Black is quite the interesting game artistically. Guns designed to be pleasing to the eyes and ears of players rather than be accurate, environments filled with destruction with a harmonizing soundscape, very detailed maps and post processing for the 6th gen, the depth of field effect on every reload... Lots of things that will impress those putting this into a PS2 or an emulator.

Unfortunately, a lot of the levels are very bland looking despite the impressive tech and it kinda falls short on gameplay. Controls are sluggish, the aiming sensitivity is LOW for a bit and then just goes higher by keeping the stick moving for half a second, with no settings for controls whatsoever. If you need to precisely aim, you have to hold down the zoom button which also kills your view speed, but at least it won't wildly turn cause you took that frame too long. Dumb as hell enemy AI, they always take cover in the same couple spots if they don't just run at you and stand or side step on the same line. The plot was added last-minute and they still made the decision to make cutscenes unskippable knowing it wasn't great. Only thing I really liked was that some levels can be fairly big and there's collectibles all around, but it didn't help that much when combat generally has little sauce.

I wish I could see what others do in this game, but outside of those moments where the bullets and debris are going all around, I was mostly bored or annoyed with the controls. For 2006, I expected it to feel less clunky, considering FPS games on consoles had already been evolving a lot in the few years before. I wonder if the game would have turned out better had it not been made under a split team, but what ifs are complicated. A bit disappointed to be honest and was getting burnt out despite the short length.