The Darkness II review
By Luke Percy
The Darkness II kicks off two years after the events of The Darkness, and Jackie is now the don of his own family. As soon as the game begins, you notice it has a very different style to that of the original. The main reason for this, perhaps, is that The Darkness II is developed by a different studio - Digital Extremes (rather than Starbreeze) - who have previously released innovative shooters like Unreal (which they worked on with Epic) and Dark Sector.
The new cel-shaded visual style, a stark contrast to the more realistic original, is quite reminiscent of a comic book (which is fitting, given the series is based on a comic) resulting in deep dark lines surrounding various game objects. However, unlike many other cel-shaded games, it’s detailed and gritty - which fits The Darkness well.
The Darkness II holds nothing back in the violence department, where a shot to the head leaves a rather textured bloody hole and a spray of cel-shaded red wonder beyond it. Let’s just say what happens in the restaurant took the beautiful women (and me) by surprise.
This is where it gets interesting... and brutal; so, so brutal. The tentacles return, and they're hungry. You are introduced to the Execute mechanic of The Darkness II, where you simply press a button after grabbing an enemy and are treated to a no-holds-barred gorefest as the tentacles tear your foe apart. The animations and new visual style make these attacks look very unsettling, and I would not recommend you play this game when you have young children in the house - or your grandma!
The tentacles, like in the first game, are controlled by the two shoulder buttons, while guns are fired with the two triggers (the left trigger becomes "aim down sights" if you are not dual wielding).
Each time you kill an enemy in The Darkness II, you are given Essence points - each kill type is worth a certain number. You can then spend these points at dark portals to unlock more skills; for instance, say you shoot someone in the head and they die you will get a standard +10 points “Headshot!”, whereas if you use your tentacle to grab a nearby heating fan and hurl it like a frisbee to sever anyone unfortunate enough to be in front of you in half, you will get +100 “Sliced!” points.
The Darkness II is more linear than its predecessor, with no open-ended exploration or inhabitants with side quests. There's no way to use the telephones to call for easter eggs, nor can you watch To Kill A Mockingbird in its entirety on a TV. However, you can still search around each section for Darkness Relics, collectables that also offer you Essence points towards unlocking skills.
There is also a Multiplayer component to The Darkness II called Vendettas, a co-operative campaign set parallel to the main story arc where you can play up to four players as unique characters who have Darkness infused weapons and Darkness abilities of their own, with a task to hunt down darkness relics.
As the game is yet to be released I was unable to play co-operative with my mates, however an option allows you to go through the co-op campaign by yourself offline - unfortunately, there's no split-screen option for local multiplayer.
As it’s designed more for co-operative play, you will get wave after wave of enemies in each level while trying to achieve an objective. The first level, for example, has you trying to survive several waves of enemies while you guard Johnny (he is tied up) before you can proceed to the next level. This becomes very challenging in the later levels if you do try and play through on your own.
I could imagine this mode would be quite satisfying with 3 friends, each utilising the different abilities and weapons to clear each level. But by myself it was quite a lack luster experience, as each level just felt the same as the last, up to the point it got very challenging because bosses had huge amounts of health to deplete and it felt more like a chore to progress.
As a package, The Darkness II is an enjoyable story with an appealing visual aesthetic worthy of the R18 rating. Just be prepared for some frustrating moments and, if you enjoyed the first Darkness, you will miss the exploration and side quests - but at least you can turn on all the taps in the mansion. With the co-op campaign and interesting achievements it does have some decent replay value.
The Darkness II is due to release on 10 February 2012, you can also check out the Demo which is available now on Xbox LIVE, PSN and Steam.
Four stars.
NZGamer.com
The Darkness II
:: Publisher: 2K Games
:: Developer: Digital Extremes
:: Format: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC
:: Rating: R18