CES 2009: Dark Void Update: Shooting, Flying, and Boss Killing in the Void

We've been keeping a close eye on Capcom's upcoming multiplatform Dark Void since the game was announced last year. The original action game from newly minted developer Airtight Games has been making a positive impression with us the more we see of it. There's a lot of promise to be found in the game's mix of standard third-person action, flight, and vertical combat. It helps that, although Airtight is technically a new developer, the studio is made up of some key veterans who helped make Crimson Skies one of the gems for the original Xbox. Our latest look let us try our hand at playing an updated version of the game on the PC to see how things are coming along. We're pleased to say that, though there's plenty of the expected rough edges from a work-in-progress game, it seems as if the game is shaping up to have a nice, solid core of fun.

The level that we tried was a small chunk taken from the first third of the game and modified into a demo. The section of the game revolves around you finally getting the chance to use your rocket pack to fly around. You'll start out guiding main character Will, the world's unluckiest cargo pilot, through a building interior that opens up onto an outdoor area. The goal in the demo is to help your fellow humans, who are being victimized by the mysterious Watchers. Will is tasked with disabling force-field generators that are trapping a transport full of humans from heading out. The generators are housed in massive, floating structures, the entrances of which are blocked by force fields as well. To save the day, Will must deal with ground troops, dogfight or hijack UFOs, engage in some dizzying vertical combat, and take on a scorpion-like boss called the archon. It's a pretty hefty task for a man armed only with a jetpack, grenades, and two weapons, but we reckon that your options are limited when you're trapped in an interdimensional void by aliens.

Dealing with the force-field generators was an adventure that entailed assaulting the two floating structures that held them and deactivating the barriers to their interior. Once the barriers were lowered, we had to exit and fly to the newly opened entrances, which were either at the top or bottom of the structures. Once inside, we had to fight our way to either the top or bottom of the structures, jumping and shooting, to take out the generators. When the combat shifted to a trek up or down, we relied on button prompts and visual cues to guide us to the right path.

With the generators taken out, the action focused on the archon miniboss fight. The scorpion-like mech needed to be taken out methodically by targeting several weak spots. Once all were hit, we had to guide Will onto the creature and engage in a minigame of death. The fatal (for the archon) game blended God of War-style button prompts along with analog stick waggling to take out the pilot, an advanced form of Watcher.

The controls in our version of the game, mapped to an Xbox 360 controller, were serviceable but needed some tightening. Minor things such as triggering the jetpack to hover or accelerate took some getting used to, especially in the heat of battle. UFO-jacking had a nice feel to it, as did controlling the craft once we got it. The UFO controls made smart use of the dual analog sticks for 180-degree turns and fine turning. The on-foot combat mechanics worked pretty well when using weapons, although it came across as a little too simplistic when melee combat consisted of a single context-sensitive button push when you're in the right range. Overall, though, we found that we were able to kill things on land or in the air with relative ease.

The visuals in the game definitely popped thanks to the crisp resolution and high frame rate courtesy of the beefy PC running the demo. The effects for weapon fire look good, and there were some nice effects on hand for when you disintegrated enemies. Character animation looks promising, thanks to the little flourishes seen when Will uses his jetpack and melee attacks an enemy, and when the various Watcher enemies that we faced dove in and out of cover to attack us. There are also some nice, subtle touches to be noticed in scale when you're in the air and on the ground, such as the sense of being dwarfed by the massive archon miniboss.

Based on what we played, Dark Void is definitely showing an encouraging amount of promise. The gameplay has some very solid mechanics that, though they could definitely use some tightening up and polishing, are blending well. Flight, a subject that the Airtight crew knows pretty well, feels especially good. The varied action blends relatively well already, so we're anxious to see more of it. The visuals are crisp, though they could use more of a distinctive style right now, and they do a solid job of creating a unique atmosphere. Dark Void is slated to hit the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 later this year. Look for more on the game in the coming months.