The Darkness Review
The Darkness is one of those games that just slipped under the radar. I knew little of it until it had been released – I assumed by the name it wouldn’t be my sort of game. I was wrong. I only got round to getting this after realising it was created by the same people behind the amazing ‘The Chronicles of Riddick’ game. That was one of my favourite games on the original Xbox, so I had to get my hands on The Darkness and see how it compared.
The Darkness is based upon a series of comic books by the same name. I’d never heard of them, and still have no idea what they are about so I can safely say that you do not need to have read the comics to enjoy this game. This review is based on the Xbox 360 version – I’m unsure how the PS3 version compares.
You play the role of Jackie Estacado, a Mafia Hitman with morals (really). The game is a blend of your bog-standard FPS, with a mixture of action, adventure and exploration thrown in for good measure. There is a main storyline but the player is left to do what they want, when they want, and go wherever they want to in the city. On paper, this could be a disaster. It works really well though; there is a good variety of side-missions and most of them you can pick up from the main hub of the game – the subway stations.
As you play through the first half hour of the game you become possessed by ‘The Darkness’, a strange monster-type-thing that gives you a range of special powers and abilities. For example, you can summon minions, move things with your tentacles and create black holes that suck up enemies. This sounds really tacky. I realise that, but it works. I was as sceptical as anyone, but it turns out that it works really well and adds a much-needed twist to the usual FPS game.
Using these powers, you make your way through the streets of New York (and a few other places), unfolding the story as and when you please. You gradually learn more and more about your past and ‘The Darkness’. The story is something that sets this game apart (as it did for Riddick on the original Xbox), you really start to feel for Jackie and get involved with the game.
As you make your way through the game you can collect hidden phone-numbers. Go to a payphone and you can dial them up. This is a great addition for Xbox 360 players as it adds to the replay-ability for all those achievement lovers! It also brings out the humour of the developers. Each phone number you call has a witty answering machine message, always good to make you chuckle.
The graphics in this game are very good. Although it is dark the majority of the time, you can still see that a lot of effort has been put in to get such a high level of detail. The voice acting is stellar throughout; a nice touch the developers added was that the voice actors were also motion-captured whilst saying their lines, so you see the hands and bodies of the characters in game, react realistically as they talk.
There is a good variety of weapons at your disposal, and along with your darkness powers you have a lot of ways of disposing of all the enemies. The gore is up there with the best, some of it is pretty sick. When you kill enemies you can have your tentacle-things rip out the heart of your victim!
There is also a multiplayer mode, I have not tried it as I don’t have Xbox Live at the moment. From what I have read though, it’s absolutely terrible – ridden with lag. So I guess I’m not missing much – I’m assuming there will be a patch out sometime though to sort the issues out.
This is a good game. Anyone who liked ‘The Chronicles of Riddick’ will instantly recognize the distinctive design and feel of the game. Anyone who loves first-person shooters, action or adventure games will also find something they like. It’s an absolutely cracking game, full of wit, gore and violence – what could be better!
You can purchase The Darkness on the Xbox 360 here…The Darkness - From £25.79 or for the PS3 here…The Darkness - From £27.00
Colin McRae: DiRT Review
Colin McRae returns for the 6th iteration of the rally-racing franchise with Colin McRae Dirt, available now on the PC and Xbox 360 and in September on the PS3.
I’ve had the Xbox 360 version for the past few weeks, and so this review is based only on the Xbox 360 version, although I’m assuming the PC and PS3 instalments will be pretty much identical.
First thing you will notice when you play this game are the graphics. They are absolutely stunning. I’d even go as far to say they surpass just about every other game (except a few) on the 360. The environments are breathtaking, the cars look stunning and the attention to detail is second-to-none. There is a selection of views you can have whilst racing, there are:
- 2 chase camera's
- in-car view (no cockpit)
- bonnet camera
- in-car view (with cockpit)
- helmet camera
I usually stuck to the bonnet camera, as I found it easiest to drive with. Using the helmet camera is amazingly immersive (especially if you are using the Microsoft Wireless Racing Wheel). You really do feel like you are in the car, and I even found myself flinching when I got close to objects at high speed – it’s such good fun. As you would imagine though, the view from your helmet is slightly limited as there is a steering wheel, dashboard and all the other surroundings getting in your way!
The physics go hand-in-hand with the graphics – again, they are quite simply amazing. You can totally trash your car; it crumples, bends and shatters incredibly realistically. One thing that really impressed me was the way you could manipulate the environments. Usually on games you have tire walls. You hit these tire walls and you might as well be hitting a brick wall. Not on DiRT. The tire walls will basically fall to pieces when you hit them fast enough. Metal barriers bend and twist when you smash into them, rocks can even be made to roll. It’s only little details, but that’s what separates an amazing game from a mediocre one.
As for the game itself, the main career mode lasts for around 120 races, and then you have 3 different championships which have around 50 races in, in total. I’ve not started on the championships but the career mode lasted me around 7 hours, which is a little on the short side but with online leader boards and achievements to be working at, there is actually fairly good re-play value. The races themselves are across multiple disciplines and using multiple vehicles.
There is also an Xbox Live mode (which I haven’t tried) which consists of racing against the clock, alongside up to 99 other drivers. It sounds good on paper, but the fact that you can’t see any of the other racers, nor can you chat to more than 1 at a time makes it seem more like a Live time-trial than anything else. Like I said though, I haven’t tried it myself so it’s not really fair to comment.
The cars handle well; they take a little getting used to (especially the buggies) 
but once you get to know the cars you can really push them. Using the pad the cars are fairly easy to control, using the Microsoft Wireless Racing Wheel they are more difficult but the game feels much more immersive.
Wireless Racing Wheel users should be pleased with what is on offer here. There is more customisation than I have seen on any game yet, which is great because you can set it up just to your like but bad because the amount of options is slightly overwhelming and I spent about an hour trying to get it all right. The force-feedback is absolutely stunning – you feel every bump and knock. Fly over a jump at an angle? Prepare for the wheel to pull a LOT when you land. I’d even go as far as to say that I prefer using the Wheel on this than on Forza. Don’t get me wrong, the wheel support in Forza is amazing, but it’s just not as much fun as DiRT, you can’t fling the wheel around like you can in DiRT.
The only real downside to this game is that the framerate can be a bit hit-and-miss. When there is a few cars on the track you do notice a drop, especially if there is a big crash but it's not all that bad, and it doesn't make the game any worse really. It's probably because there is simply so much going on, what with all the physics and amazing graphics…
If you haven’t already guessed I liked this game a lot! It’s a breath of fresh-air after playing Forza. There is plenty of variation (though I do think that the plain-old rally sections are best) and enough content to keep you going for a while. I strongly recommend you get it, especially if you have the Microsoft Wireless Racing Wheel!
You can purchase Colin McRae:Dirt for the Xbox 360 here…Colin McRae: DIRT - From £25.45 or for the PC here…Colin McRae: DIRT From £13.61