BlackSite: Area 51: Difference between revisions
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== The Reborn == |
== The Reborn == |
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The Reborn are augmented supersoldiers developed by the US Government in order to avoid a Military Draft which already has cost the Government for |
The Reborn are augmented supersoldiers developed by the US Government in order to avoid a Military Draft which already has cost the Government for its controversy. |
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The Reborn are comprised of US |
The Reborn are comprised of US Soldiers considered MIA by the Army. The soldiers come from many branches of the US Military, ranging from regular Army to Special Forces. There are also "enemy combatants" in the Reborn ranks who have been taken prisoner, together with a small number of convicted criminals, illegal immigrants and homeless. The homeless subjects were the first to be tested with the new augmentations which were developed from alien technology; if the homeless subjects survived testing it was then moved to further stages. |
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The Reborn also sport the latest in experimental weaponry, including plasma rifles and a |
The Reborn also sport the latest in experimental weaponry, including plasma rifles and a shotgun-like weapon with greatly increased stopping power. Dossiers recovered in the game show that some Reborn were trained in the use of experimental weaponry. Somers voices his dislike of the plasma rifle for its high level of complexity. |
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Many Reborn |
Many Reborn soldiers have received a varying range of cybernetic implants to the face and body. These may serve a number of purposes from increased speed, strength and durability to sensory acuity or possible a built-in intercom system. |
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The Reborn |
The Reborn scouts in particular have the most heavy concentration of cybernetics. In fact, half of their body is a machine with large guns located on the shoulders; only the head, arms and torso remain. |
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== Graphics == |
== Graphics == |
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Revision as of 03:59, 6 February 2008
| BlackSite: Area 51 | |
|---|---|
| File:Bsa51cov.jpg | |
| Developer(s) | Midway Studios Austin |
| Publisher(s) | Midway |
| Designer(s) | Harvey Smith |
| Engine | Modified Unreal Engine 3 |
| Platform(s) | Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 |
| Release |
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| Genre(s) | First-person Shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
BlackSite: Area 51 is a first-person shooter video game, released for Xbox 360 and Windows on November 12, 2007 in North America, with a PlayStation 3 version coming a few weeks later. The game is mostly unrelated to the 2005 Multi-platform game Area 51. The game was developed by Midway Austin and published by Midway. A demo of the game for the Xbox 360 was released via Xbox Live Marketplace on May 11 2007. A PS3 demo was released December 11, 2007, though a PC demo has yet to be announced.
The game has been noted for its cynical political commentary, which challenges the often black and white viewpoint of many first person shooters with an unusually messy and nebulous situation.[2] Characters comment on the injustice of the military's treatment of prisoners or wounded soldiers, the ethics of torture and other controversial subjects related to the War on Terror. Many level names are plays on speeches or comments made by members of the Bush Administration regarding the Iraq War, i.e. "Last Throes", "Stay the Course" and "Misunderestimate".
Story
 | This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. (December 2007) |
The game is set in and around the eponymous secret military research facility in Nevada. Currently, modern day fears come to life in a familiar yet completely extraordinary setting: A small American town which is now swarming with alien life. The government is desperate to keep the terrible secrets about Area 51 from the populace. Everything now depends on the action of Aeran Pierce, a Delta Force soldier sent into one of the most explosive moments in American history.
As the game begins, you and your squad are on a mission in Iraq to investigate a facility supposedly holding chlorine bombs. Upon entering the facility, you are attacked by horribly mutated humans which your team's doctor passes off as a bad case of encephalitis. Deep under the facility, you find a strange object of apparent alien origin that, when touched by your teammate Somers, awakens hostile creatures nearby. Pierce and the team barely escape with their lives, although Somers is lost to the creatures.
Three years later, you are called in to help with a situation in Nevada. A heavily-armed militia has taken control of the decommissioned military base at Groom Lake (Area 51). You meet up with your old team members from Iraq and you learn that you were brought in because some of the same creatures you fought in Iraq have been seen around the town of Rachel, Nevada; the town closest to the base. You drive to Rachel, meeting more and more resistance and destruction as you go, beginning with mysterious black helicopters and escalating into full-out battles with 'Flatheads' (large subterranean) creatures and heavily armed soldiers known as "Reborn", one of which unarmed and dying is revealed to have the dog tags of a US soldier. You make your way through Rachel, meeting help in the form of locals (who all sadly die). Once you meet up with a surviving squad you discover that Somers was found stumbling through the town confused but unharmed.
He explains that the US military has been testing on the populace to create a biological soldier program to help create soldiers without forcing people into service with a draft and avoiding the stigma that only lower-class families are targeted for service. First homeless people were experimented on, and it progressed to regular soldiers and even Delta Force members. One of your squadmates believes him, but another isn't quite sure.
Upon returning to the base, Somers snaps and shoots Grayson (your teammate) and leaves with the Reborn. After fending off a massive Reborn attack, you and your teammates leave the base to face Somers at the Groom Lake facility when your helicopter is shot down and one of your teammates is killed in the crash. You and your surviving two teammates manage to progress through the ruined base and reach the lower levels (Grayson dies when he is attacked while rappelling down a ruined stairwell and falls to his death) and confront Somers, who is planning on releasing a xenobiotic spore into the atmosphere as a means of getting revenge on the US government for its horrible treatment of its soldiers. Pierce manages to defeat Somers, and escape before the military completely destroys the Groom Lake facility.
The Reborn
The Reborn are augmented supersoldiers developed by the US Government in order to avoid a Military Draft which already has cost the Government for its controversy.
The Reborn are comprised of US Soldiers considered MIA by the Army. The soldiers come from many branches of the US Military, ranging from regular Army to Special Forces. There are also "enemy combatants" in the Reborn ranks who have been taken prisoner, together with a small number of convicted criminals, illegal immigrants and homeless. The homeless subjects were the first to be tested with the new augmentations which were developed from alien technology; if the homeless subjects survived testing it was then moved to further stages.
The Reborn also sport the latest in experimental weaponry, including plasma rifles and a shotgun-like weapon with greatly increased stopping power. Dossiers recovered in the game show that some Reborn were trained in the use of experimental weaponry. Somers voices his dislike of the plasma rifle for its high level of complexity.
Many Reborn soldiers have received a varying range of cybernetic implants to the face and body. These may serve a number of purposes from increased speed, strength and durability to sensory acuity or possible a built-in intercom system.
The Reborn scouts in particular have the most heavy concentration of cybernetics. In fact, half of their body is a machine with large guns located on the shoulders; only the head, arms and torso remain.
Graphics
The game is currently using Midway's modified Unreal 3 engine that was developed for Stranglehold. This will allow for more realistic graphics and effects, such as having rain bounce off of your current weapon. Many destructible objects will be featured, but most of the environment will not be alterable. In the demo, the sign next to where the player begins is shot, one of the AI squad members will say "Yeah, I hate those prices too." This is hopefully one of the examples of interactivity between the landscape, you and the AI.
Gameplay
| This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. (December 2007) |
BlackSite: Area 51 is a first-person shooter. The player will assume the role of Aeran Pierce who has been tasked on different things since arriving in Rachel, Nevada. There are different stages in the area, although the first stage is alien-free and the only enemies are rebels in Iraq [1].
One of the features of the game is squad tactics. For example, the player can order a teammate to move on a location, attack a certain enemy and set charges on certain items. Throughout the course of the game, there are times when the player will ride on a vehicle controlling its gun.
Most of the vehicle scenario will pit the player on defending a location from attacks. The game will also feature a morale system for each member of Aeran's team. For example, if the squad is not performing well in battle and is losing or taking a lot of damage from the enemy, the player's squad will start to lose morale which will start to decrease their ability in fighting, lessening their damage and the chances they will hit a target. Also, if the squad has a very low morale, they would possibly rather run away from battle. In other words, if the squad is performing well in battle, they will gain morale increasing their fighting ability, enhancing their damage and defense. Also, the squad will be much more accurate on hitting an enemy and the chances of them on fighting enemies head on will increase.
Aside from the HK416 and MK23 handgun featured in the demo, the FGM-148 Javelin missile launcher and the sniper variant of the canceled XM8 assault rifle are the only other weapons confirmed for the game. Factor 5 confirms that the player will be able to use weapons of the Reborn on later stages. Also, the player will be able to move during cinematic events much like Half-Life 2.
Multiplayer
The multiplayer will feature modes such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture-the-Flag, Siege,and Human VS. Reborn. The Siege and Human VS. Reborn are different and unique. It lets the teams attempt to control each of the levels territories while trying to capture one another.
The Deathmatch mode will have a maximum number of players and will allow for most of the available maps. The maximum number of players for the online portion of the game is 10. There is no split screen multiplayer.
Online Cooperative was planned originally but has since been cancelled on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3: http://au.ps3.ign.com/articles/828/828904p1.html
Demo
On May 11, 2007 a demo for the Xbox 360 was released on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The demo is set early in the game in the town of Rachel, Nevada, the closest civilian settlement to Area 51. Armed with an HK416 and Mark 23 handgun, Pierce and his two-man squad search what remains of the alien-infested town for another squad, later found dead. The demo ends after a red flare is seen in the distance, signifying that some members of the squad survived, and Pierce witnesses a massive alien organism fall from the sky only to land in front of the squad sending a shockwave and cars flying. The demo mentions a "Human Vs. Reborn" multiplayer mode, suggesting that the alien lifeforms are a reborn form of something else, hence the suggestion that they are modified humans. A second demo was released onto Xbox Live Marketplace, a week after the game's release[2].
Reception
The game received mixed reviews, receiving a meta critic rating of (As of November 29, 2007), 68 for PC, and 65 for Xbox 360. [3]
On November 29th 2007, Harvey Smith the game's designer, came out publicly to announce how ruined the game's development schedule was. He claimed the schedule caused the low reviews due to the fact they were not able to test the game properly. [4]
Some gamers have claimed that Blacksite is a old game in a new world, losing favour in the quality of the graphics, the dissapointing array of weapons, and a overall gameplay. [citation needed]
References
- ^ a b "Midway Q2 financial results. BlackSite dated". GamerNode. Retrieved August 2.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/commentary/games/2007/11/gamesfrontiers_1119