Dark Void had the potential to blast itself into the spotlight, but instead it plunges into the dark.
Void takes a cool idea and makes a game out of it. Although a jet pack-driven game sounds solid, it tends to be riddled with buggy controls and junky gameplay that show through in the final product.
The game attempts to employ a cover system (a feature that allows you to hide behind aspects of the terrain), which is a good decision. Yet it tends to confuse the character as he stumbles to the closest ruined pillar that is reminiscent of cover.
It seems as though the only time cover actually matters is in the vertical shooting arenas, of which there are far too many in Void. These sequences strangely resemble a whack-a-mole game; an alien pops up, he gets shot and another takes his place. Repeat this process 500 times and before long the player will be at a stage of drawn-out aerial combat, after which the game will return to its vertical combat staple.
This combat wouldn't be so atrocious if it weren't for the fact that it's extremely disorienting, as the quick evasive maneuvers that must be made to avoid death can really mess up the gamer's concentration.
What's worse is that the boost on the jetpack feels about the same speed as the game's protagonist's normal flight speed. As far as speed is concerned, it's certainly no Millennium Falcon. But the man has a jet pack; is a little speed too much to ask?
The other major downfall of this game is its lack of weapon support. There are only six weapons in the game – seven, if the jet pack counts. This wouldn't be a problem, except that each weapon can only be upgraded two times. Nintendo's Mega Man 2 had more weapons in it than this game does.
Lastly, the shelf-life of this game is brief, around three to four days. There's little to no replay value, and without a multi-player, this sub-par game can't even be shared among friends. Generally, the game was tedious and a struggle to get through at the best of times. Although this isn't the worst game in history, it certainly won't be remembered for long.
The game has about three to four awe-inspiring moments within the seven to eight hours of mostly disappointing gameplay. The first memorable scene occurs in the opening tutorial, involving Will, the protagonist, with a fully upgraded jet pack, bringing down some of the Watcher horde. Another surprisingly stunning sequence occurs at the first activation of the jet pack jump, when the player jumps off a cliff.
Even with the game's stylized graphics, there are points when some shoddy rendering is apparent. Graphically, the game just doesn't do justice to the world it's portraying.
Developer Airtight Games is a relatively new Microsoft offshoot with potential to be the next big game developer; that is, if it wouldn't base its games around one exceptional feature.
Going back in gaming history, one of Xbox's major titles of 2003 was Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, a rather arcade-style flight simulator. Perhaps Airtight Games is paying homage to its cult classic hit and attempting to add to the overwhelming collection of shooters on the market.
Either way, Dark Void just doesn't make that $60 price tag worth it. If the idea of a jet pack just sounds too appealing not to try, this game can be a brief distraction until Mass Effect 2 hits the shelves.
