THE DARKNESS
Published by:
2K Games
Developed by:
Starbreeze AB
XBOX 360 & PlayStation 3
INTRODUCTION:
Meet Jackie Estacado, a young man who is turning 21. Jackie
is a hitman in the mob, working for his “Uncle” Paulie, who took him in as a
young man. Well, before you know it, Paulie’s men try to kill Jackie, and he’s
out for revenge. Oh yeah- did I mention that along the way Jackie somehow
becomes possessed by “The Darkness”, a mystical force that endows him with two
beast-like symbiotes which allow him to devour the very souls of his enemies?
This revenge plot is going to get messy.
GAMEPLAY:
Based on a graphic novel of the same name, I’ve been dying
for The Darkness to come out for quite some time now, and let me tell you first
off, it does not disappoint. The game begins with a car ride with Jackie and two
fellow mob men, and I will just say that the game begins as it ends, rather
violently. Not long after a bit of the story is told to bring you up to speed,
you’ll find yourself running around with your pistols drawn, blasting madly at
the men who used to be your colleagues. As the game begins, you may find
yourself getting a bit frustrated because you don’t have your powers yet and
you’re really very mortal- you die quickly.
But as the game progresses, you’ll be endowed with The
Darkness, which will give you a ridiculously unfair advantage against the men
who wronged you, and you’ll enjoy carving them up. Your powers develop as the
game progresses, and they’re all pretty darn cool. And get this- the powers
develop when you eat the hearts of your fallen enemies. Yeah, that’s right; I
said you eat their friggin’ hearts. How cool is that? One of the best features
of The Darkness is the Darklings, little creatures which you can summon to do
your bidding- some are berserkers who go all out, some carry chainguns, and each
has a particular purpose and serves it well. The Darklings are also hilarious
little creatures, raunchy little gremlins that’ll keep you laughing through
plenty of dark humor as you mow through the enemy.
Other attacks? How about portable black holes that allow you
to suck your foes into oblivion? You can use your minions to perform stealth
attacks from far away, which is very helpful as well. Unfortunately, as cool as
these powers are, they aren’t perfect. The Darkness guns are really awful and
hardly do any damage, and sometimes the Darklings don’t always serve their
purpose; their AI can be bad and they can sometimes attack you or simply blast
away at nearby walls instead of shooting throngs of enemies. So things aren’t
perfect, but these are minor hiccups.
Here’s the big kicker: The Darkness relies solely on the
battle between dark and light (does that shock you?). Developed by the same team
who brought you the awesome Chronicles of Riddick XBOX game, it should come as
no surprise that this game relies heavily on your creativity in using The
Darkness to power the um… Darkness. Your Darklings and Darkness powers simply
can’t survive for any length of time in the light. It’s up to you to run into
rooms and blast out all of the light sources so that you can function at your
maximum ability. Does this get tedious after awhile? Yes, but not to the point
of boredom.
Another really cool note about the gameplay is that there are
times when you are transported to a post-apocalyptic World War 1 type world
where you must face hordes of freshly dead zombie type soldiers. I won’t give
away why, but it makes sense and is so different from the rest of the game and
so interesting, I felt it was very much worth noting.
Take notice in the little things that Starbreeze has done
with this game. It is tremendously involving and at times, heart wrenching. The
story is very well written, and the small details make it work. If you like, you
can sit in an apartment with your girlfriend and watch various TV channels with
fully functional (and from what I can tell) full-length films and TV episodes.
That’s not an outstanding gameplay feature, but it is outstanding attention to
detail, and something that is absolutely impressive. Way to go the extra mile!
Gameplay: 8/10
GRAPHICS:
I personally thought that the graphics in The Darkness were
damn near top notch. The characters are not photorealistic, but still have a
really neat look to them. Textures are deep and rich, and there’s a lot of
awesome effects, especially when dealing with The Darkness powers themselves.
Looking in the mirror is always fun too, getting to see yourself all decked out.
The game is crisp, clean and sharp, even the shadows look great.
Graphics: 8.5/10
AUDIO:
The music tends to often fall in the generic “hard rock while
you kill stuff” category and I thought this was one of the weakest parts of the
game. It sounds fine, but again, so run of the mill.
A fine counterbalance to this though is the incredible voice
acting. Kudos to the voice cast in this one, so often a poor voice track can
ruin a game, but The Darkness is well represented and augmented by these folks
and their fine hard work. Bully!
Audio: 8/10
FINAL VERDICT:
I’ve been waiting for The Darkness since I bought my 360, and
it did not disappoint. It is a bit on the short side and sometimes the AI isn’t
perfect, but this is small potatoes. This game is an atmospheric, tense one,
drenched in badass with a side of “that was f’n awesome.” If you dig brutal,
dark First person shooters with an awesome story, you need to envelop yourself
in The Darkness ASAP.
FINAL SCORE: 8.5/10