The Darkness II Review

[Michael {United Critics}]

Hello Darkness.....My Old Friend

This game is oddly similar to Alan Wake. The plots in both of these games revolve heavily on Light and Darkness which is similar to the Good VS Evil Concept. The main ideology behind this game is the protagonist’s thirst for revenge. And he achieves this through mass massacre and a lot of bloodshed from both, his enemies and his allies. The Darkness is your main ally who gives you power and enhances your healing abilities. At the same time, The Darkness is the main reason you had to go through a lot of ♥♥♥♥.

Shining light on the Storyline

You assume the role of Jackie Estacado, the same protagonist from The Darkness and the Don of the Franchetti family. Compared to Jackie in the previous game, he has more control over the Darkness and can use the powers to his wish. Since the death of his girlfriend Jenny, he has laid low with the Darkness bottled away. An unknown organization attacked him and his loved ones and he reached his limit and unleashed the darkness hiding deep inside him. His main goal was to make the people who attacked him to regret their decision. He brings hell to Earth for all his enemies, ripping and shredding them into pieces with the help of the darkness and his bloodthirst for revenge he was controlling for 2 years. The game becomes very confusing as you progress. You would have absolutely no clue on what is happening and would be lost. Every single doubt you have would get cleared towards the end. Overall, the storyline is filled with mostly rage and bloodshed and a lot of emotional elements. I really enjoyed the story although I had not played the first part. The game does give a brief recap on whatever happened in the first game and makes the new players familiarize themselves with the on-going story.

Hiding the Gameplay in the Shadows

The game has a very unique concept, which perfectly suited my taste. You have access to both, weaponry and your awesome 2 extra “Darkness Arms” that are super strong. You can dual wield almost any one-handed weapon which is an awesome addition. You can also dual-wield a pistol in one hand and a Sub-Machine gun on the other! Movements are restricted to the basics.

Combat is really fun in this game. You can use guns to shoot down your enemies or use your extra Darkness powered limbs to tear them apart with Gorey special kills. You can also use nearby objects that can be grabbed to attain special kills. Use poles like a javelin and skewer the bad guys or use a car door or a fan blade to slice your enemies! You can also use Car Doors like a shield to protect you from bullets. Health doesn’t regenerate very fast, so taking in as less damage as possible is a good option.

The game also has a skill tree that permits the user to purchase special skills that improve their abilities to gain more ammo, health, etc. Skills play a major role as ammo is kind of tight in this game and you can run out of ammo any time or go critically low on health when you get surrounded by hordes of enemies.

The enemies gradually get more powerful as you progress deeper into the game. There would also be enemies with powers like super speed or dark armor. This raises the bar of difficulty even in easy mode. I really love there are a few parts where you play as your only companion, the Darkling. I really enjoyed these short moments!

I forgot to mention that light is your biggest enemy. It temporarily disables your Darkness powers and starts eating away your health when exposed to light. It’s highly suggested to take out the light sources and the enemies carrying light sources first.

Share the Darkness in Multiplayer Mode

Darkness II doesn’t have the typical Multiplayer Co-Op mode. There are no Clones of Jackie Estacado using the power of the Darkness to hack and slash through mobs of enemies. So when Digital Extremes decided to expand their game onto the multiplayer world, they had to go creative. They came up with a brand new game-mode named “Vendetta”. This brings in 4 brand new characters wielding different darkness-imbued weapons. So a squad of 4 can play a Co-op game together. They can play the normal story mode together, but with a lot of new elements are introduced compared to the main story and a different view of perspective. I’d say that this mode was way more fun to play than the main story mode due to the presence of different characters with unique powers and weapons.

Why Darkness is better than Light

• A very interesting and totally unique concept.
  
• A very dark themed game and the graphics are decent for an old game.
  
• A very interesting story filled with anger, emotion, and a crazy hunger for revenge. The player would be confused a lot till the end, where everything would start making sense. There are a lot of plot twists, by a lot, I mean too many.
  
• Awesome gun mechanics and dual-wielding ability. I really love the concept of utilizing the darkness arms to throw objects and hack and slash anything that blocks your path.
  
• Comic-style art and narration system, which really appealed to me.
  
• Friendly to new players who have not played The Darkness (The first part).
  
• Eerie background music that suits the mood of the game.
  
• You can converse with almost all the allied characters you see around you.

Why Light outshines Darkness

• The game is certainly not family-friendly. It has a lot of Gore, swearing, and a Brothel scene!
  
• The animations for the special attacks are really good, but they are too ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ long.
  
• There are quite a few visual glitches that don’t affect the gameplay much.
  
• Dead player base for online Co-Op.
  
• Short Gameplay. I finished it in under 6 hours.

Ending light with the power of Darkness

I always favored the Dark. And this game enabled me to play with the powers of the Darkness. It is hard to know whether the Protagonist is the hero or a villain. I really enjoyed each and every moment of this game! Although the game is short and is confusing, it is actually fun. The gore aspect of this game adds to the fun you can reap from it! I do recommend getting this game on sale, as it’s an old game that’s not worth the full price.

Rating:9.5/10

Reviewer: Midplayz
Kill my girl.....I will bring hell on Earth trying to kill you in the most painful way possible.