Blacklight: Tango Down - Review

Story - 4/10
The story in BTD, is really just there as an explanation for the ruined cities, high-tech armor, and different factions. Otherwise the story in this game isn't really that great or relevant, and I'm sure nobody is going to take the time to go through the single player campaign, unless they do it co-op style. Otherwise, the story mode is bland and nothing special.

Gameplay - 7/10
I'll be completely honest, at first when I played this game, I absolutely hated it. If you're looking for a Modern Warfare experience here, prepare for a big surprise. The game is very fast, characters move quickly, and die quickly. If you thought that the COD series was fast paced, than you haven't seen this game. At first I really hated this fact, as it's very difficult to snipe or camp in this game, but the more I played, the more it grew on me. After awhile it started feeling more like Golden Eye on the N64 than it did a new suited up game, it went back to the days of real "running and gunning", as it's very fast paced. Just to put things in perspective, I usually get around 5-20 kills in MW2 when I play in Death Match (depends how skilled my opponents are). During BTD, after my first few games, I was averaging a minimum of 20 kills up to 32 per game, and I wasn't coming in first, I was more in the middle. It's because killing and respawning happens very quickly in this game. Overall some of the gameplay mechanics leave a little to be desired, but the game offers a really great experience once it grows on you. One thing I did really love, is the controls are literally the exact same as Modern Warfare 2, so there's no learning curve for the controls, just the gameplay itself.

Visuals - 7/10
Alright, my complaints about the graphics are fairly minimal, and more less about the hype than they are about the graphics themselves. The graphics in this game are very good for a 15 dollar PSN/XBL game, I'll definitely give it that. However in many advertisements and reviews of this game, I heard that the graphics were on par with a "retail fps game like call of duty". This is simply not the case. The graphics are actually good in some areas, but terrible in others. I found that the game itself is really dark, making it hard to see, and the font they chose for the text is ridiculously hard to read, especially on my 19 inch standard definition tv. At times the animations look kind of like Doom or Quake animations, which is kind of hard to excuse when people are praising it as looking like a retail game. Once again, I'm in no way saying these visuals are terrible, because they really are good for a 15 dollar downloadable title. They just aren't what they're made out to be, that's all.

Content - 10/10
I'll be honest, the content in this game is amazing for the 15 dollars you're paying. There are tons of guns with lots of customization options, plus a ton of different tags and armor to collect. There is also 12 maps (13 on the PSN version), and a couple different modes. The amount of content for the price is nothing short of amazing, nuff said.

Music - 7/10
The audio in this game is nothing real special or memorable, there isn't much voice acting aside from your typical grunts and moans from player's characters. The music isn't the coolest thing since ice, but it's fitting for the surroundings, and is suitable for the game that's being played. Otherwise, there isn't much to complain about.

Multiplayer - 7/10
The multiplayer is really the soul of this game, and the centerpiece, seeing as the single player campaign is kind of crap. You have your typical death match, team death match, and what not online, and you have up to 4 player split-screen co-op offline. Here's where it gets me though, there's no split-screen local play at all. This wouldn't irritate me if it weren't for the fact that they did include split-screen co-op, meaning that it was completely left out. I love to play online, and this package would suck without the ability to do so, but the fact I can't have a fun game against 3 of my buddies locally sucks. They kind of dropped the ball on leaving it out. Also the online I found to be very laggy at times, which in a game that's based online, it's not good. It was pretty often at first, but cooled down later, hopefully this is something they'll get on soon.

Lasting Appeal - 7/10
There is truly a lot of content in this game, and due to it being an online game, it's a game you'll be coming
 back to more than once. The only thing it really doesn't have going for it is the fact that it simply isn't a retail game like MW2, BBC2, or Medal of Honor. I just don't see there being enough of a fan base to keep the game alive for a long time. Had they included local split-screen, I'd give it a better score, because this is definitely a fun and different experience that I'd love to play with friends at parties.

Overall - 7/10
Blacklight: Tango Down didn't really choose the best release date for the PS3, as Medal of Honor is out and Call of Duty: Black Ops is right around the corner. Otherwise I'd say this game is a great game to cure your fix till the next fps game is out. However that shouldn't discourage you from making a purchase, as this game is a very different and an equally fun experience. If you have room for only one FPS game in your heart, then you may want to pass this one up, but if you have a few fives in your wallet, this may be a wise purchase for you. My recommendation would be to download the demo. The demo offers you 20 minutes of gameplay, allows you to play online with other owners of the game, and if you do decide to purchase it, all the items you unlocked in the 20 minutes of demo you played, all the customizations you made, will all transfer over. Also if you like Doom or Quake, I'd seriously take a look at this game, I have a feeling you may really like it.