It's finally here, The Darkness. It's exactly the same as I imagined it to be like, which was basically a great singlepl

User Rating: 9 | The Darkness X360
By Diehardgames2 | Review Date:
I spent the past day going through the campaign on the Hard difficulty. It's really not that bad and I wanted a challenge anways. You might notice that you're almost completely worthless in the beginning of the game when you dont have any powers just yet. This is completely true, stay behind cover and pick the right times to pop out and shoot. This tactic is useless once you get your Darkness powers, where there is hardly any need for hiding, unless you're playing on Hard. By the time you get your Demon Arms and Black Hole powers you're pretty much invincible and the most powerful person in the entire game. This is a nice feeling, and the fact that you're almost god-like (or a mega-devil sort of person) constantly gets drilled into your skull when your enemies will yell "I'm getting the f**k out of here!", "He's too much for us!", "SH*T F**K!!". Yeah, your enemies are pretty frustrated with you by the end of the game. However, by hour 5 (which is sadly only halfway through the game or so) the repetitive gameplay gets old. There are several ways to kill your oponents, such as running on up on someone and impaling them with your Demon Arm when flinging them arcross the street or sneaking up behind a guy and performing an Execution move (there aren't too many of these, but they're short little action moves that are done for you where you can "execute" someone with your gun, like sticking your gun in his mouth and firing, or tripping him and shooting him in the head). There are a few boss fights, but even on the Hard difficulty they are relatively easy. Use your brain, think of what you want to do to kill your opponent and do it. There are achievements for killing people in different ways, such as killing 7 enemies within 15 seconds or killing 20 people with Black Hole, so cycle through your powers and use them all, don't just focus on one. ***STORYLINE SPOILER!!!***
The storyline starts out where you're some bad-ass mobster that works for your uncle, and hey, he hates your GUTS! This doesn't make life easy for you, especially him attempting, and succeeding, to kill your lovely girlfriend, Jenny. Well I'd be pretty depressed after an event like that, wouldn't you? So you (Jackie) stick your gun in your mouth and blow your brains out. Well death is no obstacle when your name is Jackie Estacado. You end up waking up, with your darkness powers still intact, in the middle of a battlefield. But this is Hell, remember? You're stuck in World War I, but instead of it being "The War to End All Wars", the war never ends. You'll encounter waves upon waves of "Commies", as your darklings refer to them as. Sadly they're undead, so they will continue to get up from the ground even if you've blown their heads off. The only way to stop them is to use the "Devour Heart" command once they're down, that will end them for good. Now I'll leave the end of the game for you to find out, but I assure you, it is very good and at points it can be very suspenseful. (It's definitely open for a sequel...) Jackie's Darkness Abilities-(press RB to activate once chosen with the D-pad)
Creeping Dark: Have one of the serpents on your shoulders go out and explore small areas (air ducts, shafts, tunnels) or silently kill off unsuspecting enemies.
Demon Arm: Shoot out a long "tentacle" that can break lights, impale enemies, or pick up/throw large objects (cars, crates)
Black Hole: Summon a black hole that sucks in everything around it. After it dies down though, the objects it sucked in aren't dumped in an alternate dimension like it SHOULD, but if it did suck in any enemies, their bodies will remain on the floor for you to Devour Heart, if you so desire.
Darkness Guns: A near-useless power. Summons two weapons, one for your left and right hand. The left hand gun sends out a small shockwave that can destroy lights and knock enemies down, while the right gun is a simple, cool-looking machine gun.
Darklings(press and hold LB then pick corresponding button, A, B, X, Y)
Berserker: All-around resourceful killing-machines (will often urinate on your dead foes)
Gunner: Carries around a Gatling gun (you might notice that it's smoking a cigar and yes, it's a girl darkling) Kamikaze: Suicide bomber, get your enemies in a group and summon this dude for a massive kill. Lightkiller: Destroys nearby light sources for you, which saves you the hassle of doing it in some areas that are full of lights.
With each Darkling there are outfits that you can unlock for them to wear during the game. You do this simply by finding the outfits lying around in random places in the campaign. There is a lot of collecting in The Darkness, you aren't required to do it, but it makes the game last longer. There are a lot of side-quests that are available to you as well. Some require you to do a good deed but most of the time it involves someone telling you to kill someone. The side-quests can lengthen your singleplayer campaign by up to a few hours. I wanted to make the game last as long as I could so I did every quest I could find, adding about 3 hours to the campaign. In the end this game will last you about 7-12 hours depending on how much you complete it or how much of a rush you're in. If you beat the campaign faster than this, you missed out on a lot, I don't recommend it. NOTE: This is NOT including multiplayer, where you'll most likely get bored of it after an hour or two.
Up to eight players can get in on the fun through System Link or over Xbox Live. But rather than having eight people playing as Estacado, gamers take on the role of mobsters or Darklings (or Darklings that morph into mobsters). The Darklings are fast and can leap incredible distances. But they aren't as strong as mobsters, who can also carry guns. Only four multiplayer modes are included, with a little under a dozen maps total. You can play Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Survivor (one against all). The maps are claustrophobic, which gives them a unique feel over the average FPS. But they aren't particularly well laid out. Of the modes, only CTF has really proven to be worth repeated plays. And that is mainly because the strengths and weaknesses of the humans/Darklings come into play throughout the experience.

Other Helpful Reviews for The Darkness

Load Comments (0)