Gameitall The best way to sum up The Darkness II is with a line from the game itself, “It’s like your watching yourself on the big screen, there you are, tearing the bad guys limb by limb, you feel good, you look good, hell you are good, but then you look at the audience and they’re screaming. They’re screaming because your not the hero, your the Monster.”
Darkness II takes place 2 years after the last game, Jackie has sealed away the demon that calls itself the Darkness and has become the new Don of the New York Mafia. As much as things are working out for Jackie, there is still one big problem, Jenny is dead and there is nothing that he can do to bring her back. During a visit to his favourite restaurant, he gets attacked by a no-name group, forcing him to release the Darkness in order to keep himself alive and destroy those who put a hit on him. Now Jackie must fight gangsters and a new enemy called the Brotherhood who want the Darkness for themselves, and fighting his own personal demon as well.
The game is feels different then your average shooter, while your still moving from point A to point B while killing everything that’s in your way, The Darkness’ powers makes how you get there an absolute blast.
First things first though, for those of you who have played the original, you’ll need to know somethings have changed.
Most of Jackie’s powers have changed, previously wielding the Darkness would amount to using a demon tail, slithering darkness, summoning Darklings, blackholes and the Darkness guns. Say goodbye to all those powers, while some of them are gone completely, others are changed so drastically that you wouldn’t recognize it. While Duel Wielding guns are back, that system had also changed.
But this is for the better, as now we have Quad-Wielding, controlling two fire-arms, which can even be switched for the different types (Sub Machine Guns, Pistols and Revolvers can be swapped from either hand, allow you to mix and match rather than hold two of the same weapon,) and controlling two Darkness Tendrils. While this system sounds complicated, it’s actually done right, while the right tendril works as a melee attack, hacking and slashing everything in it’s wake, the left tendril is all about grabbing, grabbing doors a shields, poles as weapons, or you can grab stunned enemies in order to get more health, ammo, power for gun channelling (similar to the darkness guns) or a temporary shield made out of the Darkness. Another big change would be the Darklings… Or I should say Darkling. While only one follows you throughout the game, it has more personality then ever, allowing even during some missions for complete control over the Darkling.
A very big difference is in the presentation. While Starbreeze (creators of the original Darkness game and Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay) went with a super realistic look for their version, Digital Extremes decided that it would look better to go back to comic book roots, the cel-shade is by far the best I’ve seen in a long time. This way it allows you to see more of the game, even in the darker areas, and give every character a better look.
The 4-player Vendetta mode takes place between Jackie’s missions, you play as one of 4 darkness relic users, giving you only a sliver of Jackie’s actual powers. This is a great way of setting up the multiplayer as all four characters are not set up to be stronger as Jackie, but working all together, they are a force to be reckoned with, it’s a great mode that doesn’t feel tacked on. You can play Vendetta mode online co-op or offline single player if you want more of a challenge or just more of the story.
The Darkness II does everything that the original did right and improved on it so greatly, the story is top notch, graphics are amazing and the original gameplay concern about Quad-wielding was quickly blown out of the water. The Darkness is suppose to make you feel great, but sooner or later you will realize that you are the monster, which is why this game is so amazing and a must buy for both fans of the comic, first game, or even if your new to the series and want to try something different (for those people, there is a “previously on…” feature that really helps too.)
Darkness II – 9/10
Pros – Quad-Wielding it probably the best shooter mechanic you’ll play this year, Great Story, Great Visuals
Cons – The pacing of the 8 hour campaign makes you feel like you blown though the game too quickly, some characters/events are never really explained, difficulty curve ramps up fasts.
