The Darkness: It's good to be bad

A riveting well written plot and storyline, The Darkness is more than just a First Person Shooter (FPS). Based off of the Top Cow comic book series of the same name, the main character is Jackie Estecado, a contract killer for the Italian mob under his Uncle Paulie. Well, Jackie screws up, and Uncle Paulie wants him dead for it.
Things start getting crazy when you start to hear voices in your head as you desperately try to evade and survive the constant hits being made as you walk through New York City.

The graphics, voice acting, music, and plot are excellent as you navigate Jackie through subways, streets, alleys, city blocks, and even the pits of hell. What starts out as just a struggle to survive soon becomes a mission of revenge, insanity, and retribution as you shoot, impale, cut, maim, and blast your way to your Uncle Paulie.

What makes The Darkness so unique is the overall gameplay. Instead of collecting ammo for pistols, you collect the dropped pistols of your dead enemies. When the pistols (You carry two at a time John Woo style) run out of ammo, you simply drop them and whip out a new set of pistols in the used ones place. Shotguns, assault rifles, and sub machine guns are also added to your arsenal, the barrels of your firearms actually leave smoke trails during and after you fire them.

But the real joy is the ability to wield The Darkness. Not much is known about the demonic entity that has invaded Jackie's mind and body, but it will not let Jackie die. No matter how severe an injury is, The Darkness will work at mending the injuries as Jackie's consciousness descends to a hellish landscape unlike the trenches and no-mans-land of the First World War. The Darkness needs the shadows to replenish it's energy by "Eating" the darkness. So you find yourself shooting out street lamps and any other sources of light to have the upper hand and advantage over your enemies. The longer you stay in the light, the weaker the darkness will become.

With The Darkness, Jackie can impale enemies with the "Darkness Arm", summon various types of "Darklings", ranging from "Light Killer" who can blow out light sources to help protect and strengthen the darkness. "Berserker" will leap onto the closest enemy and rip their faces off, "Kamikaze" will self detonate in a group of foes, and "Gunner" will unleash a halestrom of minigun bullets at the oncoming opponents. But like The Darkness, Darklings thrive in the dark, and need to be kept in the shadows as well, or else they will weaken and die.

Other abilities The Darkness wields are "Creeping Darkness" which allows Jackie to send an eel-like demon that sits on his right shoulder, out and move freely across any surface, allowing you to scope out areas ahead, attack hidden enemies or enemies in hard to reach places. Another ability is the "Darkness void" which allows Jackie to create a black whole vortex that sucks everything into or towards it, then releasing it all in a concussive force.

Staying the darkness is not as easy as it sounds, especially when under attack in well lit areas like neighborhoods and populated buildings. Your enemy soon learns of your dark gifts, and begin to implement spot lights and flood lights to hamper and disable your abilities. This is where suspense and strategy come into play.

After awhile, you soon learn that this "Gift" that The Darkness has bestowed you, is more of a curse than a blessing. It can take control of your mind and actions at will, being overly violent and brutal in it's methods of disposal. It talks to you as you try to differ what is the right and wrong thing to do, making you second guess your choices and actions. Is The Darkness lying? Or are your comrades lying? It gets to the point where you have to decide if you're going to let The Darkness take over, or if you are willing to sacrifice yourself by forsaking The Darkness and going on your mission on your own.

Once again, a very driving and well made script and plot made by Garth Ennis, the writer for classics such as "Preacher" and "The Punisher", this game and storyline will have you on the edge of your seat, debating with yourself, whether or not The Darkness is a curse or a blessing.