Reviews// The Darkness (Xbox 360)

The guys you'll use your powers against are solid, if not astounding. Shoot at them and they'll take cover, don't shoot at them and they'll take you out pretty quickly. The reason I say “not astounding” is that there are no bosses to speak of, so no chance for Starbreeze to really show off on that front.

That's not, however, a bad thing in this case. To keep the narrative flow moving, set pieces - such as chasing a bent cop round the outside of a building while dodging fire from a helicopter – replace the structurally repetitive use of big bosses.

One of the joys of The Darkness is its narrative and pacing. Furious fire fights are punctuated with quieter moments when weapons might not even be available to you. There are reasonably long sections spent wandering around talking to different characters gathering information. These sections have the potential to be tiresome, dull and frustrating, but they're not.

In fact, after having spent a while exploring and having a bit of palaver, the enjoyment to be had in the more action-packed sequences and set pieces is heightened and imbued with a greater sense of drama than they would if the action was non-stop. In essence, the pacing stops the action from becoming overkill.

The reason that these slower points aren't tedious is that the game's narrative is so compelling. As someone who has a passing familiarity with the source material, I expected to find the narrative to be an annoying baggage to be ignored as I waited for gameplay to get going. Instead, I found it intriguing and I had a genuine desire to find out what happened next.

I don’t want to give away any more plot points than I must, but early on in the game you have to visit Jackie's ladyfriend, Jenny, and find yourself watching a film with her. My immediate reaction was 'What the f**k is this!?' However, having thought and done that, the next gunfight was all the more adrenaline-fuelled for having taken the time out. It also meant that, in later scenes, I was all the more shocked by events (which I won't describe).

Furthermore, the twists of the plot are often genuinely unexpected, to the point that during early objectives you think you're essentially playing a different game than it eventually becomes.

A nice touch that complements the game's flow well is in the form of (believe it or not) the loading sequences. Rather than a static screen, players are treated to a series of quietly macho monologues from Jackie that give a gentle nod to The Darkness's comics roots. Similarly, your (many) deaths are punctuated by montages that creepily foreshadow plot points in the game.

One thing that did annoy the hell (pardon the pun) out of me was the map on the game menu; there purely as a very rough guide to where you are, it's all but useless. In the real world portions of the game this proved problematic.

Starbreeze has made the world just free-roaming enough that a map is necessary, but provided a poor one. There are maps dotted round street corners; and the subway that transports you from one area to another features information points – which is all well and good for providing realism – but on a couple of occasions I spent far too long wandering around looking for locations that should have been easy to find.

Conclusion
Should you buy The Darkness? Yes, in a word. It's an intelligent, fun and mildly disturbing game. It's engrossing on a level that goes beyond the frantic urge to shoot the next thing that pops up in front of you, and has a great narrative flow.

SPOnG Score: 82%