Black9

• by Star Dingo
• July 29, 2003 00:00 AM PST

Nine Illuminati. Four nano-augmented mercenaries. A whole buncha ways to get them together.

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.

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