Blueball
Reviewer - BlueballSystem:
Q9650 (4 x 3GHz Cores)
Gigabyte P35-DQ6
8Gb (4 x 2Gb) Geil 1066MHz DDR2
1TB (2 x Samsung F1 500Gb) RAID 0
Benq DW1650 16x DVD
1GB BFG Tech GTX 280 OCX (665MHz Core)
24" Samsung T240 (1920x1200)
Win 7 Ultimate x64
CoolerMaster 700W
Lian-Li A17
Virgin Media 20Mb
Resolution used for gameplay: 1920 x 1200 Texture High, Models medium
The Good
It has a good intro although I'm sure that the cut-scene transitioning between the airborne ambush and Nassau was entitled "one week later" instead of "one week earlier" but maybe that is my mind playing tricks.
I found the graphics to be reasonably impressive but found it difficult to control in flight using the mouse/keyboard. Setting the airborne sensitivity much higher in Options helped but it still was not as good as using a joystick. Framerates were pretty reasonable with only very occasional stutters (seemed to be when changing music).
When working up/down on platforms the controls work well. Initially, fighting down a serious of platforms can feel very uncomfortable but once you have done this a few times the unusual camera view becomes quite normal and moving left or right becomes quite natural even at strange camera angles. All in all I thought this aspect was very well done (apart from the aiming problems mentioned later)
I did enjoy playing the game, the storyline is interesting and you do wonder "What will happen next?".
Click for larger imageThe Bad
The DVD Box claims that it is the first fully 3D action shooter but Shattered Horizon was released several months prior to Dark Void. As with most games, it is almost impossible to assess the System Requirements or to read the small print on the back of the box without a magnifying glass. Additionally, the instruction manual is written for the Xbox 360 controller not for the keyboard!
Installation really was not good! It was painfully slow and after 20 minutes I had to cancel it as there was still no indication of data being transferred and CPU usage was non-existent. I ran a CD/DVD Drive Cleaner to ensure the lens was clean and restarted installation. After 30 minutes I still only had about 1% to 2% of the files copied. Again, there was no CPU usage and Perfmon indicated no disk write activity. Frustrated, I rebooted, checked the disk and found no apparent physical damage. I took a chance and disabled anti-virus but it made no difference (so I left it running). It installed in 4 hours 18 minutes!! A new record? The installation routine installs Securom but doesn't tell you it is doing it and it isn't mentioned in any of the literature! Naughty naughty. When are they going to learn?
When configuring the controls you are not warned of key conflicts (you could bind the same key to left and right for instance).
There were not any Physx options showing so a quick Google and I downloaded the Physx Patch for the game from http://nzone.com/object/nzone_darkvoid_downloads.html - sadly there were so many scenes where Physx caused stuttering (multiple particles in view) that I disabled Physx completely.
In common with many games most of the progress is very linear with negligible options to explore so it's "follow the corridor" and the animation of Ava running is, how can I put it, weird!
When trying to fight up or down (for example the escape from USS Cyclops) your ability to aim above you is severely hampered, you cannot move the aiming reticule in certain directions such that, although you have clear line of sight on a target, you have to move somewhere else to actually aim at it.
Just after getting the rocket pack, I stepped out and saw the watcher ship under the large dome and then CRASH to desktop. Restarted game and got through it the second time so maybe not a game issue.
Conclusion As a game I would give it 7/10. As a piece of software I would only give 4/10 mainly due to that Securom rubbish.
BlueBall scores - 7/10
