Review by: Tony Mitera

For a game that has set itself up on Xbox Live Arcade for a mere $15 Blacklight: Tango Down delivers a pretty impressive multiplayer package. This multiplayer-centric shooter is set in the near future where two equally technologically advanced factions are battling it out for supremacy. Though the game also includes a passable mission-based co-operative mode, it makes its hay with tactically sound multiplayer modes.

The gameplay itself is fairly traditional—offering both team deathmatch and objective-based modes, though it strikes a balance between realism and gung-ho fun. A headshot from nearly any weapon will drop you like a bag of rocks, and even shots to the rest of the body are quickly lethal. Thus, sticking to cover and moving carefully is the name of the game. Your HUD displays personal stats such as health and ammo but nothing in the way of a minimap or teammate positions, which makes keeping your eyes open and staying situationally aware all the more important.

The near future setting certainly has its fair share of fanciful technologies and hardware, but it is used in the context of potentially being the kind of stuff that may well see the light of day in the next few decades. Regardless of which team you pick in a match each side has access to the same pool of hardware depending on your personal rank. Though weapons such as assault rifles and shotguns need no introduction other items such as digital grenades and the hyper reality visor (HRV) certainly reside on the further fringe of reality.

The hyper reality visor effectively serves as your minimap replacement, and when used it lets you not only see the position and orientation of all friendly units but also all enemy units as well. This ability to see through walls comes at a price however, as your ability to use your weapon is completely removed and the ability itself has to recharge before it can be used again. The reward of all the info you can quickly gather by popping the visor on and glancing around the battlefield is certainly worth the risk, and proves to be an interesting gameplay mechanic.

Other more cosmetic gameplay nuances such as how the digital grenades obscure vision with a unique visual effect or the game equivalent of a flash bang that temporarily reboots your visual display drive the game’s advanced technology home in a believable manner.