Some first-person-shooter history: On December 10, 1993, Id Software released the shareware demo of Doom, and it's no exaggeration to say that it changed gaming forever. Doom wasn't the first first-person shooter, but it was so far ahead of every other game out there that echoes of the collective jaw-drop it triggered still resonate today.
Black has a lot in common with that astounding first version of Doom. First and foremost, it's like nothing you've ever seen, heard, or been forced to restart a dozen times for no obvious reason before. The idea behind the game was to make the most destructive, chaotic, gun-centric experience possible, and did they ever: The graphics are gorgeous right down to the scuffs on the receivers of the lovingly modeled firearms, almost every object in the game takes damage, and the thousands of terrorist enemies die in lots of interestingly cinematic, though bloodless, ways. The sound is equally incredible—gunshots, ricochets, explosions, the screams of the wounded, and the game's three or four non-weapon-related sounds are so well engineered that it's really best to just wear headphones while playing and avoid distressing everyone. In short, the presentation quality is stunning.