Darkside - PC Game - Reflexive Arcade

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Reviews 1 to 3 of 7

Balthier's Review - December 27, 2007 - View all my reviews (14)

Review of: Demo Version

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What a blast!

I must admit that I never played Arklight, but I did play Scavenger (and loved it), both space themed games from the same creators of Darkside. If you're into space shooters, or even arcade/action games, you definitely need to try this one.

You control a ship, using the mouse or even the keyboard if you want to. I must say that using the keyboard is entirely optional. You can play the whole game using only the mouse, although I found myself better suited using the keyboard along with the mouse.

The game play itself is really simple and intuitive, you control the ship and shoot things, getting power-ups and earning score along the way. There's 3 game modes to play: Mission, Arcade and Survival. Mission mode consists of different objectives on each level, as the name implies; Arcade mode is the usual, but still addicting "shoot everything on you way to finish the level"; and at last there's the Survival mode, in which you must survive as long as you can with only 1 life.

The graphics in the game are outstanding. It's impressive to see this level of detail, with LOTS of explosions, running this smoothly.
I'm not very fond of shooters myself, but somehow this one got me addicted. Who knew that exploding rocks on space could be so fun!

With 3 different game modes, and 3 difficulty levels, I can see myself playing this game for a long time. You certainly need to check this one out. Two thumbs up!

This review has an average score of 3.8 - Based on 9 ratings
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Drift's Review - December 27, 2007 - View all my reviews (9)

Review of: Demo Version

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A good game, which may require getting used to

Ok, i was driven to write this after reading some of the other reviews which rate it badly due to the controls.

Now, in my opinion, if you can't handle the controls of a game, you shouldn't review it, simply because it most probably isn't aimed at you, and by reviewing it you give the demographic the game is aimed at the wrong idea.

This game uses the standard wsad + mouse setup that many shooters use. If you play any first person shooters, no doubt the most popular genre on PC, you will be instantly at home. If not, basic rundown is you aim with your mouse, and imagine WASD are the arrow keys used for your movment. Simple enough, but if your not used to these style of controls, it may take a bit of getting used to. Don't think the game is bad based on it's controls, if you've never used this style of controls, try to get used to it, as many action games work this same way.

Now, as for the actual gameplay, it's alot like an updated version of Asteroids. Instead of a flat plane though, your orbiting a small planet. It's typical action fare, lots of shooting and blowing up objects, with a healthy dose of power ups to keep everything interesting.

Now, in my opinion a game such as Crimson land is better, both games use the same controls, except crimson land your shooting at more challenging/intelligent creatures, vs alot of rocks and the odd enemy in this. That doesn't make this game bad however, it's one of the best Asteroids clones I've played, and looks very pretty to boot, so I'd definetly recomend you give it a try, just give the controls a chance if that ends up being your deciding factor. If you enjoy this, or even if you don't, give Crimson Land a shot, same controls, more variety, and less cluttered so may help ease you into the genre.

Enjoy :)

PS: honestly, giving a game one star in every criteria JUST because you don't like the controls? How does your dislike of controls negetivly effect the graphics and sound for example? *shakes head*

This review has an average score of 3.6 - Based on 12 ratings
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nvd2ceb4's Review - December 26, 2007 - View all my reviews (43)

Review of: Demo Version

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Little Too Complicated For Me

One word came to mind when I downloaded the trial version of Darkside...Complicated!!!

First of all, I have to say this isn't like the Ricochet series.

I'm not a patient person so having to keep control of my ship while hitting 'A' 'S' 'W' and 'D', and clicking the left mouse and the right mouse while trying to blow up asteroids is a little too much for me.

I'm in my 30's and although I like games that have that little zip, this game just have too much zing for me.

I only played about fifteen seconds only to realize that this won't get me enthused enough to play out the demo. If I was a bit younger and had the time a patience and coordination I would play out this game.

Sorry Reflexive but I'm going to have to give my thumbs down on this one. Teenagers will like it though.

This review has an average score of 1.7 - Based on 17 ratings
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