Dark Void was delayed to avoid ODST

By Tom Bramwell Published 15 January, 2010

Plus: PC demo now available.

Capcom has said it chose to delay Dark Void from September until January because it didn't want to run into Halo 3: ODST at retail.

"They're like, 'ta-da, we're shipping, I don't know, I forget what it was, September 27 or whatever' and we said, 'okay, sounds like a perfect time to move Dark Void!" Capcom's Christian Svensson told G4tv.

"Truthfully, we put the extra couple months [to use]," he said. "We did the PhysX integration on the PC side of things; some of that stuff was not necessarily going to be there at launch, now it is. We put that time to good use, for sure."

Dark Void is due out for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 next Friday, 22nd January, and sees pilot protagonist Will propelled into a mysterious realm where he gets caught up in a fight that involves a mixture of cover-based shooting and dogfighting.

This week has also seen the release of a PC demo, which weighs in at just over 1GB.

Look out for our review of Dark Void on Monday.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (39) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Pastici #1 2 years ago

    Avoiding ODST, MW2 and pretty much every other massive game in janurary more like. This game reeks of confidence...

  • teabagger #2 2 years ago

    For those that have played the demo; is it any good?

  • matrim83 #3 2 years ago

    ^^So going by that argument every game that delayed to Q1 2010 to avoid MW2 sucks?

    To me it makes sense not putting a new IP up against established IPs.

  • muscleblade #4 2 years ago

    It doesnt avoid Bayonetta, Darksiders, Mass Effect 2, Dantes Inferno or Bioshock 2 so it doesnt help.

  • Negotiator #5 2 years ago

    Its pretty rubbish anyway, so who cares.

  • Whizzo #6 2 years ago

    For those that have played the demo; is it any good?

    No it isn't.

  • Pastici #7 2 years ago

    Ok I didn't think that through right, not had a cuppa yet. But still, 4 months?

    @matrim83

    Going by that logic is silly, its just that we've heard about this game for a while and personally I've not seen much about it around the gaming sites other than random posts on the Capcom Twitter feed.
    Edited by 1 at 15/01/10 @ 08:35

  • bad09 #8 2 years ago

    Thank you and well done on the PC demo Capcom, downloading now. I know people are slating this but I still want to try it myself. I guess it's the Rocket Ranger fan in me!

  • Packs21 #9 2 years ago

    That game will bomb as hard as Bionic Commando 2009. Even all of the trailers are crappy, and the demo was horrible.
    I can't see who will pay full price for that one.

  • Widge #10 2 years ago

    Dark Void delayed to avoid 'anything vaguely good'

  • Zebula77 #11 2 years ago

    @teabagger: Nope.

    It plays decent enough, but seriously generic and you constantly get the feeling that you've played it before, only way better. Does have voice acting by Nolan North (aka Nathan Drake), but then so does every game these days. :p

  • altitude2k #12 2 years ago

    @Zebula77

    Including Halo 3 and Halo Wars. What a whore!

  • erp #13 2 years ago

    I thought the jetpack controls and animation in the demo were actually very well done, it's just the rest of it - the enemies, the on-foot combat, everything - was way below average.

  • scowat #14 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 16:41:01 08-02-2012

  • Thunderbolt #15 2 years ago

    Thanks Zebula77,

    I was wondering who did the voice acting thought it might be Nathan Fillion ala Serenity. The demo was very bland and boring so wont be getting this.

  • darkmorgado #16 2 years ago

    Or maybe they delayed it because September was around the time that the early confident previews gave way to galling criticism in the specialist press? Surely Capcom wouldn't dream of delaying a game just to try and get people to forget that it's been trashed in every preview for the last six months?

  • Monkey_Puncher #17 2 years ago

    I wanted to like this game, the demo wasn't much cop though.....it was quite short though so maybe there will be a bit more to the full game?

  • andywilkie35 #18 2 years ago

    I would have thought they put the extra months to use as turning an absolute car crash into simply an utterly terrible game

  • DiamondIce #19 2 years ago

    @erp:

    I felt exactly the same. The jet pack flying bits was quite good and better than expected but the on foot section was incredibly dull. The combat was weak and this is where the game is a 50% good game and 50% bad game.
    Edited by 1 at 15/01/10 @ 09:31

  • telboy007 #20 2 years ago

    The jet pack bit was good but SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW, on foot / combat - utter garbage.

  • Meho #21 2 years ago

    I even disliked the jetpack parts. But that's probably just me, easily disoriented and bored in arial 3D combat. On foot parts were quite abysmal by every existing standard, Im afraid.

  • twoism #22 2 years ago

    At least it features Bear McCreary's music.
    Edited by 1 at 15/01/10 @ 10:04

  • bad09 #23 2 years ago

    Sod you lot I think this is pretty fun. It's a shooter with a jet pack that's all. From the slating everyone is giving this I really don't know what people were expecting, it does the shooting parts really well and the jet pack is great fun.

    Maybe the PC version play better than the consoles as that's were all the bad comments are coming from. I'm gonna get it I reckon, I really enjoyed the demo. Sadly ME2 is 2 weeks away and AVP 4 weeks away Capcom so you'll have to wait.

    I would say to everyone though try this one for yourself, it's nowhere near as bad as some make out.

  • octavedoctor #24 2 years ago

    The only decent games with Jetpacks in ever made were Tribes and Tribes 2.

    Jetpack in the demo felt completely dull and lifeless. I was flying a camera around with a guy attached. I turned off without even bothering to go and shoot anything. Very disappointed.

    Also the short cutscene before the demo starts was very poorly written and directed, so no story draw either.


    Edit: Ok I just remembered GTA: San Andreas also had a jetpack... but you know what I mean - an integral part of the gameplay jetpack.......... damnit ok and the boosty thing in Shadow Complex......
    Edited by 1 at 15/01/10 @ 10:27

  • KDR_11k #25 2 years ago

    I'd ggrab the demo if it was uploaded on a place that's actually usable like Steam. Most of those commercial download sites suck harder than AOL.

  • Salaminizer #26 2 years ago

    so NVIDIA "funded" the delay for the PC version?

  • SBfistfun #27 2 years ago

    I was looking forward to it but I thought the demo was utter pantaloons.

    Worth downloading to try it but don't expect much.

  • Razorus #28 2 years ago

    I'm not gonna judge the entire game on the demo; but it served a good enough example of what to expect. And I didn't like it. The jetpack control was not as smooth as I hoped but was probably the only good thing about it. Not as fiddly as Iron Man, but not much better. Graphics were poor, shooting was shoddy. Didn't expect much and I have better things to spend my money on.
    Like Mast Erect 2.

  • razzastuta #29 2 years ago

    Despite it being a demo this was not a brilliant advert for the game. The air combat felt exactly the same as Crimson Skies, it felt dated, the graphics were poor and the gun/cover combat was just downright awful and clunky. It might improve for release but the demo hardly made me feel like buying it.

  • dingo75 #30 2 years ago

    I pre-ordered it cheap from Zavi (22 EUR incl. shipping for the PC version).
    I expect it to be a fun little game and not the first AAA hit of 2010 but worth the superb price I paid.

  • thesonglessbird #31 2 years ago

    Demo was a huge pile of average. And it was too short.

  • thesonglessbird #32 2 years ago

    @octavedoctor:

    You're forgetting Giants: Citizen Kabuto. The jetpacks in that were ok and the game was brilliant!

  • chub #33 2 years ago

    @octavedoctor too:

    You're also forgetting Jetpac on the Speccy!

  • dudefella #34 2 years ago

    Review prediction: 6.

    Played the demo, very unimpressive. Flying feels more like any other arcadey flight game like Crimson Skies or Blazing Angels than using an actual jetpack. Also incredibly boring art design.

  • octavedoctor #35 2 years ago

    Omg... how did I forget Giants? Ahhh that was such a good game, humourous and manic.
    Ok you got me on the Jetman games also.....

    Now crazy as 3d Jetman Giants Tribes SanDreas 3 would be a game of PURE awesome.

  • darc #36 2 years ago

    Re: Giants - I still remember the first time I chucked myself off a cliff and hit the jetpacks as one of the great moments in video gaming.

    Man, did that game have a rough difficulty curve, though. Love it love it love it my god this is hard wait what just happened is this the same game... shelf.

  • sjmlondon #37 2 years ago

    Demo was very poor. The flying controls were lousy. I notice the game is already being sold at £29.99 on many site, £10 cheaper than most new releases. Has got Terminator Salvation / Bionic Commando crapness written all over it.

  • Nephirion #38 2 years ago

    Why do so many publishers fear ODST and MW2 both titles are good but not that amazing? both games are short and the multiplayer is pretty broken.

  • Geordiemp #39 2 years ago

    Capcom used to be expeced good quality, now they publish stuff by GRIM and stuff like this, are they turning into SEGA (80 % Cr#p).