Dark Void (Alien Robot Nazis)

Since I started reviewing for the comic, I started to really appreciate shorter games. I like to try to balance the 30-40 hour games with shorter 6-7 hour games so I can have some semblance of a personal life. In that regard, Dark Void was a pleasant surprise. It should be a 12 hour game but ends up only lasting 6 hours.

In Dark Void, you find yourself flying through the Bermuda Triangle into a strange world ruled by the Watchers, an alien race who have been secretly helping the Nazis come to power and lead the world to war. You ally yourself with the resistance, other survivors who entered the Bermuda Triangle, who are trying to push back the invading Watchers. Among the resistance is Nikola Tesla, who invents the Rocketeer-like jetpack you begin to use against the Watchers. It's an interesting world, but it feels like there's a lot more that's not being adequately explained. You're dropped into this world and you get the absolute bare minimum of plot and explanation, often leaving you with more questions than answers.

Dark Void's gameplay shifts between a cover-based shooter while on the ground and aerial combat while using your jetpack. While on the ground, it's an adequate shooter, with nothing particularly special to differentiate it from other cover-based shooters. You can use your jetpack to hover, but that seems like a useless mechanic because you're just painting a bullseye on your chest and making it harder for yourself to aim. As you progress through the game, you can unlock six different upgradable weapons, but there's never really a reason to use one vs the others. There's nothing we really haven't seen before in other games.

In the air, it's a different story. While there is a steep learning curve to the flying controls, once you get the hang of it, you'll be dodging and weaving in dogfights with alien spacecraft and every once in a while landing on them to hijack them. Switching back and forth between the ground and the air is pretty seamless, although if someone has played Dark Void and hasn't accidentally splattered themselves by activating their jetpack indoors, well then they're either lying or haven't played Dark Void.

The game also has a few sections of vertical combat, where you use your jetpack and jump either up or down a tall structure between cover points while being attacked. It's definitely a fresh take on cover, but it feels very restrictive. You can only jump between pre-defined cover points and the sections all feel very similar. The sections aren't tedious by any means, but considering it's one of the things that makes this game stand out, they could have been better.

Overall, the game feels unfinished. Or more accurately, it feels like half a game instead of a whole game. By the time I got to the end and defeated the final boss, I thought to myself, "that's it?" I have no idea what happened in the development of this game. It almost feels as if the developers had a plan for this game and just stopped. The story is incomplete and ends abruptly, the gameplay isn't as polished and it feels like there should be something... more. I think probably a more accurate title for Dark Void would have been Dark Void 1/2.

Rating

Recommendations

Play with the Pimps!

So, it looks like we might have to cancel "Play with the Pimps!", at least playing MAG. My Blockbuster might still get copies of MAG in so let's set the weekend of February 27th just in case. But while we're waiting to see how much my local Blockbuster sucks, are there any other games out there that you guys would like to play multiplayer? Let me know.