Great Guilty Pleasure
User Rating: 8.5 | The Darkness II X360
It's been awhile since we joyed Jackie from the first Darkness Game. But the series returns with some surprisingly fun gameplay. The story brings us back with Jackie Estacado. As a brief recap from the first Darkness game, Jackie aquires the Darkness, a supernatural being that emits from the very darkness itself and emerges as a two headed snake-like monster. The Darkness forces Jackie to watch his girlfriend die right in front of him and leads to take revenge on the people responsible for this. The Darkness 2 has the player bring the Darkness back out to face a different enemy and there is blood on the way there. First thing you will notice with The Darkness 2 is the look of the game. Its going for a more cartoony look to it. This surprisingly fits the gameplay of the game and makes it look pretty good at times. The gameplay of The Darkness 2 has changed a little bit from the first game. Jackie is a monster in a good in this game and has his powers down pat and is a killing machine. His actions are accompanyed by some surprising good voice acting in the game. The gameplay is where The Darkness 2 really shines. You can control both necks of the Darkness the same time with great controls (one button controls one head and vice-versa). The gameplay is BLOODY. You rip enemies in half, rip heads off, throw objects at enemies, and even rip hearts out to gain health. You also use the Darkness to rip car doors off and use them as shields. You can even use the Darkling to kill enemies by kicking him into enemies. There are also sections where you play as him and it is also good bloody fun. It offers variety to the gameplay. You gain experience for how you kill your enemies. If you just straight up shoot enemies you probably not going to get as much experience but grab an enemy and ripped them in half and your going to get more experience. Experience is used for upgrades and makes even more a killing machine. Another the campaign you can co-op by playing as one of four characters in a new campaign. These are challenging and are recommended for more than one player. However, the characters in this campaign are not as interesting as Jackie though. And while the campaign is enough to play the game, you can probably beat it in about 6 to 7 hours. There are some techinal bugs here and there. And shooting lights to improve the Darkness is still annoying from the first one. The Darkness 2 is a guilty pleasure for blood thirsty fans. 8.5/10
