By Ben / 2010-02-04 19:11:26Capcom's western developed Nolan North 'em-up has taken a bit of stick, and I'm here to say it's not entirely deserved
Dark Void is not the game I was expecting. The focus on the jetpack in the previews for the game gave me the impression most of my time would be spent in the air, with the ground combat being almost incidental. If anything the reverse is true.
The game opens with some air combat, but this lasts only a handful of minutes and doesn’t reappear for around another hour or so. Fortunately the ground combat works well, it generally keeps you pretty busy, there’s a reasonable mix of locations, and the upgradeable weapons add the feeling of progress (albeit slight). Bullets feel weak later on unless you focus your upgrades, and they move a little slow, especially with the way enemies leap about.
That’s not to say the A.I. is especially smart, indeed most enemies leave themselves exposed enough for you to sink rounds into them, although those with jetpacks can be a nightmare to hit. The A.I. never really tests you, you can be swamped but never flanked, enemies will generally keep their distance, so ducking in and out of cover is all you need. You can take to the air and hover-shoot people, or even blast through a crowd with your jetpack, but you’re never encouraged to, and never need to.
There are some semi-platform sections to the game, where you either perch on or under ledges and platforms, blasting away at enemies who do the same. Its here where the game offers the most variety, superficially at least. The obvious is the change between climbing down a cliff to climbing and shooting up one. While you’ll mainly be scrambling up/down cliffs and sci-fi cores of some sort, the boat section is a real stand out moment, a novel touch lacking in the rest of the game.
The much talked about flying combat is initially the games weak link, it was only on the 4rt or 5th variant that it finally started to click with me. Aiming is far too loose, perhaps a lock-on feature would have imbalanced the game, but these sections can become tedious. I suspect it was the lack of enemies and wide open spaces that hindered my enjoyment early on; more enemies in a smaller area, such as the later levels, means they are easier to hit. Your turning circle is stoic, combated to some extent by the flip move, although this plays havoc with your aim, so really only helps defensively.
Graphically the game does enough, it’s nice and solid, and while the frame rate isn’t buttery smooth, it only dips on a handful of occasions. The games low point is without doubt the cut scenes, with their glitchy frame rate, popping textures, jaggy lines, and occasional repeating sound. The plot’s not so bad, written down it’s horrendous, and the twists are fairly obvious, but it’s presented well and certainly entertaining enough.
The biggest shame with Dark Void is that everything you see in the first episode of the game represents what you see in the whole. There’s a handful of new weapons to find, but essentially everything you face in the first flying mission, or the first ground mission, or the first platform mission, are exactly the same (aside from some tougher enemies) as what you’ll find in the last. There’s a lack of development, that coupled with the increasingly generic environments, makes you glad the game is so short (less than 10 hours). There‘s also the sense something has been cut, there‘s a few levels where the narrative doesn‘t walk you up to the gate the way you‘d expect, as though perhaps there was supposed to be a level in between.
So far this has been reasonably complimentary, unfortunately there’s a sense of frustration permeating the whole game. The targeting while flying, the targeting while hovering, the bullet sponge enemies, the lengthy recovery time of your health, the awkward camera, the list goes on. And this is really the crux of the issue with Dark Void, it’s not so clever or essential a game that you can brush aside its problems, however there’s no doubt that when the game isn’t getting in its own way it’s a lot of fun.
Don’t believe the hate this game is getting, but at the same time go in with your eyes open. You’ll have fun, but at times it will also be a little too much work.
Dark Void is not the game I was expecting. The focus on the jetpack in the previews for the game gave me the impression most of my time would be spent in the air, with the ground combat being almost incidental. If anything the reverse is true.
The game opens with some air combat, but this lasts only a handful of minutes and doesn’t reappear for around another hour or so. Fortunately the ground combat works well, it generally keeps you pretty busy, there’s a reasonable mix of locations, and the upgradeable weapons add the feeling of progress (albeit slight). Bullets feel weak later on unless you focus your upgrades, and they move a little slow, especially with the way enemies leap about.
That’s not to say the A.I. is especially smart, indeed most enemies leave themselves exposed enough for you to sink rounds into them, although those with jetpacks can be a nightmare to hit. The A.I. never really tests you, you can be swamped but never flanked, enemies will generally keep their distance, so ducking in and out of cover is all you need. You can take to the air and hover-shoot people, or even blast through a crowd with your jetpack, but you’re never encouraged to, and never need to.
There are some semi-platform sections to the game, where you either perch on or under ledges and platforms, blasting away at enemies who do the same. Its here where the game offers the most variety, superficially at least. The obvious is the change between climbing down a cliff to climbing and shooting up one. While you’ll mainly be scrambling up/down cliffs and sci-fi cores of some sort, the boat section is a real stand out moment, a novel touch lacking in the rest of the game.
The much talked about flying combat is initially the games weak link, it was only on the 4rt or 5th variant that it finally started to click with me. Aiming is far too loose, perhaps a lock-on feature would have imbalanced the game, but these sections can become tedious. I suspect it was the lack of enemies and wide open spaces that hindered my enjoyment early on; more enemies in a smaller area, such as the later levels, means they are easier to hit. Your turning circle is stoic, combated to some extent by the flip move, although this plays havoc with your aim, so really only helps defensively.
Graphically the game does enough, it’s nice and solid, and while the frame rate isn’t buttery smooth, it only dips on a handful of occasions. The games low point is without doubt the cut scenes, with their glitchy frame rate, popping textures, jaggy lines, and occasional repeating sound. The plot’s not so bad, written down it’s horrendous, and the twists are fairly obvious, but it’s presented well and certainly entertaining enough.
The biggest shame with Dark Void is that everything you see in the first episode of the game represents what you see in the whole. There’s a handful of new weapons to find, but essentially everything you face in the first flying mission, or the first ground mission, or the first platform mission, are exactly the same (aside from some tougher enemies) as what you’ll find in the last. There’s a lack of development, that coupled with the increasingly generic environments, makes you glad the game is so short (less than 10 hours). There‘s also the sense something has been cut, there‘s a few levels where the narrative doesn‘t walk you up to the gate the way you‘d expect, as though perhaps there was supposed to be a level in between.
So far this has been reasonably complimentary, unfortunately there’s a sense of frustration permeating the whole game. The targeting while flying, the targeting while hovering, the bullet sponge enemies, the lengthy recovery time of your health, the awkward camera, the list goes on. And this is really the crux of the issue with Dark Void, it’s not so clever or essential a game that you can brush aside its problems, however there’s no doubt that when the game isn’t getting in its own way it’s a lot of fun.
Don’t believe the hate this game is getting, but at the same time go in with your eyes open. You’ll have fun, but at times it will also be a little too much work.
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