You can't escape The Darkness.
The story is set two years after The Darkness and once again follows protagonist Jackie Estacado. Following the events of the first title, Jackie has now become the Don of the Franchetti crime family and, at the same time, learned to control The Darkness. Estacado has gone years without experiencing the curse but has frequent visions of his dead girlfriend, Jenny. Often losing his grip on reality, Jackie undergoes a seemingly normal visit to a top restaurant in town (a great intro sequence) – only to be ambushed there by armed mercenaries working for a mysterious character called Victor. Victor reveals his own plans to Jackie; to take the Darkness from him and utilise it for his own evil means. Of course, there are twists more logical than many other games and character development that is built over the course of the game only adds to the incredible presentation. The story is real, humane and makes you feel. There are some zany moments in The Darkness II when even you question your sanity and its these stand-out moments that make the game so engrossing. It's certainly a story that ranks with the very best in terms of style and substance, and only gets better as the game goes on. The cut-scenes are great, and the environments are mostly top-notch. There are various environments and are interesting. One battle will be in a subway, the next an amusement park and even one of the rides inside the park. The pacing is great, and allows momentum to build up before the next fight.
This story is further cultivated by some superb characters. Your henchmen are loyal and respectful, and make you feel like the boss. Your right hand man, Vinnie, is one of the best in the game, feeding you information on ongoings around the city and encouraging, as well as discouraging, your respective actions. Then there is the strange, crazy and ultimately wholly likeable Johnny Powell, who is an occultist that soon works with Jackie. He has great study of The Darkness and helps Jackie control it. I won't spoil the wider picture, but Jenny does appear in the game, and the scenes involving her are the best and most wonderful scenes in the entire game. This may be a dark mob tale, but its also a beautiful love story at heart. Many other small but important characters also add to the immersion and productive qualities. The writing, courtesy of series scribe Paul Jenkins, is deep and engaging, as was with the first installment. The darklings, minions of the Darkness, are charming and reliable, and build up a strange bond between themselves and Jackie.
The visuals in The Darkness II are strong and stylish. There are attractive comic-book qualities to the environments, from nice cel-shaded lighting and textures to the blood and facial animations. There is some pop-in, clipping and slowdown in places, but for the most part, The Darkness II is impressive, with strong visual effects, solid lip-synching and brutally satisfying death animations.
Sound design is brilliant. Voice acting is phenomenal, with a stand-out performance from Brian Bloom as Jackie, as well as another fantastically insane role from Mike Patton as The Darkness. The orchestral score is beautiful and well-timed during moving sequences and action scenes, but the soundtrack is amazing, with some great tracks, notably The Flamingos' "I Only Have Eyes for You" which is stunning. Sound effects are strong, with great slash and impale effects that have a brutal quality, as well as gun sounds and the many different qualities to The Darkness.
Gameplay is much improved over the first game, which suffered from some aiming, AI and control issues. Cleaned up to a tee, The Darkness II is all the better for it. The controls still feel a little stiff in places, but for the most part, it is smooth. The aiming is much better though still imperfect and some button presses do not register at times. However, there are many aspects to the Darkness II that completely overshadow these complaints. Firstly, the demon arm is back and is as brutal as ever. Jackie can slash enemies in half, grab them and impale them, throw them and throw objects at them. When there are objects nearby, they glow a purple colour which means you can pick up that object and use it as a weapon. Subsequently, you can tear car doors from their vehicle and use them as shields, which blocks incoming fire, and enables you to slash enemies with it, which is totally cool. Sometimes, Jackie needs to navigate certain areas that are inaccessible, and so the demon arm can be used to slash down wooden fences and break doors.
The best part about the demon arm, though, is definitely the executions. These moves are extremely satisfying. There are four types of executions – Shield, which creates a demonic shield for Jackie, which is awesome; Hitman, which enables Jackie to obtain ammo from a fallen enemy; Health, which gives Jackie a full health restoration; and Power, which gives Jackie more energy for further Darkness powers. These executions result in brutal finishers with different outcomes, such as Wishbone, which tears an enemy in half by his leg and Daisy Pop, which pulls off an enemy's head. My favourite, however, is Throat Plunge which grabs and enemy and thrusts the demon arm down his throat, and tearing out his windpipe. Awesome. There are more finishers that I won't spoil, and experimenting with them is the greatest thing about the gameplay.
The gunplay in The Darkness II is solid. There are a small but satisfying amount of weapons to use, from basics such as the pistol to more powerful guns as shotguns, as well as mainstream submachine guns and rifles. The great, great thing about the gunplay is that it can be used simultaneously with the demon powers. This concept is called Quad Wielding. Jackie can dual wield weapons as well as the Darkness, which in itself is a fantastic premise, and it works. Quad-Wielding, as complicated as one may consider, actually works brilliantly, and is actually the best part of the game. Zipping between guns and Darkness powers is unbelievably satisfying, and gives you an empowered feeling.
Executions and stylish kills are important, too, because of Essence. Essence is an alternative on the traditional XP, wherein Jackie can apply upgrades to his abilities and see immediate results, most of which are awesome, and some of which are minuscule in effectiveness. Enemies in the game have a purple glow on their bodies after regular kills, and these can be obtained by eating their hearts – a favourite ability from the first game. This gives Jackie essence, and building up this amounts to some upgrades such as more ammo for each weapon, Gun Channelling (which provides a burst of fire by the Darkness that doesn't use Jackie's bullet resources), Swarm (a swarm of darkness energy that destabilizes foes, allowing for easier kills) and extra demon arm abilities. These upgrades are accessed by using a Talent Tree. These sources are located throughout each level, mostly twice in each, and are a one-stop shop for spending essence. These talent trees have three different areas of upgrades – one for ammo and weapons, one for demon arm abilities, and one for Darkness abilities. There is even an upgrade that gives Jackie a darkness shield if he is absent from light. These abilities really do make Jackie feel powerful and enhance the enjoyment of the gameplay.
The aforementioned Darkling is sometimes relevant to the gameplay. At times, you will need to take control of him for purposes of solving a puzzle segment or reaching an inaccessible exit point for Jackie. These have their own abilities, such as tearing out enemy throats and moving quicker than Jackie. However, some Darkling sections can be slightly inadequate, with oppose to the great pacing of Jackie's sequences. Being spotted by enemies can be slightly frustrating, as they can die a lot quicker and have much less health than Jackie.
The campaign clocks in at under six hours, even less on a second playthrough because of New Game+. This mode enables a second run through of the game with all upgrades and collectible relics intact, allowing for an effective speedrun. I finished a second game in under four hours. After campaign, there is Vendettas. Vendettas is an awesome co-op game that can also be played alone, though finding a friend is recommended. Vendettas allows players to choose from four different characters with their own individual and unique Darkness abilities. There is the Japanese Inugami, wielding a sword with sacrificial means. Shoshanna is a female character who has Darkness guns; a strange voodoo style J.P. DuMond who has a stick that can implode enemies, and Jimmy, who is an insane Scottish axe-bearer. All four characters have good traits and useful in different situations. These characters also share the universe with Jackie, fighting against his foes and progressing more of the storyline. Speaking of story, there is a separate plot to Vendettas, but it isn't as engaging as Jackie's struggles. The basic premise is that a secret society is determined to locate an ancient artifact known as the Spear of Destiny It kind of moves along, but you'll be fighting so much that you won't have any idea as to why your killing certain boss characters, who appear at the end of each mission. There is also Hit List, which has players taking down specific enemies in different conditions, and can only be unlocked by completing Vendettas missions and beating harder difficulties.
The Darkness II is such an enjoyable and engrossing experience that its easy to overcome its flaws. Some niggly gunplay and darkling issues can't detract from what is simply a great game. An amazing story, superb audio design and two completely different endings are pros on what is an awesome experience.
SUMMARY
Presentation 9.0 - A sweet, involving story with solid characters.
Graphics 8.0 - Stylish, comic-book visuals with only some minor glitches and clipping.
Audio 8.5 - Good voice acting and sound effects.
Gameplay 9.0 - Awesome quad-wielding, fun level design and enjoyable boss fights.
Replayability 7.5 - Upgrades are welcome, and the co-op is enjoyable while it lasts.
Overall - 9/10