The Darkness II

by Justin Snyder
reviewed on PS3
Casting a Shadow Over the Game
Everything was fun and fresh for the first couple of hours, but the gameplay quickly wore down. The levels are prettier but allow for much less exploration than the levels in the first game did. Combat takes the form of waves of enemies in wide-open spaces connected by linear pathways. There are several enemy types that spice things up as you go, but once you hit the halfway point you’ve seen all the general enemies and battles near tedium.
Several annoying animation delays also detract from the experience. Appropriately-weakened enemies often take quite a while before they become executable, and once grabbed, cannot immediately be executed. What often occurred is that I’d grab a guy, but instead of performing a health execution, I would just start jumping. Sometimes this would result in killing the enemy I was suspending in midair, but more often than not I died from my wounds, unable to get the health I needed. At times, I would find myself with several enemies and objects to grab in front of me and my focus centered on one of two weakened enemies on the ground, but grabbing with the left Darkness tendril would instead result in grabbing a third enemy or object off to the side. It doesn’t matter how powerful Jackie Estacado is; he can’t extract health from a chair. There is still fun to be had, and I felt a great sense of accomplishment when I finally triumphed over the more troublesome groups of enemies, but sometimes combat was more of a slog than a joyride.
The boss battles leave much to be desired. They all take place against enemies with portions of your Darkness powers, and they all play similarly. The boss will teleport around, shoot at you intermittently, and summon Darklings to attack you. Victor, the final boss (too obvious to warrant a spoiler alert), follows the same routine. This was a missed opportunity to present a fresh challenge to the player, perhaps forcing you to use your powers in creative ways. Instead, bosses are mere trumped up versions of the standard enemies.
Team Up
Overall, the campaign provides some definite enjoyment, but maybe best taken in small doses so as not to get stale. The whole experience took somewhere between six and ten hours, so it won’t take you very long to do everything there is. You can turn around and try New Game+, finish maxing out Jackie’s skills, gather the relics you missed or try a harder difficulty, but there isn’t anything else in terms of single-player content.
Coop, however, has been added as the new Vendetta mode. Vendettas are side-missions that are tied into the main story where up to four players can team up to battle through levels similar to those in the main campaign. Each of the four playable characters in this mode wields a different weapon imbued with Darkness power. My personal favorite is “The Hound,” who wields a sword cursed by the darkness that must feast on the hearts of the wicked every day. The missions are short and fun, with amusing banter between your character and Johnny Powell, who gives the missions and updates you throughout. Unfortunately the co-op is online-only, so you won’t be able to play with friends sitting next to you. It still baffles me that developers are so sure that local co-op is dead.
I had a lot of fun with The Darkness II, and it could have been a great game. It has the novel quad-wielding mechanic, almost one hundred issues of comic lore to work with and a developer with quite a history of first-person shooter development (Digital Extremes has co-developed several Unreal Tournament games and did work on both BioShock titles). The Darkness II is good, and even really good at times, but it unfortunately falls short of realizing its potential for greatness.
7.5
fun score
Pros
Quad-wielding, weapon variation, interesting narrative elements.
Cons
Some frustrating design choices, uninspired levels, short campaign.