As you’ll probably be able to make out from this review, The Darkness II kept impressing us over and over with some interesting element or the other. The twice-delayed offering has finally hit the scene, and this should definitely spell delight for fans. And what might also sound as music to their ears is that the title has emerged as a blissfully gruesome experience which takes the saga of Jackie Estacado to whole new levels. It renders you a fast-paced narrative which is crammed with gory scenes, vulgarity and profane language just so it does not leave out anything gamers may miss. Adding to it all, there’s the quad-wielding ability that gives you more reasons than one to explore your dark side by performing actions such as slashing blokes into two, tearing them apart, beheading them and the likes.
Protagonist Jackie has been given the ability to use both his hands for shooting, while also employing his demon arms to execute all kinds of harrowing stuff. This neat ability is quite probably the most exciting part of the game. It just gives you so much to do that at certain points, you actually tend to forget some of the ways in which you can slay the bad guys. A traditional level design has been adopted to take the story forward, and it does serve its purpose very well. It basically has you bumping off a large bunch of dudes, before taking the fight to the boss. Each level takes place on distinct and well-designed environments, and every once in a while you’ll find yourself cooling it off in Jackie’s mansion from where you can either venture on missions or just interact with the different characters housed there.
Early on in The Darkness II, Jackie is forced to bring out his dark powers which he had managed to contain after much difficulty. If you’re not familiar with the events in the first game, a neatly constructed introduction at the start does well to get you informed about the past. The narrative involves a Brotherhood which is trying to take away the darkness from Jackie, while at the same time, our protagonist is haunted by visions of his slain girlfriend, Jenny. Jackie’s struggle to deal with the Brotherhood and come to terms with what’s happening to him is poignant and doesn’t waste much time in getting you involved with the game. Quite often, the story leaves you gaping as you watch Jackie suffer and get embroiled in trouble after trouble.
In the new offering only one Darkling will available at your disposal, helping you clear out some of your enemies by making them vulnerable to your attacks. You even get to play as this creature during some missions, giving the gameplay a nice boost of versatility. Each kill you perform rewards you with essence which can be used to purchase talents at certain points. And the well-structured talent wheel has some really sweet abilities for you to choose from. These include summoning black holes, channeling the darkness through weapons, calling for more Darklings, increasing clip sizes of weapons and more. All your dark abilities will disappear in the presence of light, so you might want to steer clear of it. But we do think that more strategic placement of these lights could have added a bit of depth to the gameplay.
Like its predecessor, The Darkness II has also adopted a graphic noir style for its visuals to give a comic book-look all through. And we think the low-profile nature of textures is what bestows this game with some really short load times. The title has been blessed with brilliant voice-acting performances and they’re all probably some of the best we’ve seen in recent games. Equally impactful is the quality of direction in this title. But somehow, the game’s character models fail to impress due to their obsolete and utterly PS2-ish nature. Every once in a while you’ll be put into beautifully crafted environments that are just asking to be gawked at. The game’s art is one aspect for which it certainly loses no points whatsoever. Stroll through the corridors of the brothel filled with vulgarly activities or gaze at the mental asylum that takes you back to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. And even the Cemetery, the Carnival and the Haunted House environments are truly remarkable pieces of art.
Complementing the relatively short campaign of The Darkness II is the Vendettas co-op mode that presents you with an alternative perspective of the story. Four different characters can be chosen from, each with their own darkness-powered weapons. The missions that you embark upon with your friends are all tied in with the story’s context, letting you play out sequences which just receive mere mentions during the campaign. Four players can jump into these co-op offerings, and the frenzied battles that follow are definitely enjoyable, as you now have new powers to wield. Needless to say, the Vendettas mode adds some replay value to this otherwise short game.
Final Word: We did have some gripes about The Darkness II, its repetitive enemies being amongst the most prominent. But if that and the short campaign are to be ignored, the game does have some nice experiences to offer. At no point does it get boring and a large share of the credit goes to the excellent voice-acting performances and directorial factors. Here’s our score for this artsy effort from Digital Extremes.
Graphics: 8/10
Environments: 9.5/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Game Sounds: 9/10
Replay Value: 8/10
Overall (not an average): 9/10