Old school style first-person shooter that plays on the Area 51 urban legend. I like the game and it gives that sci-fi action movie vibe like the 2011 film Battle Los Angeles. But if there was an action packed episode of the X-Files filled with government troops, an assortment of aliens both big and small then this game would be closer to that.
The game has several alien designs and I personally find them really well done. These aliens range from humanoid types, insectoids to gigantic worm and tentacled creatures that looked like they came out of the 2007 movie, The Mist. The characters are likable and engage in funny small talk. The game is set on the present day which is refreshing seeing all these popular "human vs. alien" shooters that are always set in the future in space in some planet far away. Having to see soldiers in contemporary US military equipment battling aliens in some western desert in small town America is somewhat a rarity in video games with Half-Life 1 from 1998 the only thing that comes close to mind.
Having played this on the PC the graphics seems to be superior from what I gathered with those who played it on Playstation who complained about the graphics being foggy. Unreal Engine is gorgeous and it really comes out with the PC. I also heard the game is notorious for being 'unfinished' because of production problems it faced. This is noticeable during gameplay, with npc soldiers appearing out of nowhere during sequences and then disappearing from the map and also when they are killed which I find really archaic. A patch or mod could have fixed this but so far in 2018 (ten years later) I have not found any.
I give the game a solid 9 because I expected a really bad game due to the mediocre to negative press but was pleasantly surprised instead. Blacksite Area 51 reminds me of games I used to play in the past. It has that old school charm but with nicer graphics and interesting Americana sci-fi setting. If you are fan of conspiracy theories regarding extraterrestrials and the government cover-ups give this game a try. Its not that bad its actually quite enjoyable.