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Black for PlayStation 2
Black for the PlayStation 2 is a first-person shooter following Jack Kellar during a covert operation in Eastern Europe. He belongs to a special unit tasked with tracking down a traitor. Missions take you through streets, industrial buildings and other guarded locations. You move from one battle to the next, select your weapons and find a position from which to advance.
The environment plays a part in gunfights. Windows shatter, sections of cover break apart and explosive objects can hit opponents hiding behind obstacles. You therefore look at what surrounds an enemy too. Shooting a useful object may create a different opening from firing directly at a soldier. At the same time, you must watch your ammunition, reloading and distance to the next enemy.
The campaign is for one player and links assignments with scenes in which Kellar is interrogated. Along the way, you search for information and other mission objectives beyond the main route. Which additional tasks are compulsory depends on the difficulty setting. Replaying a level can therefore encourage a more careful search or a different approach to a battle. The emphasis is on using weapons, choosing cover and reacting when gunfire changes the space around you.
Region and language
Our PlayStation 2 games are PAL editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
Black for PlayStation 2 includes the manual unless the product title states otherwise. If the booklet is missing, the title says “No Manual”. This lets you see before ordering whether the game comes with a manual.
The manuals included with our games usually contain at least English and often around six European languages. The exact languages vary by edition, so Dutch is not always included. The booklet explains the controls and the main rules. You can use it to check how to control the game, which actions are available and how its different features work.
The history of Black
Black was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2006. Criterion Games developed it and Electronic Arts published it. The studio was best known for the Burnout racing games. With Black, the team wanted to bring the same attention to immediate action and visible consequences to a shooter. Modern weapons and covert military operations provided the starting point for this different expression of Criterion's work.
In its own retrospective, the studio describes how a visit to a shooting range in Las Vegas influenced the design. Sound, force and the environment's reactions were intended to make shooting tangible. Promotional explanations at the time also referenced Hollywood action films from the 1980s and 1990s. Flying debris and collapsing objects became part of both the presentation and the means of reaching enemies.
The story was built around an interrogation filmed with actors. The playable missions then show events Kellar recalls during that interrogation. This structure gave the sequence of battles a framework without taking the player out of the operation for long. The finished game concentrated on a solo campaign with different difficulty settings and associated objectives. Within the PlayStation 2 library, Black thus developed a distinct profile through its emphasis on sound, destruction and successive gunfights with modern weapons.
Similar games for PlayStation 2
Medal of Honor: Frontline shares the first-person perspective and a campaign with military objectives. You follow Jimmy Patterson during the Second World War. Black uses modern covert operations and gives destructible environmental elements a larger role in combat. Both original PlayStation 2 editions concentrate on one player.
Medal of Honor: Rising Sun also combines a story-driven war campaign with firearms and staged events. It takes place in the Pacific and offers local cooperation for two players. Black builds its campaign around Kellar and modern weapons. Attention shifts to explosive objects and cover that breaks apart during combat.
Medal of Honor: European Assault also asks you to use cover, choose a route and complete military objectives. William Holt can give simple orders to computer-controlled fellow soldiers. Black focuses execution more strongly on your own weapons and the destructible environment. You mainly consider which position and object could change the next gunfights.
Call of Duty: Finest Hour also uses a cinematic sequence of shooting missions, but switches between Russian, British and American soldiers during the Second World War. Black keeps its story centred on a modern covert operation and one main character's interrogation. Both use staged encounters, with different weapons and historical backgrounds.
Killzone shares the emphasis on military first-person gunfights and moving between covered positions. It uses a science-fiction war against the Helghast on Vekta. Black chooses modern weapons and a story about covert operations, where damaged obstacles and explosions regularly determine how you can approach an enemy position.
