In 2004, Starbreeze Studios made a name for itself with the original Xbox hit, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. After successfully launching into a sea of critical praise, Starbreeze shifted gears to the next generation of consoles. In 2005 they announced their next game, a first-person-shooter based on the comic book series, The Darkness. A FPS starring a mobster possessed by demons? It was a risky move, to say the least, but Starbreeze managed to pull it off. Continue reading to find out what makes The Darkness one of the first hidden gems of this generation.

Set in a crime-filled New York City, The Darkness takes its plot very seriously. You’ll notice this immediately from the opening scene, which pays homage to the tram car ride from the original Half Life. But instead of being a peaceful arrival to work, The Darkness opens up to a wonderfully directed, semi-playable car chase scene. Introduced as Jackie Estacado, a hit man for the mob, you must defend the vehicle with your shotgun. Another notable scene involves a SWAT team assault on a building. Scripted sequences like these are a cut above what you’ve seen anywhere else.

One of the reasons that I enjoyed The Darkness is all the cool abilities like the ‘Demon Arms’. The Demon Arms can stab any movable element in the environment, including humans. Carrying people around the level, kabobed on your Arm, using them for clubbing other enemies never gets old. Or how about picking up a car and throwing it into a crowd? Are the cops using their cruiser as cover? Whip out your Demon Arm and hit them with their own car! Another cool ability that you get later on in the game acts like a black hole sucking everything into it. My personal favorite is simply watching the demons rip the hearts from their victims, which provides extra darkness energy to keep them going. Along with these darkness powers, the player also gets the ability to control four different types of Darklings. Think of these Darklings as attack dogs, only if your dog was smoking a cigar, wearing an army helmet, and shooting a mini-gun. Good times.

It’s not just about the Darklings and demon powers. The Darkness boasts your standard FPS weaponry as well. Shotguns? Machine guns? Pistols? Check, check and check, all accounted for. But Starbreeze added a little something special to the shooting, namely execution kills. These are triggered simply by shooting someone within reachable range. Did someone just stop shooting to reload? Run up on him, ram your pistol in his mouth and pull the trigger. What I really liked about the execution kills is that the camera doesn’t cut away from the first-person view. They happen as your playing from the characters point of view. Each weapon has a different execution kill and they will change depending on how you’re facing the enemy. Using combinations of darkness powers, Darklings and execution kills give the combat some major personality to The Darkness’ gameplay.

The Darkness does suffer from some traditional videogame problems like fetch-quests, backtracking and the sometimes stupid AI. Many times the map isn’t as clear as you would like it to be; you’ll often find yourself to looking around at street signs to figure out where you are and then find it on the map. But it’s not enough to ruin the enjoyment I had playing this game. The story is filled with dramatic events, twists, and emotion. I can’t stress enough how important the story is to this game. It’s mature and well told with great characters that have top notch voice acting. The game concludes with one of the very best climaxes I’ve ever experienced in gaming.

Noticed how I haven’t mentioned the multiplayer? There’s a good reason for that. Although it was ambitious, allowing players to take control as Darklings, it was poorly executed and wasn’t worth investing the time into. Don’t expect anything from the multiplayer mode. Skip it.

The unique gameplay elements and story easily make up for The Darkness’ downfalls. If you want something different from your FPS games, Starbreeze Studios’ The Darkness is a must play for Xbox 360 and PS3 owners.