Dark Void E3 Hands-On
We take to the air--and the ground--in this unique third-person shooter.
Capcom had Dark Void featured prominently inside its booth, and the game was clearly turning a lot of heads, if the rubberneckers passing by during our play-through were any indicator. So what makes Dark Void stand out from the pack? In short, jetpacks. By strapping a rocket to our hero, Will, Capcom has enabled a unique mix of on-foot and in-air combat that can swapped on the fly, providing for a rather unique--and sometimes disorienting--combat experience.
The mission that we played started off in a large valley, interspersed by the occasional waterfall, and was quite striking. However, there wasn't much time to admire the sights before being saddled with our first objective: infiltrate the nearby facilities and destroy their generators. We fired up our jets and blasted off toward our first target. This gave us a chance to break in our jetpack. It was effortless to control our flight, and Will responded smoothly. A click of the right stick while turning caused him to perform an aerial maneuver, handy for dodging incoming fire. We tried it out to evade a nearby turret, and then switched to hover mode to target it in return while stationary. Unfortunately, our bullets seemed to have no effect, at which point the helpful Capcom employee manning the booth tipped us off to try blasting it while flying. We're not sure of the physics behind it--apparently jetpack's momentum + bullet momentum = bullets of mass destruction--but it worked. This mechanic should lend the game an interesting risk-versus-reward dynamic regarding whether to shoot while stationary, or while flying for increased power but decreased accuracy.
Shortly thereafter, we touched down on the facility's walkway and battled our way inside. This is where the game turned a little bit more conventional. It functions largely like any other third-person shooter, complete with cover system. However, lulling us into a false sense of familiarity, the game introduced a couple of interesting twists once we reached a tall shaft lined with platforms. We could easily hop from platform to platform, up the shaft, simply by looking toward the next ledge and tapping the jump button, at which point Will would use a quick burst of his jetpack to blast toward the next ledge. Climbing the shaft wasn't just about platforming, given that we were also being bombarded by enemy fire from above. To counter this, Dark Void makes use of a vertical-cover system, letting us take cover either above or below any given platform before returning fire. It's unique, but also very disorienting, more than once leaving us at a complete loss as to where the enemies were firing from.
Dark Void's unique hybrid of aerial and ground-based combat is certainly intriguing and leaves us hungry for more. Stay tuned to GameSpot for additional coverage as we get closer to the game's release date later this year on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.
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