Review: "The Darkness" for Xbox 360

Wow...has it really been almost a month since I've last posted here? I don't know where the time goes but I swear I'll try and update this thing more regularly from now on - I promise. (Are his fingers crossed? We may never know)

But now, onto the real reason for today's blog:

These days in videogames, the First Person Shooting (FPS) genre (games like Halo and Call of Duty if you aren't familiar with the term) has become synonymous with trite and downright boring games that rely on nothing more than twitch reflexes and an itchy trigger finger. Due to this fact, it is so refreshing to see a game take the old tried and true FPS formula and infuse it with an intriguing original storyline as well as including new game mechanics that actually feel like they have expanded the gameplay instead of just being a tacked on afterthought. The game, to which I am referring, is one of the latest releases on the Xbox 360, "The Darkness."

The Darkness follows the life of Jackie Estacado, your run of the mill mobster hitman who also happens to have a dark secret dwelling within his soul. You see, when Jackie was very young, both of his parents were killed and Jackie was sent to live in an orphanage. While at the orphanage, Jackie meets Jenny Romano and the two are virtually inseparable. Later on in life, they also become romantically involved. But unfortunately for Jackie, he's taken out of the orphanage and sent to live with his Uncle Paulie Franchetti. Now, normally being taken out of an orphanage and sent to live with family would've been a happy occasion...but not for Jackie because you see, Paulie isn't the normal loving uncle that wants only the best for Jackie. No, instead Paulie is a vicious, insane mob boss who quickly turns young Jackie into one of his best hitmen. But Paulie isn't the most popular guy within the crime families of New York, not only because of his brutally insane methods, but also because he doesn't respect the old ways of doing business or the older members of the mob families and his biggest opponent is usually Jackie Estacado. Since Paulie obviously doesn't like people questioning his authority or the way he conducts business, Jackie is routinely getting on his nerves about the way things are run until one day, Paulie snaps. On Jackie's 21st birthday, Paulie sends him out to perform a hit but little does Jackie know, the hit is little more than a set up for Paulie to try and take Jackie out. It isn't long after Paulie's attempt on Jackie's life that a dark and mysterious being that has dwelled within Jackie since birth begins to manifest itself to, at first, seemingly only want to help Jackie take revenge on his uncle Paulie and Paulie's lapdog in the NYPD, Eddie Shrote.

From here the story appears on the surface to be the cliched "guy with a bone to pick with his former friends sets out for bloody revenge" but looking past the surface story is a quite intriguing story about the nature of the Darkness, the being within Jackie, and how Jackie came to embody this strange entity. Not wanting to give too much of the more interesting storyline away, I'll say only this - even though The Darkness seems to only want to help Jackie at first, it is more of a curse than Jackie could've ever imagined.

But beyond the semi-cliche story, the actual game is pretty spectacular all around. Pretty much everything about this game is top notch, even if it is a little on the short side and it isn't too difficult for the most part.

The graphics and lighting in this game are just amazing. First, since the Darkness can only manifest its power in the...well...in the darkness, the lighting effects from all sorts of sources such as light bulbs, street lights, fires and even some natural light are all as much of an enemy as any two bit mobster with a gun that Jackie may face. Thanks to the power of the 360, the differences between light and dark are drastic and light and shadow are used very well not only as a stylish effect but as an important part of playing the game. But beyond the lighting, the character models, weapons, and environments all are ridiculously detailed. Even filler characters are modeled and voiced very well. But perhaps the best use of the amazing graphics found in The Darkness is the game's penchant for over the top violence.

While it may seem that being a hitman for the mafia would be a brutal enough profession for Jackie, the addition of his Darkness powers pushes the violence of this game to a new level. On his own, Jackie has the ability to use all manner of ballistic weapons such as dual wielding pistols, assault rifles and even the fictional Jackhammer riot shotgun - though the amount of different guns available to Jackie is quite small. But Jackie can also perform amazingly violent execution moves with any weapon which require Jackie to get up close and personal with his prey. But guns are only half of Jackie's arsenal, as the Darkness comes with some very useful skills and attacks which are vital for Jackie's survival. Over the course of the game, Jackie will acquire 4 different, distinct Darkness powers - the creeping dark, the demon arm, the darkness guns and the black hole. First, the creeping dark is useful to scout out territory ahead of Jackie but the creeping dark also doubles as a weapon since it is able to both kill enemies and then devour their heart (eating the heart of fallen enemies will improve your darkness powers). Second, the demon arm can impale enemies but it can also remove obstacles from your path and can be used to easily and silent destroy any lights in your path (while your Darkness powers are active, you can see better in the darkness than in a well lit area). Third, the darkness guns are an interesting addition to your powers since they run off Darkness energy but are, in my opinion, the lamest darkness power. Lastly, the black hole creates a huge rift of dark energy which can be used to suck up and kill large groups of enemies but can also be used to destroy helicopters as well as airplanes. Thankfully, these darkness powers actually are very useful and practically necessary to complete the game. Without them, theres no way our anti-hero Jackie would be able to tear through half of the city's police force and all of Paulie's nameless henchmen to fulfill his tale of murderous revenge.

But these powers are not the only thing that the Darkness gives to Jackie in the way of means to take revenge on his uncle. The Darkness also gives Jackie the option of choosing from (after you unlock them during the course of the game) four different Darklings that all come with different abilities. The Darklings are usually just used for cannon fodder but their ability to act as bullet sponges can be very useful in many situations. There are four different Darkling types, each with their own special ability. The berserker is a melee combat type but this type is interesting because around the environments, Jackie can find 6 special hidden outfits for the berserkers which give them different weapons ranging from a sword to a machete to a jackhammer. The next is the gunner which, as the name implies, totes around a huge gattling gun. The kamikaze acts, again, much as the name implies and has dynamite strapped to him which he in turn uses to blow up anything in his path, which is useful not only for enemies but obstacles as well. The last, and perhaps most useful darkling, is the lightkiller. The lightkiller carries around a battery pack on his back which he uses to destroy any lights in the area so that Jackie can concentrate on taking out enemies. But the lightkiller can also act as a berserker type and help Jackie once his primary job is complete. Though the darklings sound like an indispensable help to Jackie, the AI of these darklings is actually pretty stupid and more often than not they'll stand around until they get shot up by enemies if not ordered by Jackie to attack someone.

Speaking of the AI, the enemy AI can be pretty flaky at times, too. Though enemies sometimes work like a coordinated team to try and stop Jackie, there will be other times when it seems like they're just letting you shoot them in the face. Case in point, one time during the game I was doing battle with some SWAT guys and I was using my creeping dark to silently take out foes with minimal confrontation. After I was sufficiently happy with the amount of guys I had killed, I recalled the dark and when I retook control of Jackie, I saw a SWAT member standing directly in front of me, with his back turned. I was so surprised by this I took advantage of the rare back execution before he could turn around and see what he had somehow missed when he ran right to where I was crouching, stopped and turned around.

Overall though, The Darkness was definitely a great game, if a bit short. There are side missions that you can get from the various characters throughout the game since it's set up as one flowing story rather than divided into missions. But The Darkness is a very fun game, if you like ultra-violent stories about revenge, mobsters and what appears to be demons from hell. Ultimately I'd say rent it first since the single player is a bit short and since m Xbox Live account is still out of commission, I had no way to test out the multiplayer.