Now that I have played the whole game, I can evaluate my experience with it. Spoliers Warning!
First off, the game somehow actually managed to meet my really high expectations for it (mostly) which is really good cause I was wary of a disappointment. Definitely my favorite single player shooter experience since Gears and arguably better than that in some respects.
To make this easier to understand and more concise, I will go from aspect to aspect:
Story: Infinitely better story than any shooter I have played in a long time. The narrative is actually interesting instead of just being there to justify your next move (for the most part). The story definitely has its highs and lows and the highs are really really high.
There are points in the story where I was overcome by how well events were presented and how interesting the twist was. On the other hand there are definitely weak parts (mainly in the 'other world' ) but most of the main story is spot on.
What further made the story come off as really well presented was that the dialogue and voice acting was actualle believeable instead of game nonsense where you really can't think much of the conversations at all. The side characters are somewhat interesting with the biggest highlight definitely being the girlfriend Jenny who actually comes off as a girlfriend rather than the lame excuse for a girlfriend taht is usually presented in video games. (Plus first video game character with a lip ring in a serious game!)
The most important story is definitely the story of Jackie and Jenny and then the story that evolves between the main character and the Darkness as things really change as the story goes. All I can say is there is a very interesting development in their relationship that ends in a very climactic few parts towards the end of the game.
The game seeps with atmosphere and has a great sense of dark humor that made me laugh several times (games aren't usually this funny).
Sound: Really good and atmospheric music. The music when there everything is normal is pretty good, while the music during confrontations is great. Voice acting is top notch. Especially the guy doing the Darkness' voice, Mike Patton. Apparently he does not do any altering whatsoever and is able to pull off the sounds and voice of the Darkness which to me is just stunning. Totally talented actor in the Darkness role wit h vocal chords that are inhuman.
Gameplay: I will stay away from the multiplayer as it is definitely just an add on and not the meat of the game.
The single player is definitely buckets of fun and intense action. There were definitely some challenging parts. In addition, surprisingly, there were parts where you had to really try and figure out what to do next or you would get stuck (this is really a first in a shooter off the top of my head).
Another great quality that this game surpasses other shooters in is freedom. The game is linear in its main story but all teh events and happenings occur in the world, not in levels or anything and you get info or missions from people around you and carry them out. This lets you do whatever you want to spend your time outside of the main story (side quests, watch movies, or just mess around with your powers and gunplay on the streets).
The most unique gameplay mechanic is definitely the Darkness powers. There are essentially two types: the powers that you can wield and the ability to summon different types of darklings to do stuff for you.
There are 4 kinds of darklings: Beserker who just attacks and kills enemies up close with melee attacks, Gunner who has a massive gatling gun in hand and a 'Born to Kill' logo on his helmet (very cool) and just shoots a lot, the Lightkiller who is in charge of elminating light from all areas and electrocuting enemies and the best darkling possibly, the Kamikaze darkling who just goes up to enemies and blows himself up (plus he's Russian lol).
As the name of the game suggests, staying in the Dark is a major plus. You go around shooting lights out or turning them off to be able to summon darklings in that area or use your Darkness powers. The Darkness is weak to the light and will not survive long in it if it's right under a light. You have a kind of special vision in the dark that helps you see better than normal if you have the Darkness out.
Gunplay is of course there as well, but is definitely not completely outweighing the Darkness powers that seem really useful and a must at times in certain situations.
The AI of the enemies is definitely not great. Could definitely be improved on, but they do shoot you really hard so the game is not a cakewalk (Especially the further you go).
Jackie moves a little too slow for my taste and the aiming is a little off but nothing bad. It's definitely a slower paced shooter and definitely belongs on a console.
Detail:
One of the best things in the Darkness is the amount of effort in details. Tiny things that aren't necessary but are there and add a lot of flavour to the game. From watching full movies on TV to the little weird picture sequences you get upon death to how your two Darkness things on your shoulders act with each other to the variety of heart eating animations (yes you go around eating people's hearts and it is how you level in the game making it a must- definitely a very gory and violent game).
The personality of Jackie comes out well through details as well. Between loading, instead of having long load screens, you get little cutscene speeches Jackie gives that range from dramatic to funny to really badass.
Graphics: The game looks great. It's definitely not the best looking game out there but it definitely looks very good. The design makes the game look a lot better, the way characters are designed among other things really is well done. All in all the game is definitely eye candy because of its great looking animations for the Darkness, reastic looking people (Except maybe for the eyes) and good amount of detail to the environment.
It certainly gives the game a very unique feel and style that is lacking in too many gaems (especially shooters that appear generic).
All in all, I thought the game was a flawed masterpiece. It has little tiny faults that prevent it from being a 10 game for me and take you out of the moment sometimes (no lip movement, unresponsive darklings on occasion and some tiny problems here and there) but it is definitely a game that I can safely say I loved.
I would give it a clear 9 out of 10 if I had to give it a grade and a 9 pretty much means extremely good in my book. Great story, great look, feel, good characters, fun gameplay and the amazing amount of stuff the Darkness itself brings to the game (personality, story, fun and gore) make this game probably my second favorite game of the year.
Slightly ahead of Crackdown and below God of War II. Both of which I loved as well this year. I am usually very hard on shooters, because they are not my favorite genre but this game makes me want more shooters as detailed and as well made as this one is. So much personality that something like Doom for example had zero of (or 99.9 percent of shooters really).
I really think this game and Bioshock are setting a new bar for shooters and atmosphere (but also narrative and detail content) and that it will be even harder for other shooters to impress me after playing this and after I play Bioshock from all that I've seen of it.
Edit: Forgot to mention that the ending of the game is absolutely spectacular. That and another part in the game at the end of Chapter 1 really surprised me as to how good they were and how cinematic and satisfying experiences they were.
Thanks to Blacksaber for the sig!
