Black9
- July 29, 2003 16:28 PM PST
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Nine Illuminati. Four nano-augmented mercenaries. A whole buncha ways to get them together.
The Illuminati like to keep secrets. So did Majesco with regards to Black9?until yesterday, that is, when they finally pulled their third-person science fiction action ?RPG? from behind the shadowy veil it?s been behind since E3.Black9 casts you in the role of a mercenary doing a series of jobs for the nine Illuminati?the secret super-powerful few who (as legend has it, even today) secretly run pretty much everything in the whole wide world. In this game, the Illuminati run warring science-fiction mega-corporations, each with a different goal and philosophy, be it the manipulation of genetics to achieve super-ultimate perfection, or just the pure desire to accumulate loads and loads of money.
The game uses a third-person perspective and Halo-style controls, making it easy to draw comparisons to Digital Anvil?s Brute Force?but there?s quite a bit more to it than that game?s very straightforward running-and-gunning. Black9 lets you choose one of four characters?a human or mutant, male or female?each of which has a base set of D&D-like states (STR, DEX, AGI, CHA). Players are assigned skill points based on how well they performed their mission objectives; skill points let them augment their stats, purchase nano-tech powers, etc., and at the game?s ?black market? (a chamber full of kiosks selling all sorts of mercenary warez) characters can purchase all sorts of guns, swords, and other gadgets to use on their missions. One of Taldren?s key goals in the development of the game is to provide plenty of different ways for the player to handle a situation?a character with a high hacking skill can move more quickly through computer-locked corridors; a character augmented with lots of nanotech would play almost like a magic-user in a fantasy-RPG, using all sorts of science fiction tricks to manipulate the elements and do all sorts of pseudo-supernatural stuff like frazzle security cameras with EM fields; a big brute with a gun would simply blow the crap out of all that stuff.
Despite the third-person perspective, right now the control feels very much like a first-shooter such as Halo, with generous auto-targeting on the Xbox. In order to prevent the sort of ?wall collision? camera problems that such a perspective can create, Taldren has made it so your character seamlessly and smoothly fades away when you?re backed into a corner without providing a distraction. In certain levels of the game, you?re given access to a winged jet pack that lets you soar about the level freely, sort of like Superman.
Black9 will support 4-player deathmatch and co-op play via system link Xbox Live, with an emphasis on forming ?squadrons??i.e., groups of specialized characters with different abilities that form a sort of customized SWAT team. While plenty of multiplayer games give you similar options (choose Medic, choose Soldier, choose Engineer), Black9 aims to give you more freedom in developing these ?jobs? yourself.
Black9 is coming this October for the Xbox; it?s also coming for the PC at the same time.
