Short Game Review: The Darkness
I got bored of playing the Chronicles of Riddick games, so I popped in The Darkness—the next story-oriented game I’d picked up on sale—not even realizing they’d been made by the same people. As it turns out, they’re basically the same game at their core: traverse a map which feels “open world” but is really quite linear; do optional errands for strangers; collect pieces of paper to unlock bonus art you’ll never look at; and shoot everyone who you’re not doing errands for.
The main difference, as I see it, is that The Darkness has an actual story, characters that you can may give a damn about, and more variety to the ways you can dispatch your foes (and literally eat the hearts out of their chests afterward). It is more effectively cinematic than many other games that try to be cinematic, working narrative interludes pretty effectively into in-game moments, and using loading screens to give us more of a glimpse into the protagonist’s head. Overall, I’d say that makes it better than Riddick, but it was lacking in Vin Diesel, so perhaps I’ll call it a tie.
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