I enjoyed The Darkness

Moioink

I don't have anything earth shattering to say but the other threads for this game are like two years old so here's a new one.

The Darkness looks only slightly better than a PS2 game, the shooting is a little clunky and it took a while to get my bearings in the game world but there is a really good story in there. All the voice acting is convincing even the bonus phone calls and Jackie was a very likeable anti-hero. There are no monster closest scares just a very dark atmosphere and a very creepy tentacle monster to keep you company with its sinister threats. You can be very creative with your darkness powers but you do feel a little too powerful because honestly, when you can slither tentacles around to eat faces and summon black holes on top of groups of enemies dying comes from being careless rather than the game being challenging. The monsters you can summon can be good fun but their AI is too rubbish for them to be very useful.

Overall a good way to spend 15 hours and about £10, you could certainly do a lot worse. I liked the ending and I hope Starbreeze get to make a sequel.

brynstar

I think it looks WAY nicer than a PS2 game. Starbreeze at the top of their game in fact.

Moioink

Slightly better than PS2 is probably hyperbole on my part but it's a huge step down in lighting and texture detail from other games on PS3. I don't doubt it looks a lot nicer on PC though.

Big Classy

I only picked this up because it was done by the folks behind the incredible Riddick game on the oXbox. Well, that and the trailers were insanely good. Seeing those li'l gremlins go about and do their decapitating was just so adorable.

Also, fuck zombie Nazis.

Raiden333

At this point, the gamer instinct of "reload your weapon when the action is over" is too ingrained to make The Darkness's "lose all your loaded ammo on reload" mechanic anything other than annoying.

Basticle

Big Isy wrote: »

I only picked this up because it was done by the folks behind the incredible Riddick game on the oXbox. Well, that and the trailers were insanely good. Seeing those li'l gremlins go about and do their decapitating was just so adorable.

Also, fuck zombie Nazis.

technically they were pre-nazis since it was WW1

Basticle

Raiden333 wrote: »

At this point, the gamer instinct of "reload your weapon when the action is over" is too ingrained to make The Darkness's "lose all your loaded ammo on reload" mechanic anything other than annoying.

man, what? you dont even reload in that game, you just throw your gun down and grab another one from the magical pistol-backpack

Moioink

Basticle wrote: »

Raiden333 wrote: »

At this point, the gamer instinct of "reload your weapon when the action is over" is too ingrained to make The Darkness's "lose all your loaded ammo on reload" mechanic anything other than annoying.

man, what? you dont even reload in that game, you just throw your gun down and grab another one from the magical pistol-backpack

You can reload using clips with the rifles but I never used guns enough to be bothered by ammo consumption. When you can tentacle dudes in the face bullets seem awful quaint in comparison.

Big Classy

Moioink wrote: »

Slightly better than PS2 is probably hyperbole on my part but it's a huge step down in lighting and texture detail from other games on PS3. I don't doubt it looks a lot nicer on PC though.

Are you comparing it to games released now? Because it was the shit back when it released. I do recall reading about how the PPS3 version had a few graphical issues so it could be that.

Zilla360

Moioink wrote: »

I don't doubt it looks a lot nicer on PC though.

Never got a PC release.

mere_immortal

Man what was up with that crazy old lady asking you to jump infront of a subway train to pick up her damn coins.

Also The Darkness wasn't that good an FPS but was a pretty good game in general. I enjoyed the loading screen stories and the telephone calls, even if all you got was some art unlocks, and Mike Patton's VA for The Darkness itself was neat. Also is has the best achievement ever:

snuggle with Jenny in front of the TV.

Darth_Mogs

I got this a long while ago, on PS3, for $12 and only got a little ways in before I got distracted with something else. Definitely not the greatest game, but not a bad game at all from what I played. Definitely left a good impression, even though I can only remember describing it to a friend by using the phrase "And all of a sudden, Bam! Demon powers.", getting lost a few times and munching some hearts.

I intend on starting it up again after I've gone through all the other games I've gotten recently, though, just to see how it plays out.

ANTVGM64

I dug this game. It was retro in it's frustration.

Big Classy

mere_immortal wrote: »

Also is has the best achievement ever:

snuggle with Jenny in front of the TV.

I recommended this game to a friend and told him to do that. Quite a powerful moment in the game given what happens later on.

Basticle

so does To Kill a Mockingbird just go on forever? I think I stoped watching after 10 minutes.

Moioink

Big Isy wrote: »

Moioink wrote: »

Slightly better than PS2 is probably hyperbole on my part but it's a huge step down in lighting and texture detail from other games on PS3. I don't doubt it looks a lot nicer on PC though.

Are you comparing it to games released now? Because it was the shit back when it released. I do recall reading about how the PPS3 version had a few graphical issues so it could be that.

Maybe a bit of both. Either way it wasn't enough to spoil my enjoyment.

Zilla360 wrote: »

Moioink wrote: »

I don't doubt it looks a lot nicer on PC though.

Never got a PC release.

Bizarre o_O

ANTVGM64

I really hated the Emo Robert Deniro main character. I couldn't stop laughing every time he gave one of those monologue things.

LoveIsUnity

This is one of the best examples of using a game to tell a story. I don't play a lot of shooters, but I actually managed to finish this one, which is saying a lot.

brynstar

Basticle wrote: »

so does To Kill a Mockingbird just go on forever? I think I stoped watching after 10 minutes.

Yes it's the entire movie.

Delta Assault

I enjoyed sitting down and watching To Kill a Mockingbird in its entirety.

TubularLuggage

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/unskippable/551-The-Darkness

PolloDiablo

There are people that didn't enjoy The Darkness? That was a great game. It made me start picking up the comic, but it turns out those are bad, so I stopped.

Cannon Goose

I could never quite get a grasp on the aiming in this game. It just felt so clunky that I couldn't play it.

Moioink

Cannon Goose wrote: »

I could never quite get a grasp on the aiming in this game. It just felt so clunky that I couldn't play it.

The auto aiming is really bad. You need to turn it right the way down as the default settings are really silly.

-Loki-

Big Isy wrote: »

mere_immortal wrote: »

Also is has the best achievement ever:

snuggle with Jenny in front of the TV.

I recommended this game to a friend and told him to do that. Quite a powerful moment in the game given what happens later on.

Man. That bit was so awful to watch.

They had Jenny with a gun to their head, and I was thinking 'come on, go all demon and tear them apart'. But no, it makes him stand there and watch as his girlfriend has her head blown off. Just thought 'man, people are going to get fucked up over this'.

Ranadiel

Delta Assault wrote: »

I enjoyed sitting down and watching To Kill a Mockingbird in its entirety.

wtf? that movie is in the game?

Cannon Goose

Moioink wrote: »

Cannon Goose wrote: »

I could never quite get a grasp on the aiming in this game. It just felt so clunky that I couldn't play it.

The auto aiming is really bad. You need to turn it right the way down as the default settings are really silly.

No, I meant I could never get the aiming sensitivity how I wanted it. Perfect Dark Zero had this problem as well - It had about half a dozen sliders just for sensitivity when you really only need two.

I don't think The Darkness was as bad as PDZ but I still couldn't get it to play nice.

AJR

I wanted to like The Darkness. I really did. But after about two hours of it, it dawned on me that I just wasn't having any fun with it.

I doubt I'll ever come back to it.

chasm

It has the single most moment in any game I've ever played. I really enjoyed it and would love a sequel.

Moioink

This generation has made a depressing habit of killing off girlfriends in shocking ways. Don't click unless you know which games I might be referring to:

After Prey and Infamous I was half expecting it. Still messed up though!

-Loki-

It shocks me that Prey is 'this generation'. I played that so long ago. I don't think it even has widescreen support for PC.

Zoku Gojira

Great game. I didn't find the shooting clunky in the least, the auto-aim was very forgiving on the 360 version. And as others have said, it tells a good story, and some parts are really quite moving. Graphically, it looked alright. The characters and facial animations looked outstanding.

Also, there were some really cool environments. Especially toward the middle of the game, which I won't spoil.

Delta Assault

Ranadiel wrote: »

Delta Assault wrote: »

I enjoyed sitting down and watching To Kill a Mockingbird in its entirety.

wtf? that movie is in the game?

Uh huh. More games need to put stuff like that in, IMO. It added about two hours of racial understanding to the overall playtime.

BloodySloth

The Darkness was a great surprise. On top of being a really well told story that used the interactive quality of games to its fullest (the couch moment with To Kill a Mockingbird for example), it got me to pick up and read Johnny Got His Gun, which is a damn good book.

Zoku Gojira

Delta Assault wrote: »

Ranadiel wrote: »

Delta Assault wrote: »

I enjoyed sitting down and watching To Kill a Mockingbird in its entirety.

wtf? that movie is in the game?

Uh huh. More games need to put stuff like that in, IMO. It added about two hours of racial understanding to the overall playtime.

Don't forget the 90 minutes of Sonny Chiba-delivered asskicking which was added to the game's running length in the other watchable in-game movie, The Street Fighter.

Delta Assault

Oh man, is it later in the game? I don't think I've gotten to that part of the campaign yet.

Zoku Gojira

Delta Assault wrote: »

Oh man, is it later in the game? I don't think I've gotten to that part of the campaign yet.

I noticed it on a TV in the subway, very early in the game. To Kill A Mockingbird was just on a different channel.

Bullio

Great game, IMO. I knew the character was an Image comics character (the Image OverPower expansion was fantastic), but wasn't familiar with his story. I somehow missed some of the sidequests on my run through which annoyed me a bit as I wanted to get the achievement on my first run. The only other part that stands out as annoying was running around NYC. It was alright when there were dudes to shoot, but I remember wishing there were a sprint option at times. The final level was fantastic for the "I'm uber powerful and pissed off, you're all fucked" feeling it conveyed.

-Loki-

Bullio wrote: »

Great game, IMO. I knew the character was an Image comics character (the Image OverPower expansion was fantastic), but wasn't familiar with his story. I somehow missed some of the sidequests on my run through which annoyed me a bit as I wanted to get the achievement on my first run. The only other part that stands out as annoying was running around NYC. It was alright when there were dudes to shoot, but I remember wishing there were a sprint option at times. The final level was fantastic for the "I'm uber powerful and pissed off, you're all fucked" feeling it conveyed.

Man, once you unlocked the Black Hole power, you were unstoppable, but it was still so fun watching guys get pulled into it. And your tentacle arm was always fun for impaling someone through the chest and flinging them at someone else.

Delta Assault

One thing that did throw me off at the beginning when I saw the game was the appearance of Jackie. Cause I do read comic books, and was aware of Image Comics' The Darkness. So when I saw the video game, it really confused me to see this guy with long hair and guns, instead of the comic book version, where Jackie was a big muscular dude with most of his face covered by... his Darkness material. His whole body was covered in that sorta sickly organic alien-looking material, just like Witchblade. In fact, I was kinda expecting Witchblade to make a guest appearance in the game. The Darkness and Witchblade were closely connected in the comic books.

So yea... it was weird.

See, he kinda looks a little different in the comics.

Psychotic One

Supposedly the rumor mill on the sequel will bring in the darkness armor and introduce the more supernatural side of The Darkness story. Granted I heard Starbreeze isn't making the next one so we'll have to see if its good...assuming it sees the light of day.