Hellfire360

it's a bath.  in jelly. what more needs to be said?

i could draw parallels between the womblike experience (not that i'd remember), the ectoplasm from ghostbusters 2, or poltergeist, or the stuff that neo was incubated in in the matrix...but i think you just gotta try it for yourself.

finished the darkness on x360 last night.  i'd been savoring it, taking my time with it, but finally just had to catch up to wizzy wig so we could commiserate on what an awesome game this is.

this is the first game since half life 2 that i feel has really tried to advance the art.  i haven't actually felt anything for a computer game character since legend of zelda ocarina of time.  for all its flaws, i consider this the best game i've played on the 360.

what starbreeze and top cow have done is crafted a pretty unique narrative, really strong characterizations coupled with great voice acting.  you feel the history between characters.  unlike half life 2, where gordon freeman was a silent observer/killer-of-all-things/puller-of-all-levers, the darkness brings the protagonist front and center.  you know where he comes from.  even the loading screens, while they sometimes get repetitive, paint in the details of the character, his state of mind, foreshadowing of future events.

by the end, you know how it's going to conclude, you want to change it, you try to prevent it, but you just can't, you've been put in exactly the same state of mind of the protagonist, and the ending hits home that much harder.

this is what interactive entertainment is about.  i think there are things they could've done to make it even more impactful, but overall, no game has left an impression on me quite like the darkness and i really appreciate what they've tried to do.

buy this game so starbreeze builds more games like this.

here's a random bunch of words i associate with this movie:
french period drama
martial arts flick
last of the mohicans
sleepy hollow
rambo
sherlock holmes
predator
soul calibur
monica bellucci naked
romeo and juliet

i shit you not. other than being marginally incoherent this movie rocks. see it.  it's out on hd-dvd from studio canal.