Community Highlight: The Great & Underappreciated of 2010: Dark Void

(Community Highlight is a feature where we choose an article submitted by a member of the 4Player community and bring it to the front page for all to see.  Interested in seeing your article on the front page? Then submit one here.)

Article by: qualitybeats

Most of the critics had it all wrong. Capcom’s 3rd-person shooter is far from being one of the last games to play of the 2010 bunch. In fact, the engine presented 2010 with some of the most satisfying shooter action of the year. So, why haven’t you played it? Let me guess; you heard it was awful? Well, you heard wrong.

One second you're running thru a space-station hallway blasting robots into scraps of metal, and the next you're jumping out into the air to shoot down the airborne pests firing down onto fellow troops;  never forgetting to kill the remaining few as you hover back down onto solid ground. The seamless transition from ground-combat, jet-jumping, and jet-pack flight is impressive. The kind of combat fans of the PC-classic Tribes loved. So why was Dark Void underappreciated?

1up - “ It's just a damn shame that the nigh-amazing "The Rocketeer versus UFOs" premise crashes hard into "tepid Gears of Uncharted knock-off" ground. “ C+

1up didn’t get it completely wrong. Nolan North does indeed voice the main protagonist, which would definitely give off an Uncharted-vibe. But let’s look on the bright side of that statement; the voice-acting is good. As are the overall visuals and facial-animations. As far as the Gears reference; every 3rd-person shooter using a cover-based combat system can be considered the same. To me, a C+ is below average and that’s definitely not Dark Void.

IGN - “ The story's never explained adequately, the combat's pretty much always a chore, and flying isn't nearly as fun as it should be. I don't hate Dark Void, but I don't care for it, either. “ 5 / 10

Greg Miller was just being a hater on this one. How much fun should it be Greg? What game in the last 2 years has used jet-pack shooting to set the standard for how much fun a game like this “should” be?

I didn’t sit down to write this strictly to bash these critics. We have our differences in opinion from time to time as everyone else does. This article is for those who dodged Dark Void as if it were swine-flu. A public-service announcement to gamers looking for some bad-ass jet-jumping, robot exploding, flight-combat action. There really is nothing on the market quite like it. And while ground-combat will feel familiar; when you shoot off into the air to redirect ground-fire -- or boost back and forth from one end of a canyon to the next defending against aliens on every possible axis -- you realize how much potential a title like Dark Void has given to future games of the same mold.

-Jeffrey d