(This post represents the first in a new category of blogs. As requested by quite a few people over the last year, I am turning my reviewing eye toward video games, other than only Star Wars games.)
Game Title: Dark Void (2010)
Platform Reviewed: Playstation 3
Also Available: Xbox 360; Windows PC
Created by: Airtight Games (Developer) and Capcom (Publisher)
Dark Void was a game that caught my attention briefly when it was first being promoted. All of the hype focused on the idea of a broader battle environment, which would alter the standard third person shooter dynamic by adding vertical gameplay and on-demand flight. After the initial buzz, though, I pretty much stopped caring about the game.
A short while ago, a demo was finally released via the Playstation Network. Given that the demos (like the PSN service itself) was free, I figured I would check it out. After all, Capcom has a good pedigree with some of my favorite game series (Street Fighter, Mega Man), and I am a big fan of third person shooters (probably my single favorite genre). I gave it a try and now, after having purchased and played through the single player campaign, feel that my initial impressions through the demo were pretty much the same as my feelings after playing the game. What I saw was what I got, in a sense. That isn’t all bad, but it certainly isn’t spectacular either.
Story (why I usually play a game): The game follows William “Will” Grey, a down on his luck pilot in 1938, voiced by Nolan North. Grey is hired by his ex-but-still-kinda-flame, Ava, to deliver cargo that, unbeknownst to Will, is destined for a sort of parallel dimension. You see, the Bermuda Triangle (and other parts of the world like it) is a portal into another realm known as the Void. Centuries ago, humans rebelled against alien “gods” (the Watchers) and banished them into the Void, similar to the uprising in Stargate (minus the other dimension). Now, humans trapped in the void (including Nikola Tesla) are attempting to rise up against the Watchers in the Void to not only defeat them there but to also prevent World War II, which is apparently the work of the Watchers and their manipulation.
I say all of this because the game leaves certain story aspects rather undeveloped and unclear unless you read the little loading screens between levels. The story has great potential but lacks the real depth that I would have hoped for in a game with such broader potential overall. As it stands, I enjoyed the game, but the story builds (though not much) through levels without many bosses until you fight an oddball final battle (which you don’t realize is the final battle) before ending abruptly with a scene that was somewhat emotional but lacked the big emotional punch is should have had because, well, we never learned to really care for the characters.
Gameplay: As noted, this game is a variant on the third person shooter. When standing on solid ground, Will takes aim in the traditional L1 form, then fires with R1 or tosses a grenade with L2 (a tad awkward). He can reload with R2 and melee (with rather overpowered attacks that leave you using melee far too often instead of weapons) with circle. X jumps, while square allows you to take cover. Notice what’s missing here: you cannot dodge out of the way by rolling at all. That is one third person shooter mechanic that I rarely used in other games but felt I often wanted to have in this one.
The directional pad switches between weapons (no matter which you push, since you only carry two at a time, maximum). As for grenades, you have one type at a time, unable to switch types. (More on weapons in a moment.)
The third person mechanics are solid, just nothing really new by themselves. That is, until you start entering vertical combat.
Vertical combat is what it sounds like. Sometimes enemies are above or below you, and you will need to take cover under an overhang and fire upward (launching yourself up to those ledges with your jetpack if applicable), or you will take cover looking downward and drop down levels as necessary. This adds a nice new element, though it plays more or less like a standard horizontal gunfight, just with gravity working a tad differently.
The jetpack adds the game’s most innovative touch. Once you finally get the jetpack (and I mean the real one, not the little test one that can only hover to give you a chance to learn the ropes of vertical combat), you are able to switch in and out of rocket flight with ease. Pushing triangle twice will boost you up for a split second, then launch you into flight. While in flight, you can perform maneuvers with the L3 and R3 buttons, while also utilizing machine guns on the pack in dogfights. (There are missiles too, but they cost so much and are so late in the game when you might acquire them as to be a non-issue.) The dogfighting is fun and feels like the controls are quite solid, but the inability to lock onto enemies (that is, you can lock on to keep an eye on them but not to aim) makes the dogfights a lot longer than they needed to be.
You can also use the jetpack to hover, which changes the dynamics of gunfights, given that you can fly over the battlefield and maneuver in ways you would not have been able to in previous games.
Weapons: I am not sure that I would have given this a separate category for other games, but something should be said about the weapons in the game. While I think most games would have a similar size of an arsenal, I felt as though the weapons in the game were quite limited. You have two forms of grenade: “Boom” and “Holy crap, it’s an expanding field of radiation!” Both work just as well as the other. You then have six weapons to select from as you gain access to them (and each has three different levels: the default level 1, and two levels you can pay to upgrade with tech points you discover or gain by killing enemies). Those weapons include a “human” automatic rifle, a Watcher variant of the same type, a Watcher sniper rifle, a Watcher blaster that has limited ammo that explodes somewhat on impact like a small grenade launcher of sorts, and two weapons that I found myself using only very rarely: a variant on a Ghostbusters proton pack; and a weapon that uses magnetism that I only used once — in the level where you get it and have to move one metal panel out of the way — after which I never touched it again. For some reason, this selection felt limited, and I tended to find myself sticking with my upgraded human rifle and alien sniper rifle at almost all times.
Enemies: Again, I’m not sure if I would note this for other games, but I felt it was necessary for Dark Void. This is a game of seemingly endless waves of enemies. Unfortunately, those enemies are very similar in type. In flight, you will find yourself fighting only two main enemy types: a flying saucer, and the same flying saucer with shields. On the ground, almost every enemy is some form of almost-identical-besides-color variant of one or two different droid (er, robot) types. The enemy AI is actually pretty good and makes firefights tough (until you realize you can race up and melee the crap out of them more easily than shoot them because they take crazy amounts of damage before falling). Every so often, you will run into a boss battle, facing well-designed, cool creatures like a robotic lizard/panther (I can’t decide which it reminds me of most) and an odd three-headed, flying dragon mecha as the final boss (after which you’ll wonder why the game just came to an abrupt end). These battles tend to focus on firing at a weak spot, then carrying out a quicktime event. (You also use quicktime events to skyjack alien flying saucers and even your own men’s planes at times.)
The Verdict: I could create more and more categories here, but the verdict, overall, is mixed. I bought this game on its release day, meaning that I paid $60 for it. Given the game’s repetitive enemies, relatively short single player campaign (with very abrupt ending), and complete lack of multiplayer (which I might actually have played for this one, when I don’t tend to play multiplayer on most games) combine to make me believe that, for gamers like me at least, this game is not worth the initial $60 price tag.
Nolan North’s voice acting is well done, as usual, but my Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves gameplay is so recent that it felt like Nathan Drake was being shoehorned into a new story. Even the characters’ personalities are similar (though Drake’s jokes are actually funny, and he doesn’t repeat the same reactions to things over and over again). The biggest issue with sound, though, is that, on a few flying levels, the game seems to gag on itself, with sound cutting in and out and, in one minor instance, totally going silent. Given that I have looked around online and found this issue to affect gamers all over, on both PS3 and Xbox 360, that is an inexcusable flaw to allow through the testing process.
The music, however, when not cutting out on those few flying sequences, is excellent. It was composed by Bear McCreary, a former composer on the recent Battlestar Galactica series. (There is also a great 8-bit version of the title theme that plays during the end credits if you leave them running.)
On the other hand, I really found the story to have potential, and the vertical and flight gameplay, seamlessly integrated with third person shooting of a more familiar variety, was quite refreshing and upped the ante for what to expect in future games of the genre.
Capcom has promised upcoming downloadable content (DLC) for Dark Void, and I have to wonder what it will be. If it is more levels, I’ll likely pick them up and play. If it is multiplayer . . . then we have another issue. Gamers were outright pissed when standard multiplayer types were missing from Capcom’s Resident Evil 5, then made available as DLC. If that happens again with Dark Void, my opinion of Capcom will continue to plummet (after their “all of these costumes for Street Fighter IV are already on your disc, but we’ll make you pay several times to get them all” decision). Then again, we are told that the content for the new Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition will be available as DLC add-ons for previous RE5 buyers, so perhaps we will see something less asinine as Dark Void DLC. One can only hope.
Don’t get me wrong: I had a lot of fun playing Dark Void for the three brief afternoons that it took me to finish the game. Now, though, barring going back to keep upgrading weapons or find missing journals, there is little reason to play through the game again.
So, my verdict: At $60, pass this one. If you can find it for a bargain price, I would have felt okay paying $30 or $40 for the game, especially if it later gets DLC. If you aren’t one who bothers with DLC or doesn’t tend to replay games unless there is a substantial reason to do so, then I’d say to just rent this one, or at least play the demo and decide whether that kind of gameplay (with a few more weapons and a lot more of the same generic enemies) is worth the purchase price.
Grade: B -
Fun while it lasted, but over too soon. Great new mechanics, but did not live up to its potential.
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