The Darkness II [Review & Giveaway]
Boy meets girl. Boy falls for girl. Boy gets possessed by a malevolent being , kills a bunch of dudes, and ends up having to watch girl die before he can save her. Boy takes revenge.
So that was pretty much the original Darkness in a nutshell, as recapped by a handy “Previously on the Darkness” video right at the outset of the Darkness 2. That boy is Jackie Estacado, and in the two years that have elapsed since the original game, Jackie has kept the Darkness tucked away inside himself, vowing to never use its powers again. You can probably imagine how that works out… the second installment isn’t a kart racing game.
The Darkness 2 takes a lot of story beats directly from its predecessor, but is easy enough to pick up and dive right in. The game starts off with a bang and leads you down an exciting,, ultra-violent mob revenge tale with just the right amount of mystic mumbo-jumbo. But boy, is it violent. Fans of the first game will remember using Jackie’s Darkness tentacles to great effect slicing, dicing, and dismembering anyone unfortunate enough to get in the way.
The second game turns that up a few notches and gives you greater control of the beasties to really get things done. A new “quad-wielding” mechanic allows you to dual wield guns (or use one heavy weapon) while controlling each of the over-the-shoulder death dealers with the bumpers (or R1 and R2 for you poor saps with PS3s). This creates some great combat possibilities, especially when combined with Jackie’s other abilities, that go a long way towards making you feel like a total boss. Fitting really, since Jackie is the Don now.
The game also takes a different artistic direction than the first, going for a brighter, slightly cel-shaded look that is reminiscent of actual comics. The art style makes all the gruesome executions and blood really pop without being too realistic, but it did make some of the more “adult” moments in the game (think brothel scenes) a little strange to see, at least for me.
I wrapped the main campaign on the second hardest difficulty in just under 8 hours, which was just about perfect. There aren’t a ton of enemy types or tactics in the game, but because the team at Digital Extremes has created such a tight, well-paced narrative I never got tired of what I was seeing or doing, and I was still picking up new powers right up though the very end of the game.
Fortunately, the Darkness 2 includes a New Game + option, allowing you to dive right back in to any chapter you like to keep upgrading Jackie or work on any achievements or trophies you may have missed. They’ve also layered on additional side story missions in the form of a coop mode (that can still be played solo if you really don’t like people), so there’s plenty of replay value to be had.
All in all, the Darkness 2 is a fun ride that didn’t overstay its welcome, has a well-developed (if a bit predictable) plot, great mechanics, and some fantastic voice work and characters right out of your favorite mob classics. I was surprised at how much I really enjoyed this game, which is silly since I remember feeling the exact same way about the first installment.
Highly recommended.
Want to score a copy of The Darkness II AND the first title? Just leave a comment about what YOUR dark and evil power would be. We’ll select one of you at random sometime next week, and you’ll score BOTH games. Xbox 360 only.
Super evil dirty looks power.
My dark and evil power would be the power to make cats disappear from the Internet.
Dark and evil power-permanently mute all women-hating, gay-bashing conservatives.
My dark and evil power would be making people unable to stop wondering if they left the lights on when they left for vacation.
My dark and evil power would be the ability to make others lactose intolerant like me! Muhahaha
My dark and evil power would be to always have a full pint by stealing someone else’s. That or making cats disappear from the internet straight into your lower intestines.
well, i often give people looks so evil that they respond with “if looks could kill….” so, you know, that.
My dark and evil power would be to PERMANENTLY mute people who talk too much. Dark and evil? Yes. But ultimately a force for good? Oh yeah!
The ability to delete comments from blog posts. I think it would come in handy right about now.
Mind control, duh. Who needs the other powers when you can just convince your opponents they’re being attacked with the other powers?
Shadowwalking. Being able to disappear in one shadow and reappear out of another.
Direct the results of random contest drawings.
I would subtly change peoples decisions
I already have a darka and evil power. I can turn the TV to Fox News. Do not cross me. Or you’ll be seeing Sean Hannity’s self-righteous mug instead of Community.
My power would be to make people around me always pay for something I’m about to buy
My power would be to make people irrationally terrified of mundane things (such as saltines, yellow lights or infants) for a few moments to confuse them and amuse their friends.
My evil power would be the ability to know what a person’s greatest fears are.
this has already been decided for me by my 3 year old cousin..my power is that i’m really pretty and i distract all the boys and then get them with my laser eyes.
my dark power would be to curse others with an improved chance of stubbing their toes.
toe stubbin’ all night long.
The power to create chaos. Turn myself into a persons greatest fear and the ability to grow The Darkness arms out of my face so i would distract everybody so that i could then turn into their worst fears and create CHAOS. BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL CHAOS.
Soz for the double post, but is this US only?
Dark power will be to grant internet trolls immortality.
The power to make only the crumbs at the bottom fall out of my opponent’s cereal box… That is truly the worst way to start your breakfast.