Dark Void Preview

Dark Void should provide some decent third-person shooter thrills

If Uncharted is Gears of War meets Tomb Raider, Dark Void is most definitely Gears of War meets Crimson Skies. This Capcom published, Airtight developed shooter has been doing the rounds in various states for what seems like years, but it's almost out and I've been playing a near-complete build of the Xbox 360 version. After a few hours blasting strange lizard robots, flying around using a jetpack and using yet another cover system, a clearer picture of Dark Void's potential successes and failures is starting to form.

You play Will, yet another video game character voiced by fan favourite Nolan North - perhaps the only voice actor I recognise. Yes, he's a tad overused, but from what I've played he puts in another good performance here. Will is a pilot, but when his plane gets into difficulty while flying through the Bermuda Triangle in the late 1930s (when is that ever a good idea?) and crash lands on a strange island in the middle of nowhere, his life changes forever.

He's caught up in an epic battle between the Watchers, the aforementioned lizard-type humanoid robots, and the human resistance, of which he naturally sides with. The Watchers, being aliens and all, have some pretty nifty technology at their disposal. Not only are the lizards (which seem to live inside the heads of Terminator-esque robots) wrapped up in tough metal suits, but they have weapons technology years ahead of the humans' and alien craft that zip about the sky.

Humans, on the other quite clearly lesser hand, have to make do with bog-standard guns and the like, an insanely dangerous jetpack (more on that later) and their ability to use scraps of Watcher technology to build their own tools. Throughout the game you pick up tech points, usually dropped by fallen enemies, which let you buy new weapons and upgrade those you already own. Having only put a few hours into the campaign, the technology available to me wasn't too spectacular, but then you never get the best stuff until much later on.

Combat is split between on-foot action and in-air dogfighting. On the ground everything is very Gears of War. It's not an exact copy, but the feel of the gunplay is definitely in the same ball-park - yet somehow not as good. Will snaps to cover with the press of a button, leaps over objects, spins over to a new cover spot and can even blind-fire. As in Gears, shooting from the hip (not using the precision aim mode) isn't that effective, so it's always best to get set and then use the slightly more zoomed in view. Will's also pretty nifty with his fists, with up close melee attacks coming in handy when you're suddenly attacked as you round a corner.