Men in Black: The Series – Crashdown

Men in Black: The Series – Crashdown is a first-person shooter video game based on the animated television series, Men in Black: The Series. The game was developed by Runecraft and published by Infogrames for the PlayStation. The game was released in November 2001, and received mixed and average reviews.

Men in Black: The Series – Crashdown
Developer(s)Runecraft
Publisher(s)Infogrames
Producer(s)Tina Scholefield-Nicholson
Tony Barkley
David T. Brown[1]
Designer(s)Paul Tapper
Matthew Hardingham
Gary Edwards[1]
Programmer(s)Ben Dixon[1]
SeriesMen in Black
Platform(s)PlayStation
Release
  • NA: November 20, 2001
Genre(s)First-person shooter, puzzle
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

The game's story revolves around extraterrestrial terrorists attempting to kidnap the president of the United States so they can take over the world. The player chooses to play as either Agent J or Agent K, from the television series and film, who must stop the attempted alien invasion. The game is a first-person shooter consisting of 26 levels that are spread across various locations. Maps are provided to the player for each level. Agent Zed, the leader of the Men in Black organization, briefs the player in cutscenes that appear in between levels. Voice acting is used during the cutscenes. In each level, the player must complete various goals to advance, which include solving puzzles.[2][3]

The player must defend against various alien enemies that are capable of walking, crawling, flying, and hanging from ceilings. If the player kills an innocent bystander, the level ends and must be replayed from the beginning. The player begins the game with a pistol-like weapon. As the game progresses, the player upgrades to more powerful weapons, including the Noisy Cricket from the film. Rather than using ammunition clips, the player must reload weapons at charging stations that are scattered throughout each level, and are disguised as objects such as payphones, automated teller machines, and vending machines.[2][3]

Development and release

In May 2001, Infogrames announced during the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) that it had obtained the rights to create a first-person shooter video game based on the animated television series, to be developed by Runecraft with a planned release for the PlayStation at the end of the year. Men in Black – The Series: Crashdown was released in the United States on November 20, 2001.[4]

Reception

On Metacritic, the game has a score of 59/100, indicating "mixed or average reviews."[5]

Computer and Video Games wrote that "for a bit of mindless mission-solving and alien-blasting this is worth a look," stating that, "Controls are easy, so getting stuck in isn't a problem. Good fun if a little lightweight for hardened blast freaks."[6] Suzi Sez of GameZone considered the game and its graphics "slightly above average," but wrote, "The voice characterizations were fairly decent and the overall music was better than average." Sez stated, "I wasn't overly impressed with this particular game. It lacks pizzazz and punch and it plays more like a hack 'n slash type game".[2]

Tina Bradley of Gamezilla praised the game's "amusing" cutscenes and its sound effects, and called it one of the few Men in Black video games to successfully capture "some of the quirky humor and neat gadgets from the movie." However, Bradley criticized the game for "stealing a lot of elements from the Alien movies/game, from the enemy designs to the radar detector." Bradley considered the gameplay exceptional but "not groundbreaking by any means." Bradley noted that the graphics were "decent, but not spectacular," stating that they "have a cartoony look to them that fits with the television series." Bradley concluded, "This game is not the best shooter out there, but it is solid. It makes good use of the MIB license, and fans of the movie and cartoon should enjoy this game if they like first-person shooters at all."[3]

References
  1. "Men in Black -- The Series: Crashdown Credits". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 15, 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  2. Sez, Suzi (January 10, 2002). "Men in Black: The Series-Crashdown". GameZone. Archived from the original on January 13, 2002.
  3. Bradley, Tina (December 12, 2001). "Men In Black The Series: Crashdown". Gamezilla. Archived from the original on February 12, 2002.
  4. "E3 2001: First Details for Men in Black". IGN. May 17, 2001. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  5. "Men in Black - The Series: Crashdown for PlayStation Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  6. "Men In Black - The Series: Crashdown". ComputerAndVideoGames.com. December 17, 2001. Archived from the original on July 4, 2007.
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