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Review

The Darkness

9.0

Format Xbox 360

Developer Starbreeze

Publisher Take-Two Interactive

Genre First Person Shooter, Action

29-Jun-2007 Descend into hell with this horrifically fantastic FPS!

21 Comments

Firstly, an apology. An apology that goes to all those that have been following our coverage of The Darkness this last year - who have read how much we've been looking forward to this first person horror shooter and how we believed it was going to be 'good'. Well we're sorry. We were far off the mark this time. The Darkness isn't good. It is, in fact, bloody fantastic.

Try 'redefining the benchmark' fantastic. To all those whose knowledge of the name 'The Darkness' amounts to a Top 40 charting rock band a few years back, drop the idea of tight clinging spandex and instead be prepared to embrace the title that'll have videogames hitting the Daily Mail headlines for all the wrong reasons in the upcoming months.

This is because The Darkness is the goriest; most messed up tale of bloody redemption we've had the pleasure of in a very long time. It's Hellraiser gorging on the still-twitching remains of Coppola's Godfather. There are execution killings, explosive family betrayals and expletive-fuelled dialogues in the grand tradition of the Sopranos. But also, there's hearts being ripped out of chests, heads being hacksawed off bodies and horrific sights in the finest Clive Barker tradition.

Deeply disturbed
It is a compliment of the highest order to say that this is one seriously disturbing game. This isn't horror for headline-grabbing shock value; the gore is but one texture of a multilayered gameplay experience. While the game does labor under certain FPS conventions, the storyline alone will have anyone who's prayed for videogaming to shed cringe-worthy dialogue and reach a level of narrative maturity feel like its the second coming.

You'll laugh, you'll grimace and (whisper it) you might even shed a tear. It's a story that will engage you and compel you to continue playing to the wee hours; but that's alright because the gameplay is pretty damn tight as well, through a simple gameplay mechanic managing to (shock!) innovate the genre with something deliciously new.

We'll unravel each in turn. Story and dialogue first; the narrative really is benchmark-defining material but such are the twists and turns of the game's story line that to discuss it would spoil many of the surprises lined up in the game's twelve hour playtime. Needless to say the next paragraph paints a picture in the broadest of strokes.

Jackie Collins?
Simply put you play as Jackie Estacado, a Hitman whose old-style moral codes bring him in direct conflict with Mob Boss (and Jackie's Uncle) Paulie. A botched assassination attempt against Jackie leads our anti-hero to a one-man crusade to eviscerate his Uncle's empire from the bottom up.

It's a bloody process that gets bloodier as Jackie is possessed early in the game by a demonic power called The Darkness. It's with the arrival of this sentient being that the game lifts itself alongside the FPS heavyweights such as Half Life and Halo, as the supernatural abilities granted to you are evidence of a unique play style.

Fear of the dark
Forget spiritual bows or gun slinging concentration modes - The Darkness manifests in multiple forms, every one cooler than the last (and any which one a lesser developer would have built a game round). Tentacle arms that can spear people and cars, which you can either fling at enemies or use as shields. Serpentine creatures you can control to slither up walls and hang from ceilings, allowing you kill enemies from several blocks away. Or black portals that suck in all matter into them - human or otherwise.

This is on top of a weapons arsenal that would make Codename 47 jealous. What is so amazing is how intuitive the control system feels; the two triggers control your guns (if you're dual-wielding) RB uses your chosen Darkness power (from a eventual four, unlocked over the duration of the game and selected from the D-Pad) while X commands your Darkling helper (see 'Satan's Little Helpers' box out). It's a lot to juggle - but you never feel overwhelmed.

Choose your own adventure
It also opens up multiple ways for you to tackle any given situation. Breaking into a building, for example, could see you go in all guns blazing, send in the Creeping Dark to unlock all the doors and kill the guards, or summon a Darkling to wreck havoc. It means you can retry a section from a different angle if you become stuck.

But the catch for using these superhuman abilities is that they only work for a limited time in direct light - street lamps and building lights will gradually diminish your Darkness energy. You learn to stick to the shadows as much as possible and acquire a new gameplay tactic - destroying every artificial light source as you progress through a new area.

If this singular focus in wrecking havoc that hides the game's weakest point; the enemy AI. Mafia goons, SWAT, hired guns - they're not the smartest thinking bunch in gaming, sometimes lining up all too easily for a heart-hungry serpent to much through. But they really didn't need to be tactical geniuses - because that isn't what the game is about. It's about The Darkness - the unbridled joy of wielding this power and the struggle to stop it subverting Jackie totally.

Ultimately the game proves how powerful a storytelling medium gaming has become. Like the best cinema, the feeling of being privy to this dark world lingers long past putting down the controller. Its memory festers inside you - of a deeply disturbing experience, and an unforgettable one at that.

Gillen McAllister