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 - IncredibleThis game completely exceeded my expectations. Totally unique and visually stunning, with a GREAT story. I bought it based on the recommendation of a friend, and I once I started playing I was hooked. It consumed all my free time until I completed it. Highly recommended. Rating: - A great entertaining game.I have own this game for a little over 6 months now. I enjoy playing this game and experiencing it's unique feel. The Story of this game makes it separate from the rest of the average FPS. This game takes place in a urban environment. The game plays always at night time never day. The graphics are very nice and the gameplay works well with the game. I bought this game for the price which was a fraction of what newer games cost. The creepy feeling of the game makes it worth playing. This game is an excellent value and worth picking up. Rating:  - Fun for me.Introduction I rented The Darkness based on a score of 80 at Metacritic.com and no other prior knowledge. I didn't even look at pictures of gameplay. Thus, I started the game with no expectations, which may be why I've been slightly frustrated and disappointed, and yet pleasantly surprised throughout the game. It certainly has more potential than the developers thought it did, which the state in which they released it suggests. Story The Darkness is set in Manhattan during the night - I don't remember any daylight. Anyway, the map in the game doesn't remind me of Manhattan, so I'll assume it is fictitious. The main character is a shy Italian hitman named Jackie who reminds me of Eric Draven from the movie The Crow, except without the makeup. The game begins with Jackie doing a drug deal for his uncle Paulie that suddenly goes wrong. The money Jackie was carrying is lost and Paulie thinks it's Jackie's fault and wants him dead. While hiding from his uncle, Jackie turns 21 and inherits the Darkness. With this new supernatural power, Jackie goes after his uncle until Jackie realizes that he's not in control of the Darkness. Now Jackie has to find a way to control the Darkness and so that he finally take care of his uncle. The story is mostly told during gameplay when you interact with other character. Major characters you meet are representatives from other mob families and some associates such as "The Butcher." Jackie develops his character during these interactions, and more development happens with cutscenes during loading times between sections of the city. Here, Jackie may give you some background on himself, some thoughts about your destination or about his current situation with respect to the story; and sometimes, the lonely killer caresses his guns. The story does an adequate job of carrying the game, and sometimes it excels. The only real criticism is the main character himself and his wannabe tough guy mannerisms. They can be slightly annoying. Gameplay The gameplay resembles a first-person-adventure more than a shooter. The reasons for this are because the shooter portion of the controls is very unfriendly, the Darkness is an alternate semi-melee weapon, and because you have to find your own way through the game. The first thing I noticed when I started playing was how weird the controls felt. They felt too sensitive and because of that, I died many times. I initially turned off auto aim, but after dying, I realized that auto aim is a necessity to enjoy this game - that's why it's set by default. As for the sensitivity, I looked through the control options for a solution. I tried adjusting the 5 sensitivity controls, but I made it worse so I returned to the defaults. And those are what I used to play the entire game. Other control issues include looking with the right stick, and shooting with the triggers. Looking with the right stick was weird because when I looked around it felt like a square with rounded corners instead of a circle. When shooting, I noticed that the trigger buttons didn't work properly because pressing them repeatedly wouldn't always get a shot fired. It happens at least once with every clip. Up to the end of the game, the controls never felt right, but it is still playable if you're willing to stick with it. The Darkness powers are fun to use. Not only can you use the darkness to attack, but it also serves as a much needed shield during combat. You can increase its power by devouring the hearts of your enemies, which never gets old. You can also summon up to four creatures, each with a different skill, from the underworld to help you. And when you're not shooting, you can use a tentacle with a head of a demon to go after enemies for you and kill them with one shot. However, it would otherwise be too easy if it were not for one weakness: light. The Darkness powers feed off of the dark, shadowy areas. If you hear a sizzling noise, you are exposing the darkness to too much light. The light lowers their power bar, which is discreet. This game doesn't have any HUD. Instead, the darkness power level is indicated by the light on the demon heads to the side of you. You have to pay attention because it isn't very clear what is too bright for them. If their power bar goes to zero, they will leave you in a very vulnerable situation until you find a dark enough place to resummon them. You can interact with people in a variety of ways. You can talk to them in person. The general public that you meet says something similar to, "We're good?", but other key characters have more to say and will play an important part in the story. Other characters that look like the general public have small errands for you to do for them in exchange for bonus content. You can also call them with payphones, but they will only pick up if they bother you first. They can also page you on your pager - weird. You'd think he would have a cell phone and not a beeper. Maybe it was set in the 90's. You have to learn your own way through the game. It isn't linear because everything isn't spelled out for you. A character may tell you to go to this street, but where is it? Go outside and look at the map. If it's not on the map, maybe the subway can take you there - go look at the subway map. I think this is part of the charm of the game. I got stuck a few times as well, which is something that hasn't happened in a while. The game started out weird -- the main character was strange, the controls were mediocre, and the pace was slow. However, about a third through the game, you go into this dark dreamlike WWII setting where you fight the Nazis. I initially thought it was a gimmick and about how overdone this was, but it all made sense in the end and it made the game much more special because of it. Other Thoughts The Darkness has an ultimate first-person view, meaning you can see your feet. I also like that the character points to different directions with different environmental stimuli. If you're going around a corner, he'll point the guns around the corner as you round it. There are still some animation issues with these features, but they are still fun to see. The graphics are nothing special, and they become poor if you consider how bad the animation is. It just isn't natural. The characters' mouths look like they are muttering when they talk, which quickly becomes annoying. Their heads also move weird. TVs in the game have a few channels with high quality full motion video. You can watch music videos, movies and cartoons. All of these are real film and possibly full length. You can get extra content by mailing letters and calling phone numbers that you find in the game. The extra content you get includes some comic books to read and a bunch of concept art. Conclusion The Darkness is certainly not a triple-A title -- it is mediocre in many aspects including controls and graphics. But if you can put up with its short-comings, it may surprise you how fun devouring hearts and exploring a city may be. Rating: - Darkness Pop Ear.The game was very straight forward and the scenes were excellent. The thing that held me togrther throughout the entire game were the tv's. The cartoons were hilarious the my favorite was the "POP EAR" video music channel with my favorite being "PELLE CARLBERG'S" Riverbank. The storyline was very well laid out. Rating:  - its good i liked iti have not finished the game yet but so far from what I've played i can say that it is a good game, it has an interesting story and it did not bore me so quickly due to the experiences the main character faced. i would definitely recommend it.
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