Black: just Black

I've managed to get past where I was stuck. It was a difficult fight, but by throwing grenades behind the shielded people I worked out you can get a clear shot at their head. I was so close to a checkpoint.

So, I played through the last level. After getting access to the building and bunker, there's quite a lot of single-corridor linearity with the occasional big room firefight. And the tension builds up - you lose radio contact with your team, there are machine gunners ready set to eliminate anyone walking down the tunnels ... and then you find a thin tunnel leading to the bottom, where there's a big room. There's a checkpoint as you go down. This is over an hour and a half into the level.

I stood in the doorway and looked around the room, and took out a few people. Then moved back into the tunnel, and took out a few more who chased me into it. And then the room was silent. I moved forward to look around. Still no movement. I decided to go into the room proper.

And then the screen fucking goes black with the words "There is a problem with the disc you are using, it may be dirty or damaged".

Of course, ejecting the disc to see if it's dirty or damaged resets the console. And it's not that my copy of Black is dirty or damaged. It's that Microsoft cut corners when it came to sourcing reliable DVD drives for their console. Not that they'd ever admit that. Oh no.

I am absolutely livid. It's a wonder that the TV, Xbox and controller are still in one piece.

I'm going to say I passed my challenge. I would have completed the game, I reckon. I had full health, full health packs, nine grenades, 600 ammo on the M249 and 500 ammo on the M5. There was a checkpoint just before this fight - which surely must have been the last. I could have restarted until I completed it. But there's no way I'm playing that game for a good few weeks now.