Visually, Midway Austin puts forth a mostly acceptable effort. The environments look great, particularly in the dark catacombs of the Iraq base or town buildings when enemies jump out of nowhere. However, some of the lighting effects are weird, as the soldiers sport a "shiny" glow that makes it appear as if they bathed in toxic waste. Slowdown and pop-up occur often as well. The destructible environments are pretty cool, though, especially mowing down concrete columns as you blast enemies. In terms of audio, Blacksite has great orchestrated background music, but the dialogue is mostly forgettable. One of your soldiers talks so much you just want to go up and smack him in the face with your gun.

Aliens look a bit like the ones from Half Life.  Hmm...

    If anything, Blacksite: Area 51 has terrible timing. Over the summer (or the beginning of the holiday game rush), this could’ve been a big hit, even with its problems. However, it just can’t hold up against the better shooters. It’s a decent rental, though, especially if you have a nagging need to turn aliens into big piles of goo.