The eclipse has come, and so have the Dark Elves. The three characters in Dark Vengeance: Nanoc the Gladiator, Kite the Trickster, and Jetrel the Warlock; each have a vendetta against the Dark Elves. Sparing the details, the Dark Elves each did something to each of these characters that turned them into crazed killing machines. Each character has a different fighting style, and each ventures into a completely different exploration throughout the game. Wielding diverse and creative weapons, you begin your journey into the dark dungeons and castles to find your vengeance.
Armed and dangerous
The gameplay consists of running your character (in third-person view) through the beautifully rendered dungeon-style scenery and killing all kinds of evil creatures while finding keys and other assorted items to continue through the levels. The most enjoyable part of the game are the absolutely awesome weapons that are at your disposal. From Nanoc's phantom edge sword to Kite's acid brew, these weapons not only carry mesmerizing special effects, but kick butt with the bad guys as well. My personal favorite is Jetrel's vampire staff, which sends out a pair of flesh-eating bats that terrorize your enemies. While you start with some of the weaker and less-interesting weapons for each character, additional weapons can be obtained throughout the game. It's also no surprise that cheats, including obtaining every weapon, are easily reached through a menu right in the game.
However, Dark Vengeance seems to fall short in many other areas. The plot was not compelling enough to keep me interested. While it did "buck the trend" by using scripted in-engine cut scenes, the story told didn't keep me on my toes or push me to keep playing. Also in another attempt to stray from the norm, Dark Vengeance uses chording for most of the controls. For instance, a weapon is used by holding down Control while pressing a directional key. While this does give additional options for using a weapon, it can be a bit daunting for people when they first start playing. Another absolutely annoying aspect is the collision management. While trying to run by a barrel, the barrel will often stick to the character and be dragged along with you. The character can get stuck in walls or barrels, forcing you to maneuver around until you can free yourself. On the bright side, the developers are working on a patch that will hopefully fix many of these bugs.
The sights, the sounds
Dark Vengeance's scenery is spectacular. With outstanding lighting effects and especially realistic fire, the graphics certainly won't be distracting as you play. It will look best if you have a Voodoo or RAGE graphics accelerator, since Dark Vengeance supports the RAVE API. The characters are also well-detailed, and small details, such as arrows sticking through Nanoc's arm when he's shot by a dark elf archer, add a nice realistic touch to the game. The enemies are varied and unique, including a stained glass knight that forms out of the shattered glass. However, it's disappointing to see dead corpses disappear after you lay them down; it's much more satisfying when you can survey a room after a frenzied battle and see the destruction that you've caused.
The in-game music matches well with the gameplay, which adds a sinister feel to the experience. The sound effects are generally well done and are especially spectacular with the weapons. The developers put a major emphasis on having the best weapons around, and they succeeded. The bad part about Dark Vengeance's sound experience is the narration. It sounds utterly fake and really detracts from the immersion the game is attempting to create. It's obvious the person who did this narration had a good time with comments like "Who's thine daddy?", but to the player it's just a bothersome aspect.
Multiplayer mayhem
Dark Vengeance supports multiplayer games over a LAN or the Internet. There are both deathmatch style games, where you strictly aim to kill anyone else, and capture the flag games, where your team tries to capture the other team's flag. There are a handful of maps to choose from, but no map editor to extend the life of this experience. It is highly recommended that you play over a LAN or fast speed connection on the 'net, because otherwise you're likely to encounter other players instantaneously jumping out of sight due to networking issues. Hopefully, this will be fixed with the patch expected to be released soon.
Dark Vengeance has truly taken a different approach to the normal standards set by earlier games. It tries to make its own standard, but falls short in several areas on its delivery. The weapons and graphical effects are outstanding, but the narration is inadequate and distracting. The multiplayer game is extremely fun if you have the right connection, but you'll be tiring from it sooner than you might like due to the limited amount of maps available. If you decide to venture into Dark Vengeance, you're in for a great-looking game with some new twists in gameplay, but don't be surprised to find some quirks along the way.
