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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed games.
Dark Void

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 22 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 24 votes
Read user comments
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Game Info
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Airtight Games
Genre(s): Third-Person Action
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
Release Date: January 19, 2010
Summary
Dark Void is a sci-fi action-adventure game that combines an adrenaline-fuelled blend of aerial and on-foot combat set in a parallel universe called "The Void". Players assume the role of Will; a pilot dropped into incredible circumstances while on a routine air cargo flight crashes in the Bermuda triangle leading him to be trapped in the Void. This unlikely hero soon finds himself swept into a desperate struggle for survival at the head of a group called The Survivors. Trapped in the Void, these resistance fighters are battling to hold off a mysterious alien race that plans to threaten Earth. Dark Void's unique combination of in-air and on-ground combat creates a thrilling new gameplay dynamic to the third-person shooter experience. Taking 3D action to a whole new level, Dark Void's vertical combat system allows players to dangle from thousand foot drops as they take cover and drop enemies from above and below, bringing a whole new sense of vulnerability and thrill to the player. Defying gravity in vertical combat is only half the battle as, over time, Will is upgraded to a powerful rocket pack which allows for fierce in-air combat as gamers are able to fly through the void at unparallel speeds shooting down anything that gets in their path. Blasting away at massive bosses has never been this much fun as Dark Void offers a unique grip system made up of a variety of grip-based mini-games including skyjacking UFOs mid-flight. [Capcom]
Also On The Web: Official Website
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
PC Format
So much jetpack promise, but it's a game seeking a third act. Wait for Just Cause 2 if you fancy absurd airborne adventures. [Feb 2010, p.84]
Total PC Gaming
Its disparate gameplay needed to blend together a bit smoother. [Issue#29, p.48]
Game Informer
Unfortunately, the shining strengths of the game are buried underneath a thick layer of rust that only the thirstiest of air-junkies should bother chipping through. [Feb 2010, p.95]
GameStar
Despite the name it’s neither dark nor empty and not even filled with lots of fun, either. Sure, it’s fun for some time, but doing the same things over and over again, using the same weapons in levels that are very similar, too. It could have been much better, now it’s just a mediocre game.
Read Full Review >PC Games (Germany)
Unfortunately, Dark Void does not meet any of our expectations. What could have been an interesting shooter with seamlessly integrated flight combat turns out to be a mediocre looking action game without outstanding moments. Besides the uninspired look and the boring level design, the biggest problem is, that there are just not enough possibilities to use the jetpack in a cool way. Most of the time you are either flying or walking. Only in a handful of situations it’s really useful to fire up your turbines during an on-foot-fight and show the enemies what death from above really means.
Read Full Review >Gamers.at
Dark Void is a great example of wasted potential. The story, the "jetpack-flying-action", the 3D-Gameplay ... all that in combination could have made a great game, but thanks to a boring mission- and level-design, repetitive enemies and mediocre graphics it just isn't.
Read Full Review >SpazioGames
The expectations of those who were hoping for a videogame, Dark Void, which would finally be able to bring a breath of fresh air into the third-person action genre, are sadly disappointed, at least in part, from this title. Certainly the air-combat component has been implemented in a very good way, but it's unfortunately not sufficiently good enough, in a game were you must alternate flying phases with boring sections on foot. The game's value is also clouded by an only discrete technical compartment, lifted in part by a great soundtrack. A pity, because there was a huge potential in the concept idea of Dark Void.
Read Full Review >Pelit (Finland)
Both the flying and close combat are equally uninspired and plain boring and there is no real synergy between the two. [Feb 2010]
LEVEL (Czech Republic)
(Occasionally) vertical shooter varies with arcade flying and comes with a loopy story. Dark Void is quite fun but we expected so much more from this title… [Feb 2010]
Total Video Games
The ultimate issue in front of Dark Void is the fact that it doesn't know whether it's a third-person shooter or an arcade flight game, and does a pretty mediocre attempt at both. An uninspired approach to the design of the game's stages and challenges ultimately leaves Dark Void dangling in the chasm of mediocre shooters.
Read Full Review >GameSpy
Maybe in Dark Void 2, in which a brash, headstrong pilot gets a hold of a jetpack created by an aging engineer and uses it to fight zombies, we'll see the full-fledged realization of this game's genuinely interesting designs. Until then, however, jetpack fans will have to settle for half-baked.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >InsideGamer.nl
The fundamentals are there but Dark Void never soars to great heights.
Read Full Review >PC Zone UK
A criminal waste of time and energy, as standard and generic a game as you could hope to find. [Feb 2010, p.74]
IGN
Dark Void is all over the place. 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. This is one of those titles that just exists; I doubt few will remember it this time next year.
Read Full Review >Cheat Code Central
The story is bad, the shooter elements are lackluster, enemies are repetitive, level design is confining, and vertical combat is a gimmick.
Read Full Review >RealGamer
Dark Void is probably going to go down as one of the most disappointing titles of the year, after all of the expectation and hype. With a bit more time spent polishing and developing key elements and its story this could have become a “classic” as the potential is their for all to see, however in its current form it will sadly slip into the void of mediocrity that has claimed so many third person shooter in the past.
Read Full Review >GameShark
From glitches to repetitive dog-fights and long stretches sans jet-pack, there is always something to ruin your fun as you trudge toward a wholly disappointing boss-battle and an inconclusive, patchwork ending.
Read Full Review >Game Revolution
Dark Void may be the most aptly named game to ever be released - with a half-dozen good concepts sucked in, alas, never to be seen again. It ranks even lower than last year's Bionic Commando in Capcom's list of franchises that had promise but turned out to be no fun to play. A little more fluidity, polish and thought would have made a big difference for this game, as it stands though, Dark aVoid this one.
Read Full Review >PC Gamer
An over-designed shooter that missed the joy in its central concept and instead locks you into purgatorial combat loops. [Mar 2010, p.80]
Absolute Games
“If nothing helps, change your tactics”, reads one of the game’s loading tips. I have a better suggestion: change the game as soon as possible.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this game is 4.7 (out of 10) based on 24 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
[Anonymous] gave it a1:
*lets out a MASSIVE sigh* One of the worst games ever.... I'll give this game a 1/10 just for the concept; if not for that the game would've been a 0. Usually I think most of the games here on Meta deserve a higher score. This one here though..... it deserves its score to be cut in 1/4s. For the life of me I can't see how it got anything above a 20. I **know** this review is very long, but if you're thinking about buying, you should honestly read it, it's worth it. It won't take up THAT much of your life. I was waiting for this game for months, and bought it the day it was released. Jetpacks and vertical combat? I gotta have it!! So far, I've made it past the initial Jetpack scene and about 5 minutes of the FPS beginning.... thats about 10 minutes total, if that. I've resigned myself to believethat buying it was just one of those mistakes you make when it comes to buying games. Wasting money is never fun but it happens. I'll start with the FPS half of the game. I didn't find much wrong with it except for the fact that, somehow, the game constantly made me nauseous after only a few minutes. The odd part about this is that Im an FPS vet and I'm playing 4-5 of them every day right now as is usually the case. Therefore, it's not the fact that its an FPS with quick turn-arounds and the like, I just really don't know WHAT it could be :/ Now the flight.... *shakes head*. I have NEVER seen such horrible flight mechanics. I'm absolutely SHOCKED that I haven't seen similar complaints in these reviews, I would be insanely surprised if it was just me who felt this way. Along with FPS and RPG games, flight games are my next fav so it's not flight itself that is making this so difficult. The controls (even customized (with my G19 gaming KB and G500 gaming mouse) as best as possible) and mechanics are just bottom-notch. It may be better with a joystick, but I didn't bother to try just to somewhat salvage this terrible game. The entire experience is an adventure into "What the &%$# is going on?!?! This is ridiculous!". The last thing I have to complain about, is very odd. I've never come across this problem before in my life. I am a graphic/game designer, so I have a very high- end rig along with large monitors, and top of the line gaming peripherals (KB, mouse, gamepad, stick, headset, speakers.... this has a point). That being said, I have NEVER had to adjust the sensitivity of my mouse ingame before as I have way of doing it in realtime on my mouse and KB. This game however, required me to spend almost an hour tweaking the sensitivities of the mouse during ground and air movrments (each has its own sensitivities). That's a HUGE pain that completely takes away from the fun of the game. Even with the sensitivities tweaked as much as possible I STILL had to constantly use my DPI switcher depending on what I was doing at the time (running, aiming, platforming, free-flying, dog-fighting). Unforgivable.... Ridiculous. So I say to you few who read this insanely long review, or the people who just skipped to the last paragragh.... Avoid this game like the Black Plague. It had a good concept, but I've never seen a game mess up a good concept so entirely. If you happen to be a masochist though.... this is the game for you, hands down. One of the worst games I've ever bought, and I've purchased more games than I can remember or care to admit.
L Rose gave it a6:
Dark Void basically consists of an attempt to meld two games into one: a standard third-person shooter (TPS), and an arcade-like flight combat game using a jetpack. The TPS portion of the game is fine, but not innovative (save for the instances of "vertical cover" which are good but limit you to pretty much a predetermined path). The flying/jetpack sequences are better, that is once you get used to the wonky and somewhat unresponsive controls. (I used a keyboard and mouse, but I understand that a controller works better.) The graphics are adequate, but nothing to write home about. The story is weak and poorly presented (although the voiceover work is generally fine), and the game itself is very short; at most, maybe 6-7 hours of gameplay. The best part of the game, by far, is the soundtrack. All-in-all, the game is average, I enjoyed parts of it more than others, but I doubt I'll go back to it anytime soon, if at all. I do think that it's worth playing, if you can get it on big-time sale. At $40, it's overpriced.
Elias N gave it a3:
While I was waiting for this game to finally be released way back in 2008 I must say the preliminary game site and player reviews have me a little worried. Many state they were very disappointed in what they saw and how the game played overall. I usually wait for my fellow gamers and critic reviews before I purchase a game but for some reason I went ahead and bought the game. It took me a few moments to rearrange my keyboard mappings and mouse to the way I prefer but right off the bat I was thrown into a hellish aerial firefight with all kinds of alien and human craft darting in and out. I couldn't tell who was friend or foe while I struggled to figure out how to control the jetpack. I couldn't hit a goddam thing, only after I readjusted up the mouse sensitivity and made a few more keyboard changes was I able to make hits and take downs. I was finally able to jump on one of the alien spacecrafts and take it over just like in the slick looking previews. Anyway, my impression is that they worked really hard at getting the eye candy, audio and music just right but kinda left the story to fit in any where it could making it very thin. The upgrade feature feels tacked on, you collect blue, red or purple glowing orbs strategically scattered in inaccessible locations all over the levels. Find an orb you get points towards upgrading your weapons, pretty simple except the upgrade interface is overly simplistic and tt looks like it belongs in a indie game instead of one striving to be a first class FPS. It would have made more sense to implement a system like maybe finding and using alien tech laying around under bushes or trees and fashioning better gadgets and improved weapons then the one in place now. The Journal and its pages also seem like a poorly contrived plot device added to help move the idiotic storyline along. Apparently they're are provided to act as backfill for the story but all they seem to do is add more confusion to the already muddy plot. The most absurd sequence in the game occurs when both protagonists encounter the villagers for the first time and are introduced to Nikola Tesla. Neither one of them had the good sense to ask the most obvious, basic questions like "Hey, How did you get here"? or "What the hell are those robot things and why the hell are you all running around half naked"? or "WHERE THE HELL ARE we"? Instead we are treated to a cutscene where Tesla gives them both rocket jetpacks he somehow magically put together. Tesla gives them an important goal, shoves them out the door then promises more will be revieled later, weird. The game does have a nice open world feel to it, you're not prevented from exploring a good ways away from the beaten path. The AI enemies are pretty stupid, they just stand there taken hit after hit until they fall down. It takes a butt load of shots to drop one but by the time it does more enemies come boiling up out of no where takenb potshots at you, nice. Overall I'm giving the game a 3 because of the poor storyline, stupid AI and tacked on weapons upgrade system. Don't drop $40.00 bones for this game like I did just rent it.
Leo M. gave it a4:
This game is not good graphic like halo 3(the greatest game of all time) and not FPS. Patch this game for FPS and I will give it a 6. This game are also lacking deep characters and story like the classic halo and gears of war series. Instead of buying this game, buy a real classic like MW2 or the soon to come out halo reach!
sonia J. gave it a10:
Story is terrible, but the gameplay is very very fun. Best Rpg Ever.
Nick K gave it a10:
Story is terrible, but the gameplay is very very fun. Especially when you get fully upgraded jet pack and weapons.
Mazuko gave it a2:
I played this game thinking that Rocketeer OMG!! Only to realize yet again...why I have never enjoyed any attempts at flight in video games outside of actual simulators. The 3rd person ground game is ..... eh .... nothing really special. There is a few cool scenes and a few cool ideas but most of it is the same repetetive crap that you saw 10 minutes before but ina different location. The flight mechanic is a distaster. Fly straight up? You do a loop and go flying straight into the ground. It takes WAY too long to turn around and even aim properly. Often I found myself flying into my objective as I could not turn around. Even the camera goes all loopy on you when fly as it is very hard to keep your vision "level" so one second you are flying dead on, the next you are looking at a crooked angle and BAM you hit a wall. The sound track however, is freaking amazing. By far the best part of this game, if I had a chance right now, event hough I know it is being release soon, I would go buy the sound track to this game and get a refund on the game itself.
