steady aim to rely on.

The tactical options for commanding your troops seemed a bit limited in the demo. Aside from assigning waypoints and ordering them to breach a door (wonderful breaching effects, btw), my AI teammates were very autonomous but competent as well. The final game promises a wider range of commands that can be issued, such as planting C4 charges but I have a feeling these actions will be reserved for pre-designated hot spots. I also don't imagine it being necessary to execute room clearing tactics in the final game. The alien menace will just pop up and we shoot them. The demo blurbs also tout a dynamic AI system that will take into account your team morale. Again, the demo was too brisk and cursory to get a feel if that had any effect on the game play. I did notice that my squad would tell me to hurry up if I milled around an area for too long, but that was the extent of it.

Aside from those minor points, the demo was remarkably solid. The control over my character and the feel of combat feels very good. Midway's Core technology, integrated with the ubiquitous Unreal 3 and Havok physics engines provide more than enough horsepower to render all the thrilling action. There's a great atmosphere to the game: in the dark of night, pouring rain and near-deserted American towns in the middle of nowhere. The alien enemies themselves are nicely designed and remind me of CGI rejects from Men in Black, only with a much nastier edge. Near the demo's conclusion, my squad was set upon by a pack of these squid-like spider creatures that looked like came straight out of a movie. Their animations and sound effects just came together perfectly and it was a great sign of even more impressive surprises to come in the final version of Blacksite.

Sadly, the demo was over all too soon but Midway's mission was accomplished: I was left with wanting more. As promising as it looks, I really hope Midway pushes to get this thing released prior to September. There are just so many heavy-hitters coming out for the 360 this fall and winter, a rather "generic" title like Blacksite is really going to have a rough go of it.

Personally, I will be keeping this one top of mind come autumn. It could my affinity for sci-fi shooters or more likely, my obsession with full co-op play, which the final game is slated to support.