#Blackwind release date manual

There’s also a fair amount of pop up of scenery and visuals throughout Blackwind, and whilst some of this is more to do with the developers giving you the chance to see where you are going in and amongst the multiple trees and rocks, it just smacks of disappointment. But when you’re looking for switches, or levers, or something hidden away in the undergrowth, it’s not the best. There are ways round it of course, and we’ve found that constantly firing forward with weapons on the go is a sure-fire way of staying safe – particularly once you’re maxed out and a full-on killing machine. When these explode as you get near them, pushing you back and draining you of your much needed life force, you’ll find yourself constantly on the back foot – even more so when you get whacked by multiple explosions in a row, giving you no time to react. It’s aggravated more when enemies pop up into view enemies that you can’t see. A bit of widening of the camera would be massively appreciated. Blackwind is a big game, and many of the levels will allow you to explore, but when you can’t see more than a few feet in front of you, things turn sour. Not only does this confuse massively – going from side-on to near top-down in a second – but the combination of that and the tightly zoomed focus means that rarely do you ever get to discover any points of exploration. Not only does it focus far too closely on the main character, but it swings around at will, covering all manner of angles when you are running from point to point. In practice it’s an absolute mess of a system.

#Blackwind release date manual

Whilst those on-board enclosed areas like ships are well defined, with multiple paths that can be traversed thanks to the use of in-situ maps, when you head out into the wider world, things start to unravel.įor one, due to the twin-stick nature, there is no manual override of the camera, with it instead attempting to automatically point you in the right direction. It’s mostly focused on the navigation of the areas you and Jimmy find yourselves in. But there are some serious issues hiding behind all that goodness issues which mean the whole thing starts to fall apart. The twin-stick shooting works really well, the close quarters combat is smooth and solid and the takedowns are fun, if a little repetitive. Premise, set up and combat accounted for, Blackwind certainly has a lot going for it. There’s certainly a clear comparison between areas and when you throw in a fast travel system which tries to counter the need for retreading steps, the world of Blackwind is an interesting one to navigate. We particularly like the complete contrast in the areas that need navigating through though, from the tight corridors of spacebase internals to some wide open forests and the like. The main focus of the action is on the Battle Frame itself and this looks good, as do the numerous types of enemies that come your way – from the big to the small, each one is well detailed and complete with some serious armoury. Perhaps it won’t be winning any end of year awards or the like, but it’s all neat, tidy and detailed decently. Admittedly it occasionally feels like Blackwind has been warped in from times gone by, with invisible walls and a lack of pixel perfect platforming bringing it down slightly, but it still works okay and shouldn’t ever be seen as too much of an issue.īlackwind looks good too. This is when the puzzling action comes to the fore and whilst beating back enemies is the main focus throughout, there are some well worked puzzle and platforming sections which just about do the job. With its own weaponry and smaller skill trees available, bringing the drone into play is a brilliant little touch – none more so than when you and a friend team up to make the most of the mech and drone as a daring duo. Housed within the frame, when times call for it you can detach this and utilise its small size to skip through barriers, or to be used in conjunction with the mech itself, as one stands on pressure pads to allow the other through a maze. It’s the Battle Frame which is the main source of entertainment here, but it’s not long before you’ll unlock a little secret weapon – a drone. Throw in some other abilities that I won’t spoil and it’s safe to say that Blackwind does the business. Again, initially these are great, but once you’ve pulled off a few, the same repetitive chat and auto-played takedown moves do begin to see the charm drop off. Light and heavy attacks are commonplace, but so are the opportunities to drain your foes of life before going in for a termination takedown.

When they do get close though, Blackwind still excites with a more than competent close quarters melee system to hand.