Some updated info from IGN and what to expect at E3.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/795/795808p1.html

June 11, 2007 - At Midway's Gamer's Day this past January, we had the chance to wrap our hands around the company's follow-up to its 2005 extra-terrestrial shooter Area 51. We were highly impressed with what we saw of BlackSite: Area 51 back then, but it's been awhile since we'd seen anything new. To quell our craving for more alien madness, Midway dropped by our offices today to give us a look at what it'll be showing of the game at this year's E3.

The game opens up with a short tour of duty in Iraq that takes place a few years before the events of the rest of the game. Your outing in Iraq has you seeking out a high-level terrorist who is supposedly in possession of some weapons of mass destruction, and the events here lead to your inclusion in the oddness that unfolds a number of years later. As you might assume, being that this is a game about aliens, the guy you're seeking out doesn't have your everyday variety of WMDs.

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The section in Iraq that we saw was roughly the middle 20% of the scenario with you charging upon a small village in search of these weapons. You're already in charge here and have access to the squad commands that you'll be using for the rest of the game, and the ever-changing morale effects already begin showing their usefulness. For instance, after having sniped a soldier up on a balcony and having been praised by the team, one member then quickly snuck up to the next doorway and stealthily sliced the throat of another soldier.

This teammate goes by the name of Noa, a woman you meet up with in Iraq and who looks to play a part in the bulk of the game's events. She knows more than she's letting on, which means that while you might not be able to trust her, but she can also prove to be a huge asset at times.

Shortly after the unfortunate soldier has his blood spilt on the ground, the group finds themselves on the second story of a building overlooking a courtyard where a group of soldiers defend something they don't want you gaining access to. Making use of the nearby turrets, they don't stand much of a chance.

One thing this section helps show off is some of the new destructibility effects that have been added thanks to the Massive D tech seen in Stranglehold. The team moved over bits of the technology and has enabled some of the environment to be blown to bits, like walls that can be used for cover or high-standing statues that are begging to be blown apart. While not everything will be destructible, what is looks very convincing and reacts in a pretty realistic manner. In short, the game is more bullet-friendly than we'd previously seen it.

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The next scenario that we saw is entitled Quarantine and takes place in crazy ol' Nevada, the place where aliens seem to love to hang out. Starting right outside of the Little A'Le'Inn, an actual restaurant/bar just outside of Area 51, your squad starts in to find any survivors in the area. Working through the establishment and then out back towards some trailers, a number of xenophobes called the Drudge scurry about on their spider-like legs and mess with soda machines and other scenery. One thing that the developer is working hard to do is create nice "introductions" for each creature and even encounter, never just placing you into a room chock-full of new enemies. In this case, one Drudge at a soda machine just before you light it up with bullets, while others attempt to climb up and into a nearby hanger.

After dispatching all of the nearby Drudge and entering the hanger, you come in contact with a southern fellow who owns the adjacent gas station. He mumbles and rambles a bit, but somewhere in his diatribe you learn that nearby troops are making their way in force to the area.

The third section that we saw picked up shortly after the events in the trailer park and sees you having been grouped up with the incoming military force and riding in a helicopter. This section starts out as a rail shooter segment where you'll be firing upon ground-based troops (and other things) but eventually sees you exit the vehicle and return to ground-based gameplay.

This change in gameplay style works throughout the entire game where mechanics will constantly be mixed up. At times you'll work alone, while at others you'll have anywhere between two and four soldiers in your squad. Driving missions will also play a part as you'll sometimes be behind the wheel of a Humvee while other missions will have you manning a turret while someone else drives. And of course, there are the missions where you're a gunner in a chopper...

In this third scenario, you peer out the side of a helicopter as countless other choppers fly beside you in formation over and through the canyons and mountains of Nevada. Looking down to the ground, a massive convoy of Humvees and jeeps ride along to their destination, only to come to a stop at a crash site where a number of vans seem to have collided with an oil tanker. Hovering above them, you can see a trooper approach the scene to see if there are any survivors, only to be decimated as a large worm-like alien creature pops out of the ground and begins wriggling in place.

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Just down the road in the center of the convoy another worm lurches out from the pavement and rises a good forty feet or so in the air. As you fire upon from the sky, they volley with some slow-moving projectiles that you need to take out before they damage your ride. Just as the two worms are taken out, a number of Humvees from down the road approach, driven by reborn soldiers that have been mutated and enhanced with some sort of alien technology. The welcoming committee then begins opening fire upon everyone in sight and you need to return fire quickly before your chopper is downed. A number of nearby oil tankers and other vehicles make for nice explosives and help take out groups of soldiers at a time.

After dispatching these soldiers, what's left of your fleet crosses a nearby ridge and a giant bridge comes into view. The site would be utterly serene except that a large alien creature sits snuggly in the center of the bridge as it literally shakes off incoming machinegun fire from ground troops who soon thereafter meet their maker. The creature, a larger version of the worms from just beforehand, would stand a good 100 feet in the air if its "neck" was upright. The beast is almost octopus-like with a number of extremely long tentacles that swipe at everything nearby - including your chopper, which it can send spiraling if it gets too close.

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This scene is easily the coolest that we saw today, capped off by the creature's death. As it breaths its last breath, or whatever it does to survive, it slowly slinks off one side of the bridge as it grabs a hold of the road. As it eventually falls, it rips the bridge apart and carries tons of concrete down with it. It's one of the coolest deaths we've seen in a long time.

As the beast plummets into the abyss, Noa's chopper spirals out of control and crashes at a nearby base camp. Landing and taking to the ground at the camp, your chopper takes off with your partner inside, allowing you to give him commands and have him take out reborn soldiers. Used properly, he can decimate everything in site rather quickly, but if you prefer to do things on your own you can pick up a Javelin, a homing rocket launcher that absolutely dominates anything you can manage to get locked-on in your reticule.

This section ends when everyone is dead, Noa is rescued and the two of you board your chopper once again. Midway was mum on what happens next, but it's clear that Area 51 itself is to be your final destination.

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sick!!!

Just a question, the 360 had a demo right? Didn't people report the demo to be "ok" rather than spectacular.

Just a question, the 360 had a demo right? Didn't people report the demo to be "ok" rather than spectacular.



It's more of a teaser than a demo. I don't think it lasts more than 5 minutes.

It sure would be nice to get that 5 minute teaser for the PS3, too, though...

I actually really liked the 360 demo. I didn't like the framerate and screen tearing problems though it wasn't a final build.

I played the demo on my 360 and it was freakin awesome! I absolutely loved it. Very short. Starts slow and ends frenetically. The environment is completely destructible. The squad mechanics were spot on in my opinion because there are only general commands that don't get in the way of anything you want to do. No micromanaging. I really liked the feel of the weapons. The graphics were excellent. Very moody. Definitely an Unreal 3 engine game, but it does not have the overdone effects like Gears does which is a good thing. If I had to base my buying decision just on the demo I would pick it up for sure. Maybe not this year since I own all the systems and there are so many games coming. But this one could be a lot of fun. In fact, writing this makes me want to go and completely destroy that gas station once again!

I hope the Half-Life guys don't sue... it sure does look like a next-gen Half-Life to me.

Dreamaster

I played the 360 teaser.. Definitely a teaser.. not a demo.. I think it lasted about 2-3 minutes tops..

Great graphics.. easy to learn controls.. should be a winner on both consoles..

^^

Thanks for the positive initial impression guys. Hopefully the reviews follow suit.

It's got a storyline that I dig, so I'll give this one a try for sure.

The demo/teaser was a lot of fun and did look great for what it was. It was fun to shoot the street signs, neon signs, gas pumps, vending machines, etc. I was just kicking myself for blowing the gas pumps too early in the demo and not using them to my advantage against the aliens.

The demo/teaser was a lot of fun and did look great for what it was. It was fun to shoot the street signs, neon signs, gas pumps, vending machines, etc. I was just kicking myself for blowing the gas pumps too early in the demo and not using them to my advantage against the aliens.

I agree. It was too short but it looked and played fantastic. Hopefully, it will be a huge hit for both consoles.

I played the very short demo. I like the co op story mode. I like the look. I hope they have big badass alien boses. I also liked the semi destructive environment. You could blow up most of the gas station and signs. I think they will polish it up before sept.

Gamespot gets some hands-on time.....

http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/blacksite/news.html?sid=6172479&mode=recent&page=1

Earlier this week, during a meeting with Midway, we had an opportunity to spend some time with the latest Xbox 360 build of BlackSite: Area 51. Currently in development at Midway Austin, BlackSite: Area 51 is a first-person shooter that's predominantly set in and around the titular "secret" military research facility in Nevada. Our prior time with the game was limited to exploring the small town of Rachel, which we now know to be one of five distinct areas that you'll be doing battle in. On this occasion we were treated to gameplay sequences from three previously unseen locales: the Iraqi village of Ad Dawr (where Saddam Hussein was captured in 2003), another area of Rachel, and a road through the Nevada desert.

The first level of BlackSite: Area 51 is set in Iraq, a couple of years before the events that take place in subsequent levels. Your mission, which takes place during the current real-world conflict, is to enter the village of Ad Dawr, locate an underground bunker where weapons of mass destruction are being researched, and assassinate the guy running the operation. The portion of the mission that we saw started out on the dusty streets of the sun-bleached village and, after moving through the rooms and corridors of a dimly lit makeshift clinic, ended with a lengthy battle in a large courtyard. The environment featured more destructible elements than we've seen in previous builds of the game (including the Xbox Live Arcade demo), including almost all of the most obvious objects to take cover behind, and a statue of a former dictator that we were able to shoot the limbs off.

We were accompanied by a couple of squadmates for the duration of the Iraq sequence, and it didn't take long for us realize that they each had quite different personalities. This mostly became evident through conversations, but also in the ways that they reacted when our orders didn't meet with their approval (sending them into an exposed area during a gunfight, for example) and the game's morale system kicked in. One of our team didn't say an awful lot, but the other was quick to voice her displeasure and made sarcastic comments on more than one occasion. In addition to affecting how your colleagues interact with you vocally, the morale system will have an impact on how effectively they follow your orders. If you keep your squad in cover and make sure you get involved in firefights at least as much as they do, they'll make very effective allies, but if you make a habit of endangering them while hanging back yourself they'll be less interested in risking their lives for you and might become preoccupied with self-preservation rather than killing the enemy.

The gameplay in Iraq is relatively conventional and alien-free.
Our mission in Iraq afforded us not only the arsenal comprising a pistol, an assault rifle, and grenades that appeared in the Xbox Live demo for BlackSite: Area 51, but some time with a powerful sniper rifle and a couple of machine gun turrets as well. The latter proved very effective when we wanted to make a mess of sandbag walls and other objects that enemies were using for cover, while the former was able to kill most enemies with a single, well-placed shot. In one particularly satisfying sequence, we used the sniper rifle to pick off an enemy in a courtyard from a boarded-up window a couple of floors up. The fallen soldier's colleagues were quick to run for cover and, as they did so, we used the butt of the rifle to knock the boards out before picking off a couple more and then switching to the assault rifle. We were impressed at how realistically the enemies responded to our initial attack, and when more of them emerged as the battle ensued, we died after being pinned down behind a rapidly deteriorating wall that didn't serve as cover for nearly as long as we needed to regain some health.

The second level that we took a look at, titled quarantine, took place in a previously unseen area of the small Nevada town of Rachel that was featured in the Xbox Live demo. The town looked very different, not least because we were seeing it bathed in sunshine on this occasion rather than during a late-night downpour. We're told that the aliens in the game have the ability to mess with the weather around Area 51, incidentally, which is why the thunder and lightning in the demo doesn't sound entirely natural. We're not sure how accurately the team at Midway Austin is attempting to model Rachel, but we did notice that the town's "Little A'Le'Inn" restaurant and motel is in there. Our mission on this occasion wasn't to sample tasty alien burgers, though; it was to reach a civilian who had become trapped inside a hut while hiding from aliens. Only a few aliens were visible at first, but plenty of others came out of hiding as we approached the hut, showing off some believable and varied animation as they climbed over trailers and jumped out from behind corners. The battle that ensued was challenging, to say the least, and although it was the aliens that ended up as corpses on the ground rather than our squad, the way that the edges of the screen blurred red and all of the sound became muted (save for a noticeable ringing noise) suggested that we were very close to death at one point. Our time in Rachel ended with a cinematic sequence of sorts, in which the aforementioned civilian detailed some recent events and offered advice. Much like Half-Life 2, BlackSite: Area 51 lets you maintain control of your character during cinematics, which comes in very handy when conversations are interrupted abruptly--on that we'll say no more.

Before our time with BlackSite: Area 51 came to an end we were treated to a look at perhaps the most impressive level yet. Titled topside flight, the mission saw us manning a gun on one of a dozen or so helicopters tasked with escorting a convoy along a desert highway to a temporary military installation. The journey was uneventful for the first minute or so, affording us a great opportunity to admire the desert scenery, but when the convoy's progress was halted by what appeared to be a road traffic accident on the highway below, it was clear that trouble was imminent. If you've played the Xbox Live demo of BlackSite: Area 51, you'll know that it ends with the appearance of a large "flathead" alien that bears more than a passing resemblance to a giant worm. Two flatheads came up through the asphalt this time and set about attacking the convoy, hitting our helicopter in the process. What followed was a frenetic battle in which our pilot was evidently struggling to keep our bird in the air while we--being tossed around in what was essentially a rail-shooter sequence--did our best to contribute to the demise of not only the flatheads but also the Reborn scouts and soldiers that were coming to join the fray. Our helicopter wasn't downed on this occasion, so when we happened upon a truly gigantic alien (known hereafter as Jumbo) that was similar in appearance to the flatheads but with huge tentacles wrapped around a bridge and the ability to spit fireballs, we were in a great position to take shots at its head and exposed underbelly as our pilot circled the monster. When Jumbo died he took the bridge down with him, and it was only after witnessing his spectacular downfall that we learned that a friend's helicopter hadn't fared as well as ours.

If you thought the flathead at the end of the demo was big, check this guy out.
The friend in question is Noah, a female who also appeared in the Iraq level and may or may not represent your love interest in the game. Her helicopter was downed near a military base of sorts that's been overrun by the Reborn, and so our next mission--which we never got to complete--was to go in and rescue her. The gameplay inside the base was similar to that in the other on-foot missions that we've seen, except that instead of being accompanied by squadmates on the ground we were assisted by a helicopter hovering above the base. The same button that we'd been using to give orders to other soldiers in previous levels was now used to assign targets for the helicopter's gunner, which proved very useful when we came up against enemies armed with sniper rifles and the previously unseen Javelin missile launchers, which will fire around corners and such with no problem at all once you've locked onto a target.

After spending an hour or so with BlackSite: Area 51 we talked to the assembled Midway representatives about some of the gameplay features that we hadn't had a chance to see for ourselves. The first topic up for discussion was weaponry, and we learned that later in the game you'll be able to use weapons taken from fallen Reborn enemies, including a gun that can fire through solid objects and a shotgun-style weapon with ricocheting projectiles. We also discussed multiplayer support and, although most of the specifics are being kept under wraps for the moment, we can confirm that 16-player deathmatches, team deathmatches, siege games, and human-versus-Reborn battles are planned. Cooperative online play for two players will also be available, and we're told that while details are still being finalized, the current plan is for player one to retain control of the rest of the squad. We were also told that BlackSite: Area 51 will run at a steady 30 frames per second when it's finished and that it should be arriving in stores this fall. We look forward to bringing you more information as soon as it becomes available.

This is one of my most anticipated games