We obviously haven’t had the chance to play the game yet, which sucks, because despite it being a year away, it looks extremely playable and good to look at. From the demo we saw though, we were able to get a pretty good sense for how the game works and its basic mechanical ideas.
In terms of story you play as a dude called Will. Now Will’s a Pilot, and a stupid one at that, so he decides to go and fly over the Bermuda Triangle which obviously has disastrous consequences because he discovers a portal (or dark void, if you will) which takes him to an alien planet where, of course, there are aliens called Watchers.
Aliens = hate. Aliens = you shoot. Aliens = die.
So it looks to me as though we’ve got a cross between Jak II: Renegade and Gears of War. Although, if we explore the game play for a second here, there’d be another game to add to that list because in Dark Void you can totally hover and fly. So, we’ve actually got Jak II: Renegade, Gears of War and Crimson Skies, and it’s this mix of game play that’s got us all excited (not sexually). From what we saw from the footage, Will will be able to kill the Watchers using an arsenal of unconventional weapons such as one which shoots electricity which is already looking pretty nice despite being a year away. As well as that, players will be able to take advantage of cover, but you’ve got to be careful because it can easily be destroyed, which means that even when it looks as though you’re safe, you’ve got to be constantly aware of your environments to make sure there’s another piece of cover to hide behind. If you’re not into playing the waiting game, you can utilise a handy jet pack you pick up from one of the Watchers to shoot up into the air to kill dudes from behind their own cover. This plans out especially well when you’re climbing vertical cover, such as cliffs, where you have the ability to shoot dudes from above you and watch them fall past you.
Looking at the way that Will moves from fighting from the ground and into the air, Dark Void looks as though it handles really well, how that extends to the full flight combat is also really interesting. If you’re on the ground and you see a flying saucer over head (yes, there will be flying saucers) you can boost up to them and jack them. From there on, the game totally becomes Crimson Skies, so if you we into that then you’ll love how this plays.
Therefore, Dark Void looks as though it’s aiming to please a myriad of people when it comes out next year. To me, everything I’ve seen looks pretty good, but I’m quite nervous to see how the gun combat plays out with all of the crazy weaponry; which I have to say I’m not really into. Well, I guess I’ll just have to wait and see for a little bit more of information at E3, so until then, our thoughts are positive.
--Tom Rhodes, 360Stage--
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