Darkest Of Days Review: Going Back In Time

Time traveling isn’t a new concept in video games, nor is it for the first-person shooter genre. Despite that fact, it certainly isn’t a well explored area, and on paper it might sound like a great experience. With a flood of games always sticking to World War II, Space Marines, or the Army formulas, it’s a refreshing change to see a shooter like “Darkest of Days” that explores trench warfare and the Civil War in the same game. However, being unique doesn’t necessary mean it is a good game, so, does “Darkest of Days” manage to be an enjoyable game an execute the time traveling concept well?

The game starts you off by throwing you into the Battle of Little Bighorn. Without much of an introduction, you’re told to meet with General Custer, and, much like real history, the Indians overrun Custer and his men. Just as you’re about to die, a mysterious figure approaches you and literally takes you away from history. As you wake up from a near-death situation, KronoteK, the company behind the mysterious figure, explains their time traveling purpose and that you’re a new recruit to help solve some of their problems, the biggest of which is the absence of their chief scientist Dr. Koell. Not only will you need to find him, but you’ll also be fixing the timeline “errors” being made throughout some of the biggest battles in history.

While the concept is unique, that’s all the game has to offer. From the first few minutes of game play, you’ll immediately realize that “Darkest of Days” doesn’t feel entirely finished. The interface is very lackluster, the frame rate is inconsistent, the A.I. is non-existent, and the typo-filled subtitles can’t even keep up with the speech. For a game given nearly a full price tag, it has to be judged like any other game, even if it is from a budget developer and publisher.

Despite the the fact that the game claims to take place in all sorts of different time periods, the level design would suggest otherwise. Almost every level in this game is based in a forested region, although sometimes you’ll be fighting on farmland as well. This design doesn’t necessary feel like you’re traveling through time, as all you’re really doing is going through one forested area to another, only instead of facing a German, this level you’re going up against the Union.

“Darkest of Days” tries to make you relive those chaotic battles, pitting you with dozens of allies against dozens of enemies. However within closer examination you’ll see that things that will break the immersive experience. Occasionally the A.I. will be aiming in the wrong direction, shooting each other at point blank and missing. Other times, enemy soldiers will go running past you without even noticing that you’re there. To make matters worse, due to the brown coloring of nearly the entire game, it’s sometimes hard to tell the difference between who’s an ally and who’s the enemy.

Writing isn’t often criticized in video games, since video game writing usually tends to be at the bottom of the literature scale, hanging out with comics, but this time it need to be pointed out. For starters, your character is a mute that doesn’t even seem to question what is going on whatsoever. Even though you were literally ripped from 1876, and put into some empty room hundreds of years in the future, he seems to perfectly content with what is going on. The other problem is that KronoteK claims to be doing things to preserve history, yet they don’t mind loading you up with futuristic weapons so you can go back and screw around on the battlefield. Two perfect examples of this are using laser guided grenade launchers in World War I against the Germans, and using an assault rifle in the Battle of Antietam to even up the odds. What’s worse is that even though KronoteK gives you these weapons, future missions force you to do the reverse and “clean up” the area to remove these types of weapons. The writing, to the say is least, is incredibly flawed.

However, the weakest portion of “Darkest of Days” is the graphics. While it is completely unrealistic for a budget game to look as good as epic giants like “Gears of War” or “Uncharted,” it isn’t unrealistic to assume the game should be running smoothly. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case here, as the frame rate is often horrendous, especially when you go into big battles. To make matters worse, the graphics are mainly recycled using the same forested areas textures throughout the entire game.

To say the least, the only interesting aspect of “Darkest of Days” is the concept. Not many games allow you to live in the days of awful trench warfare of World War I, or get into the front seat of the Civil War. However, concept isn’t what makes the game, but rather the mechanics, AI, writing, graphics, and performance are, and unfortunately for “Darkest of Days,” it fails all fronts and is not recommended, even for the most die hard shooter fans.

Rating:

 
“Darkest of Days” was developed by 8Monkey Labs, and published by Phantom EFX, for the Xbox 360 and PC on September 10, 2009. This review is based on the Xbox 360 version.

Related Posts:

• January 26, 2010 -- Blood Bowl Review: The Football Video Game Based On A Board Game
• September 25, 2009 -- Section 8 Review: Bringing The Big Guns
• June 19, 2009 -- Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures Ep. 3: Muzzled Review: Who Let The Dogs Out?
• November 13, 2008 -- Fallout 3 Review: Boom Goes The Nuclear Blast
• August 30, 2010 -- Mafia II Review: Old School Gangstas