The Darkess

Gangster from the Black Lagoon. Worth: $10
based on 360 demo

Just unique enough.

You're a low-level thug in a New York crime family. You shoot pistols at other gangsters. You drive big Caddy's around a dark urban American landscape. If you've never played a video game before this might be enough to hook you. For an older gamer like me, this "been-there, shot-that" premise wouldn't hold my interest for more than one second.

Unless you added something unique. Something like, oh say, giant hell-spawned tentacles to mangle rival gangsters. And gosh, let's throw in a gaggle of little demons with which to infiltrate secured areas and generally wreak havoc.

Now you might be on to something.

It's still not worth much, but it's worth more than zero. As of this writing, this game is nine dollars, used. The price has plummeted so quickly I question whether the demo displays the only good ten minutes of the game. The users reviews are very strong, and they don't read like publisher plants. Perhaps this game is a just an overlooked sleeper like Psi-Ops was.