Dark Void

With a 1930s setting and the promise of jetpack-based action, Dark Void seems to be the natural evolution of old, Saturday-cinema adventure serials such as Flash Gordon.

The ‘Void’ in the title refers to a parallel dimension on which your character stumbles. It’s also home to other unfortunates including an evil alien race called the Watchers.

The initial on-foot jungle exploration and combat starts off encouragingly. The game’s cover system, which allows you to hide behind boulders, pillars and so on, is familiar from other games, but Dark Void adds a vertical element as well.

This means that in certain sections of the game you will be required to duck and shoot up or down instead of straight ahead. However, since the viewpoint switches in these situations, it feels no different to shooting forwards normally.

The game soon becomes repetitive and it is not until several hours into proceedings that you finally get to try the game's main attraction, the jet pack. Aerial combat is a lot more fun than fighting on the ground, but it’s not worth slugging through the tedious early sections for.

Meanwhile, the storyline never gets going and is best described as a cross between Halo and King of the Rocket Men. What little plot and characterisation there is feels stretched and flimsy.

Overall, there is little incentive to plod through the single-player campaign. And since there is no multiplayer mode either, our advice is to avoid Dark Void.