JOEyGADGET

The Good: The Darkness is a beautiful first person shooter with a supernatural twist. Evoking your darkness powers becomes second nature after a few hours of play, and before you know it you’re flipping between creepy talents like there’s no tomorrow.

The Bad: Actually, there may be no tomorrow for supremely talented players because the game is pretty short. Also, while those darkness skills eventually become second nature, they’re pretty confusing to understand and difficult to evoke and control in the early stages of the game; a more detailed training run/explanation would help. Unremarkable ending with final boss Uncle Paulie, and though there are check points, the lack of a save-anywhere feature (as found in Prey or Quake 4, for instance) gets points off in my book.

Bottom Line: Quibbles aside, the game is totally creepy and fun to play. There’s nothing wilder than knocking out all the lights in an area and sending your Creeping Dark scouting ahead for you, going in, over and all around obstacles and rooms and nooks and crannies – then seeing it come flying back in a crazy blur when you retract it. The game is also available for PS3, however I prefer the Xbox 360 version because of those oh-so-addictive achievement points. B+

Also available: The Darkness for PS 3.