What's the first thing a player does when he plays Black? He gets out his pistol and he carefully aims it at the table in front. Blow anything to pieces? Yeah, right. So there I was, pistol cocked, looking down the barrel at the cherry wood, antique stained table. I pulled the trigger, there was a loud noise, and a hole appeared in the table, right where I was aiming. Bang, bang, bang - another three holes. Stepping closer to now slightly blemished table, I continued to fire; planks of the table eventually dropped out and when I shot the table legs, well, the four-legged beast lost its balance and fell over. Content with my new work of modern art, I grabbed the shotgun and proceeded to the door. I tried everything to get the door open - pressing every button on the pad, my man just wouldn't open it. Then it dawned on me. I pumped a round of lead into the door and it fell down. These were just some of the luxuries I would have to become accustomed to in Black. It wasn't going to be easy, but I'll sure as hell try to get my head around them.

From those rascals that brought us the classic series that is Burnout, comes a game for a completely different genre: the first person shooter. Christopher Martin says that this game, this shooting game, will be the Burnout of the genre. Forget your Perfect Darks or your Halos, this game has got destruction - and if anybody knows how to do destruction, it's Criterion Games.

To say everything and anything in this game is destructible is wrong, but everything has an effect when you shoot it. Even if that toughened steel doesn't break, you'll see shrapnel fly about in the air when you fire sixty rounds from your AK7 at it. Most things, however, can be destroyed - you can shoot a sign post and watch it realistically fall apart, shoot down doors, tear your way through broken trees, shoot out windows… and the overall effect is absolutely amazing. To be able to go around destroying the environment as well as slaughtering enemies is a great feeling; it's also a very good stress reliever too, when you're taking it out on the fence, which you could always envision as your next-door neighbour's. "That'll teach you to spy on my wife, you pervert!" while shooting down the fence, and making a mess of the lawn.

While destroying things plays a big part in opening new areas, such as breaking down doors to proceed, or shooting explosives to take down walls, the whole novelty of going round shooting a tree 'for the fun of it' wears off soon enough. It doesn't wear thin, but it doesn't have the same appeal as it did when you first shot that table on the first level. Once you've looked past the destruction, what have you got?

You have a high budget storyline for one. Black plays like it has had millions spent on it. The whole story behind the game must have taken some time to put together, it's gripping, it's enthralling and it's movie quality - especially the way it's shot. Before each mission, or at least at the start of the game, you'll see snippets of this very well done conversation between this prisoner and this guy who's going to help him, if he co-operates. I'm not going to spoil anything, but the way the whole thing is shot is amazing; you see angles of the room, you never see either person, only parts of them. The helper wears glasses and looks quite smart, while the prisoner smokes, and soon these icons become their identifiers in these very well scripted scenes. It all looks realistically acted too.

There are a lot of things to do on each level; obviously you have to complete the primary objectives, but the secondary objectives, well, you only have to complete a small number of the many on offer if you're playing on Normal mode, a few more on Hard mode, but none whatsoever on Easy mode. Once you've completed your secondary mission quota, you can go out of your way to complete and discover the others, leaving behind a little bit of lasting appeal on each level if you choose not to do them all the first time around. Secondary missions aren't as involving as the primary ones, but it's nice to be able to do them, if not just to admire the surrounding environments.

You also get some great shooting action - the guns in this game are absolutely incredible in very respect. Fantastically good looking, tremendously effective in battle and so very realistic to use. The shotgun for example feels like you're holding a big powerful gun, even though you're only holding a light PS2 pad. When you pull the trigger and see flashes of white and yellow, rounds go everywhere, enemies fall, blood flies and bits of environment are destroyed, well - that feels good. There's no doubting that this game is a blast from start to finish - when your finger is on the trigger, you're generally having fun.

There is something though. You can probably tell. I've built you up with so many positives, so many small positives, but now I have a few bombshells to drop - a few home truths, a few things you might not like to read. Sure, this game has balls, it has looks and it has things that regular shooters don't have, but there lies the problem. What Black has over other games in the genre, other games in the genre generally have twice as much over Black - this game is constantly in checkmate against other big shooters such as Perfect Dark Zero and Halo 2.

If simplicity was the intention here, then forgive me for being blunt, but underneath the blasting, and when you have your finger off the trigger and you're walking around, you are overcome with quite a basic, somewhat mediocre feeling. You can't crawl along the floor, you cannot sneak around, you cannot enter a camp without being seen - everybody comes for you from miles away. You can't roll about, you can't jump, you cannot peer around corners - you can't even throw a grenade like a man. All these little things, which could have made shooting fans feel at home, simply aren't here, leaving the overall game feeling a little bleak. No multiplayer either, now there's a letdown if there ever was one. Wouldn't it have being fantastic to play death match around the fully destructible environments? I think so. Such a shame.

But when Dex puts his finger back on the trigger, everything feels better again. People die, I smile, and I'm having a good time. The only other problem is that the game only has eight levels. Sure, the levels are well crafted, but the game is over far too quickly. I suppose the game ends before the whole thing wears thin and you can always go back to other levels and complete secondary objectives on harder difficulty levels, or explore for alternative routes.

Graphically the game is superb - I was expecting dark surroundings with a name like Black, but luckily I was dead wrong. As I keep on mentioning, the environments are luscious and lovely looking, but the best thing is that they're fully destructible - as you should already be aware by this point. Detailed down to the smallest touch, with debris flying everywhere, Black is home to some of the best graphics ever seen on the PS2. Criterion clearly know what they are doing when it comes to making use of the hardware they're programming for. It simply looks stunning and to see these graphics on a PS2, well - put it this way, you'd expect to see this quality on an Xbox 360. Guns, lifelike moving targets, everything just oozes quality and perfection.

The sound department is almost as good. An ambient soundtrack runs through the game, it doesn't really play a dominant role, it's not that noticeable, but then again we wouldn't want a heavy rock track in the background, would we? Black's sound merits are credited for the loud weaponry effects alone. Visually, the weapon effects are devastating, no matter if you point it at a lamp post, a house, or a living person - like the visuals, the sound for the weaponry is loud, it sounds dangerous and it sounds harmful. This is all you need to compliment fantastic graphics - this and the odd curse word from the bad guys. Don't forget the FMV either - the voice acting in that is also superb.

Black is an absolute blast to play from start to finish. Despite what I said about the rather basic gameplay underneath the destruction, I think the game should get a once over by any self-respecting gamer, fan of the genre or otherwise, as it's nice and simple, easy to play and yet difficult to put down. If you don't put it down though, the game will end too quickly - which isn't the best news considering the lack of multiplayer - a combination of both doesn't really do the lasting appeal any favors. Still, who doesn't want to blow up tables?

"I don't want to." - Ms. Tablesworth, Table Rights Group (TRG).

Reviewed by Dexter Pearson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).