Criterion's "Black" is a product of its time. I say "experience" because that's how "Black" felt. It was a game that seemed to blow up wallpaper, with frighteningly huge weapons chewing up enemies and scenery projected on cathode ray tubes. The studio, then and now known for its "Burnout" series, has shifted its focus to the FPS genre and succeeded in creating an instant classic.

That is why it is still a shame that "Black" was what it was. Criterion never made another shooter. The lead programmer was a man named Sean Murray, and co-creator Stuart Black moved on to Codemasters and the disappointing Bodycount. More importantly, while some of Black's creators saw promise in the game (and it sold well enough), ultimately neither Criterion nor EA did.

Several people involved with "Black" were recently interviewed by ThatHitbox and reflected on the game; the Criterion people have mentioned a sequel to "Black" in the past, but here they finally discuss what a sequel would look like and where the team got a clearer idea of where they intended to take the series.

Richard Bunn, the senior game designer on Black, had moved on to Burnout Paradise.

"But he continued to sneak into Black's offices after that. Craig Sullivan [lead designer for Black 2] and I were still friends. There were a few things they did. They wanted to continue to be influenced by the film. They hired a model builder and had him make miniatures of the locations that looked like the real thing. They used them as reference material and as inspiration for their designs."

"The film was a great success."

"The film was a great success.

One of the big ideas for the sequel was to move to a more "realistic" scenario, inspired by IO's "Hitman" concept of players moving through populated levels to defeat targets. Outside Criterion's offices, a pre-visualization scene was filmed of a developer wearing a chest camera and wielding a replica gun for a café scene: "eyes, not heads."

Bunn explains: "In most first-person shooters, you look around with the stick. The gun and head are glued together. The idea was to somehow be able to look independently of the gun. Criterion is always looking for angles. What words/terms can you use to describe it?" and "What is the hook?"

Then Bunn describes the only part of the unproduced sequel he could play, and it's enough to make your nemesis Ernie cry. It's a scene set in South Korea, possibly North Korea, above an ICBM launch silo.

"You try to stop the launch, but it's a 'fail' type of scenario. You are in a large open area with a large concrete block as a cover object. The enemy comes in. [While you are fighting,] other vents begin to open and the entire area fills with smoke and gas from the rocket launch, reducing visibility," Bunn says. 'As the launch gets closer, the whole environment gradually reflects it. Eventually the rocket opens and a large missile is launched from the center. It was all about the evolution of the gameplay environment."

Why wasn't this made? Call Larry Probst now.

Other aspects of the sequel that Bunn mentioned were ambitions for cooperative play, including a revival and "drag" mechanic for players to help each other. Black sound designer Ben Minto added that the game was to be subtitled "Rendition."

"The idea was centered around the idea of American troops going overseas, kidnapping people, and bringing them back across the border," Minto said. The subtitle "Rendition" was, in a way, tied to that. But I don't think there was a full-fledged storyline being drawn. To me, it was odd that an automotive studio made a gun game and then never made another.

Yes, "Light Black" was an extraordinary achievement for Criterion. It's a bit of a tragedy for fans of virtual gunplay that the concept only got one airing. You can see bits of it in every modern shooter, but few have the overwhelming cost-performance ratio of this game.

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