I spent a bit of time with Blacksite: Area 51 while visiting with Midway during last week's E3. The game was fun, had some interesting elements and solid mechanics, but I suspect it will be one of those games that fails to rise about the absolute tidal wave of shooters when it hits in September.
The developers let me play through a couple chunks of the game. The feel and look of Blacksite is still very reminiscent of the original Area 51, but with a cleaner, more detailed next-gen look. And it has all of the next-gen bells and whistles. You can shoot through windows, blow apart some cover, issue squad commands and marvel at the realistic faces and lip-syncing. The game has a slight auto-aim feel, but nothing too heavy. It was just enough to make you feel like you kick ass at shooters without making it feel like the game was taking over.
The weapon selection was nice, I particularly liked the rocket launcher which locks on to a target after a few seconds and then chases down what you aimed at. I had some fun locking onto someone and then going around the corner and firing off a rocket.
When I asked the dev what separated this game from the slew of others that will be hitting this fall, he said the story. I can kind of see that, but I just don't think it will be enough. If it were me, I'd probably delay the game until early next year and release it so it has a little breathing room.
