Deep Black from Biart was originally released on the Xbox 360 and PS3. Deep Black: Reloaded is the PC installment of this third person cover based shooter which features action both above and below the water.
Deep Black: Reloaded follows the story of the struggle of several mega corporations as they try to control a new biological weapon. The storyline is generic but and I personally found it very hard to get into. The dialogue has little impact on gameplay and mainly serves to distract you as you move through the incredibly linear plot.
The gameplay above water is standard cover based shooter action. You move from one piece of scenery to pop out, shoot and pop back in again. The cover system has some quirks. You will often find yourself attempting to dodge an enemy such as a “stealth agent” by rolling backwards rather than using the cover system. I often found that instead, my dude decided to crouch at the nearby scenery thus earning me a blade in the face and putting me back to the last checkpoint.
Below water is another matter. The movement feels natural and a lot of work has gone into how the underwater sections look. I won’t go on a rant about firing ballistic weapons in water, I assume they have worked something out in the future. As well as the basic weapons there’s some nice additions to make the underwater sections more interesting. A harpoon gun is an obvious underwater weapon, but a welcome one. Meanwhile a jetpack suit may sound like a puzzling choice of underwater attire, but its well suited to the environments and fun to use.
Deep Black is a beautiful looking game, it looks sharp and the underwater effects are very well done. The biggest selling point for the game are the underwater physics effects. These have some impact on gameplay and are certainly more interesting than the standard, on-land sections of the game. One of the worst things that could have happened in a game like this would have been poor underwater physics. If the game had felt the same below the surface as above, the whole exercise would be pointless. In fact the underwater sections work well, and in a way there’s an argument to be made for having the whole game underwater It certainly would have made this title stand out. The sound meanwhile is unremarkable with some decent gun effects but some poor dialogue.
As well as the campaign (which is about 8 hours long) there’s a simple multiplayer mode allowing Deathmatchs and Team Deathmatchs. These simple game modes are made interesting because of the underwater environments, but it would have been nice to have some variety or different game modes to play with.
There’s not really a lot to say about the game outwith its underwater sections. All in all Deep Black feels like a mediocre cover based shooter with some ropey dialogue and a story which evokes nothing but apathy. On the other hand it looks great and the underwater sections break the monotony of going from crate to crate shooting bad guys in the face.
5 drowned divers of 10
Article by Alec Harley