The Darkness is a great story driven first person shooter that can offer much love to both the horror and action shooter fan. It provides visceral gaming that wouldn't be out of place on big budget Hollywood flicks, fast paced combat, a brilliant and driven story and plenty of gore to boot.

You play the protagonist mafia hitman Jackie, who on his 21st birthday is given a present he wasn't really expecting. The possession of a powerful entity known as 'The Darkness'. This provides a slightly different experience than the standard first person shooter, giving the player all kinds of funky abilities including vine-like tentacles that rip bad guys apart to cheeky minions summoned at your will.

The way you can approach the game is up to you. That's one of the games strongest points - choice. Whether you fancy loading up your assault rifle and going in 'commando' style, then that works. If your more inclined to sneak around using the creeping dark (a snake like detachable part of the Darkness), sneaking up on unsuspecting gang members for stealth kills, or use the games very swarve close combat finishing moves execution style, then it all works rather well.

However, this game is not without its faults. Frustrating moments that result in game-fault player deaths can leave you frothing at the mouth, with the entire control system sometimes seeming just a little bit confused with itself. Take for example the tentacle power, which when works is bloody fantastic, used to instantly kill an enemy then holding the button down you can fling them rag-doll style in a never tiring fashion. However this, more often than not, doesn't go to plan, often completely missing an enemy that's squeezing round upon round of shotgun shells down your throat, only to take out a nearby light instead. Leaving you either dead or frantically smashing lights around the baddy.

The same can be true of the minions, who could have done with some more attention. The AI for them seems pretty weak, as they stumble around corners or shoot at things that aren't there. This is a shame, because when they work, they work really well and have a cheeky charm that makes them a pleasure to be around anyway.

Another small note to make is on travel through the game world, which is done by two subway stations used to contact all the major locations. However knowing where you need to go at any one point can be a little confusing, with the game providing little direct indication that people who play games like the new GTA have come to expect. A little more detail in the inventory style objective page would have solved this.

Despite these issues, the game remains a great buy and I highly recommend it. I was left at the end of the game wanting more and hopefully will soon be looking forward to a sequel.