Dark Void. Heard of it? Probably not, this Capcom published title has been in development for a while, and early footage (back in early 2008) looked fairly promising. But this game is a text book example of being “sent out to die”

As the release neared, Capcom slashed it’s sales projection for the title to 600,000 units, and pre-order prices were starting at less than £30, which is unusually low. Signs were bad that this was a stinker. A lacklustre demo was released which failed to impress anyone, even people like myself that were looking forward to the game. Within weeks of it’s release it could be had for about £12… Oh dear

Well I took a punt on it anyhow and as a pleasant surprise - it’s really not that bad! In a nut shell: it’s Crimson Skies meets Uncharted with 1940s style future-retro setting, Gears or War with a Jetpack if you will. Masses of corners have obviously been cut in development, the cut scenes feel like they have had 40% of the material removed, some levels end abruptly. The game is only 5~6 hours long and the lack of polish is evident everywhere. But… it’s kinda fun to play, which is what really matters. It has one or two ideas I’ve not seen in a game before, namely the vertical combat & sections where you fight on foot, but also take to the air with your jetpack for aerial combat and dog fighting. The scale of the levels when flying about is impressive with a surprising lack of invisible walls which are often used by lazy developers to keep you in one tiny area (yeah Bionic Commando, I’m looking at you)

Combat is basic but workable, with a solid cover system and range of upgradeable weapons. Enemies tend to be very samey (they all look like a Geth crossed with a T-800 Terminator endoskeleton) but the AI is often surprising, as I’d find myself being flanked or tracking the enemies as they intelligently ducked & dashed between spots of cover.

Be under no illusion this isn’t a triple-A title, but it’s a fun bit of filler. And I’m glad I played it through. Sometimes it’s good to play a game of this calibre, so when you do play something top-notch you appreciate it even more!  In summary – worth checking out as it can be had for peanuts now.