The Darkness // Xbox 360
Lights out

// The skinny: Jamie Estacado is a hitman for his mob boss uncle. On his 21st birthday his uncle has decided he's fed up with Jamie and tries to kill him. Jamie survives and manifests demonic powers that only grow in the dark. He starts a journey to take down his uncle Paulie's operation and then the man himself.

// Review: The Darkness is an adaptation from the same titled comic book and made by the same people behind The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher's Bay. So with rich source material to pull from you can expect fantastic atmosphere, which the game fully delivers.

/ The productions values are extremely impressive. Parts of a grimy and trashed out 80's era New York City and its subways are highly detailed and recreated like scenes from any Death Wish movie or The Warriors. They even motion captured breakdancing subway performers just for the hell of it. The movie quality dialogue is also well delivered by the voice actors.

/ As far as viewing goes, this was a great experience. The problem is this isn't a movie or tv show but a game. And as a game is wasn't really that fun. You have access to conventional guns as well as your Darkness powers. The guns are almost worthless. For a first person shooter, you'd expect the controls to be tight, and you'd be disappointed. The targeting is inconsistent at best and you spend most of the game tediously shooting out lights to maintain your Darkness powers. Jamie also moves really slowly and can only jump about 6 inches off the ground.

/ The Darkness powers are pretty cool. You can slither snake-like tendrils along the ground to bite people's faces off and then eat their hearts for more power! There is also the ability to summon a black hole, a giant demon arm, and demon guns. But you'll find that the demon snakes are by far the most effective, which gets repetitive after a while. You can also summon different types of gremlins to assist you. But they are hard to direct, often stupid, and they die really fast making them not worth the hassle.

/ While the dialogue and acting was some of the best I've seen in a game the story was a mixed bag. As you are on your mission on vengence, you learn more about the history and secret of The Darkness. Except that the explanation leaves gaping plot holes that makes the story seem fragmented if you aren't familiar with the comic series.

// Wrap up: I really wanted to like tihs game, and there is a lot to like. Unfortunately it missed on the most important aspect of a video game, which is the gameplay of course. It wasn't horrible, but you just have the feeling it could've been so much more.

Entertainment rating: 3