Darklight Conflict

"Darklight Conflict is a space combat simulator video game developed by Rage Software and published by Electronic Arts in 1997 for PCs running MS-DOS or versions of Microsoft Windows before Windows 2000, and the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation game consoles. In this game, you play the part of a contemporary human fighter pilot abducted by the alien Repton species during your aerial battle, and biologically modified to become a starfighter pilot for them in their war against the Evil Ovon race." The game is presented in a 512x display mode so you may want to aspect correct to 16:9 for TV aspect.

By the time this came out on the ps1, it would be competing with the likes of Wing commander 3,4 and Colony wars. This game does not hold up against them at all. The game engine seems quite basic by comparison which makes it quite fast and smooth but at the same time looks and plays like a game from 1994. The controls are digital only but the game responds in such a way that more than a light press and you can't acuratly control the craft. And in a game where you can die from a singal hit you need to to respond accuratly on demand.

There are 50 missions to play through. A lot of them are repeat missions and the first 10 are just training missions. Its a lot to get through and there are only a handful of ship models in the game. The game is hard. The levels are usualy quite short but they would be really annoying to play over and over if they were longer. It is really easy to die in the game. You can die from friendly fire and other stray shots and space debris. If you enter hyperspace to fast behind you wingmen, you will likely fly right into them when you come out at the other end. Sometimes the enemy will be waiting and firing the moment you emerge from hyperspace. you have to be ready all the time. Taking the enemy straight on is usualy a bad idea but you can do it if you have the shield active and using secondary weapon. Every time you get hit, you areknocked around so can take a momment to correct.

Defence missions are particuarly annoying and difficult as your base ships are fragile so allowing just a couple of shots from the enemy to get through is enough for a game over. The game is far more repetative than fun. The story is presented in text form between levels and doesnt really compare well to the other mentioned games that did this through fmv sequences. They key to survival in this game is a hit an run approach. ire your shots then boost out and line up for the next kill and repeat. You cant sit around with engines off as you will be killed almost instantly. Bombs can be tricky as if you fire after comming out of a turn, the inertia difference will send the projectile in a different direction.

00:02:21 Mission 01 Journey to the Kampuss
00:03:59 Mission 02 Gun Pod Training
00:05:32 Mission 03 Basic Combat Skills
00:10:14 Mission 04 Primary Weapon Training
00:12:54 Mission 05 Missile Training
00:16:01 Mission 06 Heavy Weapon Training
00:19:50 Mission 07 Advance Weapon Training
00:22:22 Mission 08 Tractor Training
00:24:17 Mission 09 Simulated Battle
00:27:02 Mission 10 Journey Back to War Drum
00:29:58 Mission 11 Route Forging
00:38:04 Mission 12 Defend The Drum
00:39:39 Mission 13 Power Mining
00:42:22 Mission 14 Defend The Boffins
00:44:49 Mission 15 Killer Comets
00:47:38 Mission 16 The Birth of Hyperspace
00:51:19 Mission 17 Robots in Space
00:54:52 Mission 18 Surprise Ovon Attack
00:56:48 Mission 19 Patrol
01:02:01 Mission 20 Farewell Iris I
01:05:01 Mission 21 Convoy
01:10:00 Mission 22 Hiding in Rocks
01:13:26 Mission 23 Space Pirates!
01:15:53 Mission 24 Hyperspace Missiles
01:19:34 Mission 25 Mining
01:23:51 Mission 26 Free Trading
01:30:47 Mission 27 Ship Yards in Space
01:34:44 Mission 28 The Ovon Gift
01:37:45 Mission 29 Human Reconnaissance
01:41:10 Mission 30 Farewell Iris II
01:44:44 Mission 31 Battle of the Motherships
01:46:25 Mission 32 The Edge of Darkness
01:52:52 Mission 33 The Alliance
01:57:10 Mission 34 Mining for Victory
02:02:17 Mission 35 Heaven's Crossroads
02:04:28 Mission 36 Ovon Power
02:09:34 Mission 37 Solar Winds
02:14:14 Mission 38 Race Meeting
02:19:45 Mission 39 Rescue The Commander
02:26:15 Mission 40 Farewell Iris III
02:30:30 Mission 41 The Outpost
02:35:14 Mission 42 The Big Guns
02:42:22 Mission 43 Trojan Horse
02:46:00 Mission 44 Long Range Threat
02:50:34 Mission 45 The NET
02:55:11 Mission 46 Bomb The Mothers
03:01:58 Mission 47 Excel
03:03:40 Mission 48 Darklight
03:09:25 Mission 49 The End?
03:18:47 Mission 50 The Escape Home