In reality, the dark underbelly of the New York Italian Mafia is about as distant to someone living in a Southern coastal city of Australia as it can get. When I think of the Italian community, I think of the local fruit and veg shop or an Italian flag flying out the window of a hotted up sedan during the Soccer World Cup, I know this is a stereotype but this game is all about stereotypes. There is the loving aunt who will do anything for you, the elderly Family friends who are always giving you advice (or asking for help), the young innocent girl who loved you just a bit too much, and the current Don of the family, your arch nemesis. You are the moralistic 21-year-old full of pride with an uncommon respect for the old ways... Oh, and of course, you're possessed by a demon aptly named "The Darkness".

Shhh! You'll wake up the homeless!

The story starts with you, Jackie Estacado, a Mafia hit man on his 21st birthday. You have done something to really get under the skin of the local Don, your Uncle Paulie (which is apparent by the way he has the entire Mafia and the corrupt police force out to kill you), but luckily you are blessed - or cursed - with a 21st birthday present. "The Darkness" has been passed on from father to son on his 21st birthday for generations, and the demon does everything in its power to keep the son – you - alive. The Darkness shows its power just after you have been ambushed while on a hit, by showing supernatural body parts that could only be described as a tentacle porn fan's dream date. The power of The Darkness can only be used in dark areas, which leads you to spend a lot of time shooting out lights and walking around finding the darkest route to your destination, avoiding the cooking bacon sound that happens if you are too close to light.

The game progresses on your quest to avenge what your Uncle Paulie has done, as you shoot your way through the army of mafia devoted to their Don, the power of The Darkness is strengthened by eating the hearts of your enemy. You soon find yourself in an epic battle with both your Uncle Paulie and the darker side of yourself. As the Darkness' strength increases, you can use it (and the creatures it controls) as lethal weapons. You are able to spawn Darklings, each with their own talents, to attack your enemy or to knock out the lights in the area to maintain the power of The Darkness. The Darkness also gives you some powers of your own including Creeping Dark – a snake-like creature that can slither ahead of you for long distances attacking your enemy, opening doors and climbing through small holes for you. You are also gifted with a whip that can be used for attacking enemies or simply knocking out lights quickly without using any ammo, and a powerful Darkness gun, as well as the ability to create black holes towards the middle of the game.

War, what is it good for?

During the game, you are faced with many side-missions on your quest to kill your Uncle Paulie. Some of these are harder, like killing the Chicago Mafia which your Uncle Paulie has hired to watch your Aunt Sarah, or dealing with the man who sells drugs to children. Some are simple though, like finding a bracelet that someone has dropped on the railroad track or delivering a message to an old lady, or even just posting some mail. Each of these things give you unlocks or items during the game. You also receive a number of phone numbers during the game. Ringing these also gives you unlocks, as well as some other more unusual items like an Australian exclusive golf costume for one of your Darklings.

The maps look awesome, the details put into them are absolutely amazing. The settings, from a burnt-down orphanage to a graveyard and a meatworks, are illustrated with such fine detail you can even flush the toilets. Each area was lit according to what you would expect the areas to be, including lit up signs in shop windows. Various areas have graffiti on the walls and a dirty feeling that makes you not want to touch anything, and an abandoned train station is lit up with coloured glass lights on the roof, which puts you right in the mood. The game has reached a new level of realism by adding small details like licensed content on the televisions located around the maps, you might find yourself watching the classics "To Kill a Mockingbird", "The Street Fighter" or even an episode of "Popeye". The graffiti around the place also has hidden messages, with the names of the members of the rock band Tool listed and the "V for Vendetta" logo plus much more, it is fun just to work out what they are.

Mike Patton never looked so good.

The world is also easy to navigate, with street maps on most corners. These are designed to look like the information boards you would find to help you navigate around a town. The main way of getting around these different areas is by using the subway. The maps are setup to be offshoots of two subway stations, this works really well to put you in the atmosphere of the game, with each area having its own characteristics. One area is Chinatown another is an industrial area, a church and orphanage, and a residential area. The only negative of this set up is that you find yourself seeing the same cut scenes as you get on and off the trains. I think I saw the same girl with an annoyed look on her face ten times because I took her seat by the door. Although these cut scenes were a nice change to watching loading bars, when you die a lot (like I did during parts of this game), you get to see them a lot, an awful lot, to the point I think I could quote the comments in most of them. I do however realise that loading times are a part of any game so I do appreciate that they used something that keeps you in the mood of the game rather than breaking it completely.

The best part of The Darkness for me had to be the acting and the score with a plethora of famous voices making you feel submersed in the game. Kirk Acevedo from "Law and Order: Trial by Jury" played the role of Jackie Estacado with a voice that could be straight out of the Godfather, with the attractive red head Lauren Ambrose from "Six Feet Under" playing his love interest Jenny Romano. Dwight Schultz from games such as Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and Armored Core 4 played the voice of Uncle Paulie and Norma Michaels who played an Old Irish Woman in the Wedding Crashers represented Aunt Sarah. However the stand-out performance for me had to be the voice of "The Darkness" itself, with a spooky, painfully screeching voice done by the one person who has made a career out of making strange noises with his voice - Faith No More and Fantomas lead singer Mike Patton. The score for the soundtrack was spooky and suspenseful just when you needed it, I'm sure my neighbours went to bed with nightmares after hearing the sounds out of my sound system as I played the game. The man responsible for this was the artist Gustaf Grefberg, who was better known as the Lizardking of the old Amiga Demoscene, and for his recent work on games such as Enclave and The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay.

Yer - twist, I tell you!

The Darkness itself was fairly linear, however that doesn't take away from its enjoyment, the side missions make a nice change from the overall mission to take Uncle Paulie out of the picture and each mission to achieve this was different enough to maintain the interest in the game. I wish I could go into this more deeply, but it would give away the storyline and remove the element of surprise, I'll just say there are enough twists and turns and jaw dropping moments to keep me entertained.

This title is really hard to fault with so many positive aspects, the acting, animation, mapping, and score went together with smooth gameplay to make it one of the most enjoyable first person shooters I have played for a long time, and I am normally the first to scoff "First person shooters on the console - where is the mouse?". Once I got around my own inability to aim with a control pad I thoroughly enjoyed this title. If I could fault anything, towards the end of the game I felt I was train-hopping but that was a very small negative in world full of positives. However this game isn't for everyone, I wouldn't recommend buying it for your 10-year-old, as it does have its fair share of violence. However if you are old enough and have the constitution for a game where you spend half your time ripping hearts out of people's bodies, I couldn't recommend it more.