Boisterous explosions and booming gunfire make up BLACK's defining moments. Approaching the game with conflicting expectations will likely yield disappointment. BLACK is not a gentle and efficient ride. BLACK is not an all-in-one wonder vessel aimed to merely satisfy the everyday needs of the average commuter. The game is instead a one-trick pony. Ignoring conventions that might increase consumer appeal, BLACK aims to indulge only desires for raw power and relentless force. A vehicle for the masses BLACK is not. Rather, it's an expertly crafted machine stripped of comforts and intricately geared for excitement.

Like any proper vehicle of performance, BLACK's innards are decidedly utilitarian; its core is rock-solid and pure though lacking in luxuries consumers expect from the genre. BLACK doesn't boast state-of-the-art enemy AI, instead offering simple, consistent, and sometimes brainless opposition. While some may find fault with this modest approach, the enemy AI is completely functional and serves the game's design. In the same pragmatic way, the core design of the game is extremely simple, almost bare. No complexities—no puzzles, no story, no mission variety—distract from BLACK's essential experience. Such frills might be missed in a less focused excursion, but BLACK successfully proves their nonnecessity in the face of explosive performance.

BLACK's triumphs lie in performance and styling. A relentless gunfire tempo is set the moment the game starts and the throttle is nudged. A firmer push of the pedal kickstarts a series of awesome explosions and dust clouds that hits redline and never lets up. Of the game's eight missions, seven deliver a constant rush of gunplay and gripping entropy that, in some ways, embarrasses BLACK's rivals. No other game boasts the level of environmental destruction achieved in BLACK, an achievement that's much more than a simple technical showcase. Each and every bullet violently ejected into BLACK's claustrophobic environemnts evokes a reaction that litters the view with rubble and dust. At moments, the only sight of enemies is the flash of gunfire through a dense cloud of debris. Sharp contrasts and blinding floodlights enhance the effect, creating an impressively visceral world unmatched by the efforts of other shooters.

Such a thrilling ride deserves an equally electrifying exhaust                          

note, a demand BLACK happily satisfies with some of the best audio accompaniment in the industry. Explosions and gunfire yield affecting noise—sharp thunderous cracks and pounding double-bass rhythms, respectively—and augment the intensity of every moment. With music designated to the understated background, the sound effects enjoy free rein over aural affairs. Without question, BLACK's audio components satisfy beyond necessity. More accurately, BLACK's audio qualities set a new standard of excellence.

If complaints must be filed, then it's worth noting that not all of BLACK's ferocious core is uncompromised. This supercar brute is hampered by a bit of excess weight in the way of secondary objectives that distract from BLACK's best moments. With the default difficulty setting, few enough objectives are required that it's possible to completely ignore them (they'll happen on their own), but harder diffuclties require careful scouring of the massive levels and a complete arrest of the visceral excitement BLACK so eagerly strives to deliver. This compromise was made, no doubt, to lengthen the game experience, an appeasement to consumers apt to criticize concision. Unfortunately, it's a compromise at the expense of BLACK's best qualities and a compromise that would've been better rejected.

Any loss in horsepower at the hands of said excess baggage is sufficiently supplanted by BLACK's English civilities. The game's fit and finish is rivaled by few other games, strengthened by an impressively solid framework that never seems to skip a beat. Death animations are tight and scripted, avoiding the pitfalls of unregulated ragdoll. Explosive material—of which there is plenty—dots the landscape in aesthetically sound patterns, giving way to deliberate light shows simply too impresive for the aging platform on which BLACK runs. Every element of BLACK is executed with surgeon-esque perfection, almost to the point of frigid sterility. This flirting stoicism confirms BLACK's British lineage and lends to the game a quality that's all its own.

Unlike the raucous TVR Sagaris, BLACK is not resigned to European exclusivity (it also doesn't cost fifty-thousand English pounds). Forsaking the chance to get behind the wheel of this British muscle is unconscionable. To naysayers: Without question, BLACK is a single-minded one-trick pony. To thrill-seekers: That lonely trick is very awesome.