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http://www.examiner.com/x-13269-Gaming-Lifestyle-Examiner~y2010m1d19-Dark-Void-Xbox-360PS3-review
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haracter-based flight games can be a tough sell these days what with the poor history of Superman titles, not to mention the lukewarm reviews of the game adaptation of Iron Man. Yet if anyone can bring such a gameplay mechanic to satisfying fruition, it is hard to think of a more qualified developer than Airtight Games. By bringing their experience from their console work on Crimson Skies, one could say Airtight simply took vehicle-based air combat mechanics and reskined it with a human character model in their latest game, Dark Void. That in itself makes for a promising title, and when you add a ground combat feature similar to Gears of War, then you have something that is at least worth a glance.
Airtight Games keeps to the same familiar pre-World War II aesthetic they used in Crimson Skies. Add to that a premise involving the paranormal mystique of the Bermuda Triangle. Main character William Grey is a cargo pilot and plays the stereotypical brash jokester who does not realize that his natural abilities and talents can potentially make him great, maybe even save the world. It is during a seemingly routine flight that things get complicated. Not only did an old flame hire him for his latest job, but the Bermuda Triangle happens to be in his flight path. How does the jet pack figure into all this? That is to be discovered later as Will finds a way out of the land beyond the Bermuda Triangle, known as the Void.
The game starts off promisingly enough; the prologue has the player take the jet pack out for a test flight with guns enabled. Yet this is merely a tease as the subsequent chapters deprive the user of flying capabilities in favor of ground combat and exploration. To set itself apart from other duck-and-cover games, Dark Void has several areas where Will has to navigate himself vertically. While his ability to propel himself upwards ledge after ledge (while firing at enemies) might appear unbelievable, it is not that far fetched in the scope of a game involving aliens and being full exposed in air battles against laser-blasting UFOs. It is unfortunate the ground based chapters take up so much of the game, as many players will just itch to get back in the skies again.
When the jet pack is playable again, Dark Void makes for a stellar ride. There's a definite rush in leaping off a cliff and activating the jet pack to face a swarm of enemy ships head on. Once those enemies are dispatched, it is off to one of the nearby bases where additional aliens are waiting to blast Will. He's more than equipped though, as switching from 'flight' to 'hovering' offers a viable stance to pick off foes before landing at one of the bases' platforms. Then on foot, it is time for some over-the-shoulder gunfights. It is this seamless transition from arcade-style flight to ground movement (and vice versa) that Dark Void finds its greatest strength. For skilled gamers, this allows from some inventive maneuvers in areas that could just as well be beaten by staying on foot. With a jet pack handy, one might as well use it. What other game allows the possibility of taking out snipers by simply flying right up to them for a quick punch to the face?
Speaking of melee combat, this close-quarters feature underscores the game's controls and how it could have used some depth and fine tuning. When there is a game like Uncharted 2 with a multi-button melee mechanic, the one-button inputs in Dark Void's fisticuffs feels rather simplified. Moreover, there is no option to switch shoulder views, something that gamers are accustomed to expect in third-person shooters these days. The game also offers a number of context-sensitive actions which are usually presented as finishing blows in boss fights, and includes the occasional button-mashing exercise. One particular event this reviewer could not figure out was how to hijack UFOs in mid-flight without getting blasted to death by the saucer's laser.
That said, there is much praise to bestow on Dark Void's flight controls. As previously mentioned, if one were to treat the airborne Will simply as a plane reskined as a person, it gets easy to fully take advantage of the jet pack. Pressing LB shows one of the nearest targets and moving both analog sticks in certain directions allow for graceful maneuvers including 180-degree flips and barrel rolls. As a side note, Will's rag doll animations during flight, which involve the occasional arm flailing and leg shaking, are very convincing.
The weapon variety is decent enough, with Will starting off with a machine gun but it does not take long to procure alien firearms, the typical kind that fire energy blasts. One has sniping capabilities, while another can disintegrate targets, just to name a couple weapons. All of these can be upgraded by acquiring Tech Points which are collected near fallen enemies.
Airtight's cinematic aspirations are certainly in the right place (there's even a Wilhelm Scream ten minutes into game). It takes its influences from the same pulp adventures that brought Indiana Jones and Uncharted to life. William is voiced by none other than Nolan North who has had lead roles in Uncharted, Shadow Complex, Prince of Persia and Assassin's Creed. It also does not hurt to have Paul Eiding (Metal Gear Solid's Roy Campbell) as Nikola Tesla, who happens to be the inventor of the jet pack. With its attempts at humor and sexual tension with a former love interest, it is easy to see what Dark Void's story was trying to pull off. It is unfortunate that the script feels flat at times and one wonders how much better the story would be with just a few rewrites.
Despite its shortcomings, Dark Void is one of the few new IPs that deserves a sequel. It is not only because its strengths hint that Airtight can make an improved follow-up, but also because this game is sure to influence other developers who will improve on this formula and Airtight might as well beat them to the punch. It would not be at all different to how a little known Namco game called kill.switch influenced Gears of War (which Cliffy B has openly acknowledged). Dark Void's air combat and ground-based duck-and-cover gunfights gives a hint on how incredible a such a title can be if the whole game featured both gameplay styles in every chapter.
(This review was based off a full playthrough of the game's Xbox 360 version, having beaten it on the Normal difficulty setting. 22 journal entries were found. 31 out of 47 achievements were unlocked for a total of 640 Gamerpoints. Gamertag: Circle Of Vice)
Developer: Airtight Games
Publisher: Capcom
Platforms: Xbox 360 / PlayStation 3 / PC
Released: January 19, 2010
Thanks in advance for the clicks. If you don't want to click on the link. Here's the text:
haracter-based flight games can be a tough sell these days what with the poor history of Superman titles, not to mention the lukewarm reviews of the game adaptation of Iron Man. Yet if anyone can bring such a gameplay mechanic to satisfying fruition, it is hard to think of a more qualified developer than Airtight Games. By bringing their experience from their console work on Crimson Skies, one could say Airtight simply took vehicle-based air combat mechanics and reskined it with a human character model in their latest game, Dark Void. That in itself makes for a promising title, and when you add a ground combat feature similar to Gears of War, then you have something that is at least worth a glance.
Airtight Games keeps to the same familiar pre-World War II aesthetic they used in Crimson Skies. Add to that a premise involving the paranormal mystique of the Bermuda Triangle. Main character William Grey is a cargo pilot and plays the stereotypical brash jokester who does not realize that his natural abilities and talents can potentially make him great, maybe even save the world. It is during a seemingly routine flight that things get complicated. Not only did an old flame hire him for his latest job, but the Bermuda Triangle happens to be in his flight path. How does the jet pack figure into all this? That is to be discovered later as Will finds a way out of the land beyond the Bermuda Triangle, known as the Void.
The game starts off promisingly enough; the prologue has the player take the jet pack out for a test flight with guns enabled. Yet this is merely a tease as the subsequent chapters deprive the user of flying capabilities in favor of ground combat and exploration. To set itself apart from other duck-and-cover games, Dark Void has several areas where Will has to navigate himself vertically. While his ability to propel himself upwards ledge after ledge (while firing at enemies) might appear unbelievable, it is not that far fetched in the scope of a game involving aliens and being full exposed in air battles against laser-blasting UFOs. It is unfortunate the ground based chapters take up so much of the game, as many players will just itch to get back in the skies again.
When the jet pack is playable again, Dark Void makes for a stellar ride. There's a definite rush in leaping off a cliff and activating the jet pack to face a swarm of enemy ships head on. Once those enemies are dispatched, it is off to one of the nearby bases where additional aliens are waiting to blast Will. He's more than equipped though, as switching from 'flight' to 'hovering' offers a viable stance to pick off foes before landing at one of the bases' platforms. Then on foot, it is time for some over-the-shoulder gunfights. It is this seamless transition from arcade-style flight to ground movement (and vice versa) that Dark Void finds its greatest strength. For skilled gamers, this allows from some inventive maneuvers in areas that could just as well be beaten by staying on foot. With a jet pack handy, one might as well use it. What other game allows the possibility of taking out snipers by simply flying right up to them for a quick punch to the face?
Speaking of melee combat, this close-quarters feature underscores the game's controls and how it could have used some depth and fine tuning. When there is a game like Uncharted 2 with a multi-button melee mechanic, the one-button inputs in Dark Void's fisticuffs feels rather simplified. Moreover, there is no option to switch shoulder views, something that gamers are accustomed to expect in third-person shooters these days. The game also offers a number of context-sensitive actions which are usually presented as finishing blows in boss fights, and includes the occasional button-mashing exercise. One particular event this reviewer could not figure out was how to hijack UFOs in mid-flight without getting blasted to death by the saucer's laser.
That said, there is much praise to bestow on Dark Void's flight controls. As previously mentioned, if one were to treat the airborne Will simply as a plane reskined as a person, it gets easy to fully take advantage of the jet pack. Pressing LB shows one of the nearest targets and moving both analog sticks in certain directions allow for graceful maneuvers including 180-degree flips and barrel rolls. As a side note, Will's rag doll animations during flight, which involve the occasional arm flailing and leg shaking, are very convincing.
The weapon variety is decent enough, with Will starting off with a machine gun but it does not take long to procure alien firearms, the typical kind that fire energy blasts. One has sniping capabilities, while another can disintegrate targets, just to name a couple weapons. All of these can be upgraded by acquiring Tech Points which are collected near fallen enemies.
Airtight's cinematic aspirations are certainly in the right place (there's even a Wilhelm Scream ten minutes into game). It takes its influences from the same pulp adventures that brought Indiana Jones and Uncharted to life. William is voiced by none other than Nolan North who has had lead roles in Uncharted, Shadow Complex, Prince of Persia and Assassin's Creed. It also does not hurt to have Paul Eiding (Metal Gear Solid's Roy Campbell) as Nikola Tesla, who happens to be the inventor of the jet pack. With its attempts at humor and sexual tension with a former love interest, it is easy to see what Dark Void's story was trying to pull off. It is unfortunate that the script feels flat at times and one wonders how much better the story would be with just a few rewrites.
Despite its shortcomings, Dark Void is one of the few new IPs that deserves a sequel. It is not only because its strengths hint that Airtight can make an improved follow-up, but also because this game is sure to influence other developers who will improve on this formula and Airtight might as well beat them to the punch. It would not be at all different to how a little known Namco game called kill.switch influenced Gears of War (which Cliffy B has openly acknowledged). Dark Void's air combat and ground-based duck-and-cover gunfights gives a hint on how incredible a such a title can be if the whole game featured both gameplay styles in every chapter.
(This review was based off a full playthrough of the game's Xbox 360 version, having beaten it on the Normal difficulty setting. 22 journal entries were found. 31 out of 47 achievements were unlocked for a total of 640 Gamerpoints. Gamertag: Circle Of Vice)
Developer: Airtight Games
Publisher: Capcom
Platforms: Xbox 360 / PlayStation 3 / PC
Released: January 19, 2010
