The Darkness II Review
Review By Zach Roland
“Jackie, you can’t out run your fate, but you sure as hell got to try.” A great line to start off an equally great game. There are many things to marvel about this game and the first is the thrilling story.
It started in the original Darkness with Jackie Estacado, a hired gun for the Franchetti crime family. Soon things had changed once it came to be Jackie’s 21st birthday, that’s when he became a whole lot darker. Not long after his birthday, the Franchetti family had put a price on his head, and they figured the fastest way to get to him was through his girlfriend Jenny.
Jenny was not just his girlfriend, but a cherished childhood friend. The mob shot her in front of Jackie in an effort to terrify him into giving himself up to them. It was the worst thing they could have possibly done. Jackie went ballistic and with the help of something called The Darkness he killed everyone who stood in his way to the top of the family. He then claims the lives of the Franchetti family as revenge for Jenny and takes control of the Franchetti crime family. Now Jackie tries to lock away the darkness and has succeeded for years, until now.
In the beginning of Darkness II You are entering your normal restaurant and your known associate Vinny welcomes you in by saying “Hey Boss, the Twins are waiting for you at the normal table.” From here you are attacked by an unknown foe forcing you to unleash your darkness after you are dragged to safety by Vinny. From here on out it is Jackie versus this unknown foe seeking to take the darkness from Jackie, whether willingly or by force.
The level of detail in this game is very nice, but not the best. The Darkness II has a style of graphics known as cel-shading. This gives it more of a comic book style of graphics. This takes away from the quality of the graphics in my opinion. Compared to other games with similar styles like Borderlands, these are much better.
The graphics are an improvement over what was found in the original The Darkness with things such as graphic control, by stopping almost all pops in the graphics and being able to maintain a constant FPS (Frames Per Second) during the whole game. Unlike in the original game, there are no graphics texture pop ins that I noticed and are much smoother. Most of the game’s graphics are nearly perfect despite the comic book feel. That is unless you try to take in the finer details. The cel-shading gives the graphics a smoother appearance but this limits the depth of detail that is found in many other games. The graphics in some major scenes toward the end of the game left me feeling unimpressed. Despite that, they aren’t sub-par either. All in all the graphics of this game are spectacular and caused me to take a minute to thank the graphic engineers behind them.
From the sound of the explosions of the bullet leaving the chamber of the Colt M1911 to the sound of the little monkey screeching as he rips someone apart, the audio in this game is a sound for sore ears by introducing their own little twist to make the audio just perfect. There are new songs in the game that are not near the same as they were in the game as they have added more songs to spice up your game, but have also made the songs used more suitable for a hardened game such as this one. The soundtrack has been expanded with more songs and different styles of music besides the dub step incorporated in the last game.
New music is not the only thing brought into this game that is new. There are new noises with the different animations that are brought into this game. The chambering sounds, as stated previously, are more detailed and complex than in Darkness. With all this new detail the sound engine had to be made as complex as the graphics engine to be able to contain the audio that this new game brings. With the enhanced audio this game’s sound is very near top of the line and deserves much recognition.
Unleash The Darkness to become the God you have been destined to be. Only in the dark that is. The game play to this awesome game is another bonus. You are again paired with the Twin serpents that act as tools of war under your control. You are also partnered with the companion of your imagination who likes to call you “Monkey” as he first appears at the start of the game, the as the game continues he will valiantly fight for you and will you on as you are the holder of the darkness and it is his duty to keep your heart beating.
There are new additions to the single player like the serpent assassination moves. The dual-wielding of guns is nothing new, but they have adjusted it from the last game to improve your accuracy. You can also now “quad-wield” as well. Unlike in the first game, you can now use both The Darkness and your weapons in public places. The Darkness now only disappears in while in the light or for story purposes.
There are many new executions but there is one in particular that I happen to find to be really interesting. It’s called the “Anaconda”. In this move you will rip your victim’s heart out with one of your serpents. Most of the executions had excited me, but some were not quite as exhilarating. The smaller aspects of the game have been primarily unchanged and are mainly the same. The story line in the single player campaign is an extremely amazing experience that I had enjoyed playing very much and will play more of in the future.
Trying to find the cure for the darkness is fun alone, but blasting your way to it with a couple friends is a great experience in my opinion. In the multi-player you get to dual wield your way through opposing teams with multiple types of guns as well as darkness focusing weapons. There are some abilities that you can unlock that are like “perks’ from the Call of Duty series.
I have not played the multiplayer as extensively as the single player so I do not know if the Serpents are incorporated into the game later on as a high level unlock. If they are I am sure it will be a great success. Through what I have played on the multiplayer I have found that it is the same pace and fun level as it is in single player. I will definitely be playing more of the exciting multiplayer now that I have beaten the single player.
This game, as I have said previously is a very spectacular one indeed; the storyline on this game really drew me in and mainly made me keep playing. The Graphics are great for a comic style game this is an overall kick some serious ass, though they do glitch just a bit. The audio is impeccable for the most part, but might need a little work here and there. The overall game play was great and exhilarated me. The Multiplayer game play was almost as great as the single player and is definitely a must in this game. Overall this game is great and deserves much recognition in the comic and gaming industries.
