I’d like to take this moment to welcome our newest bot to the team. Hailing from the middle-southerny parts of Utah, RoboLincoln will be helping us tear apart, and praise games and game news. When he’s not grooming his beard or righting the wrongs of an oppressive America you will find him on his couch analyzing anything and everything he can find.
While The Darkness II has plenty in common with its predecessor, not the least of which is a penchant for intense gore, it’s the differences from the original which make it a game worth playing. The illustrative graphics style of this sequel is much more conducive with a comic based game, though in fairness it’s not hard to compete with the graphics of a five year old game. Though the look may be intriguing most of the character models fall flat on their face. The main villain seemed to get most of the design attention while the main character Jackie bears a terrible resemblance to Tommy from 2006’s Prey. The new look for the game works best where it counts, your demonic tentacles are amazingly animated and are disturbingly entertaining while eviscerating mobsters and dismembering cultists,.
The game-play for this installment has been well streamlined and seems far less rigid. Gone are the weird creeping tentacle sneak attacks of the first game, which is only the second time I’ve praised a game for getting rid of game-play elements. Also missing from this more focused sequel is the more open world aspect and the direct control of the Darklings. Without the minions and with some reworked gun play the controls feel tighter and flow much better. The upgrades also add a taste of personal flare to the game, allowing you to focus on your personal strengths. Though the only one that gives you any real sense of accomplishment is the tentacle upgrades. To keep the game exciting I recommend focusing on tentacle upgrades, without new ways to slaughter enemies you find yourself quickly running on fumes. Creativity is easily coupled with some basic advice, stay out of the light.
Multiplayer for the Darkness II is unnecessary at best. The co-op feels like an afterthought, while attempting to continue playing I found myself striving for games with better built multiplayer. This one will be forgotten in 6 months tops.
The enemies in the game vary from the common cronies (mobsters and cultists with guns) to the slightly creative (cultists with giant mobile spotlights and a man who disarms you with a whip). The bosses while good at taunting the emotionally vulnerable Jackie, are rather simple (most of them can teleport). The developers seem to have a simple idea behind level design, just keep ambushing you. It’s a little overwhelming at first then it quickly becomes tedious, and it begs a simple question about the motivation of some of these inept challengers. Why would you screw with a guy that has demonic snakes coming out of him?
The story for the Darkness II teeters on the border of great and mundane on more than one occasion. You’ve got moments of genius where you see a truly disturbing villain who seems desperate to tear the darkness from you to accomplish his own ends. Then there are the drawn out scenes of Jackie talking to someone is his mansion. Generally the mansion scenes are a complete waste of time because none of the characters (I use the term loosely) have any grasp of the situation you, as the protagonist, find yourself in. It’s all very strange how these mobsters of yours think its business as usual when their boss becomes a demonic demigod. If my boss suddenly morphed into a horrifying demigod the least I could do is scream. While loading levels, Jackie monologues to the player about the love of his life and his childhood, this would have been much better to install into the game itself rather than leave it as loading fodder only. This could have helped turn the story from something average, into something much more special.
While the Darkness II reaches further than its predecessor with regards to game-play it falls short of the gold. With whatever comes next for Jackie, I want to feel more emotionally invested in a terrifying story, and challenged by disturbing enemies. I hope that nest time the developers choose to truly indulge the darkness, some graphics, and not just the gore.