Mobsters, Mutilation and Gun Toting Maniacs

It has been 5 years since Jackie Estecado last tore his way through our chest and in to our hearts. Since then there have been several changes to the game and its development team. Previously it was Starbreeze Studios that took on the momentous task of bringing Top Cow’s legend to life but due to prior commitments they were unable to return to the franchise for the sequel. This lead to the game being passed on to Digital Extremes.

The Darkness 2 follows Jackie 2 years after the first game, he has learned to suppress his inner demons and has been living as much of a normal life as possible until an unknown enemy literally come crashing in to his life. Jackie is dragged to safety by his trusted right hand man Vinnie while the darkness slowly stirs inside of him, bursting to get out. The game continues as Jackie is engulfed by the darkness as it tries to control him and haunt him with the memories of his beloved Jennie. The only solution that Jackie can see is to find his new enemy and seek out a way to quell the darkness.

 

The Darkness 2 is more than just your standard FPS, the game plays to the comics and uses several different powers to liven up the standard linear shooter that we have got far too familiar with. At first the player starts with just his pistol and the two demonic arms sprouting fourth from Jackie’s back. As the story continues you can collect skill points from inventive kills and from finding special artifacts hidden around the game. These points allow the player to enhance his bullets by channeling his darkness through his guns, harvest black holes from dead bodies, call upon a swarm of dark bugs to attack his enemies and teach his demonic arms to kill his enemies in a manner of horrific ways.

What is different from the previous game is the lack of the ability to send your demonic arms in to the world to sneak up behind unsuspecting enemies. Instead this is replaced by scripted events where you now take control over your one and only minion. I felt like this was kind of a disappointment, instead of elaborating on previous ideas they merged and constrained the two which is a bit of a let down. There also seemed to be a lack of outfits for your minion, in the previous game you were able to kit your team out with different outfits and weapons where as now there is only one (2 if you pre-ordered a special edition).

 

Another change in the game is the aesthetics. The game has now received a going over with a cell shaded brush. At first the style felt a little out place. It seemed that its developers had seen borderlands just at the start of development and thought it would be the ideal choice for them. Unfortunately they were wrong, although the visuals look astounding at some points and create brilliant atmosphere I felt like they were a bit too bright. I have a great love for Marc Silvestri’s art and I can’t help but feel a little left out with the lack of close up shots as Jackie with his darkness unleashed and there was no point where you were able to see him decked out in his full darkness armour.

Although it isn’t directly the art style Jackie has returned in-between levels to talk to the player. The story telling in the game is artistic to an extent, it really feels that they have taken the time between action to step back and spend a little time plunging in to the depths of the darkness and it’s great span across time. Whether that is through the collectibles or through the character’s dialogue. The story is a great improvement over that of it’s predecessor.

 

Again there has been some cut backs between games in another aspect of the game. This could be seen as a positive as to be frank the online mode from The Darkness was pretty dire although it did have some potential that could of been built on.

In lieu of the versus mode’s absence there is the new vendettas campaign where the user can play as one 4 characters with darkness possessed guns in a bid to retrieve special artifacts that have been tainted by the darkness throughout the world. Each one of the character’s has a claim to their own unique and at sometimes very controversial back story. Personally I loved Jimmy the hard walking, no shit taking Scot with an axe he can split skulls with from a distance. This mode can be played both online with a friend and off line on your own. The only problem I had with the mode was it was too short. As well as vendetta mode there is also a set of missions that you can play online with your friends.

The game also has a new game+ option which I feel adds a new level of playability to the game where you can explore different different talent trees, make different choices and just bask in the wonderfully told story again as it unfolds.

 

In conclusion The Darkness 2 lacks a few awesome quirks from the last game but on the whole goes miles beyond the story and gives a second wind from the monotonous shooters that have flooded the market in the past year or two. If you can find a friend to play with online I urge you to try out the wonderfully colourful characters that are at your disposal. Although I had my issues with the game it was a great play and had great nods here and there to the comics.

A rather tasty 7 hearts of helpless mobsters out of 10.