The Darkness II: creative brutality that works

This game shouldn’t work. It just shouldn’t. There are so many elements, so many moving parts, so many places where it could go wrong (and in some of those places it does go wrong). And yet, The Darkness II offers a surprisingly rich (if too short) single-player experience and fun, intense multiplayer options. 

 

On a story level, it’s all pretty absurd. Based on the graphic novels, we play as Jackie Estacado, who was inhabited by The Darkness (a powerful, malevolent force that causes you to sprout snake-like tentacle things around your head and shoulders which you can use as weapons) in the first game. 

 

He’s a young mob hit guy with a soft spot for a girl named Jenny, and in the intervening time since the first game he has become the family boss and contained the Darkness, despite having lost Jenny (of course she’s not totally lost, but then you’ll have to play the game if you want those explanations).  

Three realities In The Darkness II, we shift between three different realities as we play through.

 

In our main reality, to kick the game off, Jackie and his crew get attacked in a restaurant. This is an amazing action set-piece that has you starting off terribly de-powered and outgunned. 

 

It’s intense as the assailants come from all sides and your limited movement makes things even more demanding. The opening shootout sets the tone for the rest of the game, which is to say that you will be bombarded from all sides by bad dudes who want nothing more than the turn you into Swiss Cheese. It’s in this reality where the bulk of the game occurs (and one wishes that we spent even more time there). 

 

Another reality is a construct of a mental institution where the people in Jackie’s crime family are all patients, Jackie’s in there because he’s being treated for believing in the Darkness, and Jenny is one of the nurses.

 

Oh and the last place is, like, Hell, or something like it. 

 

Anyway, we shuttle between the three, and intervening are cut-scene monologues of Jackie explaining things —which is all really to say that for all that The Darkness II makes an effort to tell a story, it gets sloppy and convoluted sometimes. And I’m all for the Jackie-Jenny love story because I am a cheezball, but man, does it get terribly corny.  A weak love story

 

I mean, you’ve got Italian mobsters mashed up with occult Darkness worshippers, and then your centerpiece is a relatively weak love story (which leads to a terribly predictable, and generally terrible and unfulfilling ending; one only allows for it because of the promise of a third game). 

 

Luckily, the gameplay here saves the day, making for a compelling campaign and an extremely exciting experience. Thinking back on my experiences with the first game, I enjoyed it but I found that it was problematic in terms of navigation. Surroundings looked similar and you wound up backtracking and getting lost more than you should. 

 

This is solved in the sequel with, first off, an arrow system that leads you to your objectives, better background designs and better graphics in general, and a very linear approach to level design.

 

Now while we enjoy games that allow us to open things up, explore, and free-roam, this is not one of those games. In fact, it sacrifices such free-will in the service of the story. This is totally acceptable, because for all that the story is absurd when you stop to think about it, it’s propulsive and surprising, and when you get caught up in it, it does seem pretty awesome. Thus, the game pushes you forward, leading you to objectives and advancing the story.

Points for creative brutality  

I liked the story, but more than the story, I just like how The Darkness II encourages extreme brutality. And here’s where I think the game shouldn’t work, but does extremely well. You’ve got guns, in fact you’re encouraged to dual wield. So you’re firing those off. And at the same time you’ve got The Darkness tentacle attacks, also on the shoulder buttons, which you use for slashing, thrashing, grabbing, throwing, and executing. It’s all a lot to handle, and the combat system isn’t the easiest thing to pick up on, conceptually. 

 

But once you’re in the game and you’re shooting dudes, grabbing them, eating their hearts, then throwing them at their buddies, or you’re grabbing and ripping people open to get their ammo, or opening up blackholes in your wake, it all seems intuitive. 

 

You’re allowed to develop your powers, accumulating points for creative brutality and then using those points to unlock more moves, Darkness powers, and weapon enhancements, which let you in turn earn more points. It’s all pretty addictive even if it’s just for the sheer visceral jolt and adrenaline rush of it all. The enemies are challenging and smart, and it will take a fair amount of tactics to take on the various enemy-types. That’s one of the big pluses in this game’s design: the enemies don’t get progressively stronger, but the number of enemies coming at you and the kind of intensity they have varies, and that makes for a number of very interesting firefights. 

 

There’s very little stealth to be had here (you are, after all, a dude who has weird snake/eel-like tentacle heads which are snapping and biting all the time sprouting all about you) so the gameplay becomes about how to be more efficient and how to utilize whatever powers you already have at hand. You can surge forward and try and get by with a flurry of offensive attacks, or you can pick enemies off, or you can pick up things like car doors which can be used as shields, offering a different tactical option.  Guns blazing, glaring problems

 

This game is a shooter through and through, and it demands that you are going in there guns blazing. Making sure that you aren’t too overpowered, enemies are equipped with weaponry that can definitely take you down. One of the most frustrating enemy-types carries a whip and those dudes can just snap their whips and disarm you, taking your favorite gun right out of your hands. Be wary too the dudes who carry around powerful lights which can neutralize The Darkness. 

 

Then there are boss battles which, for the most part, wind up a bit disappointing. Earlier boss battles demand some kind of strategy, but later bosses just demand that you survive the firefight and keep firing your guns. Still, the extremely demanding levels and all the creative ways that you can engage the enemy keep The Darkness II very fun and entertaining. 

 

Which is why the two problems I have with it are so glaring. 

 

The first is that while I understand that there needs to be a breather between levels, those hospital scenes go on for far longer than they really need to. Sure they help to develop the story, but they break the adrenaline rush for too long. And then the ending section, while still exciting as a shooter, brings you into Hell where there are no guns, but there are sort of projectile weapons which function pretty much the same as guns. It’s all a bit shabby in that end section. And then the game ends and you wish that there were more levels in the real world with more shooting and action. 

 

That’s where the multiplayer game comes in. You choose to be someone on Jackie’s crew who’s taking out mobsters that have been endowed with powers. It’s not the most terribly new thing, but like the main game, things are frenetic and fierce and your shooter skills will be put to the test. The added cool factor is each playable character has different advantages and special weapons, which means that you can go in and have very different playing experiences. Wrap-up and conclusion

 

That said, bang for your buck, The Darkness II is a solid package despite all its flaws. It offers an immensely fun and very unique FPS experience, and has enough extras and goodies to have you coming back to Jackie Estacado’s world for more.  — TJD, GMA News

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All games reviewed on the site are provided courtesy of Datablitz.com.ph