Dark Void Review
Game: Dark Void
Developer: Airtight Games
Publisher: Capcom
Available on: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC (reviewed on Xbox 360)
2010 has got off to a great start with quality releases such as Bayonetta and Darksiders, both games managed to dazzle and delight in equal measure. Any game released on the back of those two titles would have its work cut out to catch the attention of gamers across the globe; Dark Void is that game. Dark Void combines aerial and on-foot combat with the a strong emphasis on vertical gameplay, which also happens to be the games unique selling point. The question is though, does it stand tall amongst the best or does it just fall flat on its face?! Read on for the full review.
STORY: The story of Dark Void revolves around a cargo pilot called William Augustus Grey, Will to you of course! While on routine air cargo flight Will, along with his female friend (original eh?!), crash somewhere within the Bermuda triangle. The crash somehow leads to them mysteriously being teleported into a parallel universe known as “The Void”. After the unexpected arrival on “The Void” our Hero soon encounters some alien beings known as “The Watchers”. Will, of course, has no idea what is going on and goes on the hunt for information. Eventually he comes across some humans known as “Survivors”. The leader of these humans reveals that “The Watchers” came from a far away place with their main goal to make humans do their bidding and treat them as Gods. Eventually though, people known as Adepts emerged and banished the Watchers to this parallel realm, “The Void”. If Will, along with his female friend, want to return to Earth then they must join the “Survivors” in battle and defeat “The Watchers”.
Confused? Lost? Don’t worry, you’re not the only one. The story of Dark Void is an insult to our beloved medium. It is pure trash and not even the “so bad it is good” kind of trash. None of the “main” plot points are elaborated on or explained well at all. Certain things are hinted at but then never mentioned throughout the course of the game ever again. For instance, you never know where “The Watchers” really came from or what their motivation against mankind is, the game expects you to make that up on your own. The structure of the narrative is all over the place and (as I mentioned) it really is an insult to gaming as a whole. How can the medium be taken seriously by onlookers if developers are throwing out games with a story as weak and forgettable as the one Dark Void “tells”.
What makes the whole thing even worse is that the characters are immensely one dimensional, boring and annoying. Will is basically a Nathan Drake wannabe (he is even voiced by Nolan North), who doesn’t even come close to capturing the charisma and personality displayed by the Uncharted hero. The rest of the characters just seem to have been thought up by someone who read a “video game characters for dummies” book, yes they are that bad.
SOUND: Things get slightly better with the audio side of things but not too much. The music is generally done very well and suits the action on-screen well. I guess that comes as no real surprise though as the score to Dark Void was composed by Battlestar Galactica composer Bear McCreary. That is as good as it gets though as the rest of the sound production is extremely underwhelming.
As I mentioned briefly, Will is voiced by Nolan North (from Uncharted fame) and the work he has done for Dark Void is fine but hearing his voice in almost every new game is starting to grate a bit. The thing is his voice suits the character of Nathan Drake perfectly but apply that voice to another character (or several) and it just doesn’t work as well. That issue pales in comparison to the the quite frequent audio stuttering, it is quite awful and something that is totally inexcusable. It is most apparent during cut-scenes but during gameplay I encountered situations where the sound of gunfire would stutter around all over the place. It is like someone in the QA department at Capcom/Airtight Games totally forgot test the audio aspect of the game.
GRAPHICS: In terms of graphics, Dark Void is actually one of the worst games I have come across during this generation of consoles. The only time the game manages to make look decent is when you are flying around the world of Dark Void. This is mainly because during these sections you are moving around at high speeds so you don’t really have time to take in your surroundings. Slow things down a notch, get Will on the ground and then you will truly see how graphically underwhelming Dark Void actually is.
Mediocre character models, low resolution textures, lifeless environments, shockingly poor lip syncing and horrid animations; these are all contributing factors to the games poor graphics. The running animation for Will is actually so bad that it made me laugh, it is like something out of a Benny Hill sketch. I can quite confidently say that there are actually some Xbox 360 launch games that look better than Dark Void.
GAMEPLAY: We all know that graphics are not the quintessential aspect of a game, ultimately the gameplay is what will make or break a title. It is shame then that, despite having some interesting ideas, the gameplay within Dark Void is distinctly average. The gameplay is broken down into aerial and on-foot sections. You would think that flying around via a jet-pack would be really fun but the aerial sections are highly disappointing and a complete chore to play. You feel really uncomfortable whenever you take to the skies, claustrophobic almost. That might sound a bit strange as you have open sky to fly around in but that is exactly how it feels.  As a result of this the aerial combat is immensely awkward, this is not helped by the lack of a lock-on button. If you do end up dying while playing through the campaign mode, I can safely say it will be thanks to these particular sections. It is actually a blessing in disguise that there are not many aerial sections in the game. Hallelujah!
The on-foot sections of the game are actually not as bad the aerial sections but they are nothing remarkable either. During these sections Dark Void basically takes the guise of a generic third-person shooter, playable but totally forgettable. Our hero, Will, can take cover behind objects and shoot or grenade the many “stupid” enemies that will charge at him. The mechanic is extremely basic, definitely not as refined as Gears of War or Uncharted. Where Dark Void tries to be different is by introducing the concept of “vertical combat” which, despite how “clever” it might sound, basically means you take cover and shoot vertically. It is a nice idea but isn’t too well thought out and because of that it just ends up being a wasted opportunity to create some unique/original set pieces.
In many ways Dark Void feels (and looks) unfinished, the best example of this is the way you can put your gun away and just melee enemies to death. I spent the majority of the latter half of the game doing this and it worked a treat, I only really needed to use my weapons against the slightly stronger enemies but even they only took an extra couple of melee hits to be eliminated. Oh and one whole chapter actually has no gameplay whatsoever, all you do is watch a cut-scene and then walk across a bridge. Awesome!
LONGEVITY: It took me about 8 hours to complete Dark Void on the normal difficulty, it is a really short game. You could probably even complete it on the hard difficulty setting in 8 hours if you really wanted to. You can go through the campaign again with any items you might have unlocked during your first playthrough but unless you’re achievement hunting there is no real incentive to play Dark Void twice.
VERDICT: Despite some nice ideas, no single aspect of Dark Void stands out at all. The gameplay, story, sound and visuals are all soaked in immense mediocrity. Instantly forgettable and distinctly average. The title of the game is quite apt, a Dark Void is most certainly where this game is destined to be.
If you fancy giving Dark Void a try then visit Zavvi.com (click the banner above) to purchase the game on the PC for £17.95 and on the PS3 or Xbox 360 for £28.95. They are even cheaper than Play.com!
