Review by: Shawn Quigley
Published: June 2, 1997

Every now and then we gaze up into the sky to wonder what might be out there. If we could only see farther into space, we might find a battle that is raging between two alien races, the Ovon and Reptons. Until now, the Ovon race was winning the war. But that is changing because of the Reptons’ new tactics, those tactics focus on recruiting beings from other planets, planets like ours! Darklight Conflict is loosely based on an alien abduction theme where the primary character is a former earthling (a fighter pilot) who has been genetically restructured into an alien.

Apart from a brief introduction, you begin Darklight Conflict as a fighter pilot in the Repton Army fighting the Ovon. The game’s main focus is a space combat simulator, pampered around a sci-fi theme that weaves in and out of the game to give you hints of what is happening around you. You begin the game by having to accomplish a series of training missions that prepare you for the 50 or so missions that make up the game.

After completing the training missions, you start the campaign and follow missions similar to the way you do in other space games. As you complete certain mission objectives, you move onto the next one, much like following a story line. You move from objective to objective by using a hyperspace jump – one of the cool effects within the game. The missions vary around different objectives ranging from attacking Ovon ships to patrolling around your home base.

After loading up Darklight Conflict, you are treated with beautiful graphics that do not require any hardware acceleration. The world around you is depicted rather well and definitely gives you a feeling of being in space. All objects are represented in 3D and look very realistic. There is also some impressive light sourcing that adds to the overall look of the game. You have to play the game to believe the resolutions and detail that this game represents.

The layout of the screen (your ship) is rather clean with all the pertinent information at a quick glance. There is a unique targeting system that uses arrows and a line directing you to your next target. There are also arrows that point you to your jump points and ultimately back to you home base. There is also a meter for your throttle and an energy meter. During gameplay, the energy meter becomes very important because using certain items drain your energy. There is a hitch, however. When you use energy, you do not generate it back – it’s gone. So, for example, if you like to use your shields by keeping them on during dogfights, your energy will quickly dissipate – leaving you open to enemy fire!

Combat within the game happens at a fast past, even though you can slow it down in some circumstances. You can maneuver your ship by using a mouse or a joystick. The feel of flying is done very well, with the action being very similar to something like X-Wing from LucasArts.

Darklight Conflict also ships with 2 CD-ROMS in the box to allow you and a friend to play a multiplayer game. The only problem with this is that it is a meager attempt at playing multiplayer. You are limited to what actually happens around you and it ends up being a simple dogfight seeing who can win. The other problem is that the arena is like playing in an empty stadium. There isn’t much out there to use as decoys or space terrain to fight around in (your are in space after all!)