The Darkness II

Developer: Digital Extremes
Publisher: 2K Games
Platform: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Rating: M for Mature
Price: $59.99
Available: NOW

By Bryan Dupont Gray

For as long as they've been around comic books and have captured the hearts of those who read them. When the look of comics is translated into the realm of the Xbox 360 and the PS3, there is even more love for their art and style.

2K Games has taken Darkness II and thankfully switched from the grimier look of the previous game and sunk it into the visual presentation of “The Darkness”, a graphic novel originally created by Marc Silvestri. From beginning to end, the game is definitely eye candy and while some fans of the previous Darkness game might feel uncomfortable with the change, they’ll no doubt be able to appreciate the use of cell-shaded and comic-book-like graphics that the game has to offer. The voice acting in the game is about average -- there are some volume issues with the voices of the characters. There were, however, no signs of any glitches or issues with the mechanics in the graphics. The framerate runs quite smoothly during gameplay, even for the Xbox 360 version of the game.

Jackie Estacado is a hotshot Italian mob leader who has been possessed by a mysterious phenomenon known as the Darkness. He also has a dead girlfriend and has been mourning her death for quite some time. As the powers of the darkness resurface within Estacado once again, he finds himself trying everything he can to control the darkness while it continues to deceive him with mind tricks and illusions such his dead girlfriend Jenny and the psychiatric ward that he apparently wound up in. Throw in the limp-walking antagonist, Mr. Peevish, who leads The Brotherhood with his sights set out on taking the Darkness away from him and you have one giant fight. While the story isn’t very long, its Dante’s Inferno/Shutter Island-like feel is exquisitely well done and the story unfolds at an easy pace.

Players who haven’t played the first game will quickly be able to understand the entire plot of the game. This helps expand gamer audience, allowing for anyone to give the game a whirl without much worry about how much they missed. The story development is fast paced and straightforward considering the insane mess that you get through along the way.

Darkness II is a game you can blast your way through in about a day, and you’ll have tons of fun doing it. The gameplay implements swift run, gun, and melee formula that we all know and love, but the twist here is the melee attacks that Jackie Estacardo can use. Players will be able to control Estacado’s ghastly demon arms with the left and right bumper buttons; the right arm being used to vertically and horizontally pound and slash through the flesh of enemies, and the left arm used to special, gruesomely animated attacks. It's also used for grabbing objects such as a fuel tank or a a car door and throwing them at enemies. You’ll even have the option to grab your little deviant minion that tags along with you and throw him onto enemies so he can finish off the job. There are different perks you can earn by brutally decimating your enemies (health replenish, ammo replenish, etc.), but the animations are often replayed and redone a hundred times over, which isn’t very exciting after doing it 10 times.

You’ll feel a lot more powerful as you unlock special perks and new abilities with the experience system in the game, and the more experience you earn the less trouble you’ll have in the later parts of the game. However, the lack of boss battles in the game is a huge disappointment. If anything, the ambushes and hordes of enemies that you face in a few certain levels will give you a lot more difficulty than the 3 boss battles you face in the campaign mode. The Vendetta mode is a separate multi-player. In single player mode you can choose from 4 different characters who share the same powers as Jackie and play through various levels that are similar to the main campaign. This mode, as well as the “New Game+”, offers some replay value for those who can’t get enough of the game already, but again, each mode can be run through pretty fast depending on the player.

Bottom line: The Darkness II is a very engaging and fun first-person shooter to kick off the year. There are tons of abilities to mold you into being a whole lot more than just a head honcho for an Italian mob and the online multi-player mode, the Vendetta mode, begs to be played after players glide through the campaign mode. However the story, could use some work and this isn’t exactly considered a game that you would put hours and hours into as some gameplay elements are repetitive and animations reused.