Blacklight: Tango Down is a curious beast. On the one hand it’s a fast-paced online multiplayer FPS that rubs shoulders with some of the great AAA titles of this generation. On the other hand, it’s a downloadable title that lacks any sort of genuine single player campaign and cuts a few corners in order to bring its price down to less than a tenner. So how does it work?

In a nutshell, Blacklight: Tango Down is like a fusion of Unreal Tournament 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. It has a range of game modes that range from the standard Team Deathmatch to ‘Retrieval’ (a.k.a. Capture the Flag) and Last Man Standing. All in all there are seven multiplayer modes, twelve maps and a whole host of unlockables and customisation abilities – more than you might expect from a PSN title. The setting is a generic, smashed-up Eastern-bloc country that is unfortunately now full of people blowing each other to pieces with machine guns. The maps are on the smaller side but that’s nothing to worry about, and they are full of interesting and useful buildings and other architecture, and offer some nice variety between them. There really is no storyline within the gameplay but there is a sort of back story that explains how the streets have become a battleground between Blacklight and The Order – to be honest, like most good multiplayer FPS games, the storyline is best simply ignored so you can focus on the gameplay.

One of the most immediately noticeable aspects of Blacklight: Tango Down is how it throws you in at the deep end. There is no real tutorial, and the game is clearly designed for people who are familiar with the genre. You can track down the ‘Help’ section of the main menu if you’re a bit confused about something, but aside from that there is virtually nothing to explain how to play each game mode. Clearly, there were some corners cut in order to bring this game out at under £10.

So how does the game itself play? Well, there are broadly speaking two main gameplay modes – a single-player/co-op mode called Black Ops, and a full-on adversarial multiplayer mode. The Black Ops mode is the only real way of playing Blacklight: Tango Down as a single player but it’s clearly been designed to be played co-op as it is excruciatingly difficult on your own and even with a couple of friends it’s pretty tricky. Unfortunately it’s not that much fun, and turns out like a watered down version of Spec Ops from Modern Warfare 2, with linear and mundane levels populated with swarms of enemies who will end your game permanently in just a few hits. It’s not really much fun, but then the real core of Blacklight: Tango Down is the online multiplayer mode and that’s where the game succeeds.

The multiplayer mode covers the usual bases, allowing you to jump straight in for some XP-gaining action or if you prefer you can create your own game with your friends without gaining any XP towards unlocking new upgrades and features. There are  problems with the multiplayer – in particular, there are are some real issues with campers on most of the maps – but this is war after all, and the gameplay is fast, fun and engaging. The characters move well (if a little too smoothly), the guns feel just about the right weight and the controls are responsive enough to keep you in the action. If you’ve played any of the Modern Warfare or Battlefield: Bad Company game you’ll feel right at home here and should pick up the basic controls very quickly. The different multiplayer modes offer some variation but they are all set in the same twelve maps (and ultimately you’ll still be running around trying to pepper people with bullets) so the different modes don’t feel quite as distinct as they do in something like Unreal Tournament.

The graphics in Blacklight: Tango Down are seriously impressive for a PSN title. While obviously not as detailed or realistic as many retail PS3 games, the Unreal Engine 3 does a remarkable job of looking good while maintaining a solid framerate with no screen-tearing. For a £10 PSN you’d be hard pushed to find anything to match this. There have been criticisms of the advertising within the game for companies like ATi but to be fair they are placed well ’in-game’ as billboards and posters, and don’t detract from the gameplay at all. If tactfully adding in-game advertising like this can bring down the price of games then let’s have more of it.

Ultimately, Blacklight: Tango Down knows its target audience and it goes right in for the kill with relentless, frantic multiplayer action, detailed graphics and a no-nonsense approach to the game’s mechanics. If you’re an online FPS fan and you’re getting a bit bored of the same old maps in your favourite games then Blacklight: Tango Down is worth a look, especially considering that it’s roughly the same price as a single Modern Warfare 2 map-pack. If you’re not an online FPS fan then this is probably not for you, though if you’re new to the genre it would be a good, inexpensive way to test the water.

 

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