Good story, lots of options during combat but terrible and inappropriate cell shaded graphics. A decent rental.
It's a short game that tells a simple but effective, dark and fairly compelling story. I little aspects of the storytelling like the narratives between chapters, it was a very effective technique. They could have tossed in a little more ambiguity, as in… any ambiguity at all, when showing the hospital parts but it was still interesting and creative. The story is supported by some good dialogue especially if you take the time to walk around and talk to your sycophantic mobsters. It's certainly no Bioware epic but there is some small depth to the experience. You certainly recognize and remember your mobster pals, which is more than can be said for many games. They also put a decent amount of detail into this game as far as the collectible relics. I actually took the time to listen to all of them and looked forward to finding the next one.
I don't like cell shaded graphics at the best of times. It's a copout and it's lazy. It rarely "fits" or adds anything to a game. It really, really doesn't work with Darkness 2. This is actually my biggest knock against the game. The graphics just look stupid. Ultra violence and cheesy cell shading effects do not work. Many parts of the game looked laughable and it was in poor taste.
As far as gameplay there's a lot going on and a lot of cool options for gruesomely defeating your opponents. You'll often forget to use your actual guns. This game is very easy, even on the toughest difficulty. The hardest part is remembering to rotate through using all of your overpowered abilities. In the co-op campaign after a few upgrades my character was perpetually invincible with infinite amount and one shot kills.
The light mechanic doesn't work well. Most of the time I couldn't figure out if I was standing in the light, or where it was coming from. It was at most a minor annoyance that became a frustration simply due to how much it was repeated rather than any legitimate challenge.
I don't have much to say about the co-op. It recycles the same singleplayer levels and doesn't add much. Thrown in co-op is the new thrown in mp, except it's even more lazy. Put some effort into it, some unique challenge or don't effing bother! I doubt anyone in the world bought this game so I didn't have anyone to play it with, but since it's so easy by myself I expect it would degenerate into racing each other to kill baddies first. In any event the goofy racist characters detract heavily from the single player experience. Some of the things the Israel agent says are incredibly offensive.
Not a bad little game. Worth a rental if you're bored and want a fun, short story driven experience.