SpawnPoint - Where Game Begins

Blacklight: Tango Down, which is being claimed by the developers to be parallel in production values and level of quality to the full-priced retail releases. It takes a lot for a game to stand out successfully in a crowd. Blacklight: Tango Down to the growing list of promising multiplayer shooters coming to downloadable game portals. If it doesn't have that one shimmering quality that draws players in right away, the game may as well go straight from the shipping crate to the clearance bin. Let's give a look to the story of the game.

The game is set in the near-future, which has been overtaken by the exploding speed of technological progress and is left suffering from the unbridled failures that those advances causes. As a result of ongoing viral epidemic ravages society and the military's drive to control and use of the virus as a weapon has only created more devastating strains. The military's attempts to use the virus as a weapon has lead to what someone calls "Q-Fever" or SIV (Sentient Insanity Virus) and the people who get infected of this virus are known as SIVs. This virus destroys a person's humanity, transforming them into frightening creatures that are less capable of utilizing tools but far more aggressive and impervious to pain. However, Blacklight is set in a universe that is based in science facts and not science fiction and players will use future combat technologies and weapons... based upon the bleeding-edge military developments and breakthroughs of today.

Up to 16 players will be able to join a game on 12 maps. The focus is on a customizable weapon system that doles out upgrades one at a time as players level up. This isn't a class-based shooter. Rather, Blacklight aims to show off the personal preferences of each player. Basically:

Thirteen scopes, nine stocks, twenty barrels, thirty magazines, over one hundred weapon tags = millions of weapon combinations.

You'll be able to make some pretty absurd guns, like shotguns with a super scope and two pistol grips. Those weapon tags we mentioned are like the charms you might hang from your cell phone and are apparently used by some real-world special forces members .Although they probably aren't Hello Kitty charms but that would be pretty cool!. There are 108 weapon tags in all and each one provides subtle upgrades to your weapon. Every time you level up, a new tag will be randomly selected and given to you.

Before you jump into a game, you'll select your load out. You've got your usual array of primary and secondary weapons (assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, pistols, etc.), but you also have primary and secondary equipment. Primary equipment refers to your frag grenades and flash bangs — pretty basic stuff. But you and your enemies are future soldiers, and these primitive tools might not affect you and your fancy pants face masks. The secondary equipment (like EMT Grenades and DigiGrenades) is more interesting and effective. We particularly liked the DigiGrenades, which create a digital bubble on the battlefield that will scramble the view from a player's mask, rendering anyone blind in its vicinity. Throwing a DigiGrenade at an enemy's feet and blasting them while they can't see is great fun.

Each player has a Hyper Reality Visor, or HRV, at their disposal. Turn it on and you can see through walls in order to pinpoint your enemy's and teammates' locations. However, you can only use it for a short time and it takes a bit to recharge. Also, you can't fire while your HRV is turned on. So it's a very useful tool, but its restrictions keep the game balanced. It's also a necessity because of the lack of a map.

The premise here is that the covert military group Blacklight is battling against its evil counterpart, The Order, which is actually made up of former Blacklight members. Both sides have the same abilities so they should be perfectly balanced. Again, the differences in teams will come from how individual players have chosen to customize their load out. There will be a loose storyline tying everything together, but Tango Down is really about jumping right into online multiplayer battles.

Blacklight: Tango Down is looking a little unfinished in its current build, but then that could be because it is unfinished. Here's hoping that Zombie is able to apply the required spit and polish before it's proposed July 2010 release then, although on the merits of its gameplay alone, things look fairly promising for Blacklight. Take into account that possible, unconfirmed £10/€15/$20/1200 Microsoft Points price point too, and Tango Down could be a bargainous multiplayer title well worth a look.