Blacksite looks very good for the most part, but due to some weird and even unforgivable glitches, the experience is tainted by these issues. The good lies in the game's use of the Unreal 3.0 engine which makes the lighting, character models, and physics detail quite impressive. While you will see many of the same enemy characters over and over, the main characters are unique and intricately detailed. The environments span over many locales throughout the game, from Iraqi urban wastelands, to alien infested streets in the night, and all look quite extraordinary. Most of the levels have many destructible elements, while not as insane as Stranglehold, what you can destroy is quite satisfying, which includes blockades, bridges, and enemy vehicles just to name a few.

There are some annoying issues that take away from the beauty and awe of the title. First of all, I don't know if it is a level streaming issue or what, but there will be many instances throughout the course of a level where the game will slow down to a crawl. What makes this odd is that it is not a matter of too much detail on one level as possibly the level itself being to large to load it all at one time. I really think if the developers provided more checkpoints where the game could refresh itself, most of these issues would be eliminated. The other big issue is that there will be times where you will find yourself completely stuck. Yes, the glitch that should have been caught in testing rears its ugly head and at the most random circumstances. One instance I remember vividly was when manning a gun turret to wipe out oncoming enemies. Once I was finished mowing them down I went to join back up with my squad and alas I couldn't as I was stuck in the turret area unable to leave. I could jump, use guns, and even re-man the turret gun, but nothing would free me from this force field of glitch-dom. I had to blow myself up and restart from a checkpoint to continue. Now this would have been totally omitted if I only experienced this once, but in the course of an hour and in 3 different instances, I had this happen. For shame Midway. Nevertheless I do know folks who never saw this issue, so it is totally random and in no way will ruin the game just infuriate anyone who comes across it.

Audio is a mixed bag full of explosions and exploitations. The action scenes are full of bangs and earth shaking detonations. There are even horrific suspense scenes that change up the game's soundtrack and audio ambiance. All these facets of the game's audio are very well done and quite enjoyable. The acting on the other hand is atrocious to say the least. Your character is a mute, your squad ranges from the "proud to be an American" soldier, to the foul mouthed, womanizing ape that is your gunner. You'll encounter other "interesting" characters but there isn't anyone in this game that makes you care whether any of them live or die.

Blacksite's biggest issues aren't in the controls, but the lack of what you can do with them, not to mention the horrible enemy A.I. For a squad based game, you have little freedom to dictate what your squad does as it is all nicely laid out for you. Everything from "where to go next" markers, to "which is the door to open" markers are large and can't be missed, keeping any feeling of non-linear game play at bay. Some squad objectives are too mundane as you wonder why you, personally, can do simple things as opening a door. One cool aspect to the game is keeping your squad morale high. Depending on your ability to lead and destroy, your crew will react accordingly. If your squads morale is low, they will become more ineffective which will make your job that much harder.

The enemy A.I. is abysmal. Sometimes you will see an enemy take cover in various places to keep from being hit, but most of the time they stand in the line of fire, run right at you, or don't even react when you are right behind them shooting them in the back. This dumb A.I. doesn't hold true only for pawns either, your sub boss and boss battles can be as ridiculously easy as well. This leaves little challenge for any gamer and with a little patience you can go though the game quickly and without dieing. (That is unless you are stuck in a glitch)

Blacksite: Area 51 will take gamers only a few hours to finish, but there is a decent multiplayer mode that will help keep the game fresh and entertaining. This only problem is finding anyone online to play as most everyone at this time is playing either Halo 3 or COD 4.

With a few issues here and there it may have been wise to knock this title back a few months, not only to fix some technical aspects, but also to separate itself from the slew of holiday blockbusters. As is, Blacksite: Area 51 isn't a bad game on any level, it just has a few annoying issues. In its current state I can only recommend this title on a rental basis or wait till it's fewer than 30 bucks.