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.
two quick questions:
do the powers you aquire build up in stats (like say an RPG), or once you have do they pretty much remain the same throughout the game? also, are there any upcoming FPSs that may breathe life into the genre?
Not like RPGs, per se. I gained the various powers as the game moved forward, but in which order I don’t recall. And later there were various achievements associated with powers, like Void Bringer, for killing 20 enemies with the Black Hole power, and One With the Dark, for achieving maximum Darkness level, which, I believe, made me more resistant to light and allowed me more time to use my Creeping Darkness to knock out lights or slither past lit areas without running out too quickly. As for what’s coming to the genre, I, for one, am looking forward to Bioshock. And to playing the Half-Life games kicked back on my 360 rather than on the PC. Hope that answers your questions, and thanks for taking the time to comment. – Joe
I was excited about Bioshock for a moment, which I hear is heavy on the rpg element, but Mass Effect has been slowly gaining favor in my eyes since E3… from what I’ve seen so far, it comes across as part Halo, part KOTOR. Also I forgot to ask, how intriguing is the story in The Darkness?