Battling the Dinosaurs of Project Blackout

Dinosaurs are handy video game monsters. They’re famous, they’re fearsome, and—especially in the case of Tyrannosaurus—nearly unstoppable. That’s why it’s not altogether surprising that the free online shooter Project Blackout has just added a “dinosaur mode” to the game.

I’ll say right off the bat that I’m not a huge fan of online-only, multiplayer shooters. I have better ways to waste my time than being blown up by virtual strangers who are far more skilled than I am. Still, I figured I would give Project Blackout a shot. After all, it has dinosaurs in it!

The gameplay is pretty simple. After you select which room you’re going to battle in, you start off on the side of either the dinosaurs or the humans. The humans, obviously, come armed with all sorts of hi-tech weaponry, and the dinosaurs are left to bite and slash at the fleeing humans. The ensuing free-for-all lasts for a few minutes, and then the sides switch so every player gets to try out the soldier and dinosaur modes in each round.

Playing involved running and shooting or running and slashing, depending on which side you wind up on. The game uses the classic first-person shooter controls that have been in place since the days of the classic, blood-spattered game DOOM. Unfortunately, though, the game starts to feel stale very quickly. Sure, you can upgrade your character with new weapons and other kit, but you’re still wildly attacking other players in a small arena over and over again. After a few rounds, I had pretty much had enough. Even dinosaurs can’t help you if your game is hopelessly repetitive.

Riley Black | | READ MORE

Riley Black is the author of The Last Days of the Dinosaurs and many other books. She is a science correspondent for Smithsonian magazine covering fossils and natural history, and she writes about the prehistoric past for a variety of publications.