Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Check your bargain bin"

First of all, let me just say that I loved the graphics in this game I wasn't sure I would at first but the comic book styling really lends itself to the fact that the game is actually derived from a top cow comic book.The voice acting in this game is pretty spot on. and of course the voice of the darkness is non other than former Faith No More front man and vocalist Mike Patton which is very awesome. Other characters in the game also do a great job of adding very believable and extremely colorful dialog. The dialog even goes as far as to allow multiple dialogs on a per character basis as you continually interact with them. The storyline is gripping and very well done and makes for a good transition from the previous title. The loading times are offset by Jackie's solo dialog taking you deeper into his state of mind and feelings as you progress through the game. This game is extremely graphic and violent, just the way I like it. Your little minion lends a helping hand and enhances the entertainment value in both dialog and interaction with fallen foes. Doing anything from comical interaction with the environment to farting or urinating on downed enemies. At certain points in the game you even get to control your little henchman and perform kills and advance your progress. The destructible environment makes for an interesting array of both weapons and shields. As you progress through the game, you'll earn essence points. These points are earned through executions, kills and by finding relics. There are quite a variety of executions that become available and all are gruesome and satisfying. The essence points you collect can then be used to unlock additional abilities and strengthen the ones you already have. Finding relics will earn you quite a bit of essence and drives map exploration. Just like in the previous Darkness game, light hurts the darkness so you'll spend quite a bit of time trying to figure out how to shoot the lights out or how to turn them off. The gameplay and controls take a little getting used to, but once you've got them down they can be used to create a wide assortment of take downs, combinations and executions. Dual wielding weapons make reload times pretty painless once you learn how to properly utilize it. The game soundtrack includes some popular tracks from the past including songs from Janes Addiction, Tone Loc and others. My only real complaint with this game is the length of the game in storyline mode. I was able to beat this game rather quickly, in only a few hours in total. On a positive note however, once you've beaten the game, you can go back and play through the vendetta game modes which allow you to experience the game through the side questing eyes of different characters and see how those side quests affected the main storyline filling in a few gaps here and there. Not to mention each vendetta character utilizes the darkness is new and interesting ways. All in all, this is a great game and I highly suggest it to fans of the series.