- Publisher: Phantom EFX, Valcon Games
- Developer: 8monkey Labs
- Also On: PC
- ESRB Rating: “M” for Mature
- Genre: FPS
- Pros: Interesting concept; time travel done right
- Cons: Looks and sounds awful; bad gameplay; poor value
The story behind Darkest of Days is actually really interesting. It centers around an organization whose job is to maintain the time stream. They can tell when something isn’t happening the way it should, so they sent people back to make sure history takes the path it is supposed to. To do this, they use people considered MIA by the history books. A soldier whose transfer papers were lost so officially they weren’t even at the battle that day, or a firefighter who had the day off but went in to work to try and help anyway, just for a couple of examples.
Not everything goes the way it was planned, however, as another group of time travelers show up and start trying to intentionally mess up history. By the end of the game you are playing both sides off of each other and actually spend a fair bit of time fixing problems you yourself caused and even a few occasions where you’re essentially fighting against yourself. One nifty sequence has you dodging mortars in a zeppelin that another timeline version of you is firing. Mind blowing stuff.
Truth be told, the time travel is actually really well handled here. In any time travel story you can usually find big enough holes to fly a plane through, but they did a pretty good job here.
Gameplay
There are a few additional gameplay elements beyond just the standard shooting. First, there are special enemies throughout the game that are supposed to survive, which you can ensure by shooting them in the knee or tossing special items that knock them out. Kind of neat, actually. The other element is that you get to use modern weapons back in the Civil War or WWI or other important historical locations. Taking an assault rifle or riot shotgun back through time is awesome, but unfortunately you don’t get to use them all that often. Instead you are stuck with period weaponry, which, while fine and dandy, completely blows compared to the modern weapons and just aren’t fun to use in this game.
Graphics
Darkest of Days is a pretty awful looking game. Bad character models and ugly environments are all that really needs to be said. V-sync issues, pop in, and an unstable framerate certainly don’t help.
Sound
The sound is sort of a mixed bag. The voice acting is okay, but the music and sound effects aren’t anything special.
Bottom Line
