Ok, so the whole setup sounds
actually very interesting. A civil war soldier plucked from certain death by a
time-traveling group charged with correcting the time alterations done by a
mysterious force. You have to navigate different times armed with both
futuristic and authentic weaponry, careful not to kill critical persons or
damage to the time-stream could occur. A cool idea for a movie even more so, a
video-game. But unfortunately we are gifted with an awesome idea and
not-so-awesome end product. But it’s so much more than that, so please read on.
With a great premise comes the
often-difficult end product that has to match that premise. I have said, in
other reviews, that I have always gotten a charge out of taking actual
historical events and mixing it with a sci-fi or fantastical element. Whether
its the occult meanderings of the Wolfenstein series or the horror elements of
the Onimusha games, I just dig on the whole idea. So when I saw this game coming
down the pipe, I was eagerly awaiting it. So in Darkest of Days you play as the
newest recruit for Kronotek, a covert agency who is desperately trying to piece
back the recent time disturbances that have occurred, thus changing the future.
This futuristic agency is supposed to be all knowing and all seeing with the
giant eyes on the wall representing the all-knowing, and prerequisite geek who
pines for times past. Good thing too, the father of Time travel has gone missing
and all sorts of futuristic soldiers have been popping in and out of time
causing all sorts of higgly-piggly (trouble).
"Objects in mirror are closer then they
appear."
Playing the game via FPS, DoD ends
up falling flat right out of the gate. For a time-traveling shooter, there is
remarkably little variance in the times you travel to initially. It seems that
you bounce back and forth from the Civil War to World War I a few too many times
for my liking; seeing the same drab environments and fighting the same moronic
A.I. that seems to appear only as cannon fodder rather then an opposing force.
Yes, you do eventually start seeing other time periods, but its almost as if the
developers ran out of money and thought it would be cheaper to reuse the same
environments.
And for that matter, there isn’t
anything special about the visuals in the game. Yes, there are a couple of
decent effects, there always is, but it’s almost as if the title had no sort of
driving force behind it, challenging the developers to really try something new.
No, pizzazz or sort of style is evident, at least not until some of the later
levels and then it’s both too little, too late and not enough. Graphically the
game is on the lower end of the spectrum, you need not get too excited, although
there is a clever-looking level where you are in a dirigible and another
involving a POW camp in WWII. The latter is actually something that the game
gets right and had the developers had the hindsight to try and tap into that
vibe then we could be talking about an entirely different game. The weapons
themselves almost seem frail and without any heft. Which is weird because there
is no sort of physics to them either. Guns have the range that is completely
impossible and no sort of equivalent sound to go with it. Enemy A.I., like I
said, is pretty poor and fighting them is almost like battling 5-year olds at
paintball.
"CORN!"
And that’s about it for the sound,
the voice work of those giant set of eyes (Mother) and other NPCs is
unintentionally funny, and not in the cool "B" movie way, more like a "pathetic
excuse" way. It’s that much more painful to play this game because of its high
concept and plot, only to be repeatedly disappointed.
In addition, the game’s plot also
dances around a bit too much for its own good. The general idea is good, but
then they start adding too much convoluted jibberjab. There is a pretty decent
twist and conclusion to the game, but it honestly takes a special kind of player
to actually see the game through to its end.
I know I am really slamming this
game, and deservedly so for they got me all excited and then let me down. But
there are a couple of ideas that I did like; I just wish they would have fleshed
them out or made the explanations a bit more relevant. For instance, I spoke
about not being able to kill specific NPCs. Instead you must use a weird green
bubble that stuns them and allows you to continue and they not to die, keeping
the time stream healthy (or whatever). This idea was good, but needed to be more
relevant in the title? ANother example is how they forced you to play, manning a
cannon, or turret or whatever. Cannons were really devestating, yet slow
weapons. Here, they are just slow, it would have been better had they expanded
these types of scenarios yet used futuristic ammunition. Remember, in this game,
soldiers from times long gone, don’t even bat an eye when you begin ripping up
the countryside with a machinegun.
Gameplay: 5.8
The A.I. is painfully inadequate and the first good portion of the game seems
very repetitive. A couple of varied levels mix things up, but it’s too little,
too late.
Graphics: 5.0
Very yesterday.
Sound: 4.7
Paper-thin sound effects don’t give the weapons any weight, very sad sounding
voice work.
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
It should provide little challenge to those familiar with the genre. Again, the
A.I. is really…
Concept: 7.5
The idea is sound, the plot os too overendulged for its own good but there is a
nice conclusion; if only the gameplay had been more entertaining to get to that
ending.
Overall: 5.4
Another idea gone horribly awry, there is far better out there.
