Due to more mainstream acceptance, as shown by staggering 125+ million total Nintendo DS sales reported in 2010, and the huge increase in games sales, with reports suggesting that the industry could be worth $68.3 billion by 2012, the games industry has become an incredibly competitive and volatile place to be. You have us journo-types trying to get the latest scoops, developers pushing to create the best games and publishers raking in as much money as humanly possible, all while suing the pants off of eachother – ala Activision and EA. Inevitably, within such a hostile environment, with companies constantly trying to out do, out promote and out sell eachother, a few games do go unnoticed and don’t get enough of the praise that they so richly deserve. Hence this series of articles, created to highlight those games that “flew under the radar”.

But this instalment of “Thoroughly Underrated Games You Probably Should Play” is a little bit different.  This is about a game that was never panned by the critics, but instead awarded solid appraisals from reviewers.  Certainly, the critical acclaim that heralded its release is not something you would associate with an underrated gem.

I am talking about Starbreeze Studios and 2K Games’s, The Darkness, a game which was released to such high praise, yet nobody seems to remember it actually existing… apart from me, of course.

Unfortunately, it looked like The Darkness was going to fall into the category of “games that should have sequels but probably won’t get one”, accompanying the likes of EA’s ‘Mirror’s Edge’ and Capcom’s ‘Killer 7′ in the wasteland for games the industry forgot.

It looked like The Darkness would be discarded into the pile of games time forgot.

That was until the 8th of February (2011), when it was announced that The Darkness 2 was on its way. Along with a brand new developer at the helm and award winning writer, Paul Jenkins returning to pen the story, The Darkness 2 will pay homage to the comic book roots of the original narrative with a brand new cell shaded graphical style, picking up 2 years after the events of the original game.

So, what better time than now to go back and refresh your memory and catch up in time for numero 2?

The Darkness is perhaps one of the most unique titles to come out in the last decade. The concept of fusing supernatural elements with a Mafioso lifestyle is truly original.

From its outset, The Darkness is steeped in, well…. darkness. The games overall ambience imbues a mood not dissimilar to film noire cinematography, producing a setting that is gloriously moody, atmospheric and drenched in mystique. This is achieved by combining every element of the games presentation to produce a setting that is claustrophobic, immersive and engaging.

The Darkness is a dark, twisted tale of power, love, revenge and the supernatural, portrayed in way that heightens the games darkest, emotionally engaging moments. Its graphical style is by no means a simulation, but that doesn’t mean it looks cartoony and comical – The Darkness is indeed a mature game for mature gamers. What you get is a highly stylized affair that is almost an homage to its comic book origins. With its noire-esque twists, The Darkness is reminiscent of Frank Miller’s ‘Sin City’ series.  It’s mysterious and gritty with visceral undertones, that are best described as beautiful (despite being years old, at the time of writing it still looks glorious) yet brutal.

Gritty and brutal is the order of the day.

Completing the package is the games sound. From its sublime soundtrack, to the stellar voice acting performances (Mike Patton’s work as the voice of The Darkness  is a stand out performance), the games overall ambiance is richly deserving of the plaudits it has been given. Lines are delivered with so much character and personality, breathing further life into an already unique and compelling story, and its soundtrack is slick, smooth and authentic. All this contributes to enhancing the mood and providing the ideal accompniment to the rollercoaster ride that is, The Darkness.

And boy, what a rollercoaster ride it is! From it’s most heartfelt moments of tragedy to it’s episodes of amped-up action and revenge, The Darkness is a thriller in every sense of the word. The game’s dialogue and characters may occasionally become a little cliche, but the combination of time travel and supernatural elements produce a game that is fresh, distinctive and anything other than an unoriginal Mafia revenge story.

Thankfully, it’s not a case of style over substance either, as the same level of polish and care that’s gone into the game’s overall presentation and story, shines through in The Darkness’s gameplay. As a First Person Shooter, The Darkness is more than competant, and just like its story, the way in which The Darkness weeves supernatural elements into its gameplay sets it apart from other FPS experiences.

The game's supernatural twist helps deliver and unique FPS experience.

The way the game empowers you is gratifying to say the at least, you are after all playing a possessed man hell bent on revenge. Decimating any foe that is brave/unfortunate enough to get in your way is incredibly satisfying as you are given the freedom to off them however you want. Sure, you can run and gun your way through the game, but harnessing the powers of The Darkness can lead to more satisfying ways of killing your enemies.

What’s more, each power also affects the manner in which you play the game. For those wanting a stealthier experience, unleashing one of The Darkness’ tentacles, to scurry up walls, through air vents, and behind enemies, ensures they will never see you coming. Just beware of the awkwardness of the controls when using this power. For the more aggressive players that prefer to see the whites of their enemies eyes before they die, you can command The Darkness’ tentacles on your shoulders to rip the faces of your foes at close range.  Even those that want to balance the numbers can do so by summoning a variety of different Darkness Minions to aid you. Each type of minion comes with a different arsenal of weaponry, making you use each type in a different way. The only drawback to summoning minions is that they are AI controlled, meaning that you’re relying on the intelligence of the AI which leaves a little to be desired, but is comeptent nonetheless.

The minions add an extra gameplay style to the game, but they sure aren't the sharpest tool in the toolbox.

That’s not to say The Darkness is a complete walkthrough however, in fact its perhaps a bit too difficult at times, especially during later levels. You aren’t simply a bullet sponge, taking hits decreases your health fairly dramatically, making big fire fights particularly troublesome. But it’s the way in which the game uses light and dark in order to limit your powers which is even more challenging.

For all the incredible power you have, The Darkness stops itself from becoming a walkover by using light sources to keep your powers in check. Your Darkness powers are severely weakened by well lit up areas in the game. This of course makes encounters with the enemy in broad daylight trickier but it also adds a strategic layer to the game as you go out of your way to shoot up any light source illuminating the way, leaving you cloaked in darkness. As a player you are forced to think about your surroundings before you make your attack.

It’s a crying shame that The Darkness, despite clearly being a BRILLIANT game, isn’t up there with the likes of Bioshock as a truly unique FPS exclusive. Perhaps The Darkness 2 will be the series breakthrough game? Only time will tell, but I suggest you pick up a copy of The Darkness 1 before you check out the forthcoming sequel, it’s definitely a forgotten about gem.

-Kieran Roycroft

Hello! And welcome to the long over due second episode of Thoroughly Underrated Games You Probably Should Play, a series of articles from The Newb Review where we recommend some bloody good games that have been far over-shadowed, often by games with lower quality, but higher marketing budgets. Episode 1 (an article on the fabulous game Henry Hatsworth in The Puzzling Adventure, found here: http://rt.nu/9jissu) came out some time ago. However, as something of a new year’s resolution, our very own Crofterz has made it his mission in life to unearth these valuable gems for you, our beloved newbs.

So, it’s 2010… Another few years and it’ll be Back To The Future, but first of all since this is the first T.U.G.Y.P.S.P of the year (even I get tired of typing the full name out sometimes), lets take a quick look back at a few games from last year that might have slipped under your radar. Not only did we have a trillion (scientifically accurate number) great, big budget titles to keep us occupied, but the indie and arcade circuits had a tremendous year too. We were treated to Shadow Complex, Splosion Man, Flower, Flock!, I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1N IT!!!1 and Johnny Platformer’s Biscuit Romp as well as some fabulous remakes, ports and reboots (Trials HD, and Battlefield 1943 anyone?). That’s without even mentioning Alien Breed Evolution, Wolfenstein 3D and The Secret of Monkey Island too.

So it was a great year for arcade titles. And with so many high quality games, there were bound to be some hidden gems that very much went under the radar. LucasArts’ latest arcade offering, Lucidity, is a prime example of this.

So, why should you all go out in your masses and buy Lucidity?

Well to put it quite simply, Lucidity is as good as all the other must buy arcade juggernauts such as Braid (which you’ll hear me mention a lot in this article), Splosion Man, Flower and Castle Crashers. But it has never reached the dizzying heights of acclaim that these four titles have.

For starters, Lucidity is absolutely mesmerising. As soon as its fired up, the game greets you with an awe inspiring, hand crafted, cut-out paper graphical style which not only helps add more mystery to the game but is just beautiful and unique. This game has an art style reminiscent of the Paper Mario games, but this looks better by a country mile. Lucidity is highly polished and full of personality: everything from the cut scenes to the in-game graphics are lush, vibrant and absolutely gorgeous. Each new level is distinct and different from the last, yet just as magical and beautiful. It’s difficult to stop banging on about how brilliant this game looks… but for the sake of this article we should move on to something else that’s great about the game… the music.

The art style is nothing short of amazing

Rarely do I pay attention to the music within a game unless it’s bad (am I the only person who found the music in Braid absolutely infuriating after a while?). But the music in Lucidity, much like its graphical style, is beautiful and full of personality. The game manages this without neglecting subtlety, thus playing the game is a lot more of an enjoyable experience. It makes a nice change to not have loud noises and music constantly tearing at your face like a pack of wolverines. Not only does the music help to keep an aura of mystery around the game, but it never descends into tedium and annoyance, which is something of a godsend nowadays. It’s all so hypnotising, like when you sit down to play a brand new game and end up losing an entire day playing, you despicable little hermit!

This is all well and good, but music and graphics are usually just the icing on a lovely gaming cake. The meat (a meat cake? Now there’s a lovely thought) of a game is the story and gameplay. Thankfully, Lucidity doesn’t disappoint in these departments either. The story is simple and charming, meaning it is not only a game for adults, but your little offspring wouldn’t find it hard to pick up the game and have fun.

The games revolves around the main character, a little girl named Sofi, whose grandmother reads her stories every bed time. The game starts with Sofi just dropping asleep after another bed time fairytale, when she reawakens within a dream world (the whole game is essentially set within her dream). Sofi stumbles across a red firefly, who is then eaten by a frog; who promptly runs off.

The premise of the game is basically the girl chasing the frog from one end of the level to the other to try and get the red firefly back. It sounds absolutely bonkers and it may sound a little bit rubbish, but apparently it’s all a metaphor for Sofi having to deal with the death of her grandmother. Except I don’t actually remember her grandmother dying.

The story, backed with the great graphical style and sound makes for a game that is both hypnotic and addictive. The mix of simplicity and ambiguity roots in a mysterious tone: who is this girl? Where are we? What’s going on? So many questions, yet there isn’t even a whiff of pretentiousness; something I unfortunately cannot say for Braid. In fact, Braid is in many ways quite a close comparison to Lucidity.

The only thing about Lucidity that isn’t utterly unique is the gameplay itself. It  isn’t as original, refreshing or as clever as the gameplay in something like Braid. But this still isn’t the type of gameplay you have the chance to experience very often in the current gaming climate.

As the girl moves from one end of the level to the other she will encounter obstacles and enemies. The basic aim is to use objects to avoid enemies, overcome the obstacles and collecting fireflies, scattered around everywhere, to unlock the next level. It’s all so reminiscent of the good old Lemmings days. Whilst Lucidity is slightly less engaging than Lemmings, it makes for a far more relaxed and casual play experience. Again, this is something of a godsend in a climate where games are desperate to hold your attention at all times.

Gameplay isn't as refreshing or different as the graphics or sound, but this is a hark back to older days; a type of gameplay forgotten in the modern gaming climate.

Lucidity is the perfect example of a game you can pick up and play for as long as you so please. You can play as much or as little as you want. You really feel in control and can play at your leisure. This all makes for an incredibly enjoyable gaming experience.

So there you have it, the first Thoroughly Underrated Game You Probably Should Play of the year. Some people are bound to disagree, but then again some people are bound to be idiots so… I guess that’s life. Yes it may seem a bit a childish game and it is, but isn’t there still a place for a bit of innocent fun nowadays?

Lucidity is available both on PC, through Steam, and Xbox 360, through the Xbox Live Marketplace.