A fantastic first few hours can't save an otherwise boring, unsatisfying experience.
Cons: Weak gunplay; Runs out of steam early; Open-world portions frequently fall flat
Note: I have no Xbox Live Gold, and no interest in playing The Darkness online. Thus, it won't be touched upon in this review.
A lot of people forget how important it is to mix in quiet moments with loud ones in an FPS. Games like Bioshock and Half-Life 2 became such standards in part because they know how to mix moments of action and calm to great effect. Heck, even Call of Duty 4 had its (less dramatic) mix of quiet and loud that worked in its favor.
The Darkness makes a great first impression in that respect. The bombastic introduction wastes no time getting going, teaching you the ropes as you, Jackie Estacado, and your fellow mobsters flee the cops. You learn very early on that your uncle, Paulie wants you dead, and by some very dramatic means. And yet after this mission is finished, you suddenly find yourself walking through the subway. Instantly things calm down, and you can watch a little TV, help a few NPCs out with their problems, or just enjoy the walk to your next mission destination. Early on, you have a quiet birthday with your girlfriend and can watch a bit of TV with her. It's a quiet, touching event, and it's arguably the most memorable part of the game.
This alternation of explosive action and calm character development continues for the first half of the game, which is easily the better half. It culminates in an extremely tense level in an orphanage in which the nature of the plot dramatically changes. Unfortunately, shortly after this point, the game simply stops delivering.
Part of this was obvious from the start: the shooting simply isn't fun. Aiming is loose, with its snapping functionality, and enemies don't respond significantly to being shot, usually shooting you in the back when you think they're dead. To counterbalance the poor gunplay, the focus is on creating darkness and using darkness powers. But mindlessly shooting out lights gets old fast. Later on you get ridiculously strong powers, in exchange for having to fight enemies that can kill you in seconds flat. You'll alternately feel overpowered and bored, and then suddenly get shot and forced back to a checkpoint from what seems like ages ago.
As if it couldn't get worse, everything else that initially seemed cool starts losing its appeal. The story lacks any significant emotional beats in the second half, quickly becoming a predictable revenge tale with bland characters and an unsatisfying ending. And the quiet open-world portions between missions make the transition from relaxing to boring. Navigation becomes a chore, the missions get repetitive, and the side missions are even worse.
It's the drawn out second-half that makes The Darkness a tough sell. As much as I really, really enjoyed my first few hours with the game, I felt like I was slogging through everything after. The Darkness has its heart in the right place (unlike the many you devour throughout the campaign), but its execution leaves much to be desired. In light of its more consistent sequel, I'd say skip this one, or at least don't bother to finish it.