Worst of all, the game is full of technical issues. At various times throughout the game, I had to deal with massive shuttering - Will frequently moves like Mr. Roboto! Unfortunately, these segments didn't last for just a few seconds, they would persist until I cleared out the entire room of enemies. Additionally, upon entering The Void, I was faced with a near game-breaking glitch.

In order to advance through Episode II Chapter I, you need to guide a survivor named Atem to a rendezvous point. However, Atem won't advance until you kill all the enemies. Maddeningly, one of the enemies is stuck in the floor underneath the level, so Atem just stands on top of the spot and unloads clips ad infinitum. Reloading the game didn't solve the issue, either. Fortunately, I did find a workaround. The game lets you replay chapters, so getting outside of the campaign and firing up the individual chapter allowed me to advance and make a new save. Still, the lack of polish makes the game difficult to enjoy.

In terms of production, the musical score is solid, though not as inspired as I would have liked. This is really surprising; especially considering Bear McCreary of Battlestar Galactica fame composed the music. Voice work is competently done, though the dialogue is nothing special. Grapically, the game looks good. Dark Void uses the Unreal Engine 3, so characters and environments are nicely detailed. All in all, Dark Void is everything you'd expect from a next-gen shooter production-wise, but nothing more.

Though the vertical combat is unique at first, it quickly gets stale. Consequently, Dark Void fails to bring anything substantive to the shooter genre. The linear level design, constant glitches, and unsatisfying, repetitive battles make this a game you should simply pass on.

By Jonathan Marx
CCC Editor / News Director