Dark Angel (video game)

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For the 2001 fantasy video game, see Dark Angel: Vampire Apocalypse.

Dark Angel is a video game based on the television series Dark Angel (2000-2002). Developed by Radical Entertainment, the production was scaled back considerably following the cancellation of the show, and the game was met with both a critical and commercial scalding upon its release in 2002.

Most of the blame for the critical scalding lies with the gameplay. After a fairly extensive tutorial level, the player is thrust into a series of levels that revolve around Max beating up an endless array of villains. Said villains are generally representative of either policemen or Manticore operatives, and it is testament to the game's overall poor design that one is never quite sure which is which. Until the element of exposure is introduced, the game devolves into a string of violent confrontations that revolve around button-mashing techniques. The majority of enemies are easily dispatched with repetitive X-X-Y or variant combinations.

About three or four levels into the game, the programmers attempt to introduce a stealth element, where Max must dispatch all visible enemies within a certain time period or suffer automatic capture. This results in repetitive levels where the player is often forced to repeat sections when an enemy disappears into an inobvious element of the level and thus cannot be found within the specified time limit. With in the Game you must be able to find her family in a certain amount of time.