Sunday, September 16, 2007

The Darkness (Xbox 360) Demo Impressions


I went through a few demos yesterday, so I'll make the impressions to each one quickly. First up is The Darkness.

While certainly having it's interesting moments, the Demo for The Darkness didn't do it for me, and I think it's more related to the theme than to the actual content. I have never gotten into mafia themed media, it's just not my style. Mobsters bore me, and while it's cool to get to rip them apart with demonic little minions and Darkness Powers, the game's AI seemed pretty generic and non-challenging to make those less needed.

Basically, I found you could hunker down in an appropriate corner and simply shoot your enemies as they pop out of cover to shoot at you, or at their exposed bodies when they duck behind cover (they're not that good at using it). I found this more effective than using your Darkness Powers since it was simply faster and more efficient than using and guiding Creepers.

Graphically, the Demo's environments looked very nice. I actually though it was the Unreal Engine 3, but I was mistaken. Character models in the narration sequences look highly detailed, but the in-game character models leave a good bit to be desired, and some animations and rag doll models actually looked last gen.

The Darkness did have style, however. It adds a nice twist to conventional shooters, and the intro was unique and cool. I wouldn't rush out to buy this one, but should I ever get really, really bord, I might rent it.

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