Product Description

The Darkness is a gritty, first-person, action-adventure game with a horror twist. On mafia hitman Jackie Estacado's 21st birthday, the awesome and terrible powers of the Darkness awaken within him.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #332 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Take 2
• Released on: 2007-06-28
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• ESRB Rating: Adults Only
• Platform: Xbox 360
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Multilingual
• Dimensions: .26 pounds

Manufacturer's Description:
The Darkness video game is based on TopCow's cult comic hit of the same name that was written by famed comic-book author, Paul Jenkins, and co-created by famed comic-book artist, Marc Silvestri. The story for The Darkness video game was also written in collaboration with Paul Jenkins.

The Darkness is a gritty, first-person, action-adventure game with a horror twist. On mafia hitman Jackie Estacado's 21st birthday, the awesome and terrible powers of the Darkness awaken within him allowing Jackie to wreak havoc on his enemies. In the game, players experience extremely intense and immersive cinematic action. Players will have an array of dark and other-worldly powers available, including cannibalizing the corpses of slain victims and transforming them into Darklings - impish demonites that commit unspeakable acts.

Amazon.co.uk Review

Developer Starbreeze Studios seem to have found a niche for themselves creating top notch video games based on licensing tie-ins that hardly anyone has ever heard of. The Chronicles of Riddick may have been a film flop but the game was one of the best first person shooters on the original Xbox. This follow-up is based on an obscure comic book about a Mafia hitman with the rather handy ability to conjure up the eponymous Darkness – source of seemingly unlimited demonic power.

To some degree the game can be played like a standard first person shooter, with main character Jackie Estacado proving a dab hand with a wide variety of standard pistols, machine guns and shotguns. The Darkness powers though are obviously the game’s real draw, with the ability to use super strong tentacles to fling around objects in the impressively interactive game world or act as a shield or even spy camera. The most interesting of the Darkness abilities though is summoning special imps called darklings. These come in twenty different types, from interrogator to kamikaze to decoy, and ensure there’s always more than one way to tackle any obstacle.

The only problem with the Darkness as a power is that it doesn’t work in strong light, which is where the need for more traditional weaponry comes in – especially when shooting out lights to get your demonic groove back on. The graphics are superb (The Chronicles of Riddick still looks better than many low end 360 games) and despite its obscure origins the Darkness itself turns out to be the most interesting thing to happen to first person shooters in years.
Harrison Dent

Customer Reviews

AMAZING
Unlike the other review currently listed, I've actually just finished playing and completing The Darkness. Let me first make one very important point - I've never, ever, felt compelled after purchasing any product to go online and write a review. I always wondered why people bothered. Maybe if it's really good or really bad and you want to warn the public sure, but never if it's mediocre. But this game, The Darkness, makes me want to sit every single person I know down, give them a controller, and MAKE them play it because it's one of those things that you just feel is SO good that everyone should have the joy of experiencing it.

I watched the gametrailers review before I bought it and whilst they were positive, they weren't sure about the controls. Let me set the record straight, they are numerous ways of customising the speed, precision, acceleration and accuracy of the control system. Get the sensitivity right, turn off auto-aim and lower the 'free look' option and you can get it just perfect - so much so that even when I had the bigger guns later in the game, I always favoured the pistols because if you get a headshot, they go down, accurate, satisfying. The graphics are simply the BEST I have ever seen in a first person shooter with NO EXCEPTIONS. Gears of War looked amazing, this is in a different realm of realism - you'll be blown away. The voice acting and motion captured movement of the characters is faultless. But if there's one thing that makes this game stand out as one of the best games I have ever played, it's the story and the way it evolves with you. From the intro to the credits, you move with the story, enveloped in its twists, highs and lows. It really makes you feel like you're controlling the anger and emotion of the main character - experience it for yourself.

Can't comment on the multiplayer - that's not why I bought it. There are so many multiplayer deathmatch games out there, none of them as good as the Halo experience and few with a solid single player, so it's great to have a brilliant single player game on the market.

My only criticism is that sometimes it can be annoying travelling between destinations for those impatient amongst us, but in the grand scheme of things, if you plan what you're doing at each location, it doesn't effect your enjoyment of the game one bit.

In sum - BUY THIS NOW. I'm a videogame enthusiast, I have good taste, I don't buy rubbish and I don't get excited about a game unless it's really good 'cause normally I don't have the time to sit and play. So a game has to be good to get me to sacrifice everything else - The Darkness was it. Became obsessed, completed it, now want a sequel. I only hope Starbreeze Studios read this review and get on with Part 2!

The Darkness: Best game so far this year!
Honestly, I've never had so much fun. The level of immersion and atmosphere in this game is unbelievable.

It starts with a dramatic car chase, which wouldn't be out of place in a mega-budget action movie. From there you can explore the subway station. Lights hum and flicker as you get near to them, people go about their own business, trains come and go, you can even use telephones, call customer services and even watch the TV, change channels, and watch entire films, cartoons and music videos. The level of realism will freak you out.

At the same time the game is so creepy. Ultra-realistic lighting makes the game almost photorealistic at times. The use of sound effects and eerie music, along with the voices of the darklings, will make your hairs stand on end.

The ultimate next-gen experience. If you have a 360, you really must get this game. If you don't, buy one today!

It's Spreading...
The Darkness: a videogame adaption of a graphic novel written by Garth Ennis. This is something that I was not aware of when I purchased this game; I was only aware of the fact that I was getting a 360 and had to buy two games to complete the bundle.
My response when I saw this game in motion when I jammed it into my console was simple: this is the greatest shooter of all time!

The story is surprisingly engaging and, although I won't spoil it's great twists and turns, I'll just say that it revolves around Jackie Estacado, a hitman who inherits the violent, twisted force known as The Darkness on the night of his 21st birthday. Betrayed by his Uncle Paulie he sets out to wreck havok and mayhem - as well as getting revenge on Paulie along the way.

The graphic of the game are superb; first-class FPS shooter graphics and literally no glitches within the gameplay.

The music is also both chilling and beautiful, with a combination of metal beats during the violent shoot-outs with the enemies of Estacado's family and melodic melodys whilst you are travelling about the city and the train station.

Also, it's important to note that this game is HUGE! The main story lasts approx. 10 or so hours, however there are so many sidequests that you can undergo to help out your 'family' that it takes you well into 20+ hours to finish the game 100%.

After playing this I then purchased The Darkness: Ultimate Collection, which - it turns out - shows just how true the game stays to the original issues.

The voice acting - as important as it is for a FPS - is solid and believable, with The Darkness sounding more menacing and demented each time it talks to you.

The violence is also very high in gore and blood. With upgradeable Darkness abilities and finishing gunshots at close-range (which look incredible) you can find so many ways to punish those who are unfortunate enough to get in your way.

This is still my favourite game on 360 - even aboe Bioshock, Dead Rising and Gears of War - and I recommend it to all FPS-lovers.

10/10 OVERALL