Forming a
line in the emerald green pastures of a distant farm, the Confederate army
notices that the damn Yankee is not holding a standard issued musket rifle but
rather an odd-looking contraption that resembles a rifle. This Yankee fires what
seems like a burst, riddling comrades with bullets that just keep pumping out of
the unusual rifle. It becomes clear to the men left standing that this solider
might have been sent by the devil himself … or perhaps he has traveled across
time somehow. In the case of Darkest of Days for the Xbox 360, it is
second scenario that makes this first-person shooter a flawed yet interesting
game.
You assume
the role of a soldier named Alexander Morris, who, on that fateful day at Little
Big Horn, is struck with an arrow and watches as your commanding officer –
General William Armstrong Custer – is killed by the Lakota and Cheyenne. Just as
you are about to get scalped, however, a hand reaches out to you and suddenly
Morris finds himself in the future and the latest recruit for a company named
KronoteK formed to protect time after Doctor Rainer Koell invented a time
machine. Along with a fellow agent named Dexter, you are tasked with protecting
history from those that mean to disrupt the timeline by changing historical
events.
The bad news
is that Dr. Koell has gone missing during one of his jaunts back in time and on
top of that there’s a group of soldiers sporting far more advanced weapons and
armor that are disrupting the timeline by interfering with historical events in
warfare. With the guidance of Dr. Koell’s assistant (also called “Mother”), you
join Dexter in traveling back in time to not only help find the good doctor but
also bring back agents that are also missing. Your main objective is also to
find out who these futuristic soldiers are and why do they want to alter
history.
While you
are given the chance to select which mission you want to take on the choices are
often limited especially when you are asked to complete a main objective. You
will, in the beginning of the game, find yourself smack in the middle of the
Russian army pushing on into Germany in the First World War. You are also given
the option to rescue an agent during in the Battle of Antietam during the Civil
War. In other missions you will find yourself joining the Allied forces during
World War II and even taking up arms in Pompeii in the year 79 A.D.
To keep up
appearances, you use weapons from the era you jump to so you will find yourself
using single-shot muskets during the Civil War battles and Russian pistols
during the World War I battle and so forth. Besides that, you will often find
yourself in situations where Dexter will hand a weapon from the future to help
the mission succeed so there are times when you’ll be firing rockets at
Confederate soldiers or blasting away at Cherokee warriors with a submachine
gun. This is the beauty of a time travel shooter.
Of course,
you’ll also meet other travelers who use far more advanced weapons and armor
that deflects bullets. It’s actually quite exciting to fight a futuristic enemy
back in another timeline so it mixes up the action well enough. The mission
objectives also help in keeping the game feel too repetitive and you’ll be glad
there are checkpoints scattered throughout. Aside from the numerous mission
objectives, there are enemies that give off colored auras. Enemies with blue
auras, for example, aren’t meant to die so you are given Chasers … small
marble-like devices that protect the enemy on impact.
Unfortunately, the good story and great time traveling theme just aren’t enough
to make this an excellent shooter. All these things don’t matter when the
gameplay is this flawed and you’ll see what I’m talking about the first five
minutes into the game when your bullets don’t seem to even hit a target even if
you’re aiming directly at your enemy. In numerous occasions I even shot at an
enemy at point blank range and missed. At one point my melee attack went right
through an enemy soldier. You’ll die often in this game and oftentimes you will
never see who killed you.
The good
news is that the period weapons can also be upgraded so you can reload your
pistol or rifle faster and carry more ammo. You can also upgrade for accuracy
but, as I mentioned, the flaws make that occasionally impossible. There’s also
framerate stutter but it’s not as frequent and especially not when the battles
become quite massive. There are moments when you will encounter hundreds of
enemies on the battlefield and while this would have been quite spectacular the
instant deaths you’ll experience just isn’t very appealing. There isn’t even a
multiplayer mode so I don’t really see a reason to want to play this one after
you finish the lengthy single-player campaign.
On the
graphics front, Darkest of Days doesn’t look like it belongs on the Xbox 360. In
fact, this game looks like an amazing original Xbox game thanks to the weak
character models and muddy textures. Sure, there are moments when the
environments look quite wonderfully and the number of enemies on screen at once
does look great but there’s nothing here that really stands out visually.
At least the
sound fares a bit better and it’s mainly because of the sweeping soundtrack and
the voice acting that isn’t bad at all. I sincerely love Dexter’s musings thanks
to the voice acting and wish there was more variety to them while the other
voices sound true to their era. It’s just too bad that the sound effects aren’t
detailed enough to make the massive battles really shine.
Darkest of
Days for the Xbox 360 is one of those games that sounds great on paper and it
would have been a truly enjoyable shooter if it wasn’t for its numerous flaws
that hold it back. This is too bad seeing as the game contains a number of
interesting levels, scenarios and a decent story worth following. Even if you’re
willing to overlook its numerous problems, I can only recommend this one as a
rental for die-hard fans of the genre.
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Gameplay: 5.5
Plucked from your
own timeline, you are chosen to protect time itself in a number of missions that
will take you through history’s most notable wars and battles. There are even a
few fun moments (a zeppelin ride). You’ll get to wield and upgrade era-specific
weapons but the controls, gameplay glitches and poor hit detection will only
serve to frustrate.
Graphics: 6.0
The graphics look
like they would look best on the original Xbox. Just about the only really
eye-catching visual feat comes in the number of enemies that appear on the
screen at once during the more intense battles.
Sound:
6.5
The original
soundtrack is wonderfully cinematic and works beautifully throughout the game
and the voice acting isn’t too bad either. The problem is that characters seem
to spout the same thing in a loop and the sound effects are less than
impressive.
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
The game is quite
hard even in the normal difficulty setting and it’s not because the enemy is
intelligent or good shots but because the glitches in the game will get you
killed quickly. How is it that you can shoot a Confederate soldier several miles
away with a pistol but miss him at point blank range with the same gun?
Concept: 5.5
Travel through
time to experience the darkest days in human history including the Civil War,
World War II and – interestingly enough – Pompeii circa 79 A.D. You’ll get to
use an assortment of weapons across each era including futuristic weapons.
There’s no multiplayer mode whatsoever so there’s really no reason why people
will want to keep playing this one.
Overall: 5.5
Darkest of Days
would have been a spectacular first-person shooter with a lot to offer but,
sadly, the game falls short in just about every aspect. On top of the flawed
shooting mechanics there are glitches aplenty that keep this from being an
inventive and fun shooter. Sorry, but this is one action game best left
forgotten by time.
