It’s young Mafia hitman Jackie Estacado’s 21st birthday. But where as most prime 21 year olds spend their birthday night consuming unhealthy amounts of booze, Jackie has other plans: to slay his cold-blooded “uncle”, mafia don Paulie Franchetti. After a disagreement amongst the family, Paulie puts a hit on Jackie and demands that someone deliver the gift of a bullet to the head to the birthday boy. But Jackie isn’t going down that easy, especially with the manifestation of evil known as “The Darkness” hovering over his back. With no knowledge as to why a demonic voice begins encouraging him to maim and slaughter everyone in his path, Jackie uses his newfound powers to eliminate all of Paulie’s hitmen while trying to discover the origin of “The Darkness.”
After treating Xbox owners with The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay - one of the most underrated gaming experiences of last generation - Starbreeze Studios releases a new pulse-pounding shooter on Xbox 360 (and PS3) in the form of The Darkness. Based on the Top Cow comic of the same name, The Darkness puts you in control of Jackie Estacado as he blasts and tears his way through hordes of mob goons in search of his sleazy, back-stabbing “Uncle” Paulie Franchetti. But an Arnold Schwarzengger-like arsenal of firepower isn’t going to get you far in the hostile New York City streets. You’ll need the fiery tentacles of “The Darkness” to prevent you from joining the long list of John Doe’s that end up in the NYC gutters.
“The Darkness” can do a lot more than just puncture victims with its slimy tentacle. The “Maw” tentacle can stealthily navigate air vents and areas that Jackie cannot reach while racking up some throat bites along the way. For a more blatant approach, you can summon the “Darkness Guns” that channel the destructive power of “The Darkness” into two pistols: one that shoots rapid lightning shots and another that sends a thunderous shockwave. Or how about using “The Darkness” to conjure up a room-clearing black hole that would make John Wheeler blush (look him up). However, you will find that the most appealing Darkness power is summoning “Darklings.” These ghastly gremlins (four in all: Berserker, Gunner, Lightkiller and Kamikaze) serve as both ruthless killers and comedians. You can’t help but smile when the Gunner Darkling, army helmet and all, mows down a room with his oversized Gatling gun and then proceeds to urinate on his fallen victims as he makes some snide remarks. It’s a dark, twisted kind of humor, but their comments help make the atmosphere in The Darkness a little less dreary.
But to use “The Darkness” to its full potential, you have to stay out of the light. That’s the main strategy that Starbreeze banks on in keeping this game from being just another first-person shooter. If you see a light, shut it off because if you don’t, “The Darkness” will weaken and eventually leave you vulnerable to gunfire. Sure it’s a nice twist, but shooting out each individual light becomes tedious and at times, annoying. Up until you acquire the “Dark Tentacle” power, using a pistol to shoot out towering lamp posts is damn near suicide in the middle of a city-street firefight. But then again, the gameplay basically forces you to fight in darkness since without it, Jackie dies in roughly five shots. Using the “Dark Tentacle” to shatter the lights makes the task less frustrating, but nevertheless, it’s a gameplay gimmick that provides more aggravation than enjoyment.
Sure, all these Darkness powers sound like oodles of fun, but how do you gain them? Simple: eat the hearts of your enemies. Tap the “A” button next to a corpse and you’ll trigger a tentacle that dives into the chest cavity and devours a yummy heart. The more hearts you chomp on, the stronger your powers become. It’s entertaining to watch the two seething tentacles fight over a heart (the one on the right always seems to win, though) and undoubtedly shows why The Darkness earned a Mature rating from the ESRB.
Don’t fret about their being a lack of hearts to feed your inner cannibal: you’ll be fighting waves of Soprano rejects throughout the 8-10 hour long single player campaign. Unfortunately, your opposition doesn’t provide any great challenge. The A.I. can be embarrassing at times, proving to be one of The Darkness’ most glaring flaws. Enemy allies will literally stand there as their friends get ripped to shreds. Sure, they’ll drop the occasional “Oh shit!” line, but that’s it. No running for cover, no flanking, no calling for back up: just some potty language and mindless return fire. You figure that if a guy with salivating demon tentacles on his back was charging after you as he tears your buddies limbs off, impersonating a statue would be your least likely plan of action. The same can be said for the NPC\'s in the game that see you in Darkness form: once in a while they run, but you’ll mostly find them cowering at your feet begging for your mercy. Again, not really the best idea.
The Darkness isn’t all about no-remorse killing. You have the option of participating in side quests littered throughout the NYC streets and subways. These quests allow Jackie’s human side to come out, showing that he lives by a set of morals and is more than just a killing drone. Complete side quest and you’ll earn a telephone number that, when called, will unlock secret content (mostly concept art and comic panels.) If anything, these side quests allow you to explore the city a little bit and helps strengthen the presentation and story.
And that’s where The Darkness excels: presentation and story. From the slick menus, to the cinematic cut scenes, Starbreeze delivers in putting you in the shoes of Jackie Estacado. In terms of creating a believable and emotional atmosphere, Starbreeze really topped themselves with The Darkness. You’ll feel for Jackie when he delivers a mournful monologue or is forced to make an unfavorable decision. The melancholy feeling of Jackie being damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t hits you with a thud that rivals slamming into the ocean floor while wearing cement boots. I’ll go on record saying that the voice acting in The Darkness is the best found in not only any 360 game, but any game to date. Mike Patton (of Faith No More fame) is brilliant as the haunting voice of The Darkness: his chilling demand for blood will make more than a few hairs stand on the back of your neck. The rest of the cast does an equally impressive job and illustrates the fact that voice-overs in video games can rival that of any animated motion picture.
Graphically, The Darkness hauls out the jaw-dropping effects by the truckload. The framerate rarely slows down during a heated confrontation despite black holes and blood filling the screen. It’s not Gears of War impressive, but you’ll see you fair share of “That’s awesome” moments (especially during the Otherworld segments which I won’t spoil). I’ve read a couple of complaints about the game’s animations, and quite frankly, I never saw anything out of the ordinary. There are occasional clipping issues, but nothing to take you completely out of the morbid atmosphere.
As a response to complaints from The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, Starbreeze added a multiplayer mode in The Darkness. Up to eight players (System Link or on Xbox Live) can shoot the (un)holy hell out of each other in four different modes: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture The Flag and Survivor (you against the world, kid). You can choose to be either a mobster or Darkling: each who have specific strengths and weaknesses. Darklings move at a blistering speed and can leap Incredible Hulk-like distances while mobsters carry the artillery and can take more damage. It’s really a barebones multiplayer that doesn’t hold a candle to the Halo’s and Quake’s of the gaming world. A novelty feature at best, but kudos to Starbreeze for at least trying.
First-person shooter nuts like myself will justify The Darkness as a purchase, despite its faults. The controls are mostly responsive to the intense action and the Darkness powers are just too cool to pass up. But the unpolished A.I., short length, and occasional gameplay glitches prevent The Darkness from being great. In the end, The Darkness will act as a quick splash of action goodness during this summer gaming drought, but those who aren’t hardcore action nuts may want to somewhere else to quench their gaming thirst.
"The Darkness (X360)" is on sale June 25, 2007 and is rated M. Shooter.
