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Developer: Digital Extremes | Publisher: 2K Games |
| Release Date: February 7th, 2012 | Available On: PS3 and Xbox 360 |
When The Darkness first launched in 2007,
gamers found themselves stepping into the shoes
of Jackie Estacado. Five years have passed, and
the series has been handed off to developer
Digital Extremes for an overhaul. The original
game received favorable reviews, and this site
even awarded the game an 8.2 out of 10
. With The DarknessII, have the new developers managed to keep the
feel of the original, innovating the original
formula? Well, yes, but there is more to it than
that.
For those who did not play the first game,
here is a quick recap; On the evening of his
21st birthday, Jackie becomes the target of an
assassination by the don of the New York mafia.
While under attack, an evil awakens within
Jackie called The Darkness – basically a bunch
of evil tentacles that want to bring pain and
suffering to everyone around them. During the
events of the game, the mob boss kills Jackie’s
girlfriend Jenny in front of his eyes – a very
powerful scene indeed. Jackie, trying his
hardest to intervene, is prevented from helping
by The Darkness. The rest of the game revolves
around Jackie’s search for vengeance against the
crime family that wronged him.
Fast forward two years, and Jackie is now the
head of the Franchetti family. Thankfully Jackie
has subdued The Darkness, and learned to keep it
buried within himself. While at a restaurant
Jackie and his group are attacked by another
crime family. Crawling from the wreckage of the
restaurant, Jackie is urged to “embrace the
darkness.” Giving in to The Darkness, Jackie
begins his journey of revenge, bloodshed, and
insanity. Early on in the game a man named
Johnny Powell – the same man who taught Jackie
to temper The Darkness – informs him that the
person who was behind the attack at the
restaurant is the leader of a group known as The
Brotherhood. Estacado soon learns that The
Brotherhood wishes to find Jackie and take The
Darkness for themselves.
The Darkness 2 is as much of a psychological
thriller as it is a first-person shooter.
Throughout the game Jackie is put through
several near death experiences, but The Darkness
refuses to let him die. Whenever one of these
events occurs, Jackie wakes up in a psychiatric
ward, where all of the patients, doctors, and
nurses appear as people he knows, including his
late girlfriend Jenny. There are also several
sections where Jackie walks into the diner where
Jenny used to work, having intimite moments with
someone who no longer exists anywhere but within
Jackie’s mind. Jackie must not only battle
enemies in the rival mob, but also toe the fine
line between reality and insanity.
The biggest immediate difference I noticed
between this game and the original are the
graphics. I personally think that the sequel
runs circles around its predecessor in terms of
presentation; the original had more of a gritty,
realistic feel to it, while the sequel does away
with all the seriousness, introducing a comic
book-style cel-shaded look, and making it more
relatable to the source material. Overall, the
game could have used a little more polish –
there are textures that pop in and out
occasionally, and the character models could
have used some work – but I was ultimately
pleased with how the game looked.
Changes to the combat have also been made in
The Darkness II. This sequel employs something
the team at Digital Extremes coined “quad-
wielding.” This basically allows you to use both
of the demon arms at the same time as firing
your basic weapons, which is great fun, allowing
you to pick up enemies and toss them around
while killing more simultaneously. Jackie can
use The Darkness to rip car doors off their
respective vehicles, using them as shields. You
can also pick up various objects scattered
throughout the levels and hurl them to impale
bodies or sever limbs. Furthermore, Jackie can
perform executions on his foes when The Darkness
has a grip on them. There are some small rewards
for these executions (health or ammo), on top of
being very satisfying to see. The Darkness
provides Jackie with one ability called “Swarm”,
which lets you swarm enemies with flies,
stunning them. Gun channeling is the other major
ability in Jackie’s arsenal – this allows him to
see his foes through walls, and provides
unlimited and stronger ammo for a short period
of time.
There are upgrade stations scattered through
each level that allow Jackie to enhance four
“talent trees”. Each talent tree offers
different bonuses and general abilities, from
health to executions. Every time a player kills
an enemy, dark essence is earned. Along with
using abilities to earn extra points, eating a
downed enemy’s heart, using executions, and
environment kills also earn a few extra points
for use when upgrading Jackie’s abilities.
Players can also find 29 different collectibles
scattered around in each level, which add bonus
dark essence points.
Enemy variety has improved as well, although
most of the character models for opponents were
carbon copies of each other. There are several
types of heavy enemies throughout the game, some
weild giant axes and can teleport across short
distances, making them difficult to shoot. Other
types include enemies with Darkness-infused
shields, and whip-toting enemies that can disarm
Jackie if players don’t take advantage of cover.
Once the campaign has been completed (this
takes 4-7 hours, depending on your playing
style), players can engage in the multiplayer
component. Unlike the first game, The Darkness
II boasts a completely separate campaign that
can be completed alone or cooperatively with
another person on Xbox Live or PlayStation
Network. This “Vendetta” campaign offers players
four characters, each with their own unique
Darkness abilities and weapon bonuses. Many of
the events of this campaign take place within
the timeline of the single-player storyline,
focusing on taking the Darkness relics within
the Brotherhood strongholds.
You would think that a cooperative mode with
Darkness powers would seem like fun, right?
Well, wrong: the level variety in Vendetta mode
is lacking, and they all play basically the
same, following a strict pattern of clearing
enemies from room to room until it’s all said
and done. Every part of it is pretty repetitive;
the first level was fun, but when the next one
did little to add any variety, and then the
next, I lost hope. I feel like Digital Extremes
took the easy way out, slacking with the
multiplayer rather than making the extra effort
to put more value into that $60 price tag. After
all, I put about ten hours into the game, with
my playthrough on the very hardest setting
lasting just over three and a half hours.
The Darkness 2 will probably not win any
awards this year, but it was the first solid
shooter of the 2012, and that is saying
something. Playing as Jackie Estacado and
embracing The Darkness is extremely empowering,
and watching his story continue through this
entry was a fun way to begin the year.
| Graphics: | 7 |
| Sound: | 8 |
| Gameplay: | 8 |
| Creativity: | 8.5 |
| Replay Value/Game Length: | 4 |
| Final: | 7.5 out of 10 |
| Written by Drew Meadows | W |
