An excellent cinematic experience set in New York and Hell, boasting uneven action sequences.
Cons: great action sequences are too sparsed; lack of enemy variety; AI moves a tad slow.
The Darkness took some players by surprise lately, offering an ultra polished campaign not being your average brainless FPS ( among other things, some doorways require a little intuitive use of a specific move/attack ). The scenario reminisces a lot dark mob movies webbed in decayed urban theatrics, here in Manhattan + Lower East Side. The main character, Jackie Estacado, is on the eve of his 21st birthday which also herald the arrival of his dreaded curse, the Darkness. Following the impressive intro movie ( a frantic car chase in a tunnel ), the player must act as Jackie along a linear albeit decent layout, overflowed by a vivid texturing enhancing the crisp environments.
The whole single player is split between the New York levels and ''Hell'' ( here a WW One reconstruct where Jackie meets his grand grand father, slowly spoiling some details about the origins of the curse ). The player must essentially learn to use Darkness powers alongside standard weaponry, depending of the lighting situations since you must recharge in the dark. Stay in the dark, shoot and cover, destroy a few lights in the vicinity: here are some basic guidelines always useful for an easier walkthrough. Before long, in fact just past mid way, all the four different Darkness powers become available once the last is acquired - the Black Hole, making the rest too easy if overused. Although the gameplay itself fits incredibly well the cool semi-realistic, semi-cartoonish feeling rendered by the vistas and characters, there are a couple of nitpicks to consider. First, by being a bit overpowered this Black Hole thingie brings an unbalancing act to the later stages of the game, just as its (too) quick acquisition. In the official Gamespot guide, carefully quoted here, '' Black Holing is essentially like using a cheat code''..........However the 3 other powers are occasionally required, and remain always meaningful to see. Some of the hardest fights roomed in the first tier or so, perhaps with the exception of the excellent church encounter against the corrupted Captain Shrote and his goons - which still demand some learning curve even with said power. A little unusual yet quick way to finish the second Hell level just before being teleported back to New York also urge the player to solve a little semi-puzzle. Secondly, those fights themselves remain too distant to sustain a cohesive action playground. For that matter, it seems the developers followed a popular pattern nowadays in action games/FPSs, i.e. intense fights separated by long walks-in-the-park. On the other hand, this may serve the questionable goal of making the game less action oriented and more of a semi-interactive, semi-spectator movie like experience. Questionable because some may surely want more action, yet the studio did a very professional job to deliver a good story at the same time, by the implement of numerous cut scenes and dialogues.
That said, the Sixaxis controller responds flawlessly to any move coded to complete the game, without any clipping issue whatsoever. You can evidently put more an emphasis with the guns instead of Darkness powers, or vice versa, and still be at ease to progress equally. It's not that some of them become too cosmetic, or futile; most of their unusefulness rely more about the stylished theme imprinted by the developers, perhaps mixed with some AI soldiers/policemen acting slow at first. You really have only one big ghoulish creature to beat in ''Hell 2''............
The package comes with extra content, namely pictures of sketches and designs, and some additional may of course be unlocked during the gameplay as you collect some easy-to-spot letters.
Completing a dazzling coloring, the graphical construct strikes beautifully with heavy contrasts. Moreover, they just did the artistry to be fully used WITHOUT being over saturated. That is a technical exploit: subway stations, streets, buildings painted with lots of graffitis, even some hellish scenery are all vivid. Too bad, however, when you face very up close any wall or static construct: the textures become ugly, real ugly à la 1999. Other than that, particularly in the midst of the action, the global viewpoint deliver a fair amount of what the PS3 can offer ( yet we feel the beast can disgorge much more texturing than that in future offerings ). Blue and red hues are magnificent.
Now the 5.1 audio coding = a marvelous concerto to the ears of any scrupulous home theater gamer, adding the heavy use of surrounds. Just circle during heavy brawling or dialogue for a clever channel separation. Dialogues are clean; the various soundings pop in to the point. The only noticeable flaw concerns the music, often indistinct.
The Darkness is an enjoyable thrill in the streets of New York for a 2 thirds, and a hellish WW One for a third. The multiplayer can be laggy at times, so once the single player is done with, perhaps twice, there's little value left if your long term expectations were very high for this game. It remains a surefire recommended purchase nonetheless.