'The Darkness' is a lot of fun, but not perfect

Ever have a game that just hits your spot?

It's the sort of game where you're playing, and all of a sudden you realize that everything about it was tailor-made to appeal to your sensibilities.

That's what "The Darkness" was like for me.

I was playing through the moody first-person shooter, strolling through the New York City subway system and heard a busker playing his harmonica on a landing and knew that everything about the game, from its super-high production values to its intricate plot was just right for me.

"The Darkness," based on a comic of the same name, follows mob thug Jackie Estacado as he inherits the powers of The Darkness, which allows him to survive bullet wounds, eat dudes' hearts, etc. Of course, you also have access to firearms. You soon realize that The Darkness, expertly voiced by Mike Patton of Faith No More, is as much a curse as a blessing.

I was drawn along by beautiful graphics, by some of the best voice acting ever and a really well-told story. It made it all the harder to deal with when the wheels started to fall off the whole thing.

The problem is that the story is rocket propelled from the get go, pushing you through the alleyways of New York City, forcing you forward to a heart-stopping climax. Unfortunately, as soon as you pass that point (about three hours in) you completely leave the real-world setting of the game and are put, basically, in to hell.

Suddenly, the gritty realistic environments and many of the other good elements are just gone. Instead of killing gangsters, you're killing faceless zombies in a world where WWI never ended. It was as if all the characters you had been developing relationships with, the plotlines from the first part of the game meant nothing.

Now, this wasn't a permanent situation by any means and other people may not have been bothered so much. But suddenly, my tightly-wound narrative-driven action game had gone from a spot-hitter to just a solid action title.

It's a lot of fun still, but I think I was just sort of personally put out by what the game became, which is still one of the best shooters on the system in a while.

If you're in the market for that, you could do a lot worse than "The Darkness."

Justin McElroy is a reporter for The Herald-Dispatch. You can contact him at 526-2772 or by e-mail at jmcelroy@herald-dispatch.com.