BlackSite: Area 51 review

Poor A.I. extends to enemies, as well. Most large-scale encounters provide the player with the enemy's weak spot. Once exposed, the baddie will do nothing to protect itself, resulting in too easy a victory. Even the multiplayer portion of BlackSite, in which the A.I. is discarded in favor of human opponents, features only generic deathmatch and capture-the-flag modes.

Visually, things are a mixed bag. While many enemies and most levels feature impressive visuals, BlackSite makes for a largely vacant and uninspired war zone. Eerie green fog, desolate highways teeming with dangerous alien wildlife, and hollowed out buildings provide atmospheric stages - but while aesthetically pleasing, there isn't anything memorable about them, nor about most of the enemies players will fight again, and again - and again. This point is driven home by the few times you actually do arrive at something memorable, such as when you find yourself pointing a helicopter's gatling gun at a tentacled alien leviathan the size of a house. More big, cinematic set pieces like that, and we could have had a real winner.