If Midway Austin has accomplished one thing, it is surely this: Blacksite is a whole new Area 51. Far removed from the tongue-in-cheek PS2/Xbox/PC installment, and farther still from the goofy arcade original (aliens love bright jumpsuits), Blacksite might take you a few minutes to even realize what you're playing.
We had one of the producers guide us through an early version of the game, but the first new area we checked out -- Iraq, of all places -- was wholly alien to the series (pun intended!). Looking right out of Ghost Recon, the level found our protagonist Aeran Pierce sneaking around rooftops with his squad, battling packs of insurgents. Human insurgents. The pace was significantly slower than the brief Xbox Live demo from last month, but we were able to check out some nice environmental destruction, as concrete statues were chipped away and debris scattered convincingly.
Helecopter fight vid