Dark Void (PS3) Review
Posted by David Martell on 03.11.2010
Is the intrigue of flying a jet pack worth it or is Capcom's latest a big disappointment. Find out inside!
Title: Dark Void
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Airtight Games
Genre: Third Person Shooter, Flying
Players: 1
Rated: T for Teen
Dark Void is one of Capcom’s first titles this year but because of limited hype, it wasn’t very highly anticipated and for good reason. Dark Void takes place during World War Two and centers around William Augustus Grey. William is a cargo pilot who ends up being transported to another world, called The Void, while flying though the Bermuda Triangle. While in the Void, Will ends up encountering other humans, known as the Survivors, who are desperately trying to go back to Earth. Will instantly runs into the natives of the Void, known as the Watchers, and aids the Survivors in defeating them so they can return to their own world. Will eventually finds out that the Watchers are supplying the Axis Powers with supplies for unknown reasons. With the help of Nikola Tesla, Will is able to use the Watchers technology to help him return home. Now lets break the game down.
Graphics: The graphics for this game are relatively decent but otherwise bland. The landscapes in the game look nice but are very repetitive. Whether it is vast desert mountains or green, rich jungles, it is just uninspiring as you go though the game. I like the character models for the main characters yet I find them a bit too cartoony looking to take them seriously. The character models for the enemies are by far one of the worst parts of the game. Almost every robot/alien creature that you face looks exactly alike. Whether they are flying or shooting you on the ground, they all look exactly the same. The one positive thing I can say about the graphics is that when you turn on your jet pack, there is a cool little animation that shows you how powerful the jet pack really is. It kind of gives you the sense of flying and that makes it a bit more fun to watch and play. Gameplay: There are basically two different types of gameplay here: ground battle and air battle. The ground battle is really just a generic third person shooter. You get a few different types of guns, machine guns and your typical alien blasters, and hand grenades. There are plenty of things to hid behind similar to games like Uncharted and Gears of War. Enemies seem to pop out of no where. It basically reminds me of playing one of those arcade games with the guns where you randomly shoot at different enemies popping up behind barrels and crates. Sometimes I found that the AI of your enemies could be extremely stupid. At one point a flying robot landed right in front of my crosshairs and died. A simple victory for me. All the enemies are typically the same, some blow up into giant force fields and some explode unleashing an annoying slug like creature that you also have to kill. After you kill any enemy a yellow sphere pops out that give you points that you can later use to upgrade your weapons and jet pack. There is also a lot of climbing in the game that is also similar to Uncharted and if you look in the right places, you can find journals that help you learn more about the story and purple spheres that give you a big heap of points. My favorite part of the ground game, probably my favorite part of the game, is the vertical cover system. I personally haven’t seen this in a game but basically when every you are on a platform of some sort you have the option to climb up or down and during the process enemies will pop up on other platforms and you have to kill them if you want to get to the top or bottom of where you need to be going. One of my favorite sequences using the vertical cover system is when your character is hanging onto this broken ship trying to get to the top before the ship falls down to the rocks and water below. It gave me a sense of urgency and made it a little more fun trying to kill the enemies and race to the top. You also have the option to use the jet pack to jump large distances and to get to higher ledges and platforms.
Of course we also have air battle. I am going to be honest here and say that I didn’t like the flying in this game at all. This is suppose to be the focal point of the game but I found it hard to maneuver at times. When enemy ships would pass me, I would have a hard time turning around and locking on to them. It ended up taking me a long time to figure out the best way to get around killing ships but once I got it, it wasn’t too bad. Overall the flying is just frustrating. One boss that I fought was on the ground and I had to keep flying really far out so I could have enough time pick it apart before I passed it and had to turn around again. Using the jetpack to fly around to get to places is cool and the part when you are flying through this huge tube to get to the void was a pretty fun experience since you had to dodge and control your speed to get to the end. You can also use the jetpack to hover in place which makes it easier to lock on to enemies but also makes it easier for enemies to lock onto you. If you are lucky, you can also latch onto an enemy shit and use it for your advantage. Overall, I just didn’t find the flying part of the game fun. Sound: It is hard to go wrong when you have Nolan North, voice of Drake from Uncharted, voicing the main character. The voice acting is pretty good and I have no complaints on that front. The background music gets very repetitive but luckily it is not that loud so it doesn’t get overly annoying. Everything else from gun shots, blasts, explosions and robots, everything is pretty much generic. It has all been heard before. Lasting Appeal: To be completely honest, there really isn’t much replay value. There is no online play to have fun with your friends and compare your abilities. Basically you can up the difficulty and see you can beat the game again or just go back and try to earn all the trophies. This is definitely something that hurts the game. If you do end up playing the game a second time, everything that you unlock will still be usable in your second go around. To be honest though, why would you want to play the game a second time? Fun Factor: It is sad to say but there really isn’t much of a fun factor here. If you are a fan of getting as much trophies as possible, then I can see some fun in this game. There are plenty of trophies to be earned here and a lot of them are very easy to get. I think for people enjoy flying simulators or any type of flying game for that matter might enjoy this a bit more than I did. The story is a bit too spotty, the characters don’t seem very important and the game is just very forgettable after you beat it.
Graphics
6.0
The graphics are decent all around but many of the areas are vastly bland.
Gameplay
5.0
It's your typical third person shooter mixed in with lackluster flying.
Sound
7.0
Some pretty good voice acting but everything else is what you would expect in a generic third person shooter.
Lasting Appeal
4.0
After one go around you wont want to revisit this game. There is literally nothing else to do.
Fun Factor
4.0
It is very generic and bland for a game that had a lot of potential. No multiplayer hurts this game a lot.
