The Darkness ~

[Funkmasterr]

The Darkness review prs!

I'm buying it tomorrow unless I hear that it is horrible!

[Aslanna]

Kudos on the informative thread title.

http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3160484

[Winnow]

At least change the title to "The Darkness" or something and I'll give my thoughts later today!

I need to get just a little farther into the game to be able to comment on the game as a whole.

[Winnow]

Alrighty then.

This game is first rate when it comes to the story. The voice acting is well done and the character animations during in-game semi-cut scenes (you can move the camera around during them but nothing else) are maybe the best I've seen for character motions.

The atmosphere is excellent, especially after you get to the subway and start moving around the city streets.

At it's core, it's a shooter but it goes way beyond your typical gun weapons with the whole "Darkness" powers thing. There are five levels of Darkness but I'm only at the first level.

With the first level Darkness powers, I have three powers:

I'm able to go into Darkness Shield mode which brings out the two demon looking heads on the tentacle arms. This helps protect your character from damage but will drain power as you are hit by bullets, or stay in the light. There are two ways to regain power. The first is to stay in the darkness...you can do this by finding darkness or shooting out the lights to make it dark. I had concerns about this as I don't like darkly lit games but it doesn't seem to be bad in this game. They did a great job on the lighting in the game. The second way to regain power is to devour the hearts of those you kill so it's a good idea to do this for anyone you take out.

The second power is "Creeping Darkness" which allows your character to get into small spaces by using his tentacle arms to "creep" through places like air conditioning ducts, etc. You can't take your entire body through but the arms can do damage and pick things up. Your viewpoint distorts and kinda goes fish-eye while in this mode. Pretty cool.

Third power it creating minions. While in Darkness shield mode, you can see portals that allow you to create minions to help you out. The ones i can make now sort of look like golems. They'll go attack people or help you out with clues. So far, they've been pretty entertaining with their chatter.

You have main objectives and what looks to be side missions so while the game keeps you moving in a planned direction, there are "side quests" to do as well if you want.

I completed my first main objective of getting to my girlfriend's apartment "Jenny". The character interaction seems to be on the level of Half Life 2. You have a few options of how to respond to dialog and there's also a lot of atmosphere dialog that doesn't require you to do anything. There's very good directional sound. When Jenny walks into a different part of the apartment, her voice direction, echoes and level change accordingly.

Nothing really bad to report on the game. I did get a little motion sickness when I first played it a couple days ago. I think that has more to do with a long ass car chase scene that begins the story. Until you get your Darkness powers, it will feel like most other shooter type games. The use of light and dark as part of the game combined with the Darkness Powers separate this game from the pack.

If you like Half Life 2 type games, you'll like this one.

Pros: Good characters (for a game), variance of abilities from guns, atmosphere and lighting well done, controls are intuitive, good voices and sound effects

Cons: It's M18 so when people's faces get ripped off it might scare little kids!

[Funkmasterr]

Thank you sir, I will be picking it up tomorrow after work - all the reviews I have read have been good and yours sealed the deal.

[Moonwynd]

Funny Winnow - I got a strange motion sickness feeling in my stomach during the opening car chase scene too.

I think the game really has a dark and creepy - I love that!

[Funkmasterr]

Winnow (or anyone else) have you gotten to the point in the game where you are first in "the darkness" or hell or whatever it is supposed to be? I am stuck at this part where there is a bell blocking a tunnel - if I spend 10 minutes I can glitch past it, but there has to be another way.

[Winnow]

Winnow (or anyone else) have you gotten to the point in the game where you are first in "the darkness" or hell or whatever it is supposed to be? I am stuck at this part where there is a bell blocking a tunnel - if I spend 10 minutes I can glitch past it, but there has to be another way.

Hmm, isn't the first time you're in the darkness in the cemetery? The little minion guy pushes the car out of the way to let you out and then you need to use your "creeping darkness" (there's a little tunnel air duct type thing above the stairs close by) to get the guy behind the locked subway gate, and grab his key to open the gate from the outside.

Is that the part you're referring to or is it after you get to Jenny's apartment?

[Funkmasterr]

It's after that part

[Show]

It's after your uncle paulie kills jenny, then you kill yourself. You end up in a hell like place where it's like ww2 is playing out all over again.

I can't find a guide anywhere online to dl for free yet.

[Zygar]

Funny PS3 Darkness demo review (NSFW audio)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWS9_nrKOPA