Darkman

"Experiments, Thugs and clowns??? That's Darkman!"

History behind the game - Darkman was originally released as a 1990 film starring a man who wants revenge on a group of thugs who beat him so badly, that he had to hide his face. The film was a mediocre attempt and was generally liked by the public.

The plot to the game - Dr Peyton Westlake was a brilliant Scientist who was working on a new synthetic skin idea for burns sufferers.

Taking old photographs of the victims of the burns, he was able to recreate their faces without the use of a computer!

Unfortunately the skin was photosensitive and could not last over ninety-nine minutes in light. An evil gang led by their leader ‘Durant’, broke into the lab looking for an important document. They killed peytons assistant, and attempting to leave no witness they blew up the lab with Peyton inside it…but he survived!!!

Horribly burnt he was given a new surgical technique which made him unable to feel any pain. Unfortunately the treatment had side effects. He had violent mood swings and adrenalin flowed through his body unchecked giving him great strength. Payton escaped from the hospital and became Darkman. Your job is to control Darkman, control his rag and gain revenge!!

Gameplay – Generally the gameplay is straight forward…with the first level being possibly the hardest opening level in any game. Although it may seem frustrating it can be mastered within a few attempts.

There is quite a lot of different modes as you make progress through the game. You can be swinging from helicopters one minute and be making your way through a fun house the next. Darkman for some reason is an underrated title, but as I was playing it I found that I was quite enjoying making my way through all the different types of tasks.

Audio/Video – The audio in this game is luckily for me is not to repetitive. Each level has a different tune playing in the background, and there must be over forty different sound effects for different actions in the game.

Replayability - Once you have finished Darkman once, you will want to go back and do it all again, simply because even though it has all been completed once it will still be a tough challenge the second time around.

To buy or too rent? – Buy definitely! Once you have completed Darkman you will be wanting to go back for more and more. For a NES Game this had great graphics and playability. Great fun!

Overall score – 8 out of 10

Final note – You might be asking why I enjoy this game so much?! I enjoy it so much because every level that you are playing you ask yourself, ‘I wonder if this will be the last level?’ As each level has very tough challenges to be completed. Also I like this game because I really felt like I had achieved something when I had completed it, as when I tried searching for a walkthrough on the internet I couldn’t find any. The thing that really motivated me was that one web site said, ‘This game is too hard; The first level is the hardest level ever!’ That made me determined to complete this game…and I did. Also I am not the greatest game player ever, so I proved that this game really is for everyone.

Next up will be a walkthrough for Darkman :) Thank you for reading.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/24/01, Updated 02/12/02