The Rocketeer...Err, Dark Void Review

January 27th, 2010

Look up in the sky… it's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's the… Rocketeer!? It doesn't take a genius to immediately identify Dark Void with Walt Disney Pictures’ often forgotten film. The Rockateer was a spectacle of epic proportions, and afterwards I was determined to build my own rocket pack in order fly. I failed and nearly broke my legs in the process. The Rocketeer: The Game was released on the SNES and it was not only frustrating but it proved to be a painful experience until the bitter end. I honestly played Dark Void like it was the Rocketeer 2, except with aliens instead of Bond copied baddies. Yes, I lived my dream of playing what I wanted to play in '92. In the end I had hopes for the short-lived experience Dark Void had to offer and, alas, I was left unsurprised.

You play as William Augustus Grey who is a cargo pilot that ends up on a mission where his ship crashes into the Bermuda Triangle. What happens next is kind of awkward as he encounters other humans in a parallel universe. Guess what? It's your time to step in the shoes of the hero and save these "survivors." The villains (the Watchers) in the game are pretty boring and about as intimidating as one of the Jonas brothers.  The story is all over the place and you always find yourself wanting to skip story scenes to get back to the gameplay where there is something decently entertaining.



One of the coolest features in Dark Void is the Vertical Cover System, which is essentially the same as any cover system in most games except you are either hanging and looking up or shooting downwards from above. As innovative as this system was, it became stale over time. Early on you get introduced to the hover pack.  This is the point where any sort of fun begins. As you progress further you upgrade your hover pack to a jetpack and the Rocketeer is resurrected. From this point on you are allowed to take unlimited flight and take the combat in the sky.


The Combat is pretty generic when it takes place on the ground. Simple cover system, basic weaponry, and repetitive melee attacks overpower all else. When you are hovering you can shoot and toss grenades. Using the rocket pack allows you to play a mini-game with any enemy ship by allowing you to glide onboard and take the over if you are successful. You also get machine guns to shoot and eventually rockets. Flying also offers maneuvers such as barrel rolls, u-turn thrusts, and turbo. The mixture of flight, hovering, and ground combat kept me interested enough through my play-through. Other abilities in Dark Void are mounting turrets and boarding friendly planes. These planes allow you to shoot alternate weapons and do stunts as well.


Enemies in the game are worthless bots and even the aliens that consume them are just not smart. Enemy design is weak whether you are on the ground or sky. There are barely any tough battles or bosses. The challenge level in the game isn't awful. As weak as the A.I. is they will still be able to take you out. At times I got very frustrated because there are sections in missions that you have to complete very specifically without anything being pointed out to you. Getting lost in the game is not a fun experience, and it happened to me at least twice. The payoff for figuring anything out in Dark Void is a straight slap to the face. Mucho disappointing.



I'll sum up some points that didn't make the cut. The graphics are decent and in all, not bad. Sound design is status quo at most.  All the characters in the game are pretty much forgettable. The repeated quick-time events are a thing of the past…like 2005 past. Is this really a 2010 title?

Dark Void is a very short title with an awkward "to be continued…" ending which was unnecessary and basically revealed to me that the game was incomplete. So unless Rocketeer is your favorite movie of all lifetime and you want to pretend this is the Rocketeer game, there’s really not a whole lot to see here.  

One of the coolest features in Dark Void is the Vertical Cover System, which is essentially the same as any cover system in most games except you are either hanging and looking up or shooting downwards from above. As innovative as this system was, it became stale over time. Early on you get introduced to the hover pack.  This is the point where any sort of fun begins. As you progress further you upgrade your hover pack to a jetpack and the Rocketeer is resurrected. From this point on you are allowed to take unlimited flight and take the combat in the sky.

By Avik Sogoyan

Submitted by: theprofessor29