A game that deserves the light.
You play as Jackie Estacado, a former hitman who's life just turned 21, is now seeking desperate survival after a failed "retrieval" has drawn the wrath of a ruthless Uncle Paulie out for blood. Eventually the plot thickens with allures of betrayal and vengeance, bringing you will to over 8 different locations within the city of New York. While avoiding or devouring the hearts (literally) of Mafia hitmen or corrupted Cops pouring in to bring you down, you're typical tasks will indulge in sabotaging operations & eliminating key individuals essential to Uncle Paulie's phase of operations.
Whether by ingenuity or guns ablazing, The Darkness will play out just as any typical shooters out on the market. The key differences are that the combat systems has been adapted to retro-fit dual style shooting. With respective L & R trigger functions corresponding to the hands vice versa; Backed up by a flexible aiming module that allows gunfights to occur behind obstacles or around tight corners. Also assisting the system is a semi-auto aiming system that will allow the player to ease through difficult gunfights from hip point. If the player also wanted to do things manually, manual aiming also has been included to include precision shots.
The player will also be provide with an inventory of guns to play with, each standardized according to their class. From dual pistols to assault rifles, even shotguns are included for that close range blast, you're given a range of weapon choices to carry out your entourage of mayhem. But damage aspects and conventional weapons unfortunately does very little to outgun the en-mass of cops and mafia men that surrounds you.
That's where the darkness comes in. A breathing, living entity of death and suffering, that inhibits Jackie's head and can control the actions of the player at certain plot points within the game, over 90% of the game's combat will rely on this "thing". The Darkness provides a slew of tactical options a normal human being could not have, from gunfire shield to a block hole power that will suck enemies into a black ball of death and fling them across a room afterwards. You'll also be able to unlock a demonic arm to impale your enemies and a pair of guns that feed off the power of the darkness to slay your enemies with in the event conventional weaponry fail to thwart off threats. Another invaluable tool includes a snakelike appendage that acts as an extension of the main player but yet leaves the player unharmed to physical damage as it can scout areas, and even eliminates enemies or act as a retrieve unit for items unreachable.
Unfortunately for the player however, the darkness has limitations that keeps Jackie from becoming a dark walking God machine of death. For instance, where as there is darkness, there is also the light: an environmental preset that will strip you of your dark powers and leave the player vulnerable if left exposed for too long. Also, the player also has a limitation to how much dark energy must be expended before reverting back to human form; but thankfully, you can pop out the light bulbs and create your own dark place to regenerate expended powers.
Thrown into the mix is the ability to draw up minions from the dark world and have them assist you in any type of situation. Though there are relatively few instances where darklings are essential to complete rare puzzle sequences in the game, most of the time they will endure their roles as support units or fledging melee attackers. Like wise, these darkling minions also dependent on darkness for sustenance, else frequent exposure to light sources will make their stay in the physical shortwhile. However, despite some residual assistance against hostiles, only one darkling can be summoned at a time and even then they cannot follow you everywhere within the world boundaries. To even make this worse, the same AI deficiencies that plagues the enemy AI also leaves their marks untouched among your spawned minions. Sometimes they'll stand still during a gunfight, other times they may run in circles with a broken pathfind; leaving another area of the game experience undesired.
There are also more oddities that may or may not mar this game & the high quality content that it delivers. For an example, citizens will not go screaming or panicking in quips of great fear when you display your powers in plain light; Or the fact that enemies will often prefer to hang at a distance, not run away by chance, and put holes in you even though there are moments in the game that they acknowledge the darkness that the protagonist carries inside. This makes the world theme of having a great and dark power confusing and dislodged proportionate to the game world. Also there are tangible camera issues when it came to answering the phone or character interaction, placing the view frame at the most awkward or convoluted angles that just sprays the game of jiffy.
All is not lost since The Darkness also includes a rich batch of side quests and unlockables that will keep you entertained for the duration of the single player experience & out of it. From compelling characters to sips of comic or illustrated concepts, the incoming contents unlocked, or characters with their own problematic backgrounds keeps the experience up and going till it has been milked thoroughly.
To append an even greater shine is the grade "A" voice acting that graces this game. Even making the characters look like real human beings living in a bleak world, or the mafia hitmen look like the real deal reminiscent of the Godfather. Not does Jackie have the looks of the tough and quiet but he also have the heart of one; Even the sub-characters have a *bleep*ing heart. Though I lament to say that a minor lip synch problem may irrefutably mar these great works of voice acting, it is bearable if one wish to ignore the glued teeths or stiff upper lips.
Despite high quality single player entertainment, The Darkness fails to address it's multiplayer contingency. Plagued by player latency issues where one is affected, they're all affected, and over a period of time can be overwhelming during a frantic battle where powers are being thrown left and right in chaotic fashion. But within local ranks, it can add more enjoyment to an 8 way party.
Now how can we forget about the glazed candies that makes this game look like a glorified cupcake? From a standard visual representation point: the graphics has been superbly balanced to allow for a rich overall mapping and texturing of an empty Manhattan streets filled with layers of graffiti & dirt, grime, or blood to sate the hunger of the adrenaline'ly challenged, and run with the smoothest frames, smooth enough you can read the billboards without worrying of an eye twitch. Even better, you'll wonder how many combinations of phone numbers you can place into the telephone while being able to actually read it.
The unique blend that The Darkness mixes together like coffee introduces a great way to play game. With a injected richness of characters combined with the believability of a taunting inner darkness, the overall gameplay can be very enjoyable on a single player run if the cracks in multiplayer is too much to bare.