Dark Void Demo Review

After playing through the 'Dark Void' PC Demo.  I've come to a few conclusions.  First, let me say that this review is purely for the PC Demo of this game.  Not the console versions.  I have an Xbox 360, but to be honest I have been too lazy to try it out on the 360.  From what I have read, it plays very well on the console.  But personally, I cannot attest to that fact.

The basic plot of the game is that your character got lost in the Bermuda Triangle and was pulled through a void which dumps him into another dimension, where his plan proceeds to break down.  He stumbles across some refugees who want to get back home to our dimension.  But these creepy robot creatures called 'Watchers' stand in the way. And somewhere in the mix Nikola Tesla makes an appearance.  (Unfortunately, most of this isn't seen in the demo).




I have played through the 'Dark Void' demo now several times, and the first time I played through it I was pretty excited.  I have been following development on the game for a while now, and I have been itching to try it out.  My first play through was pretty sketchy, the flight controls on the PC where somewhat different than what I am used too.  Not a bad thing, but it was difficult for me to get the hang of them.  The mouse didn't seem to be as responsive as I would have liked for navigating my player (which has a rocket strapped to his back).  However, after messing with the control settings a little (and inverting the up and down on the mouse) I was able to have some fun with it.

The developers promise an unusual cover based battle tactic (much like Gears of War or Army of Two); where you take cover behind obstacles during firefights.  However, most of these situations you'll actually be scaling cliffs or hanging off of inverted obstacles.  Pretty original, I thought.  And I wished we would've had a little preview of this in the demo.  But alas, there wasn't.  No big deal, right?  Because I get to live out my fantasy of being the Rocketeer...

But after several plays, I can see how the game might get old pretty quick.  The visuals look good and the audio is on par with it's subject matter.  But can it hold an audience?  I doubt it.  Unless the full game has some extra surprises, I'm affraid this game may not have quite the luster we were all hoping.  I could very well be wrong.  And I hope that I am.  I love to see original games, and I love to see them be successful.  Because frankly in today's gaming world, there isn't much new and original anymore.

My recommendation, if you have a console (360 or PS3) then rent it and give it a spin.  It's definitely worth a rental.  It does offer some original concepts, but not enough for me to throw down my hard earned cash for it as a purchase.  This game reminds me a lot of a game called 'Dark Sector' (which I happened to love by the way, but apprently I was one of the few).