An awesome FPS that shouldn't be missed!

User Rating: 8.5 | The Darkness II X360

Now I still haven't played the original but after playing this one Im itching to get my hands on it.. You definatley do not need to play the first one to enjoy this game.. The game follows the story of Jackie Estacado who is the leader of a mafia crime family, and is imbued with a mysterious power known as the darkness.. The darkness is a awesome weapon and gameplay mechanic with brutal results..You can only use these while in darkness so at points you need to shoot out lighting.. There are two demonic snake heads growing out of each side of his shoulders, one is used to pick up objects and hurl them, grab onto solid surfaces, pick up enemies and perform absolutely over the top brutal executions on them.. From wrapping around them like an anaconda then bursting through there chest, to tearing there throat out, to both arms grabbing them and ripping the poor bastard completely in half known as a wishbone.. The other is used for melee attacks and its direction can be controlled.. Of course there is also a wide assortment of guns which can be dual wielded.. Along your way you can eat the hearts of fallen foes which gives you darkness power which can be used for various upgrades like a swarm of insects and see through wall enhanced bullets, to summoning a black hole to suck in powerless enemies.. By the end of this game you feel like an unstoppable dark god.. The challenge in this game isn't too bad so I would recommend playing this game first on the hard difficulty.. Its not too difficult but some areas can be frustrating..

By the time I finished this fairly short game I was ready for more, so I delved into the Vendetta mode which can be played solo or multiplayer.. Its a very fun mode but I prefer single player because its ridiculously easy with 4 superpowered dudes blasting through the enemies.. You can pick between 4 characters each of which have unique powers and abilities.. I went with the Voodoo Witch Doctor with his skull staff that can grab enemies out of cover.. One thing about this game is after extended play it can be very repetitive but very rarely do I try to plough through a rented game so fast..

The story of this game also kept me very interested, with Jackie waking up in a mental hospital at certain points unsure of whether the entire game is a hallucination or real.. For awhile I really did think he was nuts.. His girlfried Jennie appears frequently and hes chasing what appears to be her ghost through the game but she appears as a doctor in the asylum! Some of the characters are quite interesting and there is quite a bit of funny dialouge throughout..

The graphics in the game are fantastic, with a comic book look and feel to the entire game.. This is probably a good thing because the amount of gore in this game is completely over the top.. The environments all have great lighting and feel to them although some of them are somewhat generic.. The character models of the enemies do repeat themselves quite a bit but its not that bothersome.. The cut scenes with the characters in them look very well done and stylized.. The sound effects and music in this game are extremely good, with the sound of tearing flesh and gunfire echoing through the buildings.. The music is intense and gets you pumped for battle!

Overall if you like first person shooters, this is not a game to be missed.. Its probably not worth its full price but without a doubt rent it as soon as possible or get it cheap.. It can get somewhat repetitive but it is a very fun time to be had.. It does have some replay value to it since I wish I could keep the game longer to play it through on the hardest difficulty..