The Darkness is a game based upon a popular comic book series. Aptly named, The Darkness is well, dark and I mean really dark. The game mostly takes place at night during the course of what seems a couple months or weeks. You of course play as Jackie Estacado, who is a mafia hitman working for his uncle Paulie. You begin to control Jackie after a fairly intense ride through a New York tunnel that ends with you crashing into a construction site. Your job is to kill the foremen, but little do you know that there is more in store for Jackie.

From the beginning everything contributes to the ambience of this game. From the graphics to the dialogue of Mike Patten as the darknessn everything feels exactly as it should. The characters you interact with act just as they would in New York. Every mafia member acts and behaves the way you would imagine such as swearing at you for getting one of their men killed. New York looks fantastic, and everything in the city looks like it belongs. Last but not least, there is nothing is creepier then hearing Mike Pattens work playing the darkness, it sounds as an evil demonic being should.

The gameplay is pretty solid and everything is mapped out nicely on the controller. The controls and action on the screen feels very smooth. All of the powers you get are fun to use, unleashing a storm of chaos among your foes is especially enjoyable. The gun play is alright, some of the executioner moves look really… really ouch. Then there is the minions what I think are some of the best tools of war I’ve seen. They’ll pop out of their dark holes with a little saying. At this point they will follow you around willingly and destroy anyone who gets in your way, but be careful not to leave them in light because they will die fast. My favorite of the 4 types of minions are the Berserkers. Their costumes look great and painful weapons like a saw or jackhammer make destroying your enemies a real treat.

However, with all these positive there does come one major problem; the A.I. is fairly stupid. It could have been done so much better then it was. Despite all of the flare of battle enemies are way too predictable. Though the A.I is the only really glaring issuem it is not the only problem on the Xbox 360 there where a few broken quests that I stumbled upon. Mind you not exactly broken, but became broken when I left an area, then did some other quests to return to it only to find I couldn’t complete it.

The story is very well done, using a mechanic I have not seen in many games. When you change areas you will see Jackie in a darkened room elaborating on the developing story or reflective on his childhood at his the orphanage. While at first it seems like a normal vendetta against a mafia leader, but later it turns into a struggle to keep your soul. Overall this is an enjoyable title, though not spectacular, is worth your time and money.

Gameplay……8.5
Graphics…….9.0
Sound………9.5
Tilt…………6.0