The Darkness

"Excellent campaign, but terrible multiplayer"

The Darkness is definitely worth playing if you enjoy good singleplayer, however, if you only play a game for multiplayer, then you best stay away from this one. The Darkness is a game that puts you in the shoes of mafia hitman, Jackie Estacado. On his 21st birthday, a demonic entity called, you guessed it, The Darkness, manifests itself inside him. This also happens to be the day his uncle decides to have him killed, sending almost all his men after Jackie. Mass epicness ensues.

Graphics - 9

Even though there are a few places where the graphics aren't as good as they could be, for the most part, this game has amazing graphics. Seeing the blood spill from your enemies as you perform an execution feels great. Although it does bother me how little the characters' mouths move while talking. Their faces, however, are incredibly detailed, and the environments look great.

Sound - 9

I have no complaints for this game's sound. All of the characters voices are incredibly well done. The gunshots sound realistic, and the unique sounds of the Darkness powers really bring you into the game. The ambience is excellent, also.

Gameplay - 9

The gameplay in this game is top-notch. As an FPS, this game has numerous weapons for you to toy around with. However, later in the game, even as you get better guns, such as 2 assault rifles and an automatic shotgun, you also gain additional Darkness powers. The Darkness is incredibly powerful, so much that you don't use the actual weapons nearly as much as you normally would. But it all works out int he end. You can also summon Darklings to kill enemies for you. However, as you play, you will certainly realize that the Darklings' AI is terrible. The Gunner will shoot into a wall in the direction of an enemy, as so on. You also walk slower than I would like, but everything else balances it out. Getting close to an enemy and pulling the trigger pulls off an execution, which simply eliminates your enemy in a more graphic and stylish way. Your Darkness powers include Creeping Dark, which sends out a snake-like creature to stealthily kill your enemies. There's Demon Arm, which sends out a tentacle you can use to impale bad guys, move objects, and take out lights so you can use the Darkness more openly. You will eventually gain the Darkness guns, which are dual-wileded guns, that act as a machine gun (right) and shotgun (left). Finally you obtain the almighty Black Hole, in my opinion, the greatest of them all, you send a black hole (duh) that absorbs anything in its way. The different types of Darklings include the Berserker (which uses melee weapons to kill), Gunner (uses a minigun) Kamikaze (which blows itself up in the midst of enemies) and Lightkiller (which uses electricity it take out sources of light). You can also obtain different costumes for the Berserker, changing its outfit as well as the weapon it kills with.

Story - 9

In the end, you ask yourself, "So how is the story?" The answer is, that they storyline is very good. You are out on a mission to kill your Uncle Paulie and his buddie Eddie Shrote. You talk to numerous people who are friendly with Jackie, including his girlfriend, Jenny. However (spoilers alert), soon into the game, Paulie kills Jenny, which only fuels Jackie's anger, and the Darkness's powers, even more. Twice in the game, Jackie will "die", only to be sent into the Otherworld (also known as Hell), which is actually inside the Darkness's mind, while it repairs Jackie's body. This is a very welcome difference from the normal streets and buildings you traverse though the rest of the game.

Overall - 9

This game is certainly worth playing for any 360 owner. I haven't playing online multiplayer, but I've heard from everyone who talks about it that it is terrible, so I would ignore that part of the game if I were you.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/25/07