Customer Reviews

Dark Void

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

For a concept of Dark Void, take the PC version of the original Gears of War, add in a jet-pack, knock it down to T-rating, remove the multiplayer and set the whole thing in the Bermuda Triangle in the early years of WWII.
Oh, and upgradeable weapons, too.

The centerpiece of Dark void is the aerial combat blended smoothly with Gears-of-War style cover-based combat. This is made possible by the jetpack you acquire about halfway through the first episode in the campaign. The flying is tricky to learn especially when you turn with the mouse. The first tutorial mission was the most frustrating part of the whole game. I felt like Avatar's Jake sully when he first rides an Ikran. In simpler turms, it sucked. invisible walls were everywhere, i got lost, confused and dizzy. But once you master it, this is the best part of the game, because it's very original. Plus, if you tire of your meager machine guns, you can Hijack enemy planes, I mean UFO's.
That's right. Aliens. Sadly, the originality stops short of the plot. Aliens (called Watchers) want to take over the world and have been manipulating humanity by assuming human forms and disguising themselves as world leaders, notably, the Nazis. Yawn.

But, it is an interesting take on WWII and there's references to the ancient aliens theory, which is cool.

The ground combat is just like Gears of War as I've stated before, so if you like that , you'll like this. the most notable difference, however is the vertical cover system. look up at a platform and press "c" for Will (our hero) to jet pack his way to it and grab it. Press "c" to blast to the next ledge, or "space" to clamber on top of your cover, or simply fire upon the enemies in your way. It's a refreshing take on cover that helps this game stand out even more from the other cover based shooters, and allows a platforming element to seep into the mix.

Now there is DlC coming for this. A survival mode, similar to horde should be releasing on Xbox 360 (2/10/10 400MP) and PS3 (2/11/10 $4.99) though no word yet on a PC version yet (as of 2/10/10), believe me, I've asked. A lot. But, until I play it I can't tell you any more abut it.

I just finished playing Dark Void all the way to the end. For those of you who get window mode, just try the Alt + Enter function for full screen. The game isn't all that bad. I enjoyed the game play, and flying around in a jet pack is extremely fun. I had no problems with just using a keyboard and mouse. However, I had to change the mouse sensitivity when I was flying and when I was on the ground. This wasn't a problem because my mouse includes macros for that, but I could see it being a pain for those without macros available on their mice. The game is also incredibly short. The single player experience is even shorter than Modern Warfare 2. [...] bucks is still a bit much for the game. I'd say its worth about [...].

The first ten minutes of playing Dark Void I was frustrated beyond belief with the flying controls. I considered uninstalling the game and calling it quits. Luckily I decided to take a break, come back and readjust the controls a bit more. Once I did, I really started to love the game. Set in 1939, Dark Void allows you take on the role of Will, an airplane pilot hired to transport unknown cargo through the Bermuda Triangle. Of course, they encounter an unidentified flying craft causing them to crash on a strange island. Here begins the story of Dark Void and my thoughts on the game;


Pros

+ Some nice graphics. Character models, aircrafts and buildings all looked great.

+ Villains had a really cool look and feel as did the Survivor resistance fighters in their air goggles and oxygen masks.

+ Excellent voice acting across the board, including Nolan North (Drake from Uncharted and Deadpool from Hulk vs. Wolverine) and Paul Eiding (Colonel Campbell from Metal Gear Solid).

+ Very tight controls over all. Some aerial movement can suffer without patience and practice.

+ Lots of aerial dogfights.

+ Most missions are approachable by play style whether it's ground, aircraft or jetpack.

+ Excellent combination of aerial and ground combat. Unlike some reviewers I didn't find the combat repetitive at all.

+ Mission starts didn't feel forced like an arcade game. For example in this stage you'll only be flying and in this stage you're grounded. I really liked how the developers handled these mission combinations.

+ Vertical combat was extremely well done! The fact that you could go from vertical to horizontal on a ledge in combat was great. I've never played a game that handled this type of game play so well.

+ Ability to hijack and control both enemy and friendly aircraft.

+ Commendable musical score composed by Bear McCreary of Battlestar Galactica fame. While I didn't enjoy his work on Galactica I did enjoy this. The thumping tribal drumbeats and flutes fit very well in action sequences. There were only a few grating parts of the score where he used synthesized electric guitar or bagpipes (one of the things I despised about his Galactica soundtracks).

+ Story was left open for a sequel.


Cons

- Aerial controls take some tweaking and getting used to.

- Dialogue can be a bit contrived at times. The story is also cliché and filled with a few logic holes.

- Annoying checkpoint save system. It was difficult to tell when the game was actually saving or just creating an in game checkpoint. After a few setbacks due to the game not actually saving when I quit I learned to just finish the chapter I was on before exiting the game.

- Some graphical glitches where the textures would pop in and out, especially the detailing on the jetpack. The ground textures were also often pixilated and ugly.

- Game would stutter from time to time at checkpoints. There was also one really awful instance where the game stopped and slowed to a crawl (during the final "Rescue the Prisoners" hangar boss battle). It happened all 3 times I attempted to pass this portion of the game. There was also another level where the mouse controls required double clicks before actually responding which was very frustrating, especially when trying to use the sniper rifle. However, I'm not actually sure if these issues were in the game or simply my computer.

- Waypoint markers during missions would sometimes not update to the next objective.

- Jet pack couldn't really hover still. It could only burst thrust up and allow you to strafe in all directions. Let's just say it wasn't exactly like Space Harrier.

- Protecting the Ark against the Archons was a bit too difficult. It took me about 10 attempts to accomplish and even then I was barely successful.

- Vertical bird's eye view stages of the game can be very disorienting if you suffer from motion sickness or are afraid of heights.

- Journals (detailing other's experiences in the Void) and a few weapon upgrade points are simply not enough of a reason to explore every area of the game.

- Weapon upgrade globes dropped by enemies disappear shortly after opponents are destroyed. Too often you're pinned down or in a heavy fire fight and are unable to retrieve them.

- Weapon/jetpack upgrades are too costly.

- Two weapon carrying limit was realistic but disappointing in an action shooter like this one.

- Hijacking enemy ships took too long to accomplish to be extremely useful.

- Enemy transport ships were destroyed way too easily. I realize this isn't Star Trek but why wouldn't large transport cruisers have shields? Many of the smaller enemy ships did.

- Too short! I finished the game over a weekend. Just when it started to get really great (weapon upgrades etc.) it was over.


Despite all of my cons listed above I really enjoyed the game and would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in the genre. Sure it was over way too soon and the story was cliché but it was an extremely fun ride while it lasted. It wasn't worth the full price they charged at release due to its length. If you can get for less than $15 then it's well worth the play through. Hopefully Capcom will come out with a lengthier sequel in the future as the story was clearly left open.

This game gone a TON of flak as soon as it was realeased, and I do not think that's fair to the game. So, allow me to adress the critics remarks one at a time:

1:Bad Controlls

Now, yes the controlls are a bit hard to get used, it is not a game you can just pick up 'n' play. If you are just a casual gamer looking for something easy to play for a little bit, I do not reccomend this game. However, After about 30 minutes (hour tops) you will have the controlls sown pretty good. After a while the controlls just feel right and you can really see where the programmers were coming from.(For Keybored Controlls I have no clue, I use 360 controller, I highly reccomend)


2:Bad Graphics

Partly true, not the best but I think they work for the games style. (Just don't look real close)


3:Repetitive

I strongly disagree. The game blends Flight Combat, ground combat and Car Jacking? Plus The vertical combat I think is really cool, Infact I really wished there was more in it. (However, I do not suffer from motion sickness, It my cause headache, blurred/imparred vision, or nausia, in the weak among you)



4:Short

Yah, the it is about 10-12 hour game. Not Real long, but I have played games shorter. Plus it gives you incentive to go back and play again, and I know that I will be happy to go back and play it a second and maybe even third time.


5:Bad Music

To that complaint I simply say quit whining. People who complain about the music in the game are just TRYING to find negative things, just to not the game. The music, served it's purpose. It set the tone for the level. It gave you a hint of unknown, of fear, of excitment, pain, victory, grief, anger, you get the idea.




So overall I say don't listen to the review that are negative and say it is a worthless game, that is a matter of opinion. I am just telling you the facts of the game. It is not for everybody, but I know some will enjoy it, I did!

I bought this game the day it came out January 19th. I must say that I was NOT disoppointed in the least with this game. The soundtrack is fairly good, The game play takes some getting used too, but it is not hard. The flying part of the game is one of the best parts. You can walk up to the edge of big holes, jump into the air and free-fall for a long way before starting up your trusty jet-pack and flying away into battle. It is really cool to fight the alians in an air-to-air battle. The combate and action parts are great. I really like the varity of guns the game offers. Overall, this game is one of the best when it comes to jet-packed action. You will have fun with this game.

RocketFighter

The controls on this game are impossible to use. The first scene in the game has you, as Will, flying with a jet pack. The mouse is supposed to be used to fly left and right, but reaction times are sluggish and control is poor. There seems to be no way to make Will climb or descend and he seems to want to fly loops. Even when he's flying somewhat horizontally, there's no guidance as to where he should be flying.

I've given up on having poor Will actually do something, other than fly loops and crash into vertical cliff faces.

The game is ok , was expecting a little more action . The graphics is average. I really like the air combat, but if you are using a mouse to play the game it will take a bit of getting use too. Other than that the game is just ok.

I waited until the game basically cost nothing, bought it, and have played it through. I found it to be a lot of fun for the money I paid. The controls are not perfect and could have been improved but having a jet pack is just awesome!!!

Dark Void is a game made by some of the same people who made Crimson Skies High Road to Revenge and it shows. The flying segments of the game work pretty much exactly like the planes in CS: HRTR which is a good thing. It is easy to control after a few minutes geting accustom to what buttons do what. (I used an xbox 360 controller while playing. I'm not sure how tough it would be with a mouse and keyboard). The shooting aspect of the game is alot like gears of war, you can take cover, hop over cover and jump from cover all with the press of a button. You can also jump up vertically and down off ledges just as easy. It is done very well and I never struggled with the controls. The graphics in Dark Void are good and use the Unreal engine but there are many times where the game is trying to stream information for the level or save a checkpoint which can lead to some horrible slowdown. Its not gamebreaking but I would have rather the developer use a cutscene or something to mask this because it is really noticeable. The art design is done well and you with see areas that are similar to areas in games like uncharted or tomb raider while others have a futuristic look. The character and enemy design is also done well and all though its nothing amazing, overall they look good. The enemies are a bit repetitive but the devs mix up the things you do well enough to overcome this. Dark Voids main problem is that it seems like the developer ran out of time or money to finish the game. I think it needed at least another chapter with 3-4 more areas to tell the story and add a build up to the end of the game. Even the end of the game comes to an abrupt halt just when you think its going to get really good. I think they figured they would fininsh the story in part 2 unfourtunatly I dont think Capcom is going to make another game. Its a shame because Dark Void is a good game that could have been a great series. I enjoyed Dark Void but have to knock a few points of for the framerate issues and the unfinished story. I give it a 7.5 out of 10.

The flying part takes a while getting use to. Interesting story concept with an ending of sorrow. Your journey will be unforgettable.