onight is like any other night. After grabbing a hot dish at Aunt Sarah’s, you dial up your girlfriend Jenny, and arrange to spend the evening at her apartment. Like most nights, this one will probably end with the two of you cuddling on the couch and dozing off to an episode of Flash Gordon.
On your way to the subway station, a van dangerously rounds the corner, and a handful of heavily armed thugs emerge and open fire on you. With lightning quick reflexes fueling your actions, you pull out two pistols. Rather than returning fire, you focus your gaze upward, toward a streetlight. With a pull of the trigger, the light explodes, blanketing your assailants in the darkness of night. In the light, you are but mortal. In the dark, you are a remorseless monster that will get sick satisfaction from watching these thugs die in the most painful ways possible. You impale one with a tentacle, and another has his eyes gouged out by your pet darkling. With a wave of your hand, you open a black hole behind the remaining adversaries. With this brief skirmish behind you, you continue your journey to Jenny’s, but not before devouring the hearts of those who dared raise a hand against you.
In The Darkness, players are immersed in an adventure that brings out the best of humanity, but also its worst. Jackie Estacato is a hitman, a murderer, and someone capable of doing anything, no matter how inhumane it is. At the same time, he shows us a softer side, a loving side, and side that makes you think that he can escape his past and change his ways. These diverse personality traits are captured within one of the best scripts to ever grace a video game. It’s stuffed with unforgettable dialogue, narrative that flows without kinks, and moments (one in particular) that will be the talk of the gaming world. It’s one of the most emotionally charged and intense sequences that I have ever seen – and that goes for movies as well.
The unique gameplay, which pushes players to extinguish any source of light before unleashing hell upon the world, isn’t nearly at the same level as the story behind it. Following the cookie-cutter game design of having player’s earn powers as the adventure progresses doesn’t work for this game. The Darkness powers steal the show, but you really don’t see how potent they can be until the final two hours. Whether it was a decision to make The Darkness powers more enticing or not, the selection of firearms is fairly weak, and the gunfights that unfold don’t really have a spark to them. The fun in the game comes from impaling enemies, sending your Creeping Dark (a snake-like extension of you) to grab a bloody lunch, and opening black holes whenever you can. When the Darkness powers are in full effect, you feel like an unstoppable killing machine. When they aren’t, The Darkness is a typical (albeit finely crafted) FPS.
The level designs also have split personalities. On one hand, you can’t help but look at the detail that is intricately woven into every object, texture, and light source. There’s no questioning that Starbreeze wields some of the best tech and artists in the biz. On the other hand, you often find yourself trekking long distances to your next objective. As such, you’ll see more of the New York subway system than you’ll ever want to.
Like all shooters these days, a multiplayer mode is included, but it’s by no means a destination where you can sink days of your life. Morphing into a darkling is certainly cool, but actually landing a blow with this fast moving critter is more trouble than it’s worth. Hit detection with the standard firearms is also somewhat off. All of the maps are nicely thought out and perfect for the game types they host, but again, the gameplay just isn’t as strong as it needs to be.
You may not fall head over heels in love with The Darkness’ gameplay, but like the demonic beast that controls Jackie, this game knows exactly what it needs to do to keep you locked in and lusting for more. Interactive storytelling is rarely this good, and there are few game endings that make you sit back and think, “Man, what if I did this instead?” like this one does. For its amazing narrative and believability of characters, and the twisted joys that come from being a slave of a demon, The Darkness will keep you enthralled, even when the gameplay lags a little behind.