“Tony, ear muffs!” I yelled. Tony cupped his hands over his ears as Paladino and I started talking excitedly about how far we progressed in 2K’s “The Darkness.” Two things to note about the team: one, we're cover the spectrum of gamer types, so it’s not too often that you’d find all of us playing the same video game (much less hear us all raving about it). Two, whether it’s the latest episode of “Heroes” or a level in a game, Tony is always a night or level behind, so the rest of us can’t talk about any spoilers around him.*

“Did you get to the scene in the apartment [SPOILER FILTER]?”

“If you thought that was great, wait until you get further in the game.”

I love the games where you can call out specific, unexpected, jaw dropping moments during the story that you can’t wait to talk about with your friends. It’s like talking about a cliff hanging season finale for “Lost” or a completely unforeseen twist in “Heroes.” You can’t help but call up your friends to yell, “Sweet Christmas, did you see that?”

“The Darkness” happens to be filled with moments like these, and they have nothing to do with the actual gameplay. If you're just running and gunning through the game, you'll completely miss it. "The Darkness" certainly rewards those who take the time to immerse themselves in their narrative and explore. You'll find some great, surprise moments. I’d love to hear what everyone’s favorite “sweet Christmas” moments in past video games have been.

Being the resident comic book dork on the team, I’ve been waiting for “The Darkness” for a while now. When you put the license to a comic book franchise like “The Darkness” in the hands of a developer like Starbreeze Studios (they developed “Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay”), you have a recipe for awesomness. I don't get the stories from reporters about this being a slow summer for video games - personally, I can't get enough of the games I'm seeing. For more information about "The Darkness," 2K's press release about the game's availability is here.

*He wanted me to point out that this is because he has kids. There was a threatening tone to his voice so I'm adding this addedum here.