Break out the earplugs . BLACK has gone GOLD for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

The game will be available at North American retail outlets on February 28. BLACK has been rated M for Mature by the ESRB.

Developed by Criterion Games, the team responsible for the award-winning Burnout series, BLACK casts gamers as Sergeant First-Class Jack Kellar, a seasoned veteran of the US military and the leader of a BLACK ops team sent to Eastern Europe to bring in a traitor.

Forget stealth. BLACK sends players in all guns blazing and delivers overt Hollywood-style firefights and destruction set against the modern war on terror. In BLACK, gamers will quickly learn to abide by the five rules of guncraft:

* The guns are the stars of the show - Let your massive arsenal of automatic weapons will do the talking.

* Every bullet is your baby - Make every miss count. If you can't get a clean shot at your target bring down the roof on top of him.

* Bigger and louder - why blow up something small when you can blow up something big? Why use a small gun when you can use a big one?

* Leave a trail of destruction - Bullets pulverize plaster and splinter boards. Doors fly off hinges. If it's in the world it's there to be shot.

* Death is an opportunity - Get creative with your kills. Catch an enemy in the shoulder and spin him around into the enemy behind him. Blow out the scaffolding below another.