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The Darkness is a Sony PlayStation 3 Action Shooter game, written by Starbreeze Studios, the creators of The Chronicles of Riddick. And the game story was written in collaboration with acclaimed comic-book author, Paul Jenkins. The Darkness is a first person shooter that came out around this time last year. It was based on the comic by Top Cow Publishing.
The story begins with the 21st birthday of Jackie Estacado. The Darkness is a mysterious force that begins to awaken within him. As you go through the first levels of the game is serves as somewhat of a tutorial. It is hard to tell, because you don’t always have control over him. In the beginning of the game there is a hilarious auto sequence where Jackie is broken out of jail by two heavily accented types who are driving an old convertible. They keep telling you to shoot, but because the target is just a tiny laser point you might miss it.
Weird visions and odd cut-scenes give you the feeling that this guy whose job just happens to be a mafia hit-man for the Franchetti crime family, is about to level up to some very strange evil. Jackie’s challenge is to learn how to maximize his use of his Darkness powers. He wants to be the big boss of the Franchetti family instead of his uncle Paulie, who eerily speaks to him from a distance through TV sets on construction sites.
There are two female characters in the original story line. However they are not playable characters in the game. They don’t have a very strong role or much attention in the game. His girlfriend Jenny Romano he has known his entire life and met her in the orphanage. His Aunt Sarah who becomes the “head” of the family isn’t given much thought either.
Releasing the Darkness is one line of defense, there is also the snake that can be sent out using his Demon Arm. There is a combination of FPS, and stealth killing. There is a Single Player story mode that fans of the comic will enjoy immersing in the story-line. A wide range of weapons and abilities such as handguns and sub-machine guns, shotguns and assault rifles. Additionally he can summon darklings each has their own special ability to exploit.
You can’t always get a darkling to go where you want it to or do what you want to. It’s annoying to try and figure out which way to go because you may die and be forced to start all over again.
The graphics aren’t very detailed or sharp. Much of the game is colored in shades of grays, browns, blues, and a lot of black and aren’t remarkable. Items aren’t easily accessed and there aren’t enough of them to be found to make it interesting. There aren’t any glints or anything motivating you to continue through the bland uninteresting environments. Features in the environments are indistinct like furniture or ammo and weapons. There isn’t a good animation for reloading and no loot. The game has a linear design. You have to get to the specific tasks so that it ends up the same.
There is some extra content such as different outfits and gear for darklings. Letters with phone numbers on them in the game can be dialed from a pay phone in the subway. It unlocks concept art, videos, and The Darkness comics. On the televisions scattered throughout the city you can change the channel to see Popeye, Flash Gordon, To Kill a Mockingbird, and others. There are a few extra missions like “retrieve my harmonica” and “kill those thugs.” The extras of The Darkness add enjoyment that fans and collectors want.
The multi-player mode of The Darkness include: Death-match, Team Deathmatch, Capture the flag, Survivor Games, Darkling, and Last human.
The game is interesting but does not stand out against other next gen games as anything special. Try renting it unless you are a The Darkness collector. Game play is average, and the targeting is a big problem. The Darkness gets a mildly devilish 6.66 out of 10.
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