The Darkness [X360]

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As far as shooters go, you could do a lot worse than The Darkness. It's a serviceable attempt at combining gunplay and demonic powers, built from a passable this-gen engine, and folded into a story that's a bit more than your average excuse for stringing a few dungeons together. But the whole thing is ultimately disappointing for how much better it could have been.

The story is adapted from a comic of the same name. The premise is that you're a double-crossed mobster out for revenge. Oh yeah, you also have demonic powers. These come to you courtesy of a sentient parasitic infection called the Darkness. The setting is modern day-ish New York City and the tone is characterized by plenty of gory cop-killing, mobster mauling, and eating bloody hearts ripped out of chests. There are a couple of nice changes of scenery that work best if you don't know about them - our lips are sealed! - but for the most part, you're playing The Sopranos by way of Clive Barker.

In a typical battle, you can use guns, toothy free-roaming tentacles, a rigid impaling tail, a variety of summoned demons called darklings, or even a miniature black hole. However, even with the powers of Darkness, you're no Rambo. A few shots can kill you, particularly if you're standing around in the light.

The gimmick is that your powers are proportionate to how dark it is where you're standing. Therefore, much of the gameplay involves shooting out lights. In theory, this sounds like a good idea: take the light/dark dynamic from a stealth game and build an action game around it! But in practice, this just means popping out light bulbs as you go. Late in the game, some of your opponents wise up and bring flood lamps, but these are just as easily shot out as light fixtures. There's even one mission that looks as if you're going to have to fight during the day, but a deus ex machina arrives on cue.