The Darkness

I wrote video game reviews back in college. It was my first proper foray into publishing anything online, and rewiredmind.com was one of the sites I wrote a lot for. This is one of them.

So, Summer then. Usually we’re outside at this time of year, burning our sun-deprived skin to an unrecognisable crispy top layer, but this year it’s been a bit shit. That’s left us with two problems. One: no reason to go outside, and two: no reason to stay inside either, due to the predictable Summer drought of games. Luckily, there’s a saviour, shining high and bright like God’s very own lighthouse atop of Heaven: The Darkness.

Strangely, The Darkness doesn’t sound good. You play Jackie Estacado, a mafia hitman for his uncle who gets caught up in something a bit wrong, namely The Darkness. It’s a videogame adaptation of a comic book with the same name. That’s always bad. Thankfully though, it plays an infinitesimally times better than it sounds.

To begin with, The Darkness has one of the best openings that any videogame has had for years. You wake up, groggy after what was presumably one major whack on the noggin, to find yourself faced with two very scary looking mafia blokes and a speeding car. You’re in the back seat, getting thrown about like a piece of meat in the back seat. All you can do is slightly move you head and see the pretty textures screaming past.

And oh Lord, what pretty textures they are. Starbreeze obviously weren’t content with just having gaming’s best opening, they clearly were going for gaming’s best graphics too. Suffice to say, they’ve clearly achieved it. Everything doesn’t just look nice, it looks real. You wouldn’t think grimy walls, graffiti, scratches and an all other manner of scuffs and scrapes would make a game any more interesting or enjoyable, but it does in this case. It adds another layer of detail and immersion that’s rarely seen, and you can’t help but appreciate the extra effort.

Starbreeze still clearly weren’t content. They’ve chucked in the best story and the best voice acting in years too. Every character is beautifully realised, amazingly rendered, and instantly likable. It’s impossible not to love Jackie’s tale, and his little monologues in the loading screens gets “the most innovative use of a loading screen award” from me too.

What about the gameplay? Well, as you’ve probably already gathered, The Darkness is a rather good game. It doesn’t disappoint on the gameplay. This is – without a morsel of exaggeration – the single most well made FPS ever made. Yes, that’s even including Halo. Most of all though, it doesn’t settle at being just an FPS. It’s a cracking game, whether you usually hate FPSs or not.

If you like a good FPS though, you’ll be blown away. Shooting feels meaty, and feels just how you’d hope a gun to feel – heavy, loud, and very very messy. The death animations are equally satisfying too, and there’s a great implementation of rag doll physics to make sure that each guy’s death isn’t the same as the last one.

You’ll notice I’ve been very vague here. It’s purposeful. There’s only one fact that matters here, and that’s this:

The Darkness is probably the best game on any format for a lot of years. Bar none.

It’s unfair to classify The Darkness as just an FPS. It isn’t even a great game. It’s a FGG.

FIVE STARS!!!!