The Darkness

"Quick, look busy, “The Darkness” is coming!"

“The Darkness” tells the tale of a man involved in the New York based Italian Mafia whom, on his birthday, gets a gift that he will never forget. His body is suddenly overwhelmed by mysterious and dark powers that seem to be watching and controlling his every move, soon events take a turn towards the dark side itself, and Jackie must find out what is happening to him, that's where you come in.

You play as Jackie in his search for the truth, as you progress through the game you have access to the awesome powers that “The Darkness” has to offer, this includes summoning creatures to help you in combat, using your lethal demon arm to throw enemies and objects into the air or even warping your foes into a deadly black hole. These are just some of the benefits that the devil within you has to offer. All of your powers need fuel to be used, this literally comes in the form of darkness, as you stand in the shadows, the serpents on your back absorb the darkness so that you can use your powers, stand in the light and your powers are limited, so getting rid of light sources is essential. You spend most of the game trekking around New York seeking people out and hunting things down for your gangster contacts, as the plot develops you're transported to the “Otherworld” where World War 1 rages on for all eternity, but I won't spoilt the details!

The game's battle system is awesome, you can run in guns blazing if you want to but that will just make things difficult, instead it's always easier and more efficient to take advantage of your new found powers. Why not send in “Creeping Dark” to check out the area and land some stealth kills? Or fire in a black hole to take some of them out? You always have a tiny bit of auto-aim so things are never really too difficult. Whenever you take down an enemy you can “Devour” his heart with your demon heads, this in turn eventually unlocks you more new powers to play with. Good times!

The visuals in this game are very impressive; it helps it stand out in the rather tiring FPS genre. It is notably dark are grim, with some very well used humour dotted around the place, particularly in the subway which sort of serves as your safe house. You pick up many side quests here and there are loads of people to talk to. The character models are amazing and they're the best that I have seen since “Gears of War”, the flashy visuals are really put on show when you are in combat because the powers of the darkness look great. Even your standard guns have a distinct look of realism to them. The environments are all very similar, the districts of New York are all very repetitive but they do look good at least. The city feels very dead, I know that this isn't a true free-roaming game, but a few more NPC's around the place would not have done any harm. The “otherworld” looks far more interesting and the graphics really shine. You will visit the war torn trenches as well as a cool little village where the British soldiers are based. The enemies in both worlds are very much the same all the way through the game, with mafia men in New York and faceless German soldiers in the “otherworld”.

The game uses sound well; the voice acting is very credible, with some very effective New York accents embracing many of the memorable characters. The only problem here is that the characters lips don't really match what they are saying ,but that's the only downer. Music is used in all the right places and it only adds to the epic feel of the game.

“The Darkness” lasts around 8-12 hours if you do mainly the main story, but around 15 hours if you take on some of the side missions. It's a very short affair but you will feel like you have seen quite a bit. I really do wish it was longer though, after spending £39.99 on it, I would have expected a bit more. “What about the multi-player?” I hear you ask, well to be honest, it might as well not exist. The lag is so bad that it basically makes the thing unplayable, which utterly sucks because it looks like it could be fun, with the standard team games and capture the flag, but it's no rival to the already established multi-player games like Gears' and ‘Vegas. Another blow is that a good third of the achievements are based on the multi-player, many of them requiring more than what you are willing to endure.

Summary
“The Darkness” is a very entertaining game with top notch visuals and game play. It brings some fresh air to the FPS genre and the powers that you are able to wield are brilliant fun. However, it all ends before it's really kicked off, just when you're really getting into it, it ends, leaving you craving more. Sure you can replay for achievements, but a longer campaign would not go amiss. It needs a few more large scale events and fights, you have the powers of a God yet half of the people you fight don't seem to notice, and you normally fight only about six people at a time, so you can't really go wild with your powers. The story is very pleasing and it's one of the factors that make it so much fun, it feels very epic and it should keep you entertained. Overall, I recommend this game to anyone who is looking for a more inventive game for their 360, just be warned that it's short and you might feel a bit annoyed when you finish the whole game in a couple of days of casual play. Perhaps borrow a copy or wait for a price drop. Thanks for hearing my views, I hope it helps you come to a decision!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/09/07