Plugged into Dark Void the other night…. and even though the game is not the best in terms of graphics, animation, voice acting and to be honest general game play… it is strangely addictive.
The premise of the game is that you are freight pilot of some sort who is flying with his best pal and ex girlfriend, when, whilst going through the Bermuda Triangle his plane develops a set of dodgy readings and they end up crashing after being buzzed by what seems to be a flying saucer.
The two main gimmicks of the game… The Rocket Pack and the Vertical combat…. The Rocket Pack…. is pretty cool, after all I'm sure everyone after seeing the film The Rocketeer, left the cinema saying I want one of those packs for Christmas. The first scene of the game you are thrown into the game from the start with a Rocket Pack strapped to your back right in the middle of a dog fight between a series of flying saucers and you… though you do have a couple of fancy looking bi-planes on your side. You get about two of three tips on how to use the rocket pack, but then it's a free for all, what we call a steep learning curve….
The Vertical combat, is ok, I mean I like the idea of the vertical combat but to be honest it needs work esp. in terms of the character animation, but basically with the vertical combat, you have climb up rock faces whilst in a fire fight with the enemy and you have use the cliff over hangs as cover, all in all it's a great concept but as I said it needs work, but it is something that if expanded in conjunction with conventional horizontal combat ala Uncharted 2, Modern Warfare, Gears of War, Halo, if could be an awesome additional to the First and Third Person shooter genres.
As I said the game very though quite poor, it is addictive. You find yourself say, let me just have a look round this corner or over this ledge etc… but I think it's more in the vain hope that the game might suddenly a Uncharted 2 beater….For me, this game is one of those games that is likely to be a game with a cult following, as it is essentially a Pulp game set in the 1930's with a futuristic slant to it, bit like the movie The Sky Captain. But one major disappointment was that Noaln North who voiced Nathan Drake in Uncharted series was the voice of the main character, he didn't bring his 'A' game.
Because of the likes of Infamous, Assassins Creed 2, Mass Effect 2, Batman, Modern Warfare 2 and the Uncharted series of games a standard in terms of graphics, animation, game play and voice acting, which this game falls short of by a long way, but all that said I am glad I played the game as the whole flying around with a rocket pack is cool and the vertical combat is a great idea. I'd put this game in the same bracket as Timeshift, Mirrors Edge and Dark Sector, in that they've taken a tried and tested genre, in this case Third Person Shooter and dared to do something different, but alas similar to Timeshift and Dark Sector they fallen a little short…. From what I've seen of the game so far I'd give the game 5/10.