Blacklight: Tango Down is a $15 first-person shooter released on Xbox Live Arcade last week. It seems like a good deal: heavy on the game types, decent-looking graphics, co-op missions... In practice, though, the game proves much more frustrating than fun.

It takes an uncomfortably long time to find a game to actually play. There is no server browser, so you're stuck looking at a loading screen until the computer finds a place to put you. A five-minute wait is common, and over the weekend I finally ended one session after waiting a stupefying 15 minutes before being put into a game. The co-op missions can only be played with others if you invite them in, since they don't even use the match-making system. Disappointing.

This is what a chronic lack of personality looks like

How many of us have unlimited time to play games these days? Is it really so hard to allow us to select a server with players already enjoying a game instead of making us sit and wait? That time would be better spent—and this is just an idea—playing the game we paid for. If I'm waiting ten minutes or more to get into a game, I'm done. It's just not worth the time commitment.

Also note that the game also uses the Massive network to deliver advertising to the game, which means every billboard and poster is advertising a real-world product. The game has a futuristic aesthetic, and the ads stick out in an uncomfortable way. If blatant advertising is a turn-off, this is not your game.

Your character has a certain amount of hit points, but they don't mean much, as it only takes a single squeeze of the trigger to kill players. If an enemy sees you first, there is not much that can be done about it; you'll be dead before you realize you're in a firefight. Combine that with level design that often makes it both easy and effective to camp the spawn points, and you'll be suffering through some very frustrating games. You can level up your weapons and equipment, but who cares when you enter the game with a gun that's already so effective?

This isn't a bad game, but the abundance of little issues keep it from being worth your time and money. There is a demo if you'd like to check it out, but there are many, many better games out there to buy, especially if you only have $15 to spend.