Ironically, The Darkness is a shining gem!
I picked up the Darkness from a local Game Stop's 50%-off bargain bin for about $5 expecting little more than some easy achievements. I remembered the game getting hyped up pre-release and almost immediately witnessing a price drop. I remembered seeing scads of this title lining the "Used" shelves everywhere. I couldn't remember any of my friends saying anything about the game; I knew no one who'd even played it. I just KNEW it sucked. But it was only $5, right?
Long-story-short: $5 was an absolute steal for this game; truly a must-have, IMHO.
The Darkness puts you behind the eyes of one Jackie Estacado, a young Mafioso upstart who, on his 21st birthday, is gifted with the knowledge that he harbors a maniacally evil demon-esque creature inside of him which goes by the name of (and survives on) the Darkness. The initial root of the story is Jackie trying to make heads or tails of his crime world which he's found himself running from, but through it all, he's relying on his new found "powers" which allow him to control the Darkness in a myriad of violently grotesque fashions ranging from a snake-like extension of the Darkness that creeps out and bites off the faces of its victims to summoning Darklings, hilariously vile demon creatures that basically wreak havoc at Jackie's command.
As an FPS, The Darkness fails, just as a strawberry fails at being a grape: it's not bad, just different and GREAT in it's own right. I found that I all but eschewed the guns in favor of the Darkness powers which are a complete blast to use. The actual gun mechanics are pretty straight forward, but are a bit wonky; it's fairly evident that the Darkness was the intended focus. The Darkness powers are too much fun to use and most involve an amount of gore that borders on absurd, but strangely enough stays within believability. Let's just say snatching out the hearts of your victims and eating them on the spot (lips and teeth gnashing) shocks at first, then satisfies greatly even after the 300th time!
The story is amazingly engrossing. It's nothing 'new' per se, but as it is told relatively modernly with this different "arcane evil" spin, it's a brand new flavor and extremely interesting. I found myself sucked in by the environments and the people, especially the dynamic between Jackie and his love interest Jenny. Honestly, the first encounter with her is a great gaming moment. I won't ruin it, but it will either turn some gamers away as a pointless diversion or it will suck you in and you will identify with Jackie and stake a vested interest in the way the game plays out. I was of the latter school and I'm glad for it.
The environment is a limited sandbox essentially; you'll be constrained (mostly...) to a few city blocks, commuting via a subway system around which the tale will unfold. The people don't really bring the world to life, but their artificiality makes for a disturbingly eerie world at times. Still, the music is haunting, the voice acting fantastic and the details put into every nook and cranny are hard NOT to appreciate. The graffiti was done by actual graffiti artists and transposed into the game. A personal highlight for me are the few TVs scattered throughout that show actual programs: music videos, movies, cartoons and TV shows, etc. I don't know how long they go on before repeating, but I know I sat and watched a solid 5 minutes of a REAL movie through the eyes of one Jackie Estacado! Even the load screens: instead of samey, generic still shots or rotating designs, you're privy to short sequences of pertinent dialogue from the lips of Estacado recalling his youth or explaining his motivation for the upcoming sequence of events.
When all is said and done, The Darkness is a great game and an amazing experience worthy of the attention of any gamer, from the most casual to the most hardcore; the story is deep and involving and the action fast, furious and bloody. Easily one of my favorite purchases I've made for my 360 in a long while and one I'm already looking forward to taking on again! Enjoy your own inner demon...