BLACKSITE PREVIEW & SCREENS

Midway Austin’s alien-bashing FPS is due for release on PS3 on 14th September. A follow up to their excellent PS2 title Area 51, you are in charge of a special ops team sent to the sleepy Nevada town of Rachel (near to the infamous Area 51) in response to some sort of ‘incident’. On arrival, of course, you find all manner of genetic experiments and human-robot hybrids on the rampage, tearing up gas stations and smashing up diners.

Although it’s not a squad-based shooter as such, you can direct other team members to move, attack, kick down doors etc, and their morale is heavily dependent on how well you’re playing. If you’re terminating with extreme prejudice, pulling off headshots and dealing death like the devil’s own croupier, your squad will also up their game. If you’re titting around and getting shot up left, right and centre, your compadres tend to perform just as badly. A clever touch, which alongside impressive enemy AI makes for smart, realistic combat.

There are plenty of weapons at your disposal, including the cannons on gunships – useful against the bigger mutants. Thanks to the Unreal 3 engine, the physics are hyper-realistic and the graphics are lovely, with a good eye for terrain and weather detail. Have a look at these screenshots. We think it’s a quiet classic in the making.

Some more screens for you: