Xbox 360 Review: Darkest of Days

Darkest of Days really opens our eyes to time travel. For instance, did you know that the space/time continuum is not affected by someone’s death if their paperwork is lost in transit? Who knew it was so easy? So, if you go back in time, kill a famous person, and burn their birth certificate, everything is taken care of.

Thanks for clearing that up Darkest of Days.

It would almost be too easy to go on about the awful time travel present in the game, but Darkest is not worth the effort. Shooting mechanics are loose, and guns mostly unsatisfying. As with previous games that have attempted to bring the Civil War into a digital age, waiting around while you stuff gun powder into a weapon is not exciting.

The game also uses two other wars during its story, because apparently no other aspect of history contains important people. World War 1 and World War II are slightly more energetic, although hampered by a confusing level design in which wide-open areas are completely off-limits. The map exists in game, so that means it is obscured by gas masks or heavily contrasted in bright lights.

Darkest of Days wants to be a large scale, epic shooter, but the engine cannot handle the task. Frame rate dips are common, and a disastrous zeppelin ride is made almost impossible by fog and draw-in.

Considering your character was near death as Custer’s last stand, he is awfully quiet considering he is sucked into an inter-dimensional, corporate computer controlled time warp. Oh, and handling a modern assault rifle? No problem.

Darkest of Days does deserve some credit, crafting an original concept around the tired FPS genre and sub-genre of war shooters. Variety is always appreciated, and each of the three wars are different enough to justify their inclusion. Add in modern weapons and you technically have a fourth style.

It is at this point though that it should be noted Darkest of Days does not have any company splash logos. The game boots to the title screen immediately. That is an appreciated change from modern software obsessed with pushing logos in your face, although you have to wonder if it happens for the right reasons. Most likely, no one wanted to take the blame for what happened here, and no on can blame them.