Black 2: Second Mission may have been inadvertently revealed by developer Criterion via their official web-site.
Black was an ambitious first-person shooter for the original Xbox and PlayStation 2 by the developers of Burnout that used the Burnout engine and where guns were the star of the show. Although it was ambitious for its time, it’s quite dated today given the simple fact that it was a single-player adventure (no multiplayer or co-op), lacked online play and featured some horrible Artificial Intelligence.
However according to many Internet bloggers, a listing for a game called “Black: Second Mission” appeared briefly on Criterion’s official web-site before the game listing was removed.
It was listed as in development on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. This would seem to confirm what they have consistently denied, that they are indeed making a sequel to Black.
Speaking to D-Pad Magazine back in February of this year, Criterion was adamant that they were not working a Black game, stating: “Sorry to disappoint you, but as we’ve mentioned many times on our podcast we’re not looking at making another Black game any time soon” and further adding, “Although the rumors never seem to go away and we still get a lot of letters from fans, we’re honestly not working on that game at the moment. I doubt the rumors will go away though.”
That was then though, this is now. Hopefully Black 2 is in development as it’d be really interesting to see what direction they take the series. But I wouldn’t expect it until late 2009.