Despite having read some mixed responses on Dark Void (I'm sure everyone's familiar with the Rocketeer-ish game), I still wanted to find out how the game was myself. The comments I read were from playing console demos, so when the
PC demo from Big Download popped up, I knew I had to try it. I'm running a Quad Core setup with an ATI 4830, and after the installation, graphics-wise, the game looked promising. Texture mapping, lighting, particle physics, everything was looking up to scratch.
And then I attempted my hand at flying.
I don't know how the guys on the consoles did, but with a keyboard and a Razer mouse, I couldn't make it work for me. Maybe it's my lack of skill, but I felt severely handicapped trying to manouevre the hero. Trying to shoot things down was a nightmare, let alone trying to hijack one of those flying disk ships. I had the distinct impression this game was meant to be played with a controller, and even then, I heard the controls for those were pretty bleak.
That was flying. When I touched down on solid ground, I had some semblance of control, but between the keyboard and mouse, I was getting my ass kicked. Granted, it's third-person (which I thought would've worked for me since I suck at FPS) but my shooting was all over the place, and my attempts at doing that while hovering (which I thought was visually cool) didn't fare any better. I had a better time landing smack in the midst of the enemy droids and bashing them with my bare hands (and feet). Kinda defeats the purpose of using all those cool guns, but hey, I had to get the job done.
So the demo's over, and all I'm left with is a headache. So much for a man strapping on a jetpack and fighting anywhere, everywhere. The only fighting I'll be doing tonight is with some aspirin.
I think I liked it because it was somewhat similar to what Warhawk does (though not nearly as well done as warhawk). Once I inverted the up/down on flight, it only took me a few moments to adjust then I was doing loops and turns - awesome!
(and it most definitely beats flying the planes in Battlefield 1943!! Those planes suck!).
Did you know that you can go into a skydive style free fall if you turn off your hover? doesn't seem very robust, but its a nifty touch that they don't explore in the demo objectives.