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The Darkness is an odd first-person shooter for the Xbox 360. It isn’t like every other shooter on the Xbox 360 – it has flair. It doesn’t end up being a sci-fi clone of Halo rather it focuses on the supernatural. But The Darkness doesn’t deliver on all ends with a stale storyline and awkward dialogue.
Following Jackie Estacdo and his life as a hitman, the action starts off fast and keeps pace until Jackie is thrown into World War I after he commits suicide. Yes, you heard that right – Jackie commits suicide, something that often doesn’t happen in video games. The storyline spins around in circles after the suicide and I never felt in control of Jackie’s destiny, but rather forced to follow an already set guideline for the character that I didn’t appreciate. Being in control is one of better aspects of video games and with The Darkness, the storyline felt as if I was on a rail and had no other option but to accept what is happening on the screen as if it was a movie playing.
The storyline isn’t atrocious though, it’s manageable – some may even find it intriguing. With mobsters, demonic powers, a love interest, and a suicide all wrapped intricately into the story, there’s enough here to please FPS fans. The biggest concern of gamers with FPS games is the gameplay. Those particular gamers can feel relieved that Starbreeze Studios delivered on all ends.
The power of the Darkness comes from a demonic entity that resides with Jackie since child birth. It grants him the ability to summon creatures known as Darklings to his command, use a demonic arm to attack enemies and scout areas from the dark, and what will probably be everyone’s favorite ability, the chance to eat the enemy’s heart. Eating an enemy’s heart will actually upgrade The Darkness’ power and eventually grant Jackie new powers such as a shield and a more powerful Demon Arm.
About the Darklings, they are vicious demons players can use to send into an area full of enemies to help narrow down the enemy count. There are four different breeds of demons including: Berserkers (melee), Gunners (with guns of course), Light Killers (eliminating light in the environment, and Kamikaze (explode when they contact enemies). All of them have their usefulness but ultimately I favored the Berserkers since they ended up being the most effective on the battlefield.
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