DanRoyle
Reviewer - Dan RoyleThe Good
When i recieved dark void i wasn't exactly sure what to make of it i'd not really seen anything about it so went in it to not really knowing how it would be but straight away i was pleasantly surprised, The graphics are crisp the face modelling is excellent and overall it looks very slick with good framerates. Once i passed the initial bit where you are thrown in with the jetpack dogfighting it becomes a pleasant game, The 3d gaming is different and quite fun if a little disorientating at times, the ability to upgrade the weapons is also a nice addition and not too complex.
The game progresses along at a good pace and some bits are great fun such as the escape from USS cyclops as the ship collapses off a cliff you have to jump up in 3d mode fighting the alien robots. The storyline is interesting and getting the jetpack improves the games experience greatly it is a novel idea and the game implements it very well with the use of the 3d enviroment and the transition between the two works very well.
The Bad
When i first got dark void out of the box to install it the installer crashed at about 1% using windows 7 64bit, I left it for 20 minutes cancelled the installation and the game had installed so was less annoyed. Once i got into the game the first dogfight section i found difficult and frustrating as i had to spend ages messing with the sensitivity of the mouse in game as the slightest movement sent me swooping into a wall and to my death, The storyline while being interesting is never really gripping i feel no association with my character, so many great games you become attached to the lead character Gordon Freeman, Soap Mctavish, Nate Drake, Marcus Fenix to name a few, Once you get onto land and start fighting the guns feel week and on a few occasions trying to jump onto logs was impossible from certain positions.
Click for larger imageMy main issue with the game was sound related using a realtek hd audio with 5.1 surround sound the speech was muffled and incoherent at times, switching to a headset instead did nothing to fix this and at times in cutscenes ava would open her mouth to speak but i would get no sound so i had to use subtitles instead,The rest of the sound was fine.
Conclusion
Dark void has good and bad points while it brings new ideas to the table it sticks to a standard format especially with the storyline, man and woman troubled past together split up will undoubtedly fall in love again before the end of the game. However it is a solid 3rd person shooter with good graphics and good gameplay, most of the glitches can be patched and it will be a good game sadly it doesn't quite cut it in terms of being a great game.And once i finish work today i intend on finishing this game so thats always a good sign.
DanRoyle scores - 8/10