Name: The Darkness
Genre: First Person Shooter
Platform: Xbox360, PS3 (Reviewed on Xbox 360)

The Darkness is a fun game. That must be said before anything else. It is solid, strong, and a truly fun FPS. I feel the need to say that first and foremost, because later, it may seem like I am bashing the game – which is true in a way.

While it opens new doors with a unique single player it closes them just the same. When it comes to gameplay and graphics The Darkness stands out. Areas in the game are not very varied and it may remind players a little too much of Condemned, but the level of polish in the character models and just about everything else do not disappoint.

However when it comes to controls the game does disappoint. The shooting feels sloppy and controlling your darklings or even yourself when you assume the evil hentai tentacle form requires more learning curve than should be necessary. Several times while crawling on a wall I found myself glitching through it, or simple unable to get to a point due to bad physics when I should be able to. In one play through I was stuck three times. None required a reboot, but all of them were frustrating and had me pounding every button to get free.

The Darkness is also on the short side – it wouldn’t be hard to complete the game in less than 10 hours if it weren’t for the lack of linearity that the game has. The Darkness pretends to be sandbox by allowing the player to explore the city via different exits in the subway. The problem is even though you can go anywhere it does not mean you are supposed to be there. Because of that there is little to do in areas that you don’t need to be. That issue aside, it is an enjoyable 10 hours.

The multiplayer is fun and tries its best to bring something new to the table. The ability to switch between human and darkling is a nice feature but is far from innovative. The darkling allows you faster movement, wall crawling, and far jumps. While it is more than a cosmetic difference it does little to rally much enthusiasm around the multiplayer offerings. They are stinted much by the horrible lag that accompanies any online game played in the darkness. Every game I heard players complaining about lag and asking if everyone else was experiencing it too. Yes, friends, the answer is yes.

The game has very little lasting appeal. While its single player is worth a midnight romp through, odds are the multiplayer will not pull you in for long.