Dark Void Hands-on Preview

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.

This is just part of Dark Void’s ground combat, and the other part isn’t really grounded at all. Will is able to take cover while moving vertically through a level. Whether he’s jumping down a cliff edge, moving from cover to cover, or moving up, he’s able to whip out a gun and take out the Watcher enemies clinging onto rocks as they try to get some pot shots in at you. If you’re a good shot you’ll knock them clean off their perches, sending them falling to their doom hundreds of feet below. Melee combat also has a place here, with Will grabbing enemies hiding on the other side of platforms, pulling them down then dropping them.

There’s an element of platforming, too, with Will leaping from ledge to ledge, often with the aid of his jetpack – ideal for a bit of hovering. This isn’t Uncharted 2, with your main character moving far less fluidly (this is definitely more of a shooter than an adventure game), but you’re not just moving from point A to point B and shooting enemies. Only prolonged play will reveal if these platforming elements will prove to be troublesome, but so far so good.

Dark Void’s ground combat isn’t going to wow gamers, even if it feels perfectly solid, but mix it with lengthy aerial combat segments and the game suddenly feels fresh. In the air (a mode which you can initiate at any point once you’ve played beyond the initial sections) with a jetpack strapped to Will’s back, the game changes completely. The pace is increased tenfold, the action surrounds you and you feel free. This isn’t an open world game, but the locations are large enough to allow you to fly about with a feeling that the shackles have been removed. Combat so far isn’t anything that’s going to rewrite the dogfighting rule book, even if you aren’t in a plane, but it’s good fun and fits well alongside the rest of the gameplay styles on offer.

A concern, especially given that the game is due for release next month, is the mixed quality of presentation. Hopefully the odd frame rate drops and more noticeable jitters will be ironed out, but more of a worry is the detail present in the environment designs and the animations of key characters. From what I’ve played Dark Void veers between stunning scenery and complete blandness, and the difference between the two is quite jarring. Character models are on the whole quite impressive, especially those that feature plenty of big muscles (this is an Unreal Engine 3 game after all), but the animations, particularly for running, look terribly dated – for a game arriving months after Uncharted 2, it’s going to stand out like a sore thumb for many gamers.

These niggles aside, Dark Void appears to be doing a lot right. So far it’s not shaping up to be a triple-A experience, the kind you might expect from an in-house developed Capcom game, but it certainly has a chance to rank alongside this year’s Grin-developed Bionic Commando as a good, fun action game with a few neat ideas. If Airtight can add some needed polish and refinement before it hits stores, Dark Void should attract a sizeable audience.

Dark Void is due out Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on January 22 2010.