According to Capcom Dark Void Zero had been in development in the 80’s for the PlayChoice 10, which was a dual-screen arcade machine, but was quickly canceled. Years later Capcom finds Dark Void Zero buried deep within their vault and decide to create a remake called Dark Void for the PS3 and 360, but they simply couldn’t leave Dark Void Zero to rot in the vault so they decided to put it on the DSI. Now if you think this heartwarming tale of love and betrayal might sound too good to be true you are indeed correct because Capcom simply wanted to make a spinoff game to Dark Void to hype it up.
Dark Void Zero
Developer: Other Ocean Interactive
Price: $5.00
Platform: DSI Ware (reviewed), iPhone, PC
Dark Void Zero puts you in the shoes(or should we say jetpack?) of Rusty, a test-pilot for Nikola Tesla’s jetpack. With the help of your jetpack and your friends guns and bullets you go on a mission to close Portal X and save the human race.Other Ocean Interactive clearly understands what makes a classic 8-bit game fun and have mixed various games together to form Dark Void Zero. They even included a clever joke where you have to blow into the DSI mic to clear dust from the cartridge shown in the game to start it. It’s also got a great soundtrack to jam to while you waste enemy scum. Did I mention it’s an 8-bit game?
There are 3 worlds for you to conquer and each has it’s own theme full of different enemies. The game is similar to Metroid in that there are also five different weapons to find in each level but you can only hold onto one at a time. You can also find the jetpack and enjoy being able to fly like a bird while your enemies stay grounded like rocks. You can fly upward by holding the button or simply hover by double tapping it. The controls for both the jetpack movement and combat itself are very tight and work well. Dark Void Zero doesn’t share the same cruel difficulty as it’s cousin Megaman but that’s not to say it isn’t difficult. You will die quite a few times in the game but it’s not impossible to beat, plus the checkpoints scattered throughout the game are generous. There are also tech points and journal entries hidden within each world for the completionists.
The game could be completed in less than 2 hours and there’s even a Steam achievement for completing it in 34 minutes, but you’ll probably replay it to get the high score. It supports a local high score leaderboard and I wondered why not include an online leaderboard but quickly put it off since personally I feel better knowing I could beat my friends than the enthusiasts online who get bigger scores than mine. Yes I’m a sore loser and cry when I’m near the bottom of the leaderboards in Megaman 10, so what you wanna fight about it? I should mention the Steam version of the game does indeed include an online leaderboard. The PC version also includes gamepad support and 2 alternate endings.
The Final Word
For $5 you can’t go wrong with purchasing Dark Void Zero. It’s got everything you’d want in a classic NES game and has a wicked good soundtrack to boot. The only complaint I could pull from this is that Nintendo only allows you to add $10 to your DSI so you’ll have some extra points left over. It seems Capcom understands that 8-bit games are coming back and are happily supporting it with games like Dark Void Zero, Megaman 9/10, and the minigames in No More Heroes.
– MonsterVine Rating: 4 out of 5 – Good
