The Darkness review - Xbox 360

The Darkness is a first-person shooter in the Max Payne mode, but with a supernatural slant that makes it stand out on its own. The basic story is a familiar one of a hitman seeking revenge, but in The Darkness, there is a twist: your character has weird and wonderful powers to help him on his way. There has been a huge amount of hype surrounding The Darkness prior to its launch - will it live up to it now that it's finally here? Find out more in our The Darkness review for Xbox 360 now!
Click here to read our the Darkness review for Xbox 360 now!

The Darkness review for Xbox 360
Jackie Estacado has a problem. On his twenty-first birthday, an ancient curse and handily unsubtle metaphor for his inner turmoil incarnates in the form of a mass of black tentacles and urges him into killing people. But it’s not all bad – since Jackie’s a hitman, he quite fancied killing a load of people anyway and besides, his mafia don uncle has ordered a hit on him. Cue a revenge rampage which proves as good a plot for videogame devastation as revenge rampages tend to.
And forget the slight sarcasm in that above paragraph. Yes, if you look at The Darkness coldly, it’s a seriously silly blend of hokum: mafia-hitman meets Mr Tickle with road rage powers. But the game manages to pull it off with enough style and panache – thanks to good writing, voice-acting and design – that you buy into it completely. This is becoming a speciality for developers Starbreeze, who took the potentially rubbish Riddick licence and turned it into one of the most visceral first person games on the Xbox. Similarly when presented with a C -level comicbook license, they manage to make simply the best comic book game in years. Round of applause, guys.

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360Zine is a full, free to download magazine dedicated to Xbox 360 gaming. This issue is packed with previews and reviews of all the hottest Xbox 360 games, all written by UK games journalists. Previewed this month are underwater sensation Bioshock, Grand Theft Auto IV, Fable 2 and many more. In reviews, we've played and rated all the newest releases, including supernatural first-person shooter The Darkness, intrinsically evil RPG Overlord and demolition derby extravaganza FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage.If you're waiting on tenterhooks for the release of Bioshock, then this is the issue for you: as well as a three-page preview, we've been talking exclusively to Joe McDonagh of Irrational about all things Bioshock - you can even listen to the audio interview. All this and much more - check out the Community section, gaming news and all your Xbox 360 questions answered. Simply click to download and you will get the complete magazine with all the Xbox 360 games previews and reviews included.