In retrospect, it made complete sense. Too bad it never happened again!
Through Criterion has been making games since 1996’s PC-only action game Scorched Planet, the studio really made a name for itself when Burnout was released in 2001. The frantic racer was defined by its technical prowess and tight gameplay, prompting Criterion to release three sequels — Burnout 2: Point of Impact, Burnout 3: Takedown, Burnout Revenge — by 2005.
It was shocking, then, when Criterion announced it was making a first person shooter where Criterion promised players could blow everything up.
Yes, that actually happened.
Black was announced at E3 2004 with a reportedly impressive technical demo that a few journalists played. The demo was so barebones that it didn’t even feature any working AI for the enemies.
So what was so great about it? The deafeningly loud gunfire affected the environment in a manner far more spectacular than we’ve seen in any shooter to date. Criterion acknowledged that what its developers are attempting to do with Black is capture the sheer, gut-wrenching drama of intense Hollywood gunfights. That means as bullets all hit their marks, they do what you’d expect bullets to do — from having grown up watching action movies. They cause debris, dust, and smoke to spray every which way. They cause glass to shatter all over the place, and they sometimes ricochet and hit things that were not intended targets. The logic goes like this: In Black, missing one’s target ought to be as thrilling as actually hitting it.
You can get a sense of this in the game’s trailer.
We take destructibility for granted in 2016; back then, it was revelatory.
Per an IGN preview by Jeremy Dunham from January 2006:
That can is probably one of my favourite aspects of BLACK so far, and it’s the straightforward ability to blow up just about anything. Apparently the rule at Criterion when making the game was, “if players saw an object or structure they thought they should be able to destroy then they could.” If you see a gas station with a couple of pumps in front of it, for example, you can kiss that sucker goodbye and engulf it in a massive ball of flame. If you see a mine on the ground next to an enemy target that is blocking the next spot on your objective list, you can shoot it to set it off (and others around it) for huge chain reaction results. And if your enemies are taking cover behind wooden crates or buildings, you can be sure that it will chip away while you shoot it.
Though Black had a story and there were characters, that wasn’t the game’s focus. Black was about guns, so much so that developers had coined the game’s genre “gun porn”. (Do not look up that term in Google, trust me.)
One of the first things you notice while playing the game is the sound design — the guns really “pop” and the explosions are deafening, even now.
The game was beloved when it was released, praised by reviewers and players alike. Almost immediately, people were clamouring for Black 2, especially since the original game hit just as new hardware was arriving.
Early in the Xbox 360’s life, Black was one of the most demanded for backwards compatibility. Per a Eurogamer piece from 2006:
“I keep reading all over forums that we’re going to make a 360 version of BLACK, and it’s just not true,” Ward told Eurogamer this week.
And he gave us the first confirmation that the Guildford-based team is planning a next gen sequel when he said: “The only time you’ll see [the BLACK franchise] on the Xbox 360 is when we make BLACK 2 on it in a few years.”
Black 2 was apparently rushed into development, and while it was discussed at various points, the game was never formally shown or released.
Unseen 64 has a comprehensive look at what little we know about Black 2, but evidence suggests it was to be a co-op shooter for Xbox 360 and PS3.
Despite recurring rumours of Black 2 rumbling for several years after the release of the original game, its development was, in actuality, rather short-lived and it never was able to leave pre-production. As it turns out, EA and Criterion had plans to expand Black into a franchise for some time before the first game was even released. Preliminary work on the sequel commenced as early as April 2005, a whole 10 months before Black was finished.
Artists were contracted externally to produce conceptual documents for the game, including drawings of the protagonist, Jack Kellar. According to one of the artists who spent a short period of time on the project, there was some debate over the direction the follow-up would take. One possible path, for example, would have continued the story of the first game, as Kellar continues his hunt for Lennox at the behest of the US government.
A concept trailer was made for the game, too, but has remained a secret. However, Criterion founder Alex Ward once posted several images from the trailer on Twitter, though they have since been deleted. Thanks to Unseen 64:
We haven’t heard much about Black 2 in recent years, partially because the project seemed buried, partially because Criterion isn’t the same studio any more. A bunch of staff were laid off (or transferred to another developer) in 2013, and several chief creatives, including Ward, left in 2014.
Comments
28 responses to “That Time Burnout’s Developers Made A First Person Shooter”
DUDE, I FUCKING LOVED BLACK! I couldn’t understand why none of my friends had heard about it cause it was so much fun! I couldn’t believe how good it looked back then
I effing loved Black.
*swoon*
Such an underrated shooter. I remember this came really late in the PS2’s life cycle, and it blew me away. Also one of the best looking PS2 titles I’d seen to date. It looked goooood. Also need to remember this game predates quality FPS titles on console being a staple, and as such it really stood out.
I love when a console gets really late into it’s cycle and then a couple of games come along that just really show what a console is capable of. Seems it can take years before developers really learn to wring every last bit out of a console.
I haven’t heard of this game, you’ve got me thinking about Perfect Dark though!
It’s all about the guns.
Just when I was getting tired of shooting things in the face, Black reminded me how much fun it could be. I really loved this one.
I don’t remember it being shocking that it existed… I remember publications noting it’s a shooter from Criterion but i’m not sure what was so earth-shatteringly SHOCKING about it.
God this was an amazing game
Apart form the satisfying destruction, the two main things I remember about Black was it’s ‘gun porn’ title screen and one line of dialogue about 2/3 through the game:
“I hate to rain on yer f***in’ parade here but how do you propose we get by all these swingin’ dicks”
Oh yes.. “that” game.. I’d completely forgot about it. I did buy it back in the day, but didn’t have a PC capable of playing at the time.. I was in one of those dreadful in-between stages with the PC where I could play most games and could only afford to upgrade the things that would not see any gaming performance… I wonder if I should bother going back to play it again now..
It was a PS2/Xbox game.
Oh really? Hrmm.. must be thinking of a different game then..
I remember reading the preview for it in Hyper, and it sounding amazing. Though then I think by the time the review swung around, their impressions were fairly mediocre and it sounded like it had almost changed into a different game from then?
Though the lack of GameCube release also helped temper my enthusiasm 😛
That’s because Criterion was known for Burnout, which was balls-to-the-wall crazy racing action, and when they were informed about Black it sounded like a crazy balls-to-the-wall shooting game; and it wasn’t.
It’s still a pretty decent game, it’s just so disappointing considering its potential. The closest games to what we were expecting a Urban Chaos: Riot Response (by Rocksteady) and Bulletstorm (by People Can Fly)
Black was fantastic! I remember I had just bought my first speaker set up and hearing those gunfights cranked through the speakers and sub was almost overwhelming.
This was a bloody fantastic game at the time. One of those latter-day PS2 games that seemed to show no respect whatsoever for what the limitations of that hardware were supposed to be.
It didn’t age well, though… I went back and had a crack at it for nostalgia’s sake about midway through the PS3’s lifespan and yeah… console FPS’s had moved on a fair bit in that time. Sad that Criterion never got around to doing another one, though.
Black was great, and they’re currently making the thrilling sequel. It’s called dangerous golf.
Brilliant game. Loved how it revelled in cliches and tropes such as explosive barrels on purpose. This game to this day still outdoes most fps in terms of fun and gunplay.
Man, Black was incredible. I would turn the bass alllllll the way up while listening to trance music. God, nostalgia to the max.
I heard Black 2 is going to be called Orange…because it’s the new black.
Alright, I’ll show myself out the door…
You just won the internet!
At least someone appreciates me 🙂
While criterion itself never made a follow up, when most of the team responsible left criterion they made a spiritual successor called bodycount and sweet merciless babies is it garbage.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodycount_(video_game)
Awesome shooter released at the end of a console cycle when everyone was moving onto the next generation.
Black… I swoon at the gun Porn. Lovely lovely gun Porn and destroyed building walls
I only ever played the demo back in the day and remember it being awesome. Now I own a proper copy and it’s aged terribly. The controls were designed pre-Halo CE, and are thus terrible. the AI is also friggin retarded
I remembered their design mantra was to “make the guns the stars” and it worked! The length of the levels was pretty good too. Though the autosaves were a bit too few and far between.
The guns and the shooting were indeed fantastic. It’s just so unfortunate that the ‘story’ and the last ‘boss’ (and last levels really) were such piss.