The Darkness

This review of an Xbox 360 game ain't what you were expectin'. However no one was expecting a good shooter based on New York gang tensions from the same studio in Sweden that brought us that one Xbox game that was better than the actual movie. Anyone remember The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay? This time, instead of being based on a movie, The Darkness is based on an old comic book, published by Marvel, of the same name.

Set in a fictional section of New York, the story takes place following the events surrounding a young contract killer named Tony Estacado. On his 21st birthday Tony is fulfilling a contract for the Frachetti crime family when something goes sour on the deal. Driving back home, Tony and company are trapped inside the downtown tunnel going 90 mph in the wrong direction. Needless to say they crash and Mikey, the driver, dies at the wreck site. Surviving unharmed, Tony proceeds with his contract to “whack” a construction site foreman when things go even worse. The mob boss, “Uncle” Paulie has already had someone kill the foreman, and when you get to the top well....there's a bit of a surprise waiting for you.
The entire game that follows is a whirlwind adventure following Jackie Estacado and The Darkness, which is a demonic possession that takes a hold of the first-born male member on his 21st birthday. Jackie, whose birthday could not have gone any worse, gets caught up in not only his family's cave-in but his own Darkness as well.

Perhaps a first in any first-person shooter is the notion of an open-world environment where, as the character, you can visit any available location in the game. Only if areas are blocked off or restricted for mission-specific purposes are you unable to go anywhere in the game. The fictional New York the game is set in feels very limited given the potential scope of that city and having only a couple blocks per street available seems very restrictive. However, due to cutting in and out to large-scale war scenes (won't go into too much detail for spoilers) and back again several times throughout the game gives it a larger sense of scale than it would if it did not.

The ability to travel between these areas in the game lends to scale, but more importantly, allows for more sensible back-tracking that's needed for the story to be told properly. Needless to say there is a bit of motivation as you attempt to take your former employer for setting you up on the construction site hit and as such you'll be running back and forth through these locations quite often. Luckily they are set up identically to real-life city streets so navigating them is a breeze if you remember which intersection goes where. Getting easily sidetracked by your own Darkness, the game is half gun-play and half learning how to use these darkness powers properly. It's hard to describe a game that really doesn't fit into any category established before. Sure it's a first-person shooter like anything else, but The Darkness powers allow for some interesting puzzle solving and there are also platform elements in the game.

As you progress with your plans to take down Uncle Paulie and the corrupt cop Eddie Shrote, you'll be cutting in and out of World War One, which is a narrow (almost corridor) sequence that takes place inside Jackie's mind or The Darkness, it's not clear, however these sequences bridge portions of the game and allow for some intricate story telling. Allowing Jackie to wake up places that he wasn't before, etc.

One thing that The Darkness really has going for it is the interesting use of The Darkness itself. The first power you acquire immediately after your 21st birthday occurs at the same time The Darkness manifests itself. This power, called “crawling dark” is a vine-like tentacle-with-a-head that Jackie can use for stealth killing or to (more commonly) crawling through air ducts or under gates to unlock a door on the other side or pick up a key. The power is also good for taking ammo out of dangerous locations that are still under fire. The “crawling dark” is Jackie's most stealth weapon and most useful more times than not.

The “demon arm” is the second power Jakie acquires shortly after visiting WWI for the first time. The demon arm is extremely helpful for putting out those pesky lights that you'd otherwise be shooting at without expending any ammo. But perhaps the most obvious use of the power is to move large obstacles out of the way or to fling them at enemies. Alternatively, simply tapping “RB” will impale the nearest enemy on the demon arm instantly killing them, but the range is very limited.

The Darkness guns are perhaps the most lack lust Darkness power to speak of, simply a pistol and what appears to be a handheld gauss rifle that simply use the Darkness energy as ammo. The black hole power is simply the most powerful (and some would call it cheap) power in the game. It consumes the entire supply of Darkness energy (which protects you from bullets so watch out when you use this power) and generates a black hole, pulling everything and anyone into it besides yourself killing them instantly upon touching the center of the black hole. Like I said, cheap but lethally effective.

These powers combined create a new challenge in a strategic sense, but then again add a depth to an otherwise average shooter. Throw in some amazing mafia-esque voice talent and that creates the perfect recipe for success. The Darkness powers combined with tense gun play and a great sound cast make The Darkness one of the best Xbox 360 games out this year.