This is Why We Play the Game: Dark Void Review

This is why we play the game. This is why we shouldn't take reviews too seriously. And this is why we should know where the reviews are coming from.

In a perfect world we would all be able to afford every game. We would have the adequate time to play each and every one of them and we would be able to make our own decisions and wouldn't let other people influence them.

But of course we all know that's not possible. So the best way I can think of to get around these problems is to offer honest reviews. To let you, the reader know where I'm coming from, why I felt a particular way about a game, and try to convey the reasons why I felt a particular way about whatever it is I'm talking about to the smallest detail.

Dark Void (PS3, 360, PC)
Developer: Airtight Games
Publisher: Capcom
Released: January 19, 2010

So Dark Void. I liked it. I'm at the edge of the border wanting to cross that line and say, "It was great!" I almost could.

I can't though, not because so many others didn't. I could care less what other people thought about this game. If anything, I like it because others didn't. In fact, I started wanting to play this game after reviews came out kinda "meh" for it. Brad got through half of it and sent it back to GameFly. I got back from Japan, mentioned I wanted to play it, and he did everything in his power to talk me out of it.

Maybe this was one of the reasons I enjoyed the game as much as I did. Coming off of E3, I did not have a good opinion of this game. I remember having control problems, especially in flight. I couldn't land on a platform correctly let alone shoot someone while trying to land on one.

Half a year later I was in Japan, the game was nearing release, I still wasn't incredibly thrilled. Everyone was talking about Jet Packs and how "awesome" it would be to have one. There was even those Gold For Jet Pack Commercials running which I found annoyingly lame. Maybe that was the best marketing direction to go with, but definitely not the best advertisement they could have come up with.

So the obvious answer is that I went into this game not expecting much and in turn came out positive about the game. Some of that is probably truth. I was surprised about the quality of the game and I know most gripes about the game revolved around failed potential. Some even went as far to say that the game was unfinished. I wouldn't say that. The problems I see with Dark Void are that none of the portions are overwhelmingly inspired. The story is rather vanilla, the gun play and controls are competent and the look and feel for the most part are not eyesores.

There is a part at the end of the game though, where you have an air battle against a giant dragon "bahamut thing". The games gives you a great experience as you are fighting in the infinite space of the void, constantly cutting off your jet pack in order to free fall, barely dodging energy blasts or the monsters swooping attacks.

But for the most part, Dark Void falls a little flat and most people deem it as mediocre. There is a lot of emphasis on missed potential. They were expecting something but not given equal return. But the main topic that comes up to me  is would people still feel this way had Uncharted 2 not come out three months prior?

Uncharted 2 released on October 13th. Originally, and Dark Void had a fall release date. Had Dark Void made it's date, possibly before Uncharted 2, people may be singing a different tune right now. I do concede that the delays were necessary. The hover mechanic was a must. Without it, the game would have been a frustrating mess, as it was during E3. But think of everything that Dark Void did. The characters, the story, the dialogue. All of that was done and done better in Uncharted 2. The most obvious of comparisons is in the similarities of the two male leads. Both have the same cockish attitude, run and gun style, and of course the same voice actor. So when you put both of them side by side, it's much more apparent who did a better job. Uncharted has been around longer and has better writing, there's not much to compare.

Also look at the situation. The character Will Grey in Dark Void is running around in an undiscovered land with a British female sidekick/love interest having these supposed grand action sequences. It's nearly identical to Uncharted without the polish.

This is my main point with Dark Void and why I think it failed to garner the attention of game players. It was too similar to another game that honestly did it better. Everyone had already brushed their teeth with Uncharted, so when they took a swig of Dark Void, it tasted funny.

But coming from me, someone who found Uncharted to have great writing and dialogue but completely frustrating game play, I did not share those same sentiments with Dark Void. In fact, I found Dark Void to be completely refreshing. Sure the game play wasn't Game of the Year inspired, but it wasn't controller throwing agony either, which was my experience with Among Thieves.

I realize this isn't the strongest argument to make and I'm not telling you to like Dark Void because Uncharted stole their thunder. But it is a fact of life. Sometimes it's important to make your deadlines and beat your competition out of the gate or risk being overshadowed by them.

Score - 79
David

**Extra Review Portion**
Another reason I feel that I had a near great experience was the addition of Dark Void Zero. It was a great throwback game in which I played entirely and was pulled partly into the Dark Void world. The controls were crisp and sharp. The story involved me helping Nikola Tesla to close the watcher's gate the first time. Playing the actual game three months later, I recalled weapons names and enemy designs, making them that much more familiar. Maybe it's not the biggest of arguments, but every little bit helps and I'm sure that it at least didn't take away from my experience.

**Amend**
Look at something like Tekken and it's evolution. If someone were to go back and play Tekken one after playing part three first, the additions and improvements made would overshadow everything Tekken had originally done almost rendering it unplayable. But someone who had experienced it in progressive order could still go back and appreciate some points of the original game.

In the case of this review, is it a natural progression to go from Uncharted to Dark Void to Uncharted 2? Is Dark Void a better game than Uncharted? And the more interesting discussion is why and if Capcom chose to mimic Uncharted in the first place? I've had some discussions with another member of the blog in which we discussed the intentions behing cloning Nathan Drake's character and even going as far to hire the same actor in an attempt to capture attention through comparisons. And then the eventual bite in the ass occurrence because of the success of Uncharted 2.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading.