A PS3 game that is best avoided

After focusing on fighting games for the last few months, Capcom finally put out a game that does not involve throwing a fireball at someone. "Dark Void" is a third-person shooter that takes place in a parallel universe where an alien race, known as the Watchers, are trying to take over the world and it is up to jetpack-wielding William Gray to stop them in order to save the human race and to return home to his universe.

"Dark Void" is a sci-fi, whichtakes place around the same time as World War two, and players control William Gray, a cargo pilot whose plane has crashed in the Bermuda triangle. He ends up in a parallel universe taken over by Watchers and with the help of the other human survivors and a jetpack made for him by the inventor Nikola Tesla, he is ready to help them save the human race and try to find a way to return back to his world.

Unfortunately, the story is not original and the terrible voice acting does not help. However, even if the acting was better, the story is incapable of driving any character development and it is hard to care about the people William is trying to protect. Thankfully, the game makes up for the bad writing with an epic musical score which really helps give a sense of adventure.

As far as presentation goes, the setting proves to be interesting enough, ranging from vast wastelands to giant futuristic arenas. Aside from that, the game is not visually interesting. The character models look okay at best and the background details and special effects feel as though little effort was put into them. "Dark Void" looks boring compared to other shooter games like "Halo" and "Call of Duty."

The gameplay has two main aspects to it, the first being the on-ground parts of the game. This part of the game has William Gray running, ducking, jumping and shooting aliens and robots in order to destroy the Watchers and help out his fellow human survivors. These on-foot parts of the game feel similar to those in "Gears of War," especially when players duck for cover and wait for an opening to move and shoot. Being similar to a successful shooter is not a bad thing, but there is nothing fresh about "Dark Void."

Players also have a wide variety of weapons to choose from and can level up weapons as the game progresses. However, the game gives little reason to use anything but the most powerful weapon available, so once William obtains that lost gun, there is no reason to ever use anything else, which really brings down the strategy involved in the game.

However, the other main aspect of the game is the use of the jetpack, which changes how the game flows. The player will go from slowly running on the ground to zipping around enemies shooting them from above and it opens up a new, fun level. This jet pack gives the game a sense of freedom as William explores his surroundings and uses them to his advantage. Sadly, the game glitches by failing to show where movement borders are; sometimes William ends up being thrown back when walking into a border, causing him to crash into mountains or walls. While humorous at times, it gets frustrating after a few accidental deaths.

Besides the hordes of aliens, William will also square up against giant aliens in boss battles. Unlike games such as "Bayonetta," which have fun and engaging boss battles, the "Dark Void" giant boss battles are not very exciting. There is one boss who warns the player throughout the game how difficult he will be to defeat, but when the time comes to fight him, he can easily be overtaken.

The game's main story line takes about ten hours to complete, which is not very long for a $60 game. "Dark Void" also offers no other extra modes other than the single player campaign. It is weird that a game with an interesting shooting premise would not offer even a local multiplayer mode. This means that once the player is done with the story mode, the game is done, unless the player wants to go and upgrade every weapon in the game.

Critic's Response: "Dark Void" is bland from the minute it starts. It is unfortunate that the jetpack parts are fun, because it makes the game feel more like a wasted opportunity. With a lackluster story and almost no replay value, there is no real reason to own "Dark Void." C -