Blacksite: Area 51 Demo

[Uli]

just downloaded this from the US marketplace and played through. well, i am wondering if i could possibly say anything positive about this demo, but i guess this might give me serious headache. i played the predecessor and liked it somehow. it had nice shooting parts and good atmosphere, it just wasn't outstanding in any way.

but judging from the demo this one is just worse in every respect. the controls just don't feel right, the weapon is underpowered, the auto-aiming bad and the level design very linear. technically it's very average to say the best. some nice character models but that's it. a good laugh is probably at the end when the demo claims that this game will take FPS to a "Next Gen level". oh my... ;)

[TEENWOLF]

Wish I hadn't bothered downloading this, took me about 40 minutes to grab only for the demo to end after beating a few enemies.

Won't pass judgement on this until I can play through a whole stage or two. Didnt look too bad I guess just nothing overly impressive.

[Uli]

yep, so everyone with a slow connection be warned: this demo is just a few minutes gameplay and maybe not worth the time for download!

[PeteJ]

I won't bother downloading in that case! I was quite looking forward to this, the trailer looked pretty good. Maybe the final release will show more...umph.

[ezee ryder]

Shortest demo ever, but hey it does warn you that it is just a teaser demo before you download it. Anyway from what I played I thought the game was nothing spectacular but decent overall. Graphics are probably just about sneaking into next gen, like Uli the character models are quite nice. Gameplay wise it is probably just your run of the mill FPS, nothing at all stands out but hey it is a demo....sorry teaser demo so no harsh judgements just yet.

[Yoshimax]

So what is the point of this teaser demo ? Doesn't sound like it achieves anything ?

Stupid Midway - I wanted a Stranglehold demo goddammit.

[Paulos G]

I was disappointed at the length of the demo but still had a bit of fun with it. Full game has co-op too, so it might still be worth kkeeping an eye on.

One nice touch. I shot the signs with the prices on near the start and my team mate said "Yeah, I don't like those prices either".

[Uli]

Full game has co-op too, so it might still be worth kkeeping an eye on.

yeah, but what kind of and how well will it work? guess it's better to not expect anything like in Gears of War.

anyway, one can only wonder about what Midway's marketing experts are aiming at by releasing such a short and meaningless demo.

everyone liking the setting should pay the predecessor some attention. it's a nice FPS and technically quite accomplished on the old black brick.

[chopemon]

i enjoyed it. good, solid shooter that looks decent enough.

i'm happy enough to confirm that i'll be buying the game after playing this.

[Kotatsu Neko]

Graphics are okay for the most part, if rather generic. Frame rate though... it got so low at some points it must have been in single figures.

That wouldn't be the end of the world if it actually controlled well, which it doesn't. It's too fast and loose, like a console FPS from years back before devs learnt how to properly use a gamepad.

[ChrisField]

I really enjoyed what there was to this teaser. People saying they're not going to bother getting it because of others comments should get it and try for themselves.

Thought the graphics were really good, aside from a fair bit of slowdown. I liked the shadows cast by your companions. Odd thing being when I stood next to the same light source as one fella, I didn't cast a shadow. Go figure.

I really dont get the comments regarding problems with the controls because they seemed fine to me.

Just leave the demo downloading over night in low power mode if you dont fancy waiting for it.

[MartyG]

I thought it wasn't too bad either - certainly worth the d/l given it's free. It does seem to be a by the numbers FPS by the demo, but I'd give it a second go with a longer demo for sure.

No problems with the controls here either.

[chopemon]

i don't get what people are talking about with the controls, they were fine for me

remember that this is a few months out and the frame rate will improve as that is one of the last things to be optimised

[Kotatsu Neko]

i don't get what people are talking about with the controls, they were fine for me

remember that this is a few months out and the frame rate will improve as that is one of the last things to be optimised

The problem is that they're too sensitive and twitchy. You have to move the analogue stick very gingerly to make small changes. Compare how it feels to Halo for example to see the difference. (Halo was the first game to make an FPS properly work on a console, and since then everyone has copied how it works... until now it seems)

[chopemon]

it must be how we both play, i didn't notice that at all. seems odd that it's dividing people so much

[prinnysquad]

I enjoyed this. The graphics were nicely atmospheric with plenty going on. OK, it wasn't much of a demo, but as a teaser it was far better than watching some crappy video laced with cut scenes.

[Spatial101]

No problem with the controls for me either, thought they worked fine.

Quite enjoyed the teaser - some nice rain and lighting effects and weird stuff to shoot.

Clearly its far from ready to go so things like the framerate etc are a non starter, but the demo didn't put me off the full thing so I'll be picking this up.

[Bru]

I also thought this was great!

The Mrs could hear me whooping and hollering with glee from the other side of the house - through two closed doors :-)

It clearly needs a little bit more polish - but I too will be buying this now on the strength of the short but (IMHO) thrilling demo.

Great stuff and yet another example, as they sort of say up here, that there's now't as queer as taste ;-)

[Keith]

Really enjoyed it myself, although i am a sucker for a good FPS. Really liked the way that you could shoot away the stone pillars and stuff, revealing the rebar underneath. The rain splashing on your gun was nice too, as was the fact that your gun was drawn in whenever you walked up to a wall, rather than just looking like it's going through it in the weird manner it does in most FPSes. :)

While I didn't have any issue at all with the controls, I do also hope that they release this teaser (or a bigger demo) on the PS3, so I can decide which version to get. :)

[chopemon]

Really liked the way that you could shoot away the stone pillars and stuff, revealing the rebar underneath.

it shares some of the tech from stranglehold so there should be a lot of this in the full game

[Dezm0nd]

I really enjoyed that demo. Looked like Gears of War due to the tech and played like an enjoyable FPS should...

The release date will determine how well it sells, but it's got very good potential.

[capcom_suicide]

I won't bother downloading in that case! I was quite looking forward to this, the trailer looked pretty good. Maybe the final release will show more...umph.


That would be a shame Pete. The initial impressions seemed very hard IMHO.

It plays like a standard shooter in the GOW mould, and has nice graphics and good controls.

It certainly has potential to be a laugh over coop, and while not reinventing the wheel, there is certainly promise here for a fun game.

One to keep an eye on.

[charlesr]

Why is this 2 minute demo so large? Nice enough to look at but you kill a few aliens and run round the corner and ... oh. It's ended. Squad comments were interesting.

[Yoshimax]

Only thing that bugged me with this was my incessant attempts to bind to a wall ><

Other than that I quite enjoyed it - nice solid shooter !!!