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Falls way short of the hype

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: December 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

In a year completely saturated with incredible first person shooters, The Darkness falls short as a very bland title with little to offer. The mechanics and graphics are good, but nothing revolutionary or even unique. Basically, the gimmick of this game is that you are a man exiled by the mafia who can control demons. A novel concept, but it is more burdensome than useful. You will constantly be shooting out light bulbs to use these abilities which is not very entertaining. The A.I. is sub-par as is the convoluted story line. Level design and enemies are very mundane: a clear sign that more money was spent advertising on this game than making it. The box shots may look great, but do not buy this game for somebody unless you hate them. Games like BioShock, Call of Duty 4, and Halo are far greater values for the money.

Tedium defined.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: December 24, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Clunky controls, bad interface, boring story, one dimensional stereotypical characters. Nothing about this game is compelling or original. Is this the best the gaming industry has to offer?

Great game, but get the PS3 version for better graphics and more content

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 80
Date: June 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Without a doubt this is a great game. But, you should get it on the PS3 for more content and better graphics.

Yawn

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 12
Date: August 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The Darkness is one of those hyped up games that fails to deliver. It's (yet another) first person shooter (FPS) set in New York and the alternate reality of the Darkness - a demon which posses your character at the start of the story.

There's a lot that this game does have going for it - the facial graphics are really outstanding. The levels designed in the hellish alternate reality of the demon are really nightmarish. They're a tad cliche, but well executed and I never was bored looking around in those levels. Some of the kills (using your "demon arm") are strangly satisfying; although the standard "executions" are very poorly animated and just look plain silly.

The gameplay is very standard for a FPS. As many reviewers have noted, there are a variety of weapons; but there's rarely any reason to use any weapon other than your dual pistols. The AI is nothing special and will generally let you hide and recoup your health and simply stand its position and let you pick them off one at a time. Since your powers depend on darkness; much of the game is spent shooting out lights. Annoyingly, there are very few light switches to simply turn off the lights.

The multiplayer on Xbox live lags something awful. If you manage to spend more than a few minutes online, your patience is greater than mine. This feature was probably tacked on last minute and adds nothing to the game's value.

The worst part of this game is the way you have to travel from level to level. You travel between parts of town (most often) via subway. In the subway, you cannot kill or be killed; and it's mostly there to get you from one point to another and occasionaly move the plot. The problem is that, often, you'll complete a mission, then go back to the subway, then have to travel to another subway station, and then go to a new level - and god help you if you take the wrong subway or get off on the wrong platform. Each time you move from level to level there's about a minute or two loading. The point is, after you complete a mission, it can be five or ten minutes before you're back shooting stuff up. The pacing is maddening.

This game wasn't bad for renting. The story is mildly interesting and some of the gameplay was OK. But this game will soon be eclipsed by other games and I seriously doubt anyone will be playing this game in six months.

The Darkness

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 4
Date: December 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game for my son. He beat it easily so now it just sits. I hated that I paid so much for so little.

Not great

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: January 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I enjoyed the demo a little, but not to really make me want the game REALLY bad. Found this one sale, and figured I would give it another chance, and I didnt get really all that much farther than I did with the demo.

Some nice visuals, but I couldnt really get into it otherwise.

THE BOREDUMNESS

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: March 31, 2008
Author: Amazon User

keyword: Boring.

graphics: great.

about as repetitive as assassins creed.

Tripping at the finish line...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: July 22, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I was very excited about this game, it was on my short list of titles for this year (HALO 3, Bioshock, Mass Effect, etc) and I couldn't wait to pick it up.

There are certainly some outstanding features in this game. If you want 500 easy gamerpoints, pick this up and give yourself 4 hours. The 'executions' while violent, are pretty neat! Let's not kid ourselves, if you are offended by violence and you picked this game up, then you should probably have a coloring book, a bike helmet, and a chaperone.

There are three really major points that destroy this game. One- it is really short. Pretty self explanatory. Two- the controls are very jerky, and that lack of smooth, well-refined interaction makes you conscious that you are piloting a video game character. I don't like that. Three- this may be the worst multiplayer since we were all on 28.8 modems. Seriously, it is 2007 and that is the best they could do? Three or four modes that are simplistic at best, and a few maps that are boring to say the least. And the LAG!! If you aren't the host, forget it. Everytime someone joins/quits, you freeze up for 15-20 seconds!! Unacceptable.

Okay, i thought of a fourth problem. Load times. You frequently have to go back and forth between sections of the map, and the load times between each are so long that they have little animations (10-15 seconds each) that are there to distract you from the fact that you are growing older while the game loads. It really breaks up the flow of the game.

The graphics of this game are great, and the violence is stunning, but overall, this game had 100x more promise than it really delivers. Don't believe me? Look how many are already available at your local game shop, available used here on Amazon, etc. I know my copy is available...

Rent it and save yourself the $60 for Mass Effect, Bioshock, or one of the other really promising games coming out in the next few months.

Fun and fun but don't expect good replayability.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: July 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is very fun and violent. The first time through was a thrill. The second time through i was able to pay attention to small details and enjoyed it again. Now it's going on my shelf and will probably never be played again.

The Darkness has you...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 20, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The Darkness - Circa 2007

GOOD:
- Unique "Darkness" powers and give you the abilities like sending out a tentacle creature that can stealth kill your enemies, Stab people/objects with another type of Shadow Tentacle, create black hole vortex that sucks up everything in its path and spits it back out, use demonic looking guns that shoot Lighting & Thunder (which are also fueled by the shadows around you) and even summon four different types Minions to do your bidding.
- Watch TV, the TVs in the game play real movies, cartoons, and music videos and you can even change the channel too.
- It's not all shooting, in this game you come to claim points where you can interact with non combat characters in a open ended (go almost to any part of the game at any time) version of New York City. In these parts of the game you can meet and talk (but mostly do favors) for the citizens of NYC or just be a jerk and kill them.
- Great voice acting.
- Graphics look good (for 2007) and animations are fairly smooth as well.

BAD:
- Shooting/knocking out lights while unique in the first hour of gameplay or becomes more of a choir and distraction as the game progress.
- Some people might find the story of the game disjointed and cliché.
- Some times the Darkness powers don't seem to work the way you want or need in a situation, example The Darkling (your minions) have very simple A.I. and seem almost useless in some situations by not attacking enemies or running head long into bright areas (where they die instantly), and the Darkness Guns which act like traditional guns have no real value next your standard guns, outside of the fact that they have unlimited ammo and no reloading in the dark (also note they have no ammo in the light).
- The online gameplay feels tacked on and is glitchly, unless a patch comes out for it I would say stay away from the multiplayer option of this title.

IF IT FITS YOUR TASTE:
- A decent range and Varity of your standard issue First Person Shoot type of guns, with Shotgun, Duel pistols/SMG's and M16 types.
- The aiming sight in the game is just a simple red dot, which while it frees up space on your screen a few people might find it difficult to aim with.
- The lack of a true or traditional HUD (Heads up Display for health/power meter and such) can make the game confusing and difficult to some.
- Being in the light makes your Darkness powers very weak or even not available (in bright light), so you're going to spend lots of time seeking out shadows in order to use your powers and get the most out of this game.
- It's not all in the streets of NYC; some parts of the game take place in a dream world that looks like a hell version of World War 1.
- This game is for adults or mature gamers as most of the dialog is full of foul words and the content of this game can be pretty gory, for example your dark tentacles eat human hearts (they show them ripping the hearts out of your slain enemies chests and chewing them up, not joking) to gain new power, and also getting close to any enemy with your guns drawn and shooting them up close will make the game go into an animation where you (pretty violently) execute the your enemy (examples are shots fired into an enemies leg followed by a shots to the head).

GAME ITS MOST ASSOCIATED TOO:
- The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butchers Bay (Xbox & PC)
- F.E.A.R. (PC, 360, PS3)
- Prey (360)

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- A demo of this game is available on Xbox Live Marketplace.
- This game is based on the comic book of the same name (the comic and story is similar to Witch Blade comics).
- This game was made by Star Breeze Studios, which also made The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butchers Bay.
- This game is banned in Singapore and heavily modified in Germany
- It is possible to watch the entire film of To Kill a Mocking Bird in this game by watching the in-game television.
- Mike Patton of the Rock Band Faith No More did the voice for the Darkness (with little to no help with voice editing).
- This game is also on Sony's PS3

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