Dark Void Preview

Dark void suffered a delay a few months ago, meaning it would miss its late 2009 release date. The alarm bells sounded loud and clear, but were we justified in thinking the worst? After a presentation of the game at gamescom 2009 our concerns have been eased somewhat, with what we saw being hugely improved on what was shown off earlier in the year, visually impressive and looking like a heap of fun. When we first saw the game almost exactly a year ago, Dark Void was more like a proof of concept than a proper game, but now the concept is in full swing and Capcom is almost ready to unleash it on the masses.

While the core game has seen a lot of changes and improvements over the past year, the storyline has remained in place. You play as Will, a pilot who accidentally flies through the Bermuda Triangle while delivering cargo. As the game’s title suggests, he ends up in a void where things aren’t quite as they are in the real world. There’s a war going on between a group of freedom fighters and an enemy known as the Watchers. Will joins the resistance and helps scavenge materials in order for the freedom fighters to build a means to escape. It’s all very sci-fi, and there’s bound to be twists and turns along the way.

On to the gameplay then, and things are similar to before but altogether more fun. The big change is your ability to hover straight up into the air, meaning you can spend almost all your time hovering around and taking out enemies from the sky if that’s what you want to do. Capcom was keen to point out that while there’s this hovering mechanic, the game doesn’t need to be played in exactly that way. On the ground there’s a Gears of War-style cover mechanic and the third-person shooter combat is as you’d expect. You can even play the game as if it’s a dog fighting game, with Will able to switch to flight mode at the press of a button, enabling him to zoom around the skies at high speed and fire at enemies with a machine gun.

Our gamescom demo also showcased how you’ll often be fighting alongside an AI friend, in this case a man called Atem. This isn’t just an NPC that comes along for the ride, with Atem doing his bit to tackle enemies. He has his own health meter too, which means he can die if you don’t offer him enough support during the mission. During the mission demoed to us Will is told that he can follow Atem or take the high road, so we assume this kind of branching option will be common throughout the game.

Enemy AI currently looks a little spotty, but when it worked the enemies behaved extremely well, taking cover when needed and putting up a good fight. They can even melee attack you from close range, just as you can to them, so you can’t take the powerful up-close attack for granted. At one during the demo, though, a Watcher enemy manning a turret seemed completely oblivious to the machine gun slowly taking away its life. Visually the game has come on a lot since we saw it 12 months ago, looking every bit the part as a next-gen Unreal Engine 3 game, but there’s still plenty of work to be done, especially in the framerate department – presumably these small glitches will be ironed out ahead of the game’s release in January.

What we didn’t see during the demo was the vertical combat and vehicle hi-jacking, which were both seen in our demo from last year. Vehicle hi-jacking was one of the most exciting parts of the game, and thankfully it’s still included, although it’s unclear if it has seen improvements along with the rest of the game. Capcom did say that there will be numerous vehicles to pilot, but didn’t reveal any details. Vertical combat is also still in the game, but it’s possible to miss it during a level if you choose a path that bypasses it – as happened during our demo. It’s also worth noting that there’s no multiplayer, with developer Airtight concentrating on the campaign; these features haven’t been ruled out should a sequel be green-lit.

We had our doubts about Dark Void, but its gamescom showing has elevated its status to one to watch – although there are still questions over how well the various gameplay styles will gel together over the course of the 10-hour campaign. If it all comes together and the game receives a decent lick of polish during the next few months, come January Dark Void might be worth a look.

Dark Void will be released on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in Europe on January 15.