Blacklight: Tango Down Hands-On Preview

13 May 2010 at 13:22:02 by

Now, there are some cynical gamers out there who view Xbox LIVE Arcade titles as unsophisticated, disposable novelties. I should know, I was once one of them. After all, how can you expect a game with a relatively small file size limit to compete with the AAA retail releases? It seems as if Zombie Studios may have found an answer with Blacklight: Tango Down.

Once you start peeling away at the layers of the online shooter, you realise there's an unexpected level of depth to Blacklight. Most importantly, this is a FULL game, and the developers have told us that you can expect this to keep you as occupied for as long as other, compelling, first person shooter titles especially as the emphasis is on multiplayer. Not only does this offer a huge variety of maps of varying size (allowing up to 16 players per map, the game also offers a plethora of game modes. Seven to be precise, and of course you can expect your favourites such as capture the flag, to feature.

And then you have another surprise, and that's customisation. The game affords you a lot of customisation options, primarily for your weapons. With 13 scopes, 30 magazine types, nine stocks, 20 barrels and over 100 weapon tags (like a charm bracelet for your gun), Zombie Studios reckons there are "millions" of possible weapon combinations, making this a truly personal experience.

What's more, Zombie studios has used the Unreal 3 engine, and has managed to squeeze the game into a file size which won't exceed 2GB. And because it's distributed digitally, it means the game shouldn't cost an arm and a leg.  According to Jared Gerritzen, project lead and lead game designer, the game will only set you back 1200 MS points, so around £10 GBP, €14 EUR and $15 USD. Not bad considering the MW2 map pack cost as much, and offered less.

But as impressive as the figures are, the proof is still in the pudding. There is no point in singing the praises of a game which ultimately doesn't engage its audience. And following the claims that this game would "ruin a lot of people's day" from Gerritzen, we were keen to get hands-on with it.

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