Review #807: Dark Void

 Nolan North strikes again.

 During the HD era, under Keiji Inafune's misguided approach, Capcom tried outsourcing their games to Western developers, as well as publishing a few titles overseas, like Remember Me and Dark Void. Most of these endeavors failed miserably, which is kind of a shame, because what I've played so far... wasn't so bad.

 Dark Void takes place sometime before the second World War, and pits you as Will, pilot for hire. The client is Ava, a long lost flame, and what was supposed to be just another flight through the Bermuda's Triangle ends with Ava and Will stuck somewhere outside America. No, this isn't Kansas anymore. In these new world natives worship the Watchers, robotic enemies that Will doesn't take too kindly too, and soon finds himself embroiled in a war between a Resistance group and the Watcher trying to enslave humanity by substituting humans, such as the president of France, with their own brethren doubles. All of these while fighting over the Dark Void, a place so high you can't see below the clouds, not to worry, as Will comes equipped with a jetpack! Y'know what? I liked the setting. I liked the plot. It's nothing new or fresh, but it's decent. That said, the plot does have a few elements that aren't properly explained. As a matter of fact, the tool tips during loading screens give away a lot of plot points before they actually happen, and in a way, it's the only explanation you'll get about certain things. The soundtrack is absolutely beautiful, it's very 80's and very grandiose, really fits the overall theme and setting.

 At its core, the game is your average modern third-person shooter. Heavy on taking cover and your always trusty regenerating. There are only six different guns in the game, which is a bit skimpy, and you can upgrade all six up to two times by finding techpoints from hidden enemies or stashed away in secret locations. The weaponry felt a bit boring. You have the assault rifle, which was the first weapon I upgraded and never regretted it since it became so useful, a magnetic gun that makes enemies float for a bit, a "Desintegrator" which is a cross between a shotgun and a rocket launcher, with very little ammo capacity, a sniper rifle, an alien assault rifle and a continuous-energy gun. You can also melee enemies with the circle button, which is an instant kill on most enemies, but it initiates an overly-long animated sequence during which you can still get hurt and killed, plus, it wasn't very responsive. Sometimes I'd just mash circle in front of an enemy and it wouldn't trigger.

 And then you get the jetpack and things get more interesting. At first you can only use it to double jump-into-hover, which did open up a few more alternatives in battle. By this time you'll also get introduced into the vertical-cover system, which seriously didn't get enough use in the game, basically, you can take cover from below or above certain objects and/or rock formations, something that enemies can do as well. It's a bit gimmicky, yes, but it's a rather interesting idea, and it was relatively well pulled off, I mean, as I said before, I wish the game would have had more of these sections. If anything, I was annoyed at the fact that sometimes Will would lose his grip when jumping above/below levels and you'd have to mash a button. QTEs are (almost)never fun.

 And then you enter Episode 2 and get introduced to the Jetpack, by pressing triangle you'll turn you jump into a forward-propelled flight. And you get full freedom of movement when using it, which is why most shootouts thereafter take place in very open arenas. You'll also get some intense dogfights against enemy ships, which you can hijack... after a QTE. A few times I'd initiate the dull sequence only for the enemy ship to crash onto a wall and KILL me. If you've got allies, you can also seamlessly get into or out of their ships, no QTE required. These aerial shootouts were a bit tough until I realized that you are expected to pull evasive maneuvers by hold R3 and using both analog sticks to barrel rolls and the such.... and until I realized the jetpack has infinite missiles with L2. You're welcome.

 Dark Void is fun. It's nothing to write home about, that's for sure, and it's hard not to praise it for trying to do something different. If anything, I think the slow-paced vertical cover system clashes a bit with the more fast paced free-flying system of the Jetpack, because one is pretty much the antithesis of the other, which is probably why the vertical-cover segments were so scarse after the first episode. Regardless, it's a fun, if short, time.
 7.0 out of 10