Dark Void – Bargain Bin Gaming at its Finest

Dark Void

Difficulty played: Hardcore

Platform: Xbox, PS3, PC everything

Time : About 10 hours on hard

Dark Void came out a few years ago to so-so reviews and was mostly ignored.  So ignored that you can find a copy now a-days for about $8 and since I love me a bargain bin game I decided to give it a try.  Guess what…it was a lot of fun.

Dark Void is not a great game by any means, the controls are hard to master, the story is laughably bad, the enemy AI is horrible and it can be beat it about 2 days (even on hard).  But once you get that Jet pack everything else becomes forgivable as you fly through the sky.  Now, back in the Day the movie the Rocketeer was one of my favorite movies of all times.  Likeable “nice guy” main character set during WWII gets a Jet pack to fight Nazis and save the girl.  Dark Void follows this theme in every way….except instead of Nazis its Robo-aliens O_o.

Stepping back and thinking about it, the production of the Game was really well done, they really wanted to set the pacing as if it was a movie not just thrusting you into action, there was a definite thought process to the begging, climax and end (although it was really bad).  Also because of this it may push away some players as the first 5 “levels” of the game have you only on foot so it plays more like any other 3rd person shooter a-la Uncharted or Gears of War.

At first I was kinda like “Where is the damn Jet Pack” but it made it so the moment when I finally did get the Jet pack all the more sweet, very interesting to yearn for something in a game. But again this may not be the best plan for a not so great game.

Now I am not a flight simulator or Ace Combat fan and I usually shy away from flying games but Dark Void really nailed the joy of flying and fighting with a Jet pack.  Nothing is more satisfying then dive bombing some enemy to then swoop in, land and punch them in the face.

The flying feels great and gives you plenty of space to play around and pull tricks,however if you are not a flight sim/ace combat fan you may find it hard to get the hang of dog fighting while in flight.  I swear it was easier to highjack enemies ships or us AA guns then to follow and chase them down.

All in all I don’t want to go into to much detail on this old game.   I just wanted to give is a second chance in saying “Hey, if you have $10 go get this game and have some easy weekend fun”.  If you do pick up the game just remember to give it a little extra time and that you are playing a not so great game on the cheap.

I BEAT IT FIRST!