Game: The Darkness Publisher: 2K Games Developer: Starbreeze Studios Systems: PS3, Xbox 360 N.A. Release Date: June 25th, 2007 Score: 9.5 (Out of 10)

The Darkness Review

I 've gotta say: THE DARKNESS rocked the kazbah, but I wouldn't have expected anything else. Having (believe it or not) never read the comic, I didn't know what to expect from the story, but I expected great things from to the developer, Starbreeze Studios, who had previously created one of the greatest games for the original XBox, THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK: ESCAPE FROM BUTCHER BAY. On that pedigree alone I would be willing to pick up just about any game they create. But even though I was pre-disposed to love the game both due to the development company and the subject matter, I was still impressed by how good THE DARKNESS really was.

THE DARKNESS was originally a comic book series published by Top Cow Comics, an imprint of Image. The original series was written by Garth Ennis, the brilliant, sick, and disturbed Irish comic writer responsible for such classic comics as DC's PREACHER, the ultra-violent rebirth of Marvel's PUNISHER, and about a billion other great comics. It was originally drawn by none other than Mark Silvestri, the founder of Top Cow Comics. In the comic series, The Darkness is part of a celestial triumvirate that also includes the Witchblade (another Top Cow comic) and The Angelus (the primordial enemy of The Darkness). While the game doesn't address the triumvirate, nor even mention the rest of the Top Cow universe, it does parallel some of the storylines fairly closely, particularly THE DARKNESS Volume 2. Top Cow put out a series of standalone comics to coincide with the video game of THE DARKNESS, called which takes place outside of the normal comic continuum and supplements the story told in the game. Each issues is called THE DARKNESS: LEVEL (X) (with "X" being both the number of the issue and the chapter of the game with which it corresponds; LEVEL 0 is the prequel, LEVEL 1 is the first issue of the game, and so on).

Starbreeze Studios is a Swedish development house of impressive skill. They came out of nowhere in 2004 with the dark, violent, visceral, and brilliant THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK: ESCAPE FROM BUTCHER BAY, which was licensed to go along with the movie THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK, but which was a prequel to both that movie and the amazing sci-fi/horror movie that preceded it, PITCH BLACK. BUTCHER BAY was universally touted as being one of the only good movie licensed games ever; in fact, it is considered by most to be superior to the movie that spawned it. Now lightning has struck twice with THE DARKNESS.

THE DARKNESS tells the story of Jackie Estacado, a young mafia hitman working for the current Don of New York City, his Uncle Paulie. Paulie Franchetti rescued Jackie from an orphanage at a young age, but it soon becomes clear that this wasn't due to any altruism on his part; he just saw an opportunity to hand-pick and mold a young man into a killing machine loyal only to him. Jackie is a good boy, and does what Paulie tells him, but butts heads with Paulie on the way that he does things; Jackie believes in the Old Ways, the strangely honorable belief that the Mob owes something to the communities it feeds off of. The old-school mobsters that Jackie allies himself with don't get involved in drugs, protect the people in their communities from unjustified harm, and don't kill people for no reason. Unfortunately, Paulie thinks that is all a bunch of garbage, old-fashioned thinking that wastes money. They agree to disagree until Jackie's twenty-first birthday, when a job goes wrong. Jackie gets knocked out during a mission, and awakes to find that the money that he had been sent to collect is gone, and that his paranoid and dangerous uncle thinks that Jackie took it. Uncle Paulie takes this personally, and retaliates by attempting to kill Jackie, an event that Jackie takes issue with. Paulie won't listen to reason, believing that Jackie is trying to take his empire from him, so Jackie has no choice but to bring down his insane uncle before he destroys Jackie and everything that he loves.

Things are complicated by the fact that Jackie just happens to have received a strange birthright, which corresponds with his twenty-first birthday: the power of The Darkness has awakened within him. The Darkness is a mysterious force whose origins are shrouded in mystery, revealed in little pieces throughout the game. The basic gist is that it is an ancient and sentient demonic force that has somehow symbiotically attached itself to the male Estacado bloodline, lying dormant until the host's twenty-first birthday when its terrible power awakens. The Darkness feeds on... well, darkness, but also on pain and human misery. In exchange for this, The Darkness gives its host incredible powers, manifested in the game through a number of cool powers. In short, it more than evens the odds when it comes to Jackie versus an army of mafia thugs, but is NOT Jackie's friend or ally. It needs to keep him alive because he is it's host, but has it's own agenda that cares nothing for Jackie's petty interests.

It is obvious that Starbreeze chose this game because they could work with a lot of the same ideas and themes that worked for them in THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK. In RIDDICK, the main character had to keep to the shadows to avoid detection from the guards and because of his strange, light-sensitive eyes. Because the darkness was so important, the way that it was presented and manipulated in the game became a big priority. This is true of THE DARKNESS as well. The shooting is nothing to write home about, although you can dual-wield certain weapons in the game, firing the left gun with the left trigger and the right with the right. If you aren't dual-wielding, the left trigger does a melee attack, like a strike from the butt of a rifle. If you move in real close-like, firing the guns does an "Execution" move, a very cinematic pre-animated kill that is different based on what weapon you use, the angle that you approach them from, and so on. Very cool. Other than that, it is pretty standard stuff, really. But once you get the powers of The Darkness, things become purely delectable. Activating The Darkness causes shadows to envelope you, and two lamprey-like appendages rise from over your shoulders, full of teeth and barely restrained malevolence. When there are people nearby the heads will turn towards them and snap, as if eager for their flesh. In addition these heads can rip the hearts out of foes and devour them, which automatically refills your Darkness Powers. Devouring hearts also increases your Darkness Level, which allows all of your powers to work longer and grow more powerful. Also, just by having The Darkness active, the shadows pouring from your flesh take on substance and absorb much of the damage from attacks. All Darkness powers, including the shield, use darkness energy, which you absorb automatically just by hanging out in the shadows. The tentacles visibly drink in the shadows around you, and there is a cool effect in that the amount that their eyes glow reflects how much power you have left. The color that their eyes glow tells you what power is active. It is subtle, very cool, and keeps the visual cues on the HUD (heads up display) to a minimum, leaving the screen clear for the great graphics.

The Darkness also gives you a handful of other great powers, including The Creeping Dark, which allows one of your tentacles to roam freely under your control, so that you can use it to reach hidden and enclosed areas, open doors, and even kill foes. The Creeping Dark can even climb along walls and ceilings as easily as the floor. Demon Arm is another great ability, which allows you to use a tendril of pure darkness to impale, lift, throw and batter enemies and objects. The Darkness Guns allow you to use the dark itself as ammunition, which is more powerful than regular ammo will kill certain regenerating enemies permanently. And the last power, The Black Hole, allows you to create a miniature vortex of pure dark energy, which draws all enemies in the area in, batters them around, and scatters their mangled corpses. Good times.

But perhaps the most fun thing you can do with The Darkness is summon Darklings. These lovable, bloodthirsty little scamps are projections of The Darkness itself, capable of independent action, movement, and violence. There are four different kinds of Darklings: the Berserker just charges enemies and beats, throttles, or mangles people to death. In addition, you can find different outfits for the Berserkers which gives them unique looks and attacks: for example, the construction worker outfit gives them coveralls and a saw with which to remove people's heads, while the potato sack gives them a rusty sword with which to stab and maim. The Gunner Berserker is armed with a mini gatling gun, and can mow down enemies from afar. Kamikazes charge enemies and barriers and then blow themselves up. And Light Killers electrocute enemies and blast blow up sources of light. They are just horrible little things, and some of the game's greatest moments. As they wander the streets they will mock dead enemies, pee on them, and kick them. They will also hunt down and kill any pedestrians, as well as climb buildings, go in through peoples' windows, and then throw the occupants out the windows into the streets below. It is hours of entertainment for the whole family. The number of ways in which you can dismantle and humiliate enemies is just wonderful. The only downside is that once enemies are dead, their corpses become stiff and unnatural in the way that they fall down, rest against the environment, and react with the physic's engine. This can lead to some unnatural and unnerving post-mortem moments.

The graphics are also nothing short of amazing, and may be the first thing that people notice or remember about this game (at least if they don't actually sit down and play it, anyway). The character models are impressive, and it is obvious that a lot of motion capture went into making sure that they look and move like real people. Light reflects dynamically off of all surfaces, and everything casts realistic shadow, something that is important for a game in which light and shadow, both as a reality and a metaphor, are so important. The walls and subway tunnels of the city all show wear, filth, and graffiti, trash blows through the streets, and the fluorescent lights buzz and flicker; this world is absolutely convincing in its decrepitude. The graffiti is especially nicely done, as Starbreeze hired actual graffiti artists off the street. The had them create their art on white-washed concrete walls, then photographed the art from every angle and putting it into their computers. They then turned these images into a texture that they could digitally manipulate and insert onto any surface. The result is utterly convincing. There are televisions scattered throughout the world that you can actually sit down and watch entire old shows and movies off of: at one key moment I sat down and watched TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD in its entirety (you don't have to, but I hadn't seen it in a while). And when The Darkness is active, it is even more impressive, as the shadows, which were once impenetrable, now seems to shine with a liquid purple light, an effect eerie in its beauty; you would have to see it in action to appreciate it. The little details are most impressive, like how blood pools and sprays realistically, or how your shell casings bounce off the surfaces. The different Darkness powers are especially detailed and amusing. For example, I once saw a Darkling trying to dry hump a see-saw. And sometimes the two tentacle-head-things will fight over a heart that you just ripped out (although the head on the right always seems to win).

Besides combat there is a lot to do and see in the game, as you can do side missions to help the locals out and get yourself allies, explore areas that you either didn't get to see terribly much because you were too busy fighting through them to appreciate them, and look for secrets. The secrets in this game take the form of phone numbers that you can find scattered throughout the whole game or get from other characters for doing sidequests. After finding the collectable, you must locate a phone and use it to enter the number; each one yields a funny, strange, and/or disturbing answering machine message, as well as unlocking a piece of bonus material, like issues of the comic-book series and it's offshoots, concept art, videos, and more. There are also number written on walls, signs, and hidden in posters. Punching these numbers in is a quest unto itself, as the person on the other end of the line sends you on a merry chase to find more numbers and discover his "earth shattering secret". It doesn't yield anything in game, but is an amusing and engaging diversion. All in all, there are dozens of side quests, 100 collectables, and about fifty "secret" numbers, as well as promotional codes and the like. You shouldn't run out of things to do for a while.

There is a robust multi-player in addition to the single player campaign, should you ever tire of slaughtering minions by yourself. If multiplayer is your thing you will find plenty here to entertain you, but really it is nothing that you haven't done in other games. There is the normal sort of death match/Capture the Flag sorts of scenarios, and the action is fast, brutal and engaging. The main draw of multiplayer, however, is that only in this mode will you get the oportunity to play as a Darkling. This is an experience that doesn't get old terribly fast, since they have abilities and features that you just can get anywhere else. And honestly, who wouldn't want to play as an ultraviolent, sadistic killing machine allied to a Lovecraftian evil? Not wanting to be a Darkling is just un-American, as far as I'm concerned. I can't back that up with facts or references to the Constitution and/or the Bible, but I'm fairly sure I could argue the point effectively in a court of law.

Back to single player, which is really what this is all about: the story itself is interesting, and the characters and the world they live in complex and engaging. Jackie is played by Kirk Acevedo, who does a stellar job of making Jackie sound tough, lovable, ironic, and dangerous. Jackie has some of the mostimpressively violent and funny lines in video games, and Acevedo pulls them off perfectly (example: "Because if you don't, I'm going to reach down your throat and pull a rabbit out of your ass". Another example: "I got my first kiss in the subway. She was a hooker named Candy. She crossed her legs and broke my sunglasses. Good times".) Paulie is played by Dwight Schultz, who makes Paulie sound convincingly tough and psychotic. Besides Jackie and Paulie, the cast includes the great love of Jackie's life, Jenny Romano. As if I didn't love Starbreeze enough, they cast Lauren Ambrose as Jenny, whom I love like some people love puppies, sunshine, and Jesus. Besides being a smart, funny, and lovely redhead, Lauren Ambrose also starred in the hit HBO drama series SIX FEET UNDER as Claire, and was brilliant. But I digress. Jenny is the only light in Jackie's world, but there is one snag; she doesn't know that he is a hitman. Ambrose does a great job of infusing Jenny with life and goodness, making you fall for her right along with Jackie. In addition there is Eddie Shrote (played by James Mathers), a thoroughly unpleasant and crooked chief of police in Uncle Paulie's payroll, Aunt Sarah (Norma Michaels), who is the widow of the previous Don of the city, who loves Jackie and believes in the old ways, and a supporting cast of great crusty old mobsters with names like Jimmy the Grape (Alex Mann). And I will always hold a special place in my heart for Butcher Joyce (played by stoney-voiced Mike Starr), a "clean-up guy" for the mafia who disposes of his bosses' hits in a manner suggested by his name. Put perhaps the most impressive was former Faith No More lead singer Mike Patton as the voice of The Darkness. The Darkness growls, hisses, wheedles, whines, and threatens, sounding like the very voice of hunger and hatred, and yet Patton didn't have to use a single voice filter to pull off the frightening and nuanced performance. In addition, almost every major and minor character in the game is voiced by a different voice actor, which is impressive when you realize there are over fifty of them. Unlike certain parts of THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK, you never feel like you are hearing the same voices over and over. The sound effects and foley work are equally impressive. The only complaints I have in terms of sound is when you are trying to talk to someone in the subway; the trains coming and going drown them out, which sucks when they are trying to tell you what to do in a mission. Realistic, but since there is no "What!!??!!" option in the dialogue tree, it sometimes makes it difficult to figure out what to do next. Also, people don't seem to be nearly disturbed enough by the fact that you are sprouting bloodthirsty lampreys made of darkness from your shoulders, ripping out hearts and creating black holes out of nothing to utterly annihilate and destroy your enemies. You would think that they would find that demoralizing.

But in the end my complaints are inconsequential and my praise unrelenting, so go out and buy the damn game. It doesn't matter whether you buy it for the PS3 or 360, as the graphics are close enough as to be negligible. The load times MAY be a little better and the frame rates a little more stable on the PS3 (due to the guarantee of a hard drive), but not enough to make or break the deal. If you are a "Points Hound", you should probably get the 360 version (obviously), though the PS3 version has "Accomplishments" that are exactly the same as the 360's "Achievements", minus the points for the Gamer Score. But no matter which version you try, a good time is almost guaranteed if you like visceral action, dark humor, great dialogue, an intriguing story, and one of the darkest themes of any other action game this side of the SYSTEM SHOCK series. Buy it, love it, and then look forward to Starbreeze's remake of CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK: ESCAPE FROM BUTCHER BAY for the PS3 and 360 (newly subtitled ESCAPE FROM DARK ATHENA), due out later this year. Those whacky Swedes are a force to be reckoned with.