Dark Void
Dark Void is a third person shooter released by Capcom. It’s gone through several design changes while it was in development and in the end it decided to focus on it’s verticality. This is done through gameplay mechanics involving a jetpack you receive early in the game.
The game features a cargo pilot named Will and an old flame Ava who crash in the Bermuda triangle only to end up in a strange jungle. Here they learn that a race of aliens called the Watchers are attempting to break through to Earth (for the second time), and have to fight them off.
At first Dark Void seems like very much like any other current 3rd person shooter that has a cover system. It’s very reminiscent of games like Uncharted and Gears of War, only not quite as polished. You can run and jump to get through stages and whenever enemies are around you can take cover around nearby objects and shoot from there. The enemies are fast moving, heavily armed robots, and slug like creatures. In ground combat you have to rely on cover to stay alive, though you can later use your jetpack to hover around the field, and fight enemies in the air if you want. The biggest problem with combat is that it feels like there are some issues with the hit detection. There were several times while playing the game where I pumped hundreds of rounds into enemies that look like they are hitting, but are obviously doing no damage. Sometimes it was because there’s a plant texture or something in the way, other times they were in cover and even though I was shooting them the game didn’t register it. It didn’t happen enough to ruin the game but was definitely noticeable.
You start off with an assault rifle but can also pick up the weapons of downed enemies. You can only hold 2 weapons at a time, but there are many weapon caches in the levels that let you switch your weapons for any others that you’ve found at the time. Ammo is a primary concern as there are some sections of the game where you might run out. This can be a pain during vertical combat segments and leaves you just running through the segment to get out alive. There are ammo crates around and weapon caches which refill your ammo around, and you can pick up ammo from enemies weapons, so it doesn’t really detract from the game. It makes a more hectic experience and teaches you to converse your ammo.
Weapon caches are useful for more than just refilling ammo and switching weapons. You can upgrade your weapons and jetpack there using tech points you pickup from downed enemies, and you refill your grenades.
The jetpack is what really changes up the gameplay for several reasons. It can be used to hover which changes how platforming and ground combat can work. Also if there’s an area where Will has to ascend or descend the camera will move above or below him and the gameplay perspective changes completely. This is the much talked about vertical combat system, with the camera perspective changed, Will can take cover on his current platform and shoot at enemies on higher or lower platforms, or leap to other platforms above, below, or beside him. The camera isn’t locked however, at anytime, you can climb onto a ledge and gameplay returns to normal. It’s a good transition and not as disorienting as you would think. This makes for some interesting battles.
One jetpack feature I didn’t expect from the game, but ended up being a very fun addition was the jetpack arial battles. Using the jetpack you can control Will like a plane and dogfight with other Watcher aircraft. There are dual guns attached to the top of the jetpack so you can shoot down enemies, and you can even hi-jack their ships.
The transition from ground mode to hover and flight mode can be really seamless. The controls can definitely take some getting used to. One thing is that pressing up on the left analog stick makes Will run forward but in flight mode it pitches down, so if you go for a running start and forget to let go of the stick you’ll crash right into the ground. Which is funnier than anything else. Once you do get used to the controls the jetpack is really fun. You can easily switch to and from hover mode as well to stop and take out some enemies or achieve some objectives before flying away. It’s a neat mechanic that really mixes up the gameplay.
While the game is mostly straight forward, it has several collectables to keep you from going in just a straight line. There’s tons of extra tech points around to collect so you can upgrade your weapons, and there are also some journals lying around which can explain more about the story.
The game isn’t too length an experience, it’s on par with other games in the same genre and runs the usual 6-8 hours. Items unlocked carry over to subsequent playthroughs, and there’s a survival mission mode built in to help extend the life of the game.
There are a couple combat and control issues, but overall Dark Void is worth a play if you love third person shooters. It’s not a top quality game, but it is fun and plays well, the jetpack mechanics add something fun and interesting that set it apart from other games in the genre.
Review followed up by jiosis
On January 22, 2010 / Game review based on PS3 demo
Mikestrife’s review pretty much covered everything I have to say about this game. In my idea Airtight Games made a big mistake, starting off the game in a way that it looks similar and thus comparable with Uncharted. Once your brain made the connection its difficult to avoid judging it. If it wasn’t because of the unique verticality and jetpack ideas this game could not stand a chance because it is nowhere as polished and smooth as most of the games in its genre. There is a short jetpack tutorial at the beginning of the game which I believe is there only in order to set this game apart from its competitors but its just too short and by the time you realize how the controls work it’s over and the Uncharted-wannabe part starts!
The character models and movements are not smooth and the textures don’t look good especially if you increase the brightness. Even the cut-scenes are not as good as most games today. The problem that Mikestrife mentioned about the hit detection was really annoying. It looks like while they cover behind a rock, you’re not supposed to be able to kill them even though you have a fairly clear shot!
The AI in this game doesn’t seem really smart either ! It happened a few times that an enemy was stuck behind a wall, shooting at the rock in front of it while it could have easily moved one step to its side and shot me.
One more complaint I have is about the invisible walls! It happens so many times during the game that you see an open way between rocks and cliffs that seems like something could be there. You walk there only to find an invisible wall is blocking you! Why they couldn’t simply put a high enough rock or tree there, I have no idea!
Now after all these negative points I’m trying to find a way to say this game is actually fun! The best thing about it is that the jetpack concept is fun but it could use some extra work to make it more polished and decrease annoyingness!
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