Gamermall.com rating: N/A

We had a chance to play a very small section of the game on Thursday, and while the demo only lasted somewhere around five minutes or so, we were left wanting a whole lot more. The first game was a pretty fun and solid shooter, but BlackSite looks to outdo it in every way possible with some forward-thinking play mechanics, a chaotic and moody atmosphere and an extremely tight and solid control scheme.

The section was played was called Rachel, named after the town that you've been sent to. Alien creatures have taken over the town and have killed most of its inhabitants, so you're sent in to quell the uprising and find any survivors. Moving in through the back door of a gas station's warehouse, we moved through the small building and into the main lobby of the station's store. Through the windows we could see one of the tall and lanky aliens ravaging a vehicle and the driver inside it. Firing off a clip or two of ammo through the windows only seemed to pester it, so we moved to our right and outside to do a little more damage.

A handful of these aliens make their way to the scene. When they're taken down by normal gunfire, their bodies give way but what appears to be their upper portion sometimes remains alive and quickly scurries at you along the ground to get in a few more licks. Taking these creatures out with more firepower, like a grenade, tends to shut it down all with one fell swoop.

As we fight around the gas pumps, cars are pelted with gunfire and become mangled and bent, exploding and leaping into the air when pushed far enough. Likewise, pieces of the environment splinter and chip away as the battle goes on, removing cover that once kept us safe. BlackSite: Area 51 has borrowed a bit of the tech from another Midway title, John Woo Presents Stranglehold, and while BlackSite doesn't allow quite as much destructibility as the third-person shooter, it does allow for plenty of environmental damage.

After the first area is clear, we move down the road a bit and up a hill towards a tanker. A helicopter flies overhead and warns of us some movement ahead. Just then, a few tentacle-legged aliens crawl over the tanker and towards us. Standing naturally at about six feet tall, these aren't as strong or tall as the first aliens we encountered, but they're quicker and tended to swarm our squad, even in small numbers.

Once these beasts were dispatched, we headed towards a nearby liquor store to search for more survivors when a giant meteor-looking object comes from overhead and smashes into the store, spewing out a force that knocks all of the nearby vehicles and loose objects into the air and twisting towards us. Dodging the large debris, we saw a massive worm-like creature stand up from the wreckage, wiggling around as it began unveiling its true form. As we unloaded everything in our arsenal at the creature, the screen faded to black and presented the "Coming Summer 2007" ending teaser.

While the action in the demo was certainly intense, highlight by camera shakes and whatnot anytime an explosion happened nearby or gunfire was taken, what really made the experience stand out was the level of quality of the entire presentation. The game boasts some pretty impressive visuals, making use of lots of specular highlights and subtle light reflections to show off the damp atmosphere of the town. Particle effects were aplenty, with smoke kicking around after a grenade went off and lots of haze and such appearing from the bad end of the aliens' laser weapons. The sound too was quite stellar, often too much for the displays we were playing on to handle. We can't wait to hear this thing being pumped through a proper surround-sound setup.

Due to the short nature of the demo, we were only able to get a small taste of the game's tactical elements with regards to the squad commands. Clicking a single button, we were able to tell our team where to set up and take cover, and then which of the enemies to attack. They responded quickly and accurately at all times, smartly setting up wherever we pointed the duo to. The demo was too short and honestly too hectic to really pay much attention to deploying proper tactics most of the time or keeping a keen eye on their on goings, but what we've seen so far looks promising.

One last thing to note about our experience with BlackSite: Area 51 is just how well-tuned the controls are at this point. Movement and aiming are damn near perfect, with a fantastic mix of weight and control given over your weapon. It was simple to get a bead on enemies, in part due to the game's slight aiming assistance, which helped us track our shots while strafing. Again, the demo was short so we'll see how they play out in the long run, but the control's refinement really stood out for us.

BlackSite: Area 51 looks extremely promising at this point. We really haven't seen much at all of it, but what we have seen has been very impressive. We can't wait until the game's release this summer.

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