Dark Void Review

January 28, 2010

Enjoy some fast-paced stomach-turning aerial combat in this intense shooter.

Story

A long time ago, an alien race known as The Watchers ruled over mankind. Through a twist of fate, some humans developed special powers which allowed them to overthrow the aliens. These humans were called Adepts and together they banished The Watchers to a parallel dimension known as the Void. The Watchers have been preparing Earth for their return in a most devious way…
A pilot named Will is assigned to what seems to be a normal delivery mission. The courier he is supposed to escort turns out to be his ex-girlfriend, Ava. Everything goes smooth until they cross the mysterious Bermuda Triangle. Their plane starts acting up and as the engines give up, they crash into a nearby jungle.

The Game

Dark Void is an intense third-person shooter game that mixes up the standard shooter formula with stomach-turning, action packed jet pack flying. You play as Will as he tries to figure out where he is and how to find his way back home. You progress advance the game through following various objectives that are given to you one after another. You can at anytime check your current objective and even be given an indication as to where you are supposed to go, so that you won’t get lost.

Content

Dark Void is a single-player game, and as such there are no multiplayer game modes present. The game can be played in three different difficulty settings and you can at any time adjust the difficulty setting on the fly if you find the game either too difficult or too easy. This is a much welcomed feature as it won’t force you to restart from the beginning should you want to adjust the difficulty level. From the main menu you can also remap the controls at anytime which helps if you aren’t comfortable with the default controls.
Another interesting thing in the main menu is the Journal option. This lets you read any journals found in the game. Journals are special items that can be found scattered throughout the game and they provide you with pieces of in-depth story about various events and people. The journals have no other purpose than to flesh out the story though, so if you aren’t all that interested in that you won’t need to bother with them.

There are two basic types of gameplay in Dark Void. One is ground combat and the other is aerial combat. The ground combat is pretty typical to a third-person shooter game and it’s the slower part of the game. The aerial combat on the other hand feels refreshing, innovative and is extremely fast paced.
Certain parts of the game do encourage mixing these elements but since you’re free to go as you please, you tend to choose whatever is more efficient. The ground combat is a large part of the game and it’s also mixed together with some great platforming elements.

During ground combat sequences you can also use your jetpack to hover in mid-air. This will most of the time work to your advantage but The Watchers have methods to deal with you if you aren’t careful. This does add a lot of strategy and tactics to the game but at a lower difficulty level, the game allows for the infamous “run and gun” tactic. The game could have used some more tactical and strategical situations to make it a more unique experience, but what’s in there is great.

You’ll also engage enemies in vertical combat, meaning that you’re clinging on to a platform attacking enemies that are on higher ground. These parts of the game mostly take place at deadly heights, and they look great and are very fun to play. The camera will follow the action perfectly, and the game shows whenever you can perform certain moves which makes it a lot easier to fully utilize the different aspects of vertical combat. Some examples of this are; jumping from platform to platform and taking down enemies with either your weapon or by using various close combat maneuvers.

There are six different weapons in total that you can use during ground combat, but you can only carry two at any time. These six weapons are divided into three human and three alien weapons and they both have their assault rifle types but the two other weapons are completely different in effect and usability. For instance the humans have the Hypercoil which fires a beam for as long as you want or until it overheats, while The Watchers have the Reclaimer which works like a typical sniper rifle but fires energy rounds instead of regular bullets.
The weapons all have three different upgrades. Upgrading a weapon can increase clip size, increase damage or add another property to the weapon such as armor piercing- or exploding bullets.
All in all, the weapons are disappointingly few in numbers but at least the variety is decent.

Upgrading a weapon is done through special ammo lockers. At times it can also be done between chapters and episodes. To qualify for an upgrade you need to have the right amount of Tech Points, which can be found lying around throughout the game or by killing enemies. There are three kinds of Tech Points but the only difference between them is how many points they are worth.
The three different upgrades on the weapons and the jetpack have different costs, so you need to appraise the value of each upgrade as you go. But as the number of possible upgrades is limited, the novelty of upgrading wears off halfway through.

As you run out of bullets you can either pick up weapons from dead enemies, find an ammo locker or an ammo cache. Ammo caches are generally scattered throughout battlefields and they give you full ammo for both your weapons, plus they also refill your grenades. Ammo lockers have the same effect but they also let you swap weapons and upgrade them. Swapping weapons allows you to switch any of your current weapons to another weapon that you have found earlier. Ammo lockers are not found as often as ammo caches but they are often well placed and are therefore very useable.
Should you run out of bullets you can always try to kill enemies using the close combat mechanic; basically when you are near an enemy you just press a button and you will instantly kill it. Certain enemies must be weakened before this works. These enemies typically have more armor so you can easily spot which ones are weak and which aren’t.

When you engage enemies in aerial combat you can try to hijack their vehicles, or you can take one from one of your allies. Hijacking can both be a life- and time saver. However, at times it can be the opposite. During hijacking sequences you’ll have to avoid being shot by the turret on the vehicle. You are then supposed to open a panel located on the ship to force the pilot out. After you get the hang of it, it’s incredible easy and does not add any excitement to the combat. But hijacking will automatically take out the enemy aircraft, so instead of chasing down the enemies in a dogfight you can use this as an alternative way to eliminating them. It certainly makes things easier if you aren’t used to the aerial combat. Hijacking can also instantly kill you since the AI can randomly fly you into the abyss (in other words; outside the play zone). This feels extremely cheap and it does make you avoid any abuse of the hijacking mechanic.
Will’s jetpack is equipped with two machine guns. These are weak at first but they can be upgraded and later on you can also add rocket launchers to the jetpack. You have infinite ammunition during aerial combat so you can keep on firing until you hit something.
The game has a “show nearest target” button during aerial combat which allows you to keep track of where the enemies are. But this doesn’t make it any easier to track them down and blast them out of the sky.

The Watchers will be your main enemy and most of them look like slender bipedal robots. They will apply different tactics depending on what color they are. For instance the red ones will not hesitate to rush in and self-destruct, while others will use their jetpacks to attack you from different angles. There is some nice variety in this game, but mostly it feels like you are fighting a robotic, coordinated enemy which oddly enough is a good thing in this case. During aerial combat you will face enemies such as Saucers, AA turrets and battleships.

Dark Void has a recovery health system, so whenever you take enough damage the game will through visuals and audio tell you that you are about to die. Your health will then automatically start recovering at a steady pace, so your life is basically only at risk when taking several hits in quick succession – but this does not by any means make you feel invincible. It does affect the flow of the game a lot though, because it lets you be more aggressive and it eliminates the frustration of ending up with no health left to make it further.
By utilizing the cover mechanic you can find cover almost anywhere. This allows you to stay in cover while you think about your next move. While in cover, you can fire your weapon either by blind fire or by carefully aiming which certainly is useful and makes combat more fluid. You can also jump between covered positions or jump over lower cover providing obstacles and even charge forward from behind cover to make some quick advancement. The cover system works great and it feels fully developed.

Dark Void is of average length; the game has 14 chapters spread across three episodes. Playing it through will take around nine hours but it has very little replay value. Collecting journals does not last all that long and frankly, it’s not that enjoyable.
There are 58 trophies to collect as well so if you’re into that sort of thing, you’ll be able to spend some more quality time with the game.

Controls

The game is played through a shoulder-view camera. You move around with the left thumbstick and you look around using with right thumbstick. The controls are easy to pick up, but they get a lot more complicated as the game progresses and new moves become available. The game teaches you new moves and how to use them as you go, so at least, you won’t have to sit through any drawn out tutorial stages. At times, the controls will feel tricky but the more you play, they start to feel more manageable. Obviously you will need to spend some time with it if you want to perfect the controls.

Aerial combat is the other main part of this game and it feels vastly different from the ground combat. This is also where the controls get a little tricky as there are few more things that you must keep in mind. During aerial combat you are constantly moving at a formidable speed, but you can break or boost at any time. Boosting slowly drains the Boost gauge which is also used for aerial maneuvers. Aerial maneuvers are necessary to position yourself in combat and to avoid fatal barrages of enemy bullets. To perform an aerial maneuver you need to push down the right thumbstick and then move both sticks in various combinations to perform different moves; for example moving both to the left will make you do a roll to the left.
Whenever you are flying you can also start hovering, and then take off whenever you feel like it. This way you can quickly explore areas and change position during both aerial and ground combat. Flying in this game can also be a very fast way to death because there are plenty of obstacles such as towers, wires, mountains etc which typically kill you instantly if you happen to fly into them. When you hit a wall you either die or bounce off into another direction.
With that said, you are pretty much forced to quickly learn the controls and how to correctly apply them to different situations to save a lot of frustration.

Graphics

This game packs some great graphics even if it isn’t the best looking game out there. It does have some nice eye candy, especially while flying over open areas. There are some drops in the frame rate during the larger battles but the game runs smooth most of the time.
The environments are mostly varied and detailed, but there are some rough stops that have no defining features at all. Overall the game looks great and the fact that it changes scenery every now and then is perfectly done and keeps things fresh.
The biggest disappointment in the visuals are the character animations, which weaknesses are mostly apparent during the cut scenes. There is some serious below standard work there, like the character’s walk animations for example.
The animations for the close combat attacks are cinematic and great fun to watch and having a few of these attacks is a nice treat.

Sound

The music and the sound in this game are also just great. The music is epic and fits the game well, and more importantly it makes the battles more intense. The music changes dynamically, so when a battle ends, so does the intense music.
The sound effects are also well made. There are some misses here and there but for the most part it sports a high production value. The game has a decent amount of voice acting in it, and the voice actors do a decent job in keeping the game and story engaging. The dialogue is interesting and the acting is okay – there isn’t a lot to complain about but there are some moments that are a little rough.

Summary

There’s a lot of interesting and good things in Dark Void. The combat is fun and exciting and the story is interesting. But there are some moments where the game will show some of its bad sides – the controls are tricky to fully utilize and the amount of content in the game isn’t entirely fulfilling.
The aerial flying parts are arguably the most interesting parts of the game. The feeling there is great but the combat can be pretty awkward at times. The radar isn’t all that helpful, the aiming is difficult and the same goes for the maneuvers. But overall, the aerial parts are fun to play and the right feeling is truly present.
Dark Void is a decent game bundled with a couple of new and fresh experiences. It might have some rough spots here and there, but the solid gameplay will keep you entertained throughout the whole game. It’s a great game for as long as it lasts, but there isn’t anything to really keep you hooked for a longer period of time.