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For a concept of Dark Void (on the PC), take the PC version of the original Gears of War, add in a jet-pack, knock it down to T-rating, remove the multiplayer and set the whole thing in the Bermuda Triangle in the early years of WWII.
Oh, and upgradeable weapons, too.
The centerpiece of Dark void is the aerial combat blended smoothly with Gears-of-War style cover-based combat. This is made possible by the jetpack you acquire about halfway through the first episode in the campaign. The flying is tricky to learn especially when you turn with the mouse. The first tutorial mission was the most frustrating part of the whole game. I felt like Avatar’s Jake sully when he first rides an Ikran. In simpler turms, it sucked. invisible walls were everywhere, i got lost, confused and dizzy. But once you master it, this is the best part of the game, because it’s very original. Plus, if you tire of your meager machine guns, you can Hijack enemy planes, I mean UFO’s.
That’s right. Aliens. Sadly, the originality stops short of the plot. Aliens (called Watchers) want to take over the world and have been manipulating humanity by assuming human forms and disguising themselves as world leaders, notably, the Nazis. Yawn.
But, it is an interesting take on WWII and there’s references to the ancient aliens theory, which is cool.
The ground combat is just like Gears of War as I’ve stated before, so if you like that , you’ll like this. The most notable difference, however is the vertical cover system. Look up at a platform and press “c” for Will (our hero) to jet pack his way to it and grab it. Press “c” to blast to the next ledge, or “space” to clamber on top of your cover, or simply fire upon the enemies in your way. It’s a refreshing take on cover that helps this game stand out even more from the other cover based shooters, and allows a platforming element to seep into the mix.
Now there is DLC coming for this. A survival mode, similar to horde should be releasing on Xbox 360 (2/10/10 400MP) and PS3 (2/11/10 $4.99) though no word yet on a PC version yet (as of 2/10/10), believe me, I’ve asked. A lot. But, until I play it I can’t tell you any more about it.