I recently picked up Dark Void for $10 brand new at a GameStop sale (If I buy from GS I at least try to make sure I'm buying new, not used thank you very much). IGN gave it a whopping 5/10 and it didn't do much better on cumulative press scores. I had played the demo and found it passable so I picked it up despite media ridicule, and I'm glad I did.
As a bit of history Dark Void had the unpleasant luck of being released nigh about the same time as another small, obscure title: Uncharted 2. Due to the proximity in release dates and certain details of gameplay (3rd person cover shooter, main character voiced by Nolan North) they were unfairly compared.
Lucky for me I haven't played Uncharted to, so I have a clean pallet. Apparently when you you Play Uncharted 2 it will render your enjoyment of other "lesser" games null and void. I find that to be an unfortunate side effect and one that occurs all to often in mainstream reviews (which is why I try to avoid unfair comparison).
Common complaints for DV include average combat, poor flight mechanics, convoluted story telling, and an all around feeling of meh. I'll be fair to the reviewers, at this point in time they were probably all still playing another recently released 3rd person shooter. Blinded by either blatant or subconscious fanboy-ism they would have rather been playing that other game.
The mechanics of DV all work just fine. sometimes ariel combat can get a little rough, but it ended up working much better then I thought it would (it was far better in the full game than in the demo). So the reviewers cry "It's repetitive!". Repetition only becomes apparent when you are not having fun, thats all well and good but its not fair to a game when the only reason you're not having fun is because you're just a fanboy and there is another back-of-the-head you'd rather be starring at as you ducked into cover.
An example: I love Uncharted, I haven't played the sequel yet, but the original was amazing. That said, think about the combat. Enemies come at you, you shoot them from cover. You hopefully have enough time to pick up some dropped ammunition before (surprise!) another wave comes. After that there is probably a platforming "puzzle" (read as: find the right way up). lather, rinse, repeat. This game got over a 9/10 and game of the year! Did it deserve it? Well yes, it had excellent mechanics, and acting. But was it repetitive? You bet.
Everything in Dark Void works just fine, and thats the problem, because it doesn't take thing to a whole new level it gets slapped with a 5/10. If Uncharted 2 were to put out new DLC with no improvements what so ever the worst it'd get would be a slap on the hand, a brief mention perhaps of "nothing really new… but more Uncharted so you've got to love it!" with an 8/10.
I suppose this frustrates me on behalf of the small game developer, who doesn't have millions to invest an a triple A title. Making a good game is an accomplishment for a studio like that. For those people to then have their game trampled on because the cinematic story telling isn't up to "Hollywood Standards" now that's wrong.
Sadly the industry of reviews shows no sign of turning from its fanboy ways. Each year we see more sequels churned out, and more 9/10 handed to the dev's with deep pockets… I love a good big name game as much as the next guy., but come on… Give the little guy a fighting chance, they might surprise you.
Another complaint I heard a lot was that the story in DV was incoherent and hard to follow. My guess is that these are the same people that didn't know what was going on in Inception, and this game is far more simple in its approach to story telling then Chris Nolan's Magnum Opus. There are certain subtleties to the story that I really appreciated. For instance, you get aid from a scientist in the beginning, but they don't shove down your throat the fact that its Nikola "death ray" Tesla. I thought that was pretty neat. They only reference him by his first name, let you figure you it out so you get a nice shiny "Oooooh!" moment, then later they call him Tesla. Honestly, everything else is very thoroughly explained… even to much to a certain extent, you get random bits of information during the loading screen just in case you're having trouble keeping up!
The world and atmosphere in the game is fantastic. It has this great Lost World vibe. I really bought the setting and characters, and later in the game when you find the resistance. Pretty awesome stuff. There are some cliches here and there but over all the world feels great, the characters and motivations believable, and the struggle heavy.
I had a ton of fun playing Dark Void and would happily recommend it to the non-jaded gamer. But as for the media's opinion I remain humbly yours, the Worlds Worst Critic.
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