Darkness demo on PS3 Store

By Tom Bramwell Published 20 July, 2007

US gets Castlevania COTN.

Sony's PlayStation Network shop has been updated with a playable demo of The Darkness in the UK, while the US store welcomes the addition of a PS3/PSP-compatible Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

Our demo's a single-player offering that weighs in at 1443MB. You can play it in 720p, 1080i or 1080p. No word on what's in it, but bank on it showing off a few of our Jackie's tentacular talents. The full version's out on PS3 today, and you can read our 360 review for more on whether it's any good.

Other additions to the UK store include the latest Grand Theft Auto IV trailer and teasers for Rainbow Six Vegas and Pixar's Ratatouille film.

Meanwhile, the US store gets Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Often declared the best of the Castlevanias, it's already seen release on Xbox Live Arcade and costs the same USD 10 here, but with the added benefit that you can copy it onto your PSP if you've got the latest firmware and don't fancy playing it on the PS3.

Otherwise it's trailer city and the US store's the mayor, with offerings for inFAMOUS, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Ratchet & Clank: Future, Heavenly Sword (making-of), the films The Brothers Solomon, Resident Evil: Extinction, I Am Legend, The Big One and Underdog.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (21) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Steroyd #1 5 years ago

    Yay my first PS3 Euro owner bein' screwed on PSN day. \o/

  • Dizzy #2 5 years ago

    Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is ace. Why no Europe?

  • spongebob #3 5 years ago

    I wonder if there will be a X360 demo of The Darkness.

  • Steroyd #4 5 years ago

    I thought there was, and the demo was a bit poo poo anyway.

    Darkness powers were pretty cool though.
    Edited by 1 at 20/07/07 @ 09:52

  • lennon #5 5 years ago

    The darkness is an excellent game. Great fun from start to finish. Well worth a look whether you be a 360 or ps3 owner.

  • ZuluHero #6 5 years ago

    theres not a 360 demo on live - was it a coverdisk exclusive?

  • dwu #7 5 years ago

    A 360 demo is up on live now

  • Darren #8 5 years ago

    The game is great, I own the 360 version and love it, but the PS3 version is inferior to the 360 version graphically with no anti-aliasing, no motion-blur and a lower framerate. I doubt many PS3 owners will be too bothered but it's yet another multiformat game that looks weaker on Sony's hardware.

  • Jas315 #9 5 years ago

    "The game is great, I own the 360 version and love it, but the PS3 version is inferior to the 360 version graphically with no anti-aliasing, no motion-blur and a lower framerate. I doubt many PS3 owners will be too bothered but it's yet another multiformat game that looks weaker on Sony's hardware."

    What the hell are you talking about?

    Looks & plays near identical.

  • Darren #10 5 years ago

    Did you bother reading what I'd written? And *near* identical is not *exactly* identical, is it?

    I own both the PS3 and Xbox 360. I have the full version of The Darkness on the 360 and I played the PS3 demo all the way through. While the content and presentation, etc., is identical, the graphics look rougher and the framerate is lower on the PS3. Be ignorant if you want but the 360 uses 2X AA whereas the PS3 version doesn't. Also the 360 version has motion-blurring, the PS3 does not. Basically the PS3 version looks like what the Xbox 360 version would look like *before* it adds AA and motion-blurring in post-production... ;)

    There's a decent comparison video over on GameTrailers.com that shows the differences if you doubt me. Any PS3 owners who haven't seen the Xbox 360 version will undoubtedly be happy with the game but the fact remains that it is not as polished visually. Sorry but there you go. :p

    P.S. Several reviews have mentioned the aliasing and framerate issues in the PS3 version, among them GameSpot and IGN from memory.

  • AOFanboi #11 5 years ago

    No wonder it's 1440 megs, try the TV in one of the offices... :)

  • Jas315 #12 5 years ago

    "Sorry but there you go. :p"

    Pick a new hobby. You fucking sad... sad, fanboy.

  • Darren #13 5 years ago

    Oh the truth hurts, doesn't it? :p

    I already stated that I own both a PS3 *and* an Xbox 360 (oh and a Wii as well just to show how impartial I am to any particular format) so I was in the fortunate position to be able to choose the best version and that is the Xbox 360 one without a doubt. And to show I'm not a fanboy, Oblivion on the PS3, which I also own, is the best console version of the game, with superior loading times and slightly crisper visuals than the 360 version.

    P.S. I'm guessing from your immature comments that you only own the PS3 and/or you're under 15 years old. ;)

  • captainrentboy #14 5 years ago

    I have to laugh, somebody actually calling Darren (of all people) a 360 fanboy :) Going from 95% of his other posts that I've noticed, if anything, you'd think he much preferred the PS3 over the 360.
    I'm not saying he's a fanboy of either, it's just that the above post, that's actually defending something 360 related, is quite the rarity.

  • bdc #15 5 years ago

    Got 360 version and the PS3 demo. Darren is actually being quite kind to the PS3 version here.

    Jas315 you may wish to turn your eyes away now but, goddamn the PS3 version is fucking awful compared to the 360 one. It plays like an old woman on sandpaper, I can't even recall where it managed 30fps for more than a few seconds at a time. And omg you could poke somebody's eyes out with those jaggies.

  • Artemis_Matsas #16 5 years ago

    Well, i just downloaded it on my PS3 and it's not that bad. I haven't seen it on the 360 though, so i'm not making any comparisons.

    My only problem is that the thing is TOO dark sometimes (What did i expect from a game named The Darkness). On the second level in the demo, after i took out several lights, i couldn't see where i was going :(

    I'm not trying to defend the PS3 version, but have you guys thought that the differences you spotted between the 360 and PS3 versions are due to the fact that a demo is supposed to be a "work in progress" - "unfinished" etc?

  • AOFanboi #17 5 years ago

    <em>after i took out several lights, i couldn't see where i was going :(</em>

    That's because you're supposed to turn on the Darkness powers then, which makes objects glow. L1 for the win.

  • Artemis_Matsas #18 5 years ago

    Hey, thanks for the tip ;), but the real problem was the gamma settings.
    I fiddled around with them and found the correct setting for me. I was playing with far too dark settings.

  • 3william56 #19 5 years ago

    Pfft - blundering around in the dark FTL, even with the glowy L1 powers. No map, no objectives, no clues ("mess up Unkle F*kka's operation" not exactly clarity). What the &$*@ are you meant to do with the effing gasoline? And is there any point to the tunnel sequence at all? Presume it works out the same whatever you do? Having to hit GameFAQs for a demo is just daft.

    Dissapointing. One for the Emos who liked Miseryguts Spiderman, methinks.

  • Artemis_Matsas #20 5 years ago

    Yeah, i have to agree that it was quite confusing. A little more info on what you have to do wouldn't hurt at all.

  • TRUTH #21 5 years ago

    JAS31: The fact is the PS3 lighting and textures + framerate is not as good as on the 360 version. The colors look more washed out on PS3 too.
    Edited by 1 at 24/07/07 @ 17:39