If there’s one thing that could completely turn me off from a multiplayer shooter, it’s the amount of bullets it takes to kill somebody. Example: In Uncharted 2, why the hell does it take an entire clip of bullets from an assault riffle the take down an old man in a t-shirt? Yes, I understand that Uncharted 2 isn’t trying to be a simulation of applicable military tactics, but when I get behind someone on the enemy team and start spraying bullets into their back, only to have them turn around, eating lead, and blow me away with one shotgun blast, I do not like your multiplayer game Nathan Drake. No thank you. Where are they hiding their armor in Uncharted 2 anyway? Under their thin coke dealin' tropical button up shirts? Now I’m not saying that I feel this way about all games that require you to expel a boatload of bullets into your enemies. In games like Halo or Gears of War it makes perfect sense. In those games, heavy armor of incredible technology is made present to you that explains why it takes a few shots. While neither of those games are strangers to a one-shot kill, it’s still understandable that it will take numerous rounds to take one of these guys down.
Blacklight: Tango Down is also a futuristic game featuring futuristic soldiers. These guys have armor that looks like a mix of the ODST troops in the Halo Universe, and the elite police officers in Judge Dredd. "I YAM THE RAW!" (Steven Segal, Judge Dredd) They can jump fairly high, fall from decent heights without taking damage, as well as run pretty quickly. They even have high-tech helmets that allow them to see enemies, friendlies, and environmental objects through walls. I can't help but feel that if an enemy trooper just so much as looks at you the wrong way, you will die. During my first round of Team Deathmatch, I wasn’t even aware that I was being shot at until I saw my heavily armored character fly across the screen. I soon learned that your HUD begins to lose its (reception?) when you take damage. But seriously what’s the point of the high-tech gear if you would die just as quickly if you were naked? Why not be nude? Why not have 16 players fighting each other wearing only helmets with their wangerdo flopping in the air?
If your character can be disposed of in a blink of an eye, there must be some pretty intense weaponry in this game, right? Nope, just your average Modern Warfail 2 setup. You’ve got your pistols, SMGs, LMGs, assault riffles, sniper riffles, and shotguns. They all shoot bullets, not lasers. Honestly, the only “weapons” in this game that are truly futuristic are the special grenades. The digi-grenade is similar to a smoke grenade, except instead of smoke it releases reality-distorting pixels. It’s definitely quite cool to see for the first time, but eventually you’ll realize that it’s completely useless. You can’t see into the pixel -explosion's bubble, or Field of Effect for you game designers, and you can’t see out of it. I primarly use it for cover. Wouldn't you know though, the moment the enemy sees a distortion field, they fire into it, increasing the chance of me getting shot in the finger and bleeding to death. The EMP grenade is a different story, because any every enemy in the blast radius will get receive a temporary “blue screen of death” in their HUDs, leaving them open for you to take down safely. Unless they happen to spin around firing their guns, then you might get shot in the knee and your brains would explode. The drawbacks to the grenades is that they are horrbibly inaccurate and they bounce off of objects like they were a lightwieght baloon. You know, those latex water grenades in BFBC2? You would not believe how many times I’ve thrown a frag grenade only to have it bounce off of a stair and propel directly into my face.
Now what is cool, all of the guns are customizable. Parts, such as scopes, stocks and magazines, can switched, swapped fine-tuned to your liking. You can also change the camouflage of your weapon as well as add little key chain-like trinkets that effect your character’s overall stats. Make a note of that Sean? These pieces are rewarded to you as you gain experience and rank up, but sadly the upgrades are not weapon specific. So let’s say you use nothing but assault riffles; you may not see an upgrade for your favorite weapon class for quite some time but you’ll get plenty of parts for the sniper riffle, which happens to be the only primary weapon that doesn’t seem to decimate anyone in a heartbeat. Not that I am mad about this system. I personally feel it gives players something to work for, which I am always proud of. Also, I hate snipers, so I am glad their guns blow.
My main problem with this game is that I have to constantly stop myself from forgiving its numerous mistakes because of its price point and delivery platform. This is a $15 dollar download-only multiplayer game, also known as, budget-shooter. So it’s alright that this game has faults that most big time FPS developers catch, unless you are Infinity Ward, where the only thing they cought was stupidity and Blizzard's World of Wieners herpes that they got from sucking Activision's dick. OH YEAH! And one incredibly annoying song that plays in every menu and loading screen in the game. It’s cool that half the time that I search for a match the game tells me SEARCH SUCCEEDED while nothing happens for five minutes. The loading time for the game is sooo long. I dropped a record breakin duece, you know, the ones you take pictures of and show your friends, and grabbed a sandwhich, and I was still waiting for more players. I suspect this will get better as more people by it, it's only been out a week. And really, I didn’t expect them to include an easier way for me to play with my friends beside entering a lobby and frantically scream, “JOIN NOW BEFORE THE MATCH FILLS UP! HURRY! SHIT, IT’S FILLED!” Why would I even complain about the enemy AI in Black-Ops mode either stares at me and does nothing or kills me god-like accuracy while I’m in cover? What do mean, you want to know why there’s crazy Order people called “The Infected” that come charging at you will giant steel poles? This game’s only $15, man. You should be grateful that they even gave you a 4-player co-op mode in addition to it’s 7 game modes and 12 maps for that price!
Now, there are those that say that CSS and TF2 are $15 right now, but frankly I like Blacklight because it isn't like those two games. Although it does feel like the dirty lovechild of BFBC2 and Halo:ODST. The game is beautiful, not the most gorgeous, but great looking! I am also sure some of the connection issues is just because it hasn't been a week since it came out. The game is fun, and with the number of levels, it gives you great variety for long time play. What Blacklight: Tango Down does have going for it is a really great, sci-fi atmosphere and a vast amount of customization and, ultimately, personalization. Multiplayer games that allow to pick everything from my character’s color to stock of my SMG are the kind of games I wish there were more of. The HRV is another welcome and necessary addition seeing as everybody who plays this game wants to camp outside your spawn point. The HRV levels the playing field and keeps the action moving, not to mention, you can't move while you use it, so if a douchebag is caught in your sites with it on, you can rip their helpess ass to shreds. -mumbles about Soggy and his blasted coupe de grace.-
Another thing that people used to the reward system in games like Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2, in this game you actually have to kill things to level up. No points are given to you for running or fixing tanks. There is no fixing. It’s kill or be killed. This is the future, dawg. Get wit it. I like this, you have to earn it, not be the worst one on your team for 1500+ games and still get to top rank. People bitch about spawn camping, but really this only happens if you have a fail team who let's the enemy surround you and blockade your spawnpoint. Another thing for those ninnies that complain about spawncamping. YOUR BASE HAS BARRICADES AND TURRETS!
Now I know this report has given a lot of negative points to the game. But truth be told, I freakin love it. WHEN you get into a game, the action is fast paced, but still offers quite a good deal of strategy. The mic system on the game is actually pretty good, making strategizing with your team much more effective. The game is very rewarding, and levels and trinkits are well spread apart. Sometimes in BFBC2 I don't get any rewards despite my positive KD spread, and sometimes I am the worst on my team but I have 40 medals and awards. Not to mention, getting multikills in this game is incredibly more difficult than other games, and it rubs it in your teams face with big fancy icons in the game combat detail window in the upper-left. And if a bunch of your friends from Steam play then you never have to wait for a game. My recommendation, for $15, I hightly recommend it. NOW QUICK! BEFORE DLC COMES OUT!
Which is why I give this game, an 7.5/10 blitz points.
AND WHAT THE FUCK DOES THE TEA BAG KEYCHAIN DO FOR YOUR STATS!
