The Darkness Review

[Father]

Discuss UNK's review here.

[ElPresidente]

Interesting review, not one I necesarily agree with, but interesting nonetheless.

Slightly off topic I'd highly recommend moving away from the idea of breaking game discussion down into graphics, sound, gameplay, etc... all of these elements are intertwined in the gameplay experience and I feel looking at them as seperate entities ignores the fact that we never enjoy them as seperate, our experience of them is as a whole.

Anyway I digress...

While I can't argue with the statements made in the review I do disagree with the impact they have on the game.

Stuff such as the skip animation option only popping up near the end of the animation for instance. If anything Starbreeze should be congratulated for this not criticised. Those animations are the loading screens in much the same was as Samus descending elevators were the loading screens for Metroid Prime. That there will be loading pauses is unavoidable, that Starbreeze thought to make them considerably more interesting through the introduction of animations is a good thing. They can't actually speed up the display of the skip button as that will only display as soon as the content is loaded and there is something to skip to. Giving the option to move forward, especially if Jackie is telling a long tale that you have already heard, is a good thing but obviously it doesn't mean you can skip loading so you can't expect it to appear earlier.

I think the main problem I have with the review is that the game doesn't feel like it is being reviewed on its merits as The Darkness. This is a shooter with an adventure bent to it and like so many other titles that genre stradle it is the game as a whole that shines and not the individual elements that make it up.

Take Deus Ex, a classic in a similar vein to The Darkness and Starbreeze's earlier game The Chronicles of Riddick - Escape from Butcher Bay. Deus Ex had shooting elements that we far below par compared to most dedicated shooters of the time. It had some RPG influences but choice was nowhere near as strong as it was in Fallout.

The Darkness is not a dedicated shooter ala Half-Life and while more weapons and a better movement would be good not once during the experience did I find myself longing for these elements to be in play since the overall game was sucking me in for its - admittedly - very short ride.

What is there simply works in the game context. This isn't a game about throwing grenades, it is a game about exploring the power of the Darkness and in this regard it excels.

However there is no denying that it is too short.

Escape from Butcher Bay was a significantly larger title with a more expansive world (strange considering that The Darkness takes place in New York and Escape from Butcher Bay takes place in a high security prison although if you have ever been to New York... :P) and to see Starbreeze create a title that is just as compelling yet so short is a little dissapointing.

Overall I'd also recommend the game as a hire as you will finish it very quickly and while the unlockables are cool only the most ardent achievement whores are going to see the need to slip Jackie's overcoat on once more.

However where I differ is that I will say people should be racing down to the video store in order to do so. Short it may be but The Darkness was an incredible ride.

Smart, engaging and with a great story to tell, The Darkness is one of the better titles to come out this year.

[UNK]

thanks for the input ElPres. I will say that since you brought the Chronicals of Riddick, into this and i left that game out of the review process because it was just too good compaired to this game, Riddick was a game that I could not walk away from I played it straight out with 4 hours sleep untill I completed it, and it was a bit disappointing to get a game that was made by the same people, that was so short and seemed like everyone that had worked on riddick forgot what a game could be. There were just so many more things they could have done, to make this game a title, that would have contended with other games like, deuz ex, psy ops, riddick,Area 51 etc.. these games all have the same kinds of style, guns with a twist or odd power or mutation theme, while riddick did not. Another reason that I could not include it in the review.

while i do agree that the cinematics during the load screen is a good idea, the problem i have is the skip button was largely useless my reasoning is this if you are putting a skip button in it means you think that the people playing the game are bored and dont want to watch the cinematic. (which i found to be the case) the other problem I found is in replacing the loading screens ( thank goodness they are finally doing this) you dont remove all the rest of the ingame cinematics, did you notice any others? yes just the last one after the final battle but this was also a load screen for the game credits. Oh and yes, I am not counting the moments in game that are cinematics, that happen while you think your playing.

I did find myself wanting a sniper rifle, for all those pesky lights that kept respawning, and it might just be that I have become to spoiled but I like having my Grenades too, even if I dont use them I like having them there if I want them.

yes we are trying out different formatting styles for reviews, will relay the input about that to the powers that be.

thank you for all of the input and for the comments as well

[Wiz_74]

Nice review UNK, i only wish the game was on PC

[ElPresidente]

I'd be more than a little shocked if it did not end up on PC after a while. Escape from Butcher Bay got the PC treatment eventually and I'd say this will too.

[Wiz_74]

we can only hope, I look forward to playing it with KB and Mouse

[Tularian]

Me Personally this game was waaay overhyped. Game Informer gave it an 8.75 which is pretty decent. Thats 1.25 off from Bioshock, they should have gave it a 6.5. Honestly I think they were so hooked on the graphics they forgot they were supposed to be playing a game. Which yes was challenging till you got your darkness powers and the challenge went out the window. Also it seemed to me they were trying to do some RPG/FPS mix thing with those little side missions and such but it made the game boring due to low fire fights and such. First person SHOOTER yep its in there shooter as in shoot stuff which you had loong periods of not doing that in this game. Honestly this is a renter save yourself $60 bucks and rent it

[ElPresidente]

I wouldn't have thought anyone was wowed by the graphics. It is an okay looking game with some excellent use of perspective but it isn't that impressive visually.

The reason I rate it highly and I'm sure this is one shared by other reviewers is because once I started playing I barely stopped until it was complete (not too hard considering how short it was). It is rare for me to find a game I complete without really knowing it. The time just flew.

The only down side I found was the character models and the length. I consider Butcher Bay the better game of Starbreeze's stables but they have every right to be proud of The Darkness in my eyes.