The Darkness Review

The human heart. Now with zero grams of trans fat.

Posted by Chris Buffa on Wednesday, June 27, 2007

In 2K Games' PS3/Xbox 360 video game, The Darkness, hit man Jackie Estacado has a little problem. His deranged Uncle Paulie, a notorious New York City mob boss, attempted to assassinate him, not exactly the best way to celebrate someone's 21st birthday. To make matters worse, Paulie sent all of his heavily armed goons and corrupt cops to finish the job. Too bad for them, Jackie received the best birthday gift this side of hell, two tentacle demons with a penchant for devouring hearts and shredding faces. Suddenly, the odds just became even.

Developer Starbreeze's thrilling first person shooter chronicles Jackie's exploits as he tears through enemies and learns to cope with his new friends. It mixes fast paced gunplay with torture, as players choose between blasting someone in the chest with a shotgun or using this demonic power, dubbed The Darkness, to unmercifully tear apart their foes. Removing someone's heart and eating it, a necessity for The Darkness' survival, entails watching one of the tentacles bore its ugly head into the chest of the recently departed, rip out the organ and gobble it down. To further desecrate these poor, artificially controller bozos, players may also chuck them into black holes; not to mention command The Darkness to slither along, creep up behind someone and bury its teeth into his face or lash out and impale him. Even better, gamers may call upon these useful imps called Darklings and instruct them to do their bidding as well. Available in four unique types (Berserker, Gunner, Kamikaze and Lightkiller), Darklings love getting their hands dirty. The Berserker, for example, kills enemies within a certain radius, going as far as jack hammering their heads. The Lightkiller, on the other hand, sacrifices its body and destroys light sources, which drain Darkness energy.

During the course of the 10-15 hour adventure, players explore an impressively detailed New York City, wandering around an accurate subway system completing fetch quests or even walking a few blocks. They also get sent to the Otherworld, a dimension in which World War I never ended and demons in German garb terrorize the souls of American soldiers. With that being said, the game looks gorgeous, featuring dark, seedy locales and superb special effects. The gallons of blood. The tentacle detail. The characters. It's without question one of the best looking video games.

That notwithstanding, it's not the deepest of adventures. Breaking lights proves more challenging than killing enemies, and The Darklings have a tendency to do moronic things, such as setup a gun turret facing a wall, shooting Jackie or getting stuck in a crevice and detonating an explosive device at the wrong moment. In addition, the shallow, eight person multiplayer extends the replay value a few hours, if that. The ability to play as Darklings (they jump great distances) and hit men doesn't capture the single player quest's excitement. Using The Darkness to consume the hearts of real world opponents would've been sweet.

These issues notwithstanding, The Darkness offers a fun, bloody romp through New York City. Like 2K Games's previous Xbox 360 shooter, Prey, it's a great rental, a game that delivers a fun, popcorn adventure through a sick, twisted world. Definitely experience it.

Final Score: 8 (out of 10)



Final Score: 8/10