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Based off of the nine-year running Top Cow comic series of the same name, The Darkness puts you in control of Jackie Estacado on both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. Similar to Al Simmons (Spawn), the "hero" of The Darkness isn't your typical, spotless "knight in shining armor" character. Jackie is a mafia hit man for the Franchetti family. On his 21st birthday, he has an encounter with an ancient artifact known as The Darkness. This encounter allows him to summon creatures of the night, and use his powers to cause destruction and death where ever he is. The Darkness is essentially the opposite of The Witchblade object (worn by Sara Pezzini of The Witchblade comics), where Witchblade is an object of good that attaches itself to the pure of heart -- The Darkness desires destruction and pain and goes for the darker hosts.
The Darkness the game follows the newly empowered Estacado as he attempts to take down his cousin and the head of the Franchetti family. The Darkness features non-linear gameplay with both first-person and third-person action. The highly destructible locations include the slums of New York City, the subways, harbors, rooftops, and even the Otherworld (where The Darkness comes from). The Darkness is being developed by Starbreeze Studios who are responsible for The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. Also as a side note for all those Darkness fans out there, the live action movie is scheduled for release in 2007, while the game is expected to come out sometime in 2006.
Demonik, Majesco's other next gen title (to come out for the Xbox 360 and PC) is a third-person action/survival horror game slated for release in 2006. Like The Darkness, your character is an antihero. You are of the class of demon that gets summoned to Earth to do the bidding of humans. Every time you get summoned, you have to perform some vengeance-related task that typically involves killing a particular target (and anyone that gets in your way, if you choose). Like most demons of your rank -- you find this hellish lifestyle to be bothersome and a pain. Thankfully, with each summoning, you gain power ... eventually you will achieve your ultimate goal of gaining enough power to break free of your slavery, then the world will be at your mercy.
The story of Demonik was created by renowned horror writer, Clive Barker, while the art and models of this game were designed by Marvel artist David Finch (X-Men, Avengers). In Barker's story, you will wield more than 25 powers. These powers include Hellfire which lets you rain down fire from above and The Devil's Hand which allowed you to grab, toss and jostle enemies and objects as hard as you like. Other skills include the ability to cheat death by possessing humans that are near you. Demonik also features Deathmatch modes via Xbox Live.
Look for reviews of both of these high-octane, anti-hero filled next-gen games on GameVortex when they hit the shelves. |
