Motion Blur Game Studio’s craftmanship is immediately apparent; first glimpses of upcoming third-person shooter Black State showcase a range of superbly reflective surfaces, photorealistic environments, and (for the outdoor spaces) convincingly bitter wind and weather effects.
To summarise what Black State’s all about: you, a mercenary and former military legend for hire, is deployed by a mysterious group of scientists known as the Architects to rescue captives whilst uncovering the truth behind a cataclysmic event. This mission is shrouded in secrecy, with the gameplay trailers released thus far doing nothing to embellish the narrative foundations laid by this opaque explanation. You’ll have to play it to find out what’s truly going on, it seems.
Compounding mystery further are these real-time door mechanics, a unique selling point for the game whereby our super-soldier can seamlessly transition between worlds via travelling through doors. One moment he’s cantering atop the deck of an oil tanker, then – poof –! A rustic, bare-brick cellar exists adjacent to a shiny subway carriage. The environs waiting behind these closed doors are unknown to the soldier, so there’s a sure-fire way here to continually surprise and engage us as players. Speculation here, but the trailer’s voiceover questioning whether any of this is real perhaps points to our mercenary operating inside some sort of simulation. A Matrix style reality, perhaps.
Speaking of The Matrix, the game’s combat utilises some very Matrix-y time manipulation. Our soldier carries a bushel of slomo grenades which once active slow the world to slug-speed, enabling our mercenary to pop the heads off any opposing soldiers who’re rendered near-motionless akin to an inverse Superhot. You move, they don’t. In fact, Motion Blur state we’ll stock plenty of weapons and tactical gizmos in our arsenal, giving our super-soldier access to numerous methods to take down an array of gun toting foe. Alongside the usual pistols and machine guns, a highlight seen in the trailers is the sparking shotgun with a capability to launch jagged electrical laser beams at enemies, immediately blasting their bodies into violent viscera. According to Motion Blur, Black State’s trailers only scratch the surface in terms of full-game weaponry and gadgets, so it’ll be intriguing to see what else they’ve come up with given the time-slowing mechanics as prominently described in the game’s press release. Boss battles are aplenty too, featuring some fantastical designs lifted straight out of Death Stranding’s playbook; mastery of your arsenal – alongside the usual Dark Soulsian attack pattern recognition – will prove integral if you’re to survive these encounters.
The action isn’t all guns and shootouts though. No, taking inspiration from Metal Gear Solid and The Last of Us, Motion Blur are incorporating some stealthy elements to our soldier’s move set. There’re ample opportunities for cover throughout, with the usual patrol routes to observe before sneaking up behind unsuspecting foe and illicitly slashing their neck open (or via one of a supposed 100-plus brutal takedown animations). Opposing forces can swiftly outnumber us, so there’ll certainly be times when a silent approach is necessary to avoid being overwhelmed. Enemies – again, according to Motion Blur – are smart. They won’t hesitate calling reinforcements should your cover be blown, so there’s a risk-reward element at play too. Just like weapon handling, mastery of stealth, it seems, will be another essential factor for any successful operation.
This enemy descriptor though, their smartness, leads us onto the first of Black State’s noticeable problems. Now, before we get into the nitty-gritty it must be pointed out that the gameplay shared so far is alpha. Environments, graphics, animations (including, hopefully, the doors that’re so integral to the gameplay opening by themselves), are all subject to change, enemy AI included. But the thing is, at present it’s hard to see how these enemies – so called elite human tactical forces and relentless killing mechanoids the Robosapians – are anything but dim-witted bullet-ready body bags. They don’t seem to sense danger. Heck, they don’t even notice our soldier’s terrain scanning drone as it floats past their head. Apart from a couple of guys in the trailer’s laboratory sequence, they won’t even find cover when the bullets start flying. And – subject to change, remember – they’re deaf, completely ignoring our soldier as he makes next-to-no effort to silently traipse up behind them. Echoey footsteps or not, these soldiers either wear ear plugs, or their AI isn’t programmed to hear us yet. If Black State is going to achieve the deep and varied combat gameplay as promised by its developer, improving enemy AI must be a priority.
Improvements must also be made to the game’s glitzy photorealism. We’re not saying these environments look bad, not at all. The sheen of reflective puddles and marble flooring are excellent (if perhaps a little overdone), the bold fluorescence of subway car eye-popping. But there’s an inherent problem with all this photorealism in that it eschews any form of art direction. These environments are cold and clinical, lacking any defining characteristic. Motion Blur, as per their expertise, are going all in on graphical fidelity, but they’re sacrificing believability in the process. Everything looks brand new, jarringly so. These locales need roughing up a bit, perhaps some weathered texture here and there; dirt on the oil rig, smudges on the subway car windows, that sort of thing. If these locations are indeed the product of some Matrix style computer simulation, then Black State might be able to get away with their crisp cleanliness from a narrative standpoint, but some art direction wouldn’t go amiss either way. After all, a vacuous world devoid of character isn’t going to support the game’s supposedly engaging storyline, one we’re assured is stuffed with unexpected twists, intricacy, and emotional intrigue.
We’ve seen this time and again with UE5 tech demos of this sort. Graphics occupying the bulk of a developer’s effort to the detriment of gameplay, story, emotion, and feeling. However, there’s no denying the monumental effort Motion Blur have put into Black State. It’s vistas genuinely are a sight to behold despite their alpha status, but it’s hard to be too enraptured by their visual aplomb if the act of actually playing the thing leaves a lot to be desired. Don’t brush this one under the carpet though, it could be great, and it certainly deserves the attention it is getting from other press outlets and the wider gaming community. There’s understandable trepidation underlining its announcement, but the door portal zone traversal is enough of a selling point to keep an eye on its progress.
Unsurprisingly, there is no release window. Black State is likely slated for release the year after next given the unpolished nature of its gameplay and animations. The team at Motion Blur have invested two years into R&D with a huge design document the product of their development efforts. Given that, there is undeniably still a long way to go, and it’s going to take time given the relatively lower numbers scurrying behind the scenes, an alleged 40-strong team of passionate individuals.
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