Choose any multiplayer mode the game has to offer and it shows only one thing: there’s not a single frag-fest being played online. How then am I supposed to know first hand if The Darkness‘ multiplayer is any good? Sure, the lack of people playing it online may speak volumes, but not being able to experience playing the FPS with others is a letdown.

After doing a bit of digging, I discovered that The Darkness’ multiplayer has a good dose of lag and that some reviews advised to ignore multiplayer altogether until a patch to address the problem is released.

At first glance, the lineup of multiplayer modes doesn’t seem special anyway. You get your standard deathmatch, team deathmatch, VIP, and other usual game types that you can pretty much enjoy in other multiplayer-focused shooters.

Single player it is.

Image of The Darkness is courtesy of Starbreeze Studios and 2K Games.

Post from: EveryJoe

The Darkness is a ghost town at PSN

Can you name another game that lets you play a heart-devouring comic book antihero? I bet you can’t because there’s nothing quite like The Darkness, an FPS developed by Starbreeze Studios.

Sure, games that let you shoot people in the face may be a bit too common these days, but the concept of generating power from the dark and walking around with a couple of nasty tentacles is pretty new. I haven’t even mentioned what kind of guy the protagonist is.

I’ve heard of space marines, Special Forces members, intergalactic fugitives, special-armor-wearing characters, SWAT teams, World War II soldiers and the like, but mobsters with superpowers that talk with a New Yorker accent isn’t something you encounter every day.

You play Jackie Estacado, a hatchet man for the mob. He just turned 21. Aside from the obvious mafia connections, Jackie is set apart from the average twentysomething with a sinister inheritance called the Darkness (with a capital D), which manifests itself as a couple gruesome tentacles. Jackie can fire a shotgun just like the next hitman, but the tentacles provide abilities like a shield that protects the host from harm and the creation of a massive, black hole to suck the life out of enemies.

Oh, and you gain more powers when the tentacles devour enough hearts from dead foes.

Things have been great so far. I’m playing through a level that’s said to be “hell” and fight against undead German soldiers from World War I.

Just a couple of nitpicks: the tentacles take up too much space on the screen, making peripheral vision limited. This becomes an even bigger concern when the tentacles gain higher levels and grow in size. But hey, I can’t think of a better way to depict a couple of demonic tentacles wrapped around a human host so screw peripheral vision and gameplay.

I also find Jackie a bit of a sissy when it comes to damage tolerance. Let’s just say I expect a little bit more from superheroes. Sure, Jackie may be a normal guy without the Darkness and the shield it provides, but a couple of shots are enough to send this guy keeling even when the tentacles are protecting him.

Image of The Darkness is courtesy of Starbreeze Studios and 2K Games.

Post from: EveryJoe

Now Playing: The Darkness and it’s brilliant

1UP.com thinks The Darkness is “a more polished game, and the base mechanics work extremely well by the time you reach the end of the single-player campaign. It doesn’t quite have Riddick’s pacing, due to the open city that asks you to find your own way through, but it presents a better feeling of accomplishment and familiarity by the end.”

GameSpot loves the game’s presentation and appeal that “comes from its many different parts coming together in a really great way.” The Darkness isn’t especially challenging though, but all the gore made GameSpot’s reviewer scream in delight.

Yahoo! Games wasn’t too happy, and criticizes the game’s fetch missions that fall between exciting combat sequences. Tom Chick, the reviewer, calls The Darkness a mix between The Sopranos and Clive Barker, but isn’t too crazy about the visuals.

So what do you think about the game so far?

Post from: EveryJoe

The Darkness gets good reviews