So it takes you over 2 months to make a post?

It has been a while since I started this blog and I've yet to really write anything meaningful, I did start to write a some entries over the last couple of months, but to be honest with moving house and everything this blog hasn't been very high on my list of priorities. It's been an eventful couple of months but I've settled in to the new flat and my flatmate and I are very happy with the place. It's a little smaller than we would have liked since it only has one bedroom, but we've sectioned off part of the living room and my bed is behind it so we both still have our own spaces but we still have a living room. It's also meant that I can get back into my favorite pastime, video games.

It seems there is at the moment a very large focus on Bioshock but the game I've been playing most recently is The Darkness. Put simply I think it's the best first person shooter I've played since Half Life 2, it has a very engaging story, fantastic gunplay and environments that are incredibly detailed. Jackie, the main character in the game, acquires various "darkness powers" throughout which can be used to devastating effect in battle. My personal favorite is the ability to use the creatures' talon to pick up objects, smash lights and impale enemies. These abilities add to the experience however sometimes it can feel like they are making up for the rather dull collection of firearms you gather while playing.

The dark is very much your friend in this game since the light hurts the creatures which provide you with some extra shielding while you are using them. The game seems to take place during almost perpetual night so you can darken areas simply by shooting out sources of light. There is a limited period of time you can spend in the light while using the creatures but during this time they loose their darkness energy which means you can't use their powers if you stay in the light for too long.

For most of the game I used a combination of the darkness powers and pistols, however I don't see this as a bad thing. The weapons are quite well balanced and you find more powerful weapons such as SMGs and assualt rifles as you progress, I just like the accuracy of the pistols. Jackie always dual wields his pistols, the left and right triggers are used to fire the appropriate weapon, however while the appearance of the pistols changes as different guns are retrieved from downed enemies, the differences are entirely cosmetic. During the reload animation these pistols sometimes change which can be really confusing at the start of the game but after a short while you get used to it.

The strength of the enemies in The Darkness doesn't really change, two shots to the head with pistols generally kills most of the enemies in the game, hence using the pistols so much. For some reason, this is a style I have grown to prefer, instead of fighting tougher and tougher creatures situations are made more interesting by having more enemies in harder to reach places.

One of the things I really liked about The Darkness was that there are people walking around who you can help out if you choose to do so. I don't think it has any impact on the story but it's a really nice touch since it also helps to flesh out the universe a bit and make the game's world feel more alive and filled with people. I don't want to give too much of the game away to anyone who hasn't played it yet, but if you haven't I would thoroughly recommend it if you like first person shooters with a focus on story.

//Xi