The Darkness 2 has been a while coming, and has made some big changes - but have the changes been for the better?
The original Darkness title on the Xbox 360 was something of a hidden gem, as a fan of the comics I had picked up the first title and enjoyed it from start to finish. Now with the release of The Darkness 2 I'm wondering if the sequel can keep me as engaged as the original.
The game is set two years after the first game, and there are some changes. Firstly, Jackie Estacado has moved up in the mob world from hit man to the don of the Franchetti crime family, the fictional mob family ruling over New York. The game has also made several changes to the way in which the game looks and feels; the open world structure of the first game is gone in favour of a more linear cinematic experience. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, in the original game it was sometimes easy to lose track of where you were supposed to be going as you navigated the open world tube train system of travel. This keeps the action thick, fast, but also breaks up the story nicely with trips to Jackie's home amongst the reaching skyscrapers of the city where the plot can be expanded upon and offer conversations with supporting characters. The next big change is the visuals. The dark broody visuals of the original title have been swapped out for a brighter cell shaded comic style which holds up well as it has a real attention to detail to it.
In terms of game play The Darkness 2 introduces a system it has titled 'quad-wielding' to the shooter genre, which works well. Gone are the power swapping and slashing antics of The Darkness . You have basic shooter controls, left trigger for aiming, right trigger for shooting; when dual wielding guns each trigger fires each gun. The left and right bumpers' roles are controlling your pair of nasty demon heads. Generally the left bumper is used to grab objects or enemies which can be either used as shields, thrown into or through enemies, executed and impaled – in no particular order. The right bumper sticks to its slashing role, responding well to movements with the right thumb stick to control the direction or angle of the slice. Other abilities are mapped to the Y and B buttons, namely gun channelling which allows weapons to be imbued with darkness energy for a burst of extra damage and unlimited ammo as long as you stay in the dark, very similar to the first game's 'darkness guns'. The B button unleashes a new power in your arsenal, the swarm. A vicious cloud of flies obscures a few enemies visions, leaving them vulnerable to being grabbed or shot to pieces.
Darklings are no longer summoned on mass either, instead you have one minion who is automatically summoned and follows you faithfully through the game, allowing access to areas, attacking enemies, offering hints, passing wind and even stopping for a leisurely pee on dead enemies from time to time. Having picked up the special edition I also got an alternative skin for my darkling, but aside from his visual appearance nothing about his personality changed. Looking in the game's options menu however there is an option to change the appearance of your minion, which could be a hint at further DLC in the future.
The game features a progression system too, which rewards you for your grizzly murders, and in fact encourages extremely violent and creative means of dispatching your foes – in the form of more experience points earned. These points are spent at 'talent shrines' to increase you proficiency with The Darkness. There are three main trees, on focused on shooting, one on Darkness powers, and one on making the basics better essentially. Some of these powers include old favourites such as the black hole power, but there are also some new tricks such as your demon arms spawning bladed limbs after executing an enemy, providing extra damage for a time, or the Darkness armour which provides extra protection whilst in the dark, and gives Jackie an appearance more similar to his comic style.
Multiplayer is still present in The Darkness 2, but is co-operative rather than competitive. Players are given the choice between four unique characters created for the game, hired by Jackie for their abilities granted by The Darkness in forms of artifacts they carry. First up is Inugami, a Japanese guy who primarily wields a micro uzi and Kusanagi – a katana seeped in dark energy. His Darkness power is the swarm ability. Shoshanna is the lady of the group, typically dual wields and has access to the gun channelling ability. Doctor Dumond is a voodoo practitioner with access to the black hole power, who uses his voodoo staff for some pretty horrific executions. Lastly, there is Jimmy Wilson, a Scottish guy who is absolutely non-stereotypical... with ginger hair, big beard, generic Celtic tattoo designs and wields an axe. OK. His unique power from The Darkness is the ability to summon exploding Darklings.
Multiplayer mode offers a series of 'hit list' missions where players can tackle levels with varying objectives, which usually amount to 'kill this guy' or 'blow that up' and can be fairly challenging. There is also a campaign set alongside the main game's story, which is quite cool. The co-operative campaign fills some gaps in the single player plot, which is referenced throughout and relates to identifiable moments in the story, conversely, the co-operative campaign's exploits are also referenced in the single player which overall helps them tie together. The campaign isn't very long and with two players in our game me and a friend managed to complete the six missions in the space of about two hours, and although it was still enjoyable, it wasn't too challenging – so I suspect it might be a little too easy when playing with a full team of four players.
In conclusion: The Darkness 2 is a sequel I've been waiting to get my hands on, and I'm not disappointed. There are some pretty extreme changes to the original game's formula but they're not all for the worse. The story kept me wanting to go on and did a good job of representing Jackie's struggle to control The Darkness, but it's hard to say more without giving things way. With the exploration elements removed the game is a more visceral and brutal experience, but I'm left wondering if I have a reason to play through it again any time soon, and with the ease of the co-operative missions I'm not sure how long they alone can hold my attention. A generous amount of DLC will be required to keep this game played more than a couple of times, but it is certainly worth playing through at least once.