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Violent, Adult escapist fun
After a full year of paying taxes, watching gas prices raise to extortionary levels; after another year helping young minds negotiate through the jungle of parts of speech, the worlds of John Steinbeck, Jack London and William Shakespeare as well as how to discriminate between a complete sentence and a fragment-helping young minds organize their thoughts in cohesive paragraphs and somewhat logical expressions; after working to design and allign a language arts curriculum; after exposing juniors and seniors to the wonders of FW Murnau, Akira Kurosawa, Alfred Hitchcock,John Ford Sam Peckinpah and Martin Scorsese and the language those visionaries use to bring the world to an eager audience; after coaching sixth graders on proper tackling techniques in football, posting up and rebounding techniques in basketball as well as directing high school actors to state championships and college scholarships as well as successful productions; after teaching the son to drive as well as drive his team to basketball camp, cross-country camp and summer conditioning; after celebrating a beautiful daughter's 19th birthday which has seen her become an honor student in pre-med (how the parent-plus loan will be paid is still up in the air); after cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, weeding the garden, making dinner and making sure the cars all have new tires and clean oil; after walking 35 miles a week in training for another WALKING marathon (old men don't run very well anymore)and doing 250 pushups, 200 situps and 100 crunches as the strength routine; after finally finishing William Faulkner's ABSALOM, ABSALOM (with its glorious two page sentences); after enjoying the complexity that was one of the finest movies that ever posed as a television series- HBO's five seasons of THE WIRE: it is pure visceral heaven just to switch on the Playstation 2 and blast a series of terrorists and their environments into the netheregions.

OF course the setting is still set on EASY. Granted, Level 2 still needs to be overcome (who knows what glorious descruction awaits?)- the controller has been easily customized to fit the more familar shooting style of MOH and this 41 year-old. All that aside, this violent, vulgar (F bombs drop frequently)action packed first person shooter is addictive and provides serious adult escapism for the sake of itself.

There is nothing morally redeemable about the game. It is all about killing. It is the type of game both Liberals and Conservatives rail against and that makes it all the more appealing.

The graphics are moody, stark and realistic. The sound design is subtle and layered and the action is swift, brutal and non-stop. The game features music worthy of a motion picture, the voice acting is fine (interesting how one of the "soldiers" sounds eerily similar to George W Bush) The body count is high. Sometimes the environment is a bit difficult to navigate through (just keep checking for landmarks when restarting) and the enemies are wearing body armor- so be prepared to unload a clip of AK-47 in order to eliminate the target. This game does take a good deal of time to get the hang of (at least for novice gamers).

In short, BLACK is carthartic entertainment. Well worth the price.

Not Bad....Too Few Checkpoints
I had some fun with this game for awhile. The checkpoint/save system in this game is awful. It seems to take forever to kill guys off sometimes-they take so much lead. I thought the bridge level near the end was done badly; cheap death from mines you never see until its too late and a brutal ambush at the end that pretty much promises death and getting sent way back to the mid-point of the level.

Put Simply
After the first level I liked the game; after the second I loved it; and after the third and fourth I wanted to marry it and for it to have my children! Black is the game for all of us who simply like to occasionally check our brains at the door and shoot, kill, and blow stuff up. Think of it as the anti-Splinter Cell. I would give it five stars, but its lack of a detailed story prevents me from declaring the game perfect. Still, even without such detail, Black is one of the most enjoyable first-person shooters I've ever played. I highly recommend it.

BANG! BANG! Out Go The Lights
From the makers of the acclaimed "Burnout" series comes one of the most anticipated FPS's in recent years."Black" tells the story of a Special Ops Agent brought in for questioning by the government.The story is not told through the traditional "CG" animated movies, but through Live-Action Cutscenes that depict the interrogation as it unfolds.Players will find themselves thrust into intense firefights with some of the most advanced weaponry at their disposal.With a vast library of weapons that include: AK47's,Frag Grenades,M16's,Uzi's,Spas 12 Shotguns,the Walther 2000 Sniper Rifle and so many others, players can literally "Mow-Down" everything and everyone in their path.Players must utilize health packs to recover lost health and work with their A.I. controlled teamates to survive.Black provides a world where "EVERYTHING" can be destroyed: glass shatters, wooden floors and boxes break and splinter,walls crumble and buildings explode.While there is a level dedicated solely to the outdoors,most of Black's 8 levels showcase combat in Urban Environments.Black is a game that focuses mainly on the weaponry and their effects.Having been given the nickname "Gun Porn",developers have succeeded in creating some of the most detailed weapons to appear on the sixth generation consoles.There are,however,a few complaints made by gamers in regards to Black.Many have complained that Black is too short, with most levels locking in at under 20 minutes.Black also does not feature any multiplayer modes or bonus content.Though possesing only a single player campaign, black does offer some unlockable content in the form of cheats and harder difficulties.Though it is not without it's faults, gamers still agree that Black is a truly unique gaming experience, delivering unrelenting action rivaling the best Hollywood action movies.While some may find it's short length and lack of extra content to be unforgivable, Black's highly detailed weapons and fully interactive environments coupled with it's non-stop action and a $20 greatest hits price tag make Black more than your average weekend romp.If you are unsure about buying the game, issue #103 of Playstation Magazine features a demo version of the game you can play.

pefer call of duty
this game was okay i did'nt really care for it the begining was great but after that the game started to get boring and plus your team was'nt really on your side only at the begining they were, this game sucked call of duty is better.