Review | Blacklight: Tango Down

You’ve Been Tango’d…

Format: PC/Xbox 360/PS3 | Genre: FPS | Publisher: Ignition Entertainment | Developer: Zombie Studios | Release date: 07/07/2010 | Price: £15

J D Richardson illuminates you on BLACKLIGHT: TANGO DOWN.

I’ll get the inevitable Modern Warfare comparison out of the way to start with. Blacklight: Tango Down is a bit like the multiplayer aspect from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, only not as good. There I said it. It’s true though. That’s not to say Tango Down is a bad game, it’s got a lot going for it and it is fun to play. It’s just that if you already have Modern Warfare 1 or 2 then I can’t really recommend this to you and you might as well stop reading here because it’s too similar, stick with the superior option. For £15 though, it’s probably not trying to compete directly, just offering an alternative. For £15 you could do a lot worse.

Rather than take the ‘Modern Warfare’ route, Tango Down has taken the ‘near future’ setting, with the maps set in an undefined eastern European city with hints of dystopia. Two sides fight it out for control of the city, Blacklight and The order. Don’t ask me what the story or background is because I have no idea, there isn’t really any mention of it in the actual game and to be honest I don’t think anyone cares. There are a decent amount of maps although they seem to be all city based from what I have played, so there isn’t much variety in terrain. There are also a good number of different game types, from your standard deathmatch and team deathmatch, to domination, retrieval(capture the flag) and Last man Standing. All these modes do their jobs as you would expect and the shooting itself feels satisfying. There is also a special ops mode where you and your friends can take on computer controlled enemies in linear missions, and I do mean linear. These are a nice distraction but are not the most inspired missions I’ve ever played.

Visible Spectrum

Just a brief few words on the graphics. The games certainly looks impressive for a game this cheap but it could do with a bit of anti-aliasing. A lot of the details get a bit mixed up and are hard to distinguish from far away, making sniping without a scope difficult as your enemies sometimes just look like background objects.

Customization is also a big part of the game with the ability to gain XP from kills and level up, unlocking new weapons, attachments and visual customizations as you progress. The visual stuff isn’t that great, just slightly different variations on the same uniforms which is a little disappointing, but it’s better than nothing.

The only real obstacle between you and fun is the ridiculous waiting times to get a game going. Most times the game tells you it has found a game for you to join only to drop you in a lobby on your own waiting for people to join, a situation exacerbated by the need to have a minimum number of players before the game can actually start. The community do themselves no favours at all either, seeming to have the attention span of a chimpanzee with ADHD. People will join and, realizing they have to wait, will disappear, presumably to try and get into a different game, only to appear right back in the same lobby. This leads other people to follow their lead, bringing the waiting time right back up. If these people would just learn a little bit of patience then games would start a lot quicker. It’s incredibly annoying. It’s even worse when only one more person is required and instead of waiting for a couple more minutes someone will just leave and then another and another. We were nearly in damn you! Inevitably these people will end up back in my lobby. So here’s a bit of advice when waiting for a game; bring a book.

Anyone who hasn’t got the aforementioned COD games and want some online only FPS action, then I would say give Blacklight Tango down a go. Sure it’s got a few problems, but for that price you can’t go wrong. Its solid and it is fun, and for £15 what more could you ask for?

7/10

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