The Darkness Review

The Darkness is a wild ride and that is exactly how the game starts out, in the back of a car being chased by the cops. Based on the Top Cow comic, you play as Jackie Estacado, a mafia hitman working for your Uncle Paulie. Too bad that Uncle Paulie’s idea of a 21st birthday present is ensuring you don’t live to see your 22nd. The Darkness saves Jackie’s life and these devilish serpent heads take their rightful place on either side of Jackie’s shoulders, aiding him on his path towards revenge.

This is a first person shooter but along with the typical weapons found in a shooter, the player also gets to control The Darkness on his journey. There are four different Darkness Powers to be obtained throughout the game. Staying in the dark is what gives The Darkness its powers; so constantly exterminating light sources is a crucial part of the game. The Darkness attempts to differentiate itself from other shooters in these regards and it succeeds, to a degree.

The first Darkness Power Jackie has control over is called Creeping Dark. Creeping Dark plants one of The Darkness heads on the ground and gives the player full control to take out thugs. Creeping Dark works great for stealth kills and can clear out areas for Jackie without him ever being in harms way. Creeping Dark can slither along walls and the ceiling, but it isn’t without its problems. Transitioning to a wall or ceiling is very disorientating and The Darkness head can sometimes become stuck which is frustrating. A tad bit better controls for Creeping Dark would have made it much more fun.

The Demon Arm is a razor sharp appendage that is quite useful. Demon Arm can skewer enemies much like Bishop’s demise in Aliens. Enemies can be flung with the Demon Arm, as it is capable of lifting large objects that would be impossible for a normal human. Object moving is only used in a handful of puzzles and players will quickly learn that its most useful skill is smashing out light sources. This is quicker than manually aiming weapons at each light bulb in the game and saves on ammo too.

Darkness Guns are worthless. They drain the player’s Darkness Power rapidly and are no more efficient than the regular handguns. I don't even want to waste space talking about them.

A bit past halfway through the game, Black Hole is introduced. This creates a sort of gravity bomb that draws enemies and objects into its crushing force. This move looks great but it is almost too effective as no enemy has a chance when caught by it. Much of the rest of the game is a breeze just for the fact that Black Hole is so powerful.

The most used, and creepiest ability that The Darkness manifests, is consuming the hearts of killed enemies. By pressing “A” next to a dead body, the right head of The Darkness plunges into the lifeless chest and rips out the heart, gnawing on it and ultimately swallowing the prized possession. What is the point of this you may ask? To level up your Darkness Power of course! This move is way cool but can get repetitive after doing it 300 times. Still, I have never seen this in a game before and it gets my seal of approval.

The last element under Jackie’s disposal is the power to summon Darklings. These sadistic little demons come in four varieties such as the Berserker, Gunner, Kamikaze, and Lightkiller. The Darkling AI is not very refined and I found the Darklings to be more useful in distracting enemies than working beside you.

I applaud Starbreeze for attempting something new in the shooter genre but it feels as though The Darkness cannot decide if it is an adventure game with supernatural powers or a hardcore shooter. After gaining the first two Darkness Powers the player hardly needs to even use his weapons. The same can be said the other way where the player can just go through the entire game using his guns only. While the option for players to decide on how to handle situations is always welcomed, the balance between the two could have been more complementary.

The weapon variety is limited and the dual pistols, which are the first weapons in Jackie’s possession, are the most effective throughout all five chapters. There was nothing cool or interesting about the weapon types and they did not add to the gameplay. Handguns were the most accurate and fastest choice, and seemed to deal close to the same amount of damage as the assault rifle. Plus dual-wielding handguns when next to enemies allows for some super hardcore executions. There is nothing like shooting someone in the gut and then sticking the barrel of the other gun in their mouth and pulling the trigger.

Speaking of, The Darkness is definitely not for kids. Not only are the executions brutal and watching hearts get devoured over 300 times a bit excessive, but also some of the cutscenes were making my jaw drop. The freaked out audio and ambiance of the game combined with the mature subject matter creates some intense moments in The Darkness that may be difficult for some to stomach.

The graphics in The Darkness are, well, dark. The game takes place in two areas, NYC and a nightmarish Otherworld where WWI has never ended. NYC is oozing with the gritty night feel of being in a big city after hours. Between the action Jackie travels the subway, which is his main method of getting to the different areas of the city, and it is captured perfectly. The demonic WWI Otherworld is a visual treat as well. Great art design makes traveling here a nice change of scenery, although it can be confusing at times as to where you are on the expansive battlefields. Non-player character animations are stiff and the characters wave their hands around like idiots while talking.

The audio in The Darkness is superb. SFX are great and the soundtrack is nice, but most of all the excellent voice acting lends to making the environment feel alive and engages the story. Mike Patton, lead singer of Faith No More, lends his vocal talents to become the voice of The Darkness. Without this unforgettable voice, The Darkness would not have been the seething entity that it comes across as. The music is intense during battle and there is a cool somber theme that plays between levels.

The Darkness multiplayer is a joke. This game was meant for the single player experience and should have been left at that. Players can either be mobsters or Darklings in eight player matches. The Darklings are faster while mobsters are stronger. A small amount of crummy maps and only four game types don’t help either.

The Darkness was a game I had been anticipating, as it could have been awesome or really bad. In the end it came out as neither. The tweaks attempted to freshen up gameplay was appreciated but did not quite work. There was some major downtime in the subway sections between levels and the side missions were basic find and kill jobs that increased game time but did not add to the experience. The story was the real drive for me to want and finish The Darkness, but even that left a slew of unanswered questions. During the slow summer months The Darkness is worth checking out, just don’t expect it to eat your heart out.