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The Darkness - E3'06 Hands On Preview
Chris Leyton
20/05/2006
The developers behind The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay returns with a next-generation adaptation of Top Cow Productions comic...
Starbreeze Studios put Sweden on the gaming map with the 2004 release of The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay; a movie tie-in that achieved the impossible, not only improving upon the license, but also allowing Vin Diesel to put in a credible performance as well.
So the funny talking Swedes with great beards from Starbreeze are returning, this time around with an adaptation of Top Cow Productions reasonably popular comic-book series, The Darkness. Named after the central theme within the comic-book and game (along with a rumoured movie adaptation), The Darkness is a power dating back to beyond when human's walked the Earth, passed down a family line from father to son. Manifesting on the hosts 21st birthday, The Darkness provides the wielder to summon his darker side, quite literally, in the absence of light. The story behind the game follows that of the comic-book series, chronicling the events of Jackie Estacado, the current day wielder of the Darkness and mafia hitman for the Franchetti family. The game looks as though it will start at the origin of The Darkness storyline, so if you've never heard of the comic before, the overarching plotline shouldn't pose too much of a problem.
Sticking close to the success they enjoyed with The Chronicles of Riddick, Starbreeze have once again returned to the first-person action/adventure genre with their take on The Darkness. The demonstration began with a short section of dialogue, suggesting that conversation and narrative between characters will be as important as it was in Riddick. It's not long, however, before Jackie finds the police on his trail and he has to try to make an escape.
One of the primary powers of The Darkness featured in the demonstration was the ability to call forth minions from the corpses of your slain victims. Impish in style and with a wicked charm, the Darklings, equipped with tools of destruction such as a saw and pneumatic drill, commit unspeakable acts without question. A further manifestation of The Darkness appears similar to some sort of Venom symbiotic on acid, making Spidey's arch-nemesis look like something from kids TV. Tentacles and demonic heads fill the edges of the screen, devouring the enemy and hurling objects such as rubbish skips and cars - a good demonstration of the carnage possible with a solid physics engine. Finally the player can summon a portal of Darkness, sucking any nearby characters instantly into oblivion with stylish effect.
The Darkness promises to follow Riddick's design by establishing the game in a believable world with convincing characters, developing the game into much more than a first-person-shooter. Combat will inevitably provide a strong aspect of the game, however, with solid gunfights complimenting Jackie's supernatural powers. The demonstration revealed that players will be able to dual-wield guns throughout the game, but also suggested there may be some scope for individual targeting with the appearance of two aiming reticules on the screen.
With The Chronicles of Riddick, Starbreeze introduced normal mapping to the gaming world, setting a new visual standard for first-person-shooters and getting the drop on more distinguished developers such as id Software. Keen to continue pushing the boundaries, The Darkness is shaping up to be a highly distinctive next-generation first-person-shooter. Vo-Cap technology promises to evolve Starbreeze' ability to bring characters to life with exquisite detail, capturing facial animation data when voice actors deliver their lines, to ensure believable scenes of dialogue between in-game characters.
Being restricted to using his powers in darkness and loosing them in light, a strong dynamic lighting/shadowing system seems key to getting The Darkness right. Shooting lights out to create a level of darkness and unleash the powers was a suitable demonstration of the technology in action, suggesting some pretty intense scenarios and an intriguing prospect for Starbreeze to bring a game based around darkness to life.
A slightly less significant, but nonetheless entertaining, new feature is the engine's ability to stream high-quality video footage to TVs within the game. If Starbreeze' claims surrounding the technology are true, we can expect fully interactive in-game TV sets, capable of feature-length broadcasts and multiple channels. OK so the idea of kicking back for a few moments, taking a break from the action, may seem a little implausible; however, Starbreeze have high expectations to meet when it comes to following up Riddick, so we'd expect to see a slightly more functional side to what initially sounds like a gimmicky addition - perhaps in between missions when you're at home, rewarding the player with extra information if they catch a news broadcast for example.
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