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Retrospective Return - The Darkness

Written by Adam Tewkesbury

Wednesday, 09 January 2008

Retrospective Return is a look at older games to see whether they’re worth a revisit. Ranging from unknown gems or bargain bin failures, we’ll revisit any games that we think deserve it.

However you choose to look at it, £40 is a lot of cash for a video game. To get me to open my wallet a game must therefore be pretty special, and for every game that demands instant purchase on release, many more don’t quite meet my mental benchmark. However, fast-forward 6 months and many chart titles start wearing much more appealing price stickers…

Case in point: The Darkness, a summer Xbox/PS3 poster-boy overlooked in favour of the mildly disappointing Bioshock and Halo. At full price I was unconvinced but, come Boxing Day and the sales, a paltry price tag of £13 forced me to reconsider.

The story is both strong and impressively implemented. Having never read the comics some of the more surreal elements seemed initially quite odd (we are talking about a game where tentacles and hungry snakes sprout from your back, after all), but the way the player is constantly drip-fed information is well managed and keeps things flowing. The graphics don’t hurt either, with some really nice effects and an appealingly grubby environment. After 6 months, this is still a great game to show off on a big telly.

To gameplay, and the inevitable comparisons with hundreds of other FPS’s. Two things initially struck me: twin pistols are cool, and Jackie walks slower than a pensioner on ice. This is initially a bit frustrating and remains a pain in wider, open areas, forcing you to take hits because you can’t move fast enough to hide (we’re talking slower than Master Chief, who has never exactly been fleet of foot, and miles behind the roadie-running antics of Gears of War). This shortfall is largely addressed by the arrival of your Darkness powers, however…

You see, when fully imbibed with his evil gifts Jackie becomes a complete badass. Over the years there have been a few games that succeed in making the player feel something akin to an avenging angel- memorably the first Soul Reaver, and the latter stages of Manhunt- and The Darkness captures the same brooding rage perfectly. Playing with the Darkness is nefariously enjoyable and relatively straightforward, allowing all manner of impaling, chomping blasting and executing of mafia types (and the odd nazi zombie- told you there were odd moments!). Animation and special effects including the old favourite “swirling vortex of death” are uniformly excellent and the only fly in the ointment comes from the darklings (little gremlins which you summon periodically to unleash on baddies) who occasionally get lost/stuck/confused when faced with seemingly trivial objects. When they find a target, however, their particular brand of sadistic violence can be disgustingly amusing: as a word of warning, the 18 certificate is well earned…

Bottom line - despite FPS apathy I really enjoyed The Darkness. It’s fun. Cursory research suggests that it is still readily available for under £20, and fans of dark fantasy and story-driven shooters should consider this the first great bargain of 2008.

Retrospective Verdict: Easily findable for cheap, well worth the time in the upcoming summer drought.

Score: 8/10

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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 January 2008 )

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