Dark Void demo impressions

I never thought it was possible to make flying a jetpack so boring. Not that the shooting is better: it's Gears of War all over again, without the good controls and the fun. What's going on with Capcom?

Your impressions on the demo? Different opinions welcome.

Oh dear, i've not played it yet but I was hoping it would be good, the more decent games I get to play the better.

I played it and enjoyed it. I was a little put off by how goofy the lead character is (he's like a jetpack-toting Nathan Drake) but I thought the shooting was mechanically sound and enjoyable, although formulaic. The enemy designs look like they should be paying license fees to Bioware for Mass Effect, as they bear an uncanny resemblance to the Geth from that game, which isn't a bad thing as the character designs in Mass Effect were stellar. The cover system seems adequate enough and the jetpack seems fun enough to use.

I don't know, I wasn't blown away by it, but I sure didn't think it was bad either. I plan on playing it.

I was planning to download the demo when it's uploaded onto PSN later today.

Hoping it'll be interesting. If I remember- I'll come back and post my impressions. :)

I played it and enjoyed it. I was a little put off by how goofy the lead character is (he's like a jetpack-toting Nathan Drake) but I thought the shooting was mechanically sound and enjoyable, although formulaic. The enemy designs look like they should be paying license fees to Bioware for Mass Effect, as they bear an uncanny resemblance to the Geth from that game, which isn't a bad thing as the character designs in Mass Effect were stellar. The cover system seems adequate enough and the jetpack seems fun enough to use.

I don't know, I wasn't blown away by it, but I sure didn't think it was bad either. I plan on playing it.

Shame-usBlackley

Yeah I was left feeling pretty much the same from the demo. It didn't impress me as much as I was hoping it would but it was decent. I struggled somewhat with the flight controls but I'm terrible with inverted controls so I'll need to change that. The shooting and cover mechanics seemed good. I'll still be keeping an eye on how the full game turns out.

Awright-

Here goes. :|

Pros:

• Enjoyable aerial combat- both the jetpack and saucers control nicely.
• Smooth transitions between flight, hovering, and walking.
• Decent ground and cover controls.
• Decent graphics.

Nitpicks (have limited negative or no effect on my score):

• Cover system not nearly as fleshed out or versatile as say- oh "You Know..."
• Weapons shown are inconsistent in satisfaction (The Watcher basic rifle is incredibly satisfying, the other Watcher weapon and machine gun not so much. It goes to be said- the aerial weapons feel much meatier and more satisfying to use as a whole than any of the ground weapons here)
• Hovering controls are a bit too loose- making it unideal for combat.
• Character models scream uncanny valley louder than many Unreal engine-powered games I've seen.

Cons (major negative effect on score):

• Poorly programmed and incompetent enemy ground AI.
• Below average aerial enemy AI. (It's better than the ground AI though)

Overall:

Definitely decent- a game I bet I would enjoy. The AI issues are the only real thing holding it back- but this is a shooter. Even minor AI issues can have a huge effect on a shooter's quality- and Dark Void has major AI issues as a whole- not minor.

The enemy ground AI is pretty bad overall- it tends to be sluggish getting to cover, chooses bad times to LEAVE cover and charge you, and is not accurate or aggressive enough to ever put you in any danger of dying. The ground AI can even be glitchy at times- trying to shoot through solid walls and even one time just standing still in a corridor staring at me until I shot it enough so it would do a sluggish sidestep into cover. It's not all bad- as it can still be an entertaining AI to fight with at times, but I still can't get over the fact that they try to shoot me through solid walls I'M NOT EVEN USING FOR COVER (I'm nowhere near them... :| ). That- and they DO move around from cover to cover a bit, charge to do melee attacks, or even flank your cover if you let them- so they aren't a static uninteresting AI in the slightest at least.

The aerial enemy AI fares much better, in that it is solid, but nothing special. It's still below average overall though- in that while most of the time it does a good job flying circles around you, it sometimes chooses to fly in a straight non-evasive line away from you for no reason whatsoever- giving you a blatantly easy kill. The aerial AI also doesn't seem to use the game's aerial maneuver system at all (They never roll to the side or pull a 180 turn- even though when you control them, it is shown that the saucers are PERFECTLY capable of doing these.).

I must say- this could have been a must-buy for me if it wasn't for the AI issues. But the AI issues are just too much and do a lot to bring the game down from the lofty heights it could have obtained.

My Demo Score:7/10

The AI issues are the ONLY reason the score had to go into merely decent territory (The nitpicks I listed had hardly any affect on the score. The AI issues cost this demo 2.5 point at the very least- if not all 3).

I could easily see this demo deserving a 9 if the AI issues alone were fixed. If that could be the ONLY thing Capcom worked on before release (which we know they won't, cause the game's basically finished by now... :| ), we could actually potentially be looking forward to one of this year's gems. But as it is- knowing this is the AI the full version will most likely have, we're going to be receiving a merely decent game at best.

EDIT: Much longer summary than I expected I'd write... :P Sorry about that...

I preferred the demo for this game over Bayonetta.Diablo-B