Game Overview
The main character of The Darkness is a New Yorker called Jackie, he grew up in an orphanage where you had to be hard or get beaten hard, so that gives you some kind of idea what kind of person he can be. You take control of Jackie on his twenty first birthday, now he’s all grown up, a proper gangster working for the mob, but is far from untouchable, in the real world that is. His only reason for being, according to Jackie himself is his best friend and lover Jenny. He must protect her at all costs from his Uncle Paulie, a nasty piece of work who runs the mob and hasn’t taken too kindly to Jackie since he’s been taken in. The way to eliminate Jackie is through her.

Strange things are happening to him and they start almost immediately. A certain power is taking over Jackie, but you haven’t got a clue what that is and neither does he. So as you play through the game, more is revealed and sure enough as you both learn the secrets and the tricks of the trade you feel an affiliation with the character. Something many games can fail to do.

This game really delivers something different than your usual first person shooters, a storyline that enraptures and enthralls you throughout, characters that build on a fantastically eerie storyline. It’s a game that played alone in the dark with the lights off can have you shrieking like a little girl.

The storyline follows two locations, one being the mean streets of New York City, the other, a battlefield on World War 2. Not just your normal World War 2 battlefield as you will discover upon first arriving, but a battlefield littered with frighteningly evil powers and enemies that even Winston Churchill himself wouldn’t have sent the troops out against. The backdrop of both locations is, as the name suggests dark. At this point we would highly recommend having a spare pair of boxer shorts to hand!

The Darkness is not just a “pull your guns out and blast away� game, far from it. That power we talked about earlier, is what is known as “The Darkness� and it’s there whether you like it or not, but a lot of the time it’s a good thing. Using creatures called “Darklings� Jackie is able to summon these devilish beasts to take on your enemies whilst you sit back and watch them go to work. Once they’ve torn the bad guys a new one, you’re able to “feed� your Darklings with the hearts of the recently deceased. Tremendous fun and feeding your Darklings provides you with extra powers.

The game play itself is very similar to your traditional first person shooters, you can jump straight in and if you’ve played Halo or the like there isn’t much more you need to know apart from how to control the Darkness, which is explained as you gain the new powers. Jackie isn’t a super hero, so his movement is relatively normal and his jumping ability isn’t particularly high, not that this is essential, but at times can become slightly tedious.

The Darkness isn’t perfect; it still has some kinks to work out. For example, the lighting effects especially on the 360 can become quite difficult to contend with, especially when looking for doors and objects. Controlling the Darkness can be quite frustrating whilst using “Roaming Darkness� as it’s similar to controlling a snake that doesn’t want to follow orders. It’s also a relatively short game that by the end will leave you screaming for more. The more your screaming for though is not going to be attained by playing online, as heavy lag ruins what should be an enjoyable experience, fingers crossed this will be something that is sorted sooner rather than later as it looks a blast online.

Fear not though, as this game has plenty of replay ability. Many collectibles and side missions can be found whilst playing the second time around, which unlock gamer points and special content that you can access through the main menu. Special content includes the original comics that you can scroll through at your leisure and Darkness designs of the characters and “darklings�.

Our Conclusions
On the whole, it’s a game that plays more as a movie than a bog standard first person shooter and the storyline will capture your imagination and quite possibly your heart, as you struggle through to save the love of Jackie’s life. Not by writing poetry or taking her to the pictures, the way to a lady’s heart is through another mans skull. A truly gripping piece of computer gaming that should not be missed.

Overall Score: 9/10

A big thanks to Grant a.k.a TwistedLogic and to Adrian at Take 2 for sending The Darkness over to us.