The Darkness has been the greatest experience on the PS3 thus far....
I was asked just recently, "what is so good about The Darkness"? I quickly responded, "The story".
The Story - The story is a masterpiece of you ask me. The main reason is that Jackie Estacado's character development really tied you into the story itself. Basically, his uncle Paulie and his gang, along with the Chicago mafia turn against him and it is up to you to save the day and clean up the streets. The story never explains in depth why Paulie chose to hate Jackie, which is a question that I ask myself. The story goes extremely in depth with Jenny (his girlfriend) and this is where YOU as the gamer really feel angered with Paulie. Jackie pretty much goes through hell and back (literally) in order to seek revenge. This game is very emotional, and the developers really hit the spot hard on this one.
The Gameplay - The gameplay is fantastic. I really cannot say anything bad about it. The Darkness is very fun to use. You will spend most of the time exploiting your power. However, gunplay still remains to be a valid link in your ways of proceeding through the game.
MISC - Some of the "things" that The Darkness has incorporated are phenomenal. There are many TVs placed around in the game, which allow you to watch certain full length movies and cartoons. This is pretty damn near neat if you ask me. There are many collectables scattered throughout the world, so it allows the game to be less linear. There are several side quests that you can do, and if you look close enough, you might find a few phone numbers written on the wall that you can dial on the phone!
The Characters - The character development is very apparent in this game. You will learn to become emotionally attached to many characters. You will REALLY feel that you are apart of Jackie, and you will feel the same way he feels during his many dialogues. The voice acting is superb, you just simply cannot ask for more here.
The Difficulty - I completed this title on "normal" mode, and it was far from easy. There were certain spots there were quite simple. However, most gameplay required me to be tactical, and use cover. Even with the darkness out, it will only takes two good shots to drop you like a brick. Prepared to get a little frustrated in certain areas. The difficulty on normal is challenging, but it was extremely perfect for my tastes.
The Problems - I found that the ending was a bit rushed, and certain elements could have been better shown. Paulie doesn't give you much of a fight at all. The ending was really comprised of beating down a lot of Paulie's thugs to get to him. I also found a gameplay glitch, in when I could not complete a side quest because the other character wouldn't detect that I had the "list". This costed me a few collectables, and possibly more side quests that I could have completed.
I also found Multiplayer to be very bare. The game modes looked extremely fun, but I couldn't experience them due to no players playing.
Pros:
ª Fantastic Gameplay
• Immersive Environment (like Dues Ex: Invisible War)
• Story was phenomenal
• Attention to detail (Graphics were great, graffiti was beautiful)
ª Jackie is one of the coolest main characters I've ever seen
• Excellent graphics with very minor slowdowns
• Voice acting and scripting were brilliant
Cons:
• A few gameplay glitches which inhibit you from completing certain side quests.
• Multiplayer is bare
• Ending felt a bit rushed
The Darkness has been the greatest experience on the PS3 thus far....