The prototype for Black's sequel sounds unsurprisingly amazing

pcgamer.com:

Criterion's Black is a product of its time: which is to say that, if you were there, it's simply one of the best shooter experiences there was. I say 'experience' because that's what Black felt like: a game that almost blew back the wallpaper as your ludicrously boombastic weapons chewed through enemies and scenery alike on the CRT. The studio, then and now known best for the Burnout series, had managed to pivot into the FPS genre and make an insta-classic.

Which is why it's a source of some disappointment, even now, that Black was it. Criterion never went on to make another shooter. Key talent involved in Black left Criterion: the lead programmer was some bloke called Sean Murray (yes that one), while co-creator Stuart Black (really) went on to Codemasters and the disappointing Bodycount. Perhaps more importantly, while some of Black's creators could see a future for the game (and it sold well enough to justify one), ultimately neither Criterion or EA did.

Several figures involved in Black recently spoke to ThatHitbox for a retrospective on the game, which is well worth a read (if, like me, you miss shotguns that sound like backfiring trucks). Criterion figures have in the past mentioned a mooted sequel to Black, but here we finally get a firmer idea of what it looked like, and where the team intended to take the series.

Richard Bunn, a senior game designer on Black, had moved on to what would become Burnout Paradise. «But I kept sneaking in to the Black office afterwards, » recalls Bunn. «I was still friends with Craig Sullivan [lead designer on Black 2]. There were a few things that they did. They wanted to continue to be influenced by movies. They employed a model builder to build miniatures of lifelike locations.