
So. Your name is Will. You fly a cargo plane. You crash said cargo plane in the Bermuda Triangle and now you're stuck in a mysterious parallel dimension called The Void. Intrigued yet? What if I told you the same guys who brought you Crimson Skies for the Xbox are helping to bring you Dark Void from Capcom to the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3?
Over in the Capcom room at E3 I got a chance to go hands on with Dark Void. It has an interesting enough premise and feel to it. As Will, you've hooked up with a group called The Survivors as you try to find a way out of The Void. In addition, you need to deal with a mysterious alien race (featuring lots of robots and flying machines like the ones from The Incredibles) that wants to attack the Earth.
The Tesla-like feel of the technology gives the game a real 1930s-slash-pulp feel to it. Even better, though, than dodging from cover to cover shooting it out with what appears to be a handheld version of a World War 1 machine gun was the fact that you've got a rocket pack. Dark Void ain't just about taking cover on the ground - it's about taking cover as you go straight up.
At first, the rocket pack was just enough to let me hover or grab a low-lying beam or rock face. As I pushed through the level, I finally got to one point where I upgraded my jet pack. Excited, I went to hit Y to turn it on when the developer next to me warned, "You're in an enclosed space - turning it on here will just kill you."
D'oh! I walked out to the ledge and looked around.
"Look up," he said, and I interpreted that as "Look forward." Which I did - still looking down at the water - while I triggered my jet pack...
...and ran straight into the ocean and died.
Fortunately there was a check point right there so I was back in the game. This time I took off into the air, limbs flailing wildly - it's Will's first time with the jet pack, too! I needed firepower, however.
Spotting an enemy ship, I grabbed ahold of it. The enemy lowered the turret and tried to shoot me. I tricked him into shooting in the wrong space, pulled open a hatch and ripped out some wiring. That forced the robot out of his cockpit, so I jumped up on top of the ship and dispatched him with a point-blank shot to the head.
Then on out the ship was mine - at least, that is, if I avoided getting it blowed up - and so I took to the skies to dogfight the other enemies. Blowing them to bits led me to a cinematic cut scene...
...and the demo ended.
Vertical cover, Tesla, alternate dimensions, the Bermuda Triangle, daring-do, pulp, aliens? Sign me up for more Dark Void!






