Into the Heart of Darkness
Mixed amongst the fighting segments and the many objectives is the narrative driven storyline, which is told through a mixture of conversations with characters and the lead character's own reflections on his life and his future, told through monologues during loading screens. As previously mentioned there’s a high quality script with great voice acting that makes it all the more believable and manages to sustain your attention. The Darkness is brimming with artistry, from the stencil-shadow techniques (the use of sharp edges), light mapping, photo-realistic models, motion-captured dialogue and oodles of fine detail in the locations and characters (just look at the hands! They're freakily realistic looking).
Starbreeze have gone further than many developers by paying equal attention to every aspect of their videogame. Despite the dark nature of the game, they've ensured that the environment is fun and in parts it's an interactive playground that you can explore to your hearts content. The locations are brimming with nice touches that effectively add to the atmosphere in the game. You can turn over TV channels – Flash Gordon was on the other day – blow out candles if you wish, jump on the tube down to the next station, flush the toilet, make a phone call, send letters, or spend some time watching the local break dancing crew who've converged at the station. There's so much more to 'The Darkness', but I’ll leave you to uncover those for yourselves, but suffice to say it's looks so gorgeous it could make a grown gamer weep. I’m yet to try the multi-player mode so have no idea how this will play out. I’ve had a look around some of the maps, which are fairly compact and contain shields, health pick-ups and numerous weapons (Unreal Tournament style). You’ll be able to switch between using human weapons and manifesting the powers of The Darkness in modes such as deathmatch and team deathmatch and it’s looking as though it will be a fast paced game with plenty of leaping around and quick kills. Whether multiplayer is a hit or not, The Darkness is a great game with intense fighting, head scratching environmental puzzles, stimulating objectives, a storyline that keeps you hooked right to the very end.
Pros
Movie-like production
Great storyline
Innovative use of special powers
Well paced with fast and slow gameplay
Cons
Aiming can be dodgy
Darklings don’t always respond as they should
The Darkness will keep you hooked right till the final battle.
HEXUS Awards
The Darkness– Xbox 360
