One of the best things The Darkness has going for it is its incredible presentation. Typically tedious aspects of video games like menus and load screens are all handled with such style and interactivity that they are actually entertaining. For example, when players die it triggers a level-specific cut scene that shows the Darkness’ refusal to let Jackie escape the nightmarish situation as it brings him back to life at the last checkpoint. Additionally, transitions from one area to another are masked by short vignettes that have Jackie waxing poetic about his situation. Unlockable content is handled with hidden phone numbers scattered on slips of paper located all over the city. Whenever Jackie uses one of the games abundant telephones, he can call the number and talk to a random quirky character, which then unlocks special content like pages from The Darkness comic book. Finally, exposition is handled by numerous in game televisions, which not only show news reporters commenting about Jackie’s recent battles, they offer several channels which the player can surf through, all with their own real life content like TV shows, music videos and movies in their entirety. It’s one of the cooler features I’ve seen in this, the next-generation of gaming, and makes the already gorgeous environments feel that much more plausible. All of these creative touches help players forget that they are playing a video game, and other developers could learn plenty by watching how Starbreeze injects entertainment value into typically mundane game conventions.

One of the subtle things I noticed while playing The Darkness was that I was becoming emotionally involved with the characters due to the superb handling of narrative. Jackie doesn’t just run around and kill things constantly, and while playing The Darkness, players will spend a fair amount of time walking around the streets and talking to pedestrians, bums, and the other denizens of the city that never sleeps. By conversing with others, Jackie learns about side quests in a very natural way, and it helps flesh add texture to an already rich game space. From time to time, Jackie will also perform some basic actions (like blowing out his birthday cakes candles) that further draw players in. I don’t want to spoil the story for anyone, but I will say that the time Jackie spends with his girlfriend, Jenny is one of the sweetest, most human encounters I’ve seen in a video game since Half Life 2.

The Darkness does have its share of problems despite all the aforementioned strengths. For one thing, the shooting mechanic feels a bit imprecise, which is particularly frustrating before you get the Demon Arm since taking out all the lights in a level requires you to be a crack shot. Furthermore, both enemy and Darkling AI seems rather basic. Half of the time Darklings don’t do what you would like them to, and enemies generally pop their heads out from cover like the mafia version of whack-a-mole. Another gripe is that while New York City is presented in an open ended fashion, it feels a bit bare and lifeless in places. The only area that seems to be appropriately populated is the subway, which serves as a central hub for the game as Jackie travels to the different boroughs. And finally, even though The Darkness is a great single player experience, it’s fairly linear and short despite the dozen or so side quests. Most players will be able to beat the entire game in about 10 hours on standard difficulty, but the Hard setting should add a few hours to the experience.

Multiplayer is nothing special. Sure, players can morph into Darklings in the games standard modes of play (Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Survivor, Last Darkling Standing and Last Human Standing.) However, the ability to become a faster, melee oriented character instead of a hearty, gun wielding human doesn’t change the fact that in addition to being extremely laggy, the maps aren’t polished enough to let players capitalize on the gimmicky shape-shifting and lackluster core shooting mechanics. The online play feels rushed and unsatisfying overall, and although its lagginess may be addressed in a future patch, nobody is going to care either way.

If I were to judge The Darkness solely based on its vanilla shooting mechanics, I would brand it as another forgettable destined to slither its way into bargain-bin hell. Fortunately, The Darkness is so much more than a shooter. It’s got one of the best stories I’ve seen in years, is a technical showpiece for the 360, and provides an immersive Gameplay experience from start to finish with its masterful presentation. Once again, Swedish developer Starbreeze proves that they are the kings of the licensed game.