by Linko64

The online shooter market is currently dominated by the likes of Call of Duty, Halo and Battlefield is there a room for a download only title? Blacklight: Tango Down is asking the question.

Blacklight isn’t trying to be ground breaking or anything new and instead goes for style over substance in an attempt to look like the ‘triple A’ titles that dominate the FPS market. For the most part Blacklight looks the part with environments looking detailed and rich, the same can be said for the character models and weapons within the game however at times texture popping does occur. The environment manages to carry off the sci-fi setting well. Overall the game looks remarkably good for XBLA title and wouldn’t look out of place as a full retail game.

Gameplay wise its nothing you haven’t played before in the likes of Fear or Unreal Tournament. The game plays pretty much as a fast paced run and gun with very little strategy attached to it, that being said gameplay is fluid and almost twitch reactions like. Player movement may seem unnatural as players almost glide across the surface but this upholds the pace found within each play session. Investing time into Blacklight will be rewarding as there is a wealth of unlockables such as weapons, attachments, scopes, stocks, magazines and more all of which can be unlocked by gaining experience for a number of tasks such as kills, kill assist and completing game objectives.

The unlocks allows you to almost crate weapon set built for a players preference and allowing for players to experiment with new combos during their time with Blacklight. Other notable gameplay features include a Hyper Reality Visor which when active will allow a player to se enemies through walls for a short period of time it’s nothing groundbreaking but it’s a nice touch. However the gameplay isn’t flawless, the weapons customization may be a bit overwhelming for some players and often games can become a little too fast and turns into something of pray and spray situation.

Blacklight: Tango Down is a generous package when you take into account the 1200MSP price tag and the fact the game contains 12 maps & 7 game modes. The 7 game modes aren’t anything new and are all recognisable modes such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Domination, Last Man Standing, Last Team Standing and Detonate which all offer a familiar play that still manages to be fun. As for the 12 maps there are a few issues mostly to do with the design. The maps may looks nice but they are not practically inspiring and unique.

The maps range from close combat areas to more open out streets allowing for the combat to vary with a map cycle but with each map there is a returning issue which is partly the fault of the developer and partly the fault of the community and that issue is spawn camping. The levels are designed in such a manner that each teams spawn is similar with normally 2 entry/exit points however the issue lies with the ease in which a team can cover both entrances/exits and force the team into a corner, to prevent direct spawn camping there is two sentry guns placed in each spawn however this is in the dead center of the spawn and can’t prevent the issue of one team forcing a other into a corner. This design flaw is a running theme in each map and isn’t the only issue as some maps look quite similar creating an unwelcome sense of repetition.

As well as the multiplayer experience Blacklight offers there is also a campaign mode named Black Ops which allows players to play alone or with four buddies via online co-op. Black Ops may offer a alterative to the multiplayer mayhem but it’s nothing special, in fact in essence Black Ops is a liner stroll through generic and quite dull levels filled with mindless enemies, all of this is loosely strung to together with a minimal plot. Playing Black Ops alone feels like a chore and a unfair one at that and it soon becomes clear that Black Ops was designed for four players to take on as the sheer amount of enemies and gunfire make it hard for a single player to play through and indeed enjoy.

If anything Black Ops feels like an afterthought that’s merely been shoe horned to offer some cheap extra play hours. At its best Black Ops manages to be a generic fast paced co-op experience and at its worst it feels like a collection of dull run and gun exercises.

Overall Blacklight: Tango Down delivers a generic online experience that does have a decent amount of unlocks to be had however the dull and flawed nature of the map design puts a downer on an already average experience. To Blacklights credit the game looks the part and stands up to retail titles but this doesn’t excuse the overall mediocre package that is Blacklight.

Although at a glance the 12 maps and 7 games modes and co-op campaign and pretty visual may make Blacklight seem like a decent purchase but overall its nothing more than a average game he fails to deliver the triple A experience the Zombie promised and instead ends up being a average forgettable game that may offer a short distraction over the summer time.