Gaming on the Cheap: Raise some hell in "The Darkness 2"

First person shooters are so prevalent anymore that it’s hard for any one title to stand out among the rest. They all give you a vast arsenal of weaponry to mow down countless legions of faceless goons and after a while, it becomes so very boring committing these virtual murders with the same old tools of the trade. Developer Digital Extremes shares these complaints with ordinary shooters and gives players some unique and truly grisly ways to deal with foes in “The Darkness 2.”

The series, based on a graphic novel of the same name, centers around Jackie Estacado, a low-level mob enforcer who is cursed to carry the Darkness – an ageless entity of pure evil and malevolence. After defeating the mobsters out to kill him at the end of the first game, Jackie has since taken control of the Franchetti crime family for himself and has also managed to suppress the Darkness, seemingly for good.  That relative peace doesn’t last long, though, as Jackie becomes the target of a group known as the Brotherhood who are bent on reclaiming the Darkness, regardless of its current host. The Darkness eventually re-manifests itself to protect its current host, Jackie.

A number of changes have been made to the series since its original installment. The most noticeable change has been to the art style, replacing the relatively bland yet gritty visuals of the first game with bright, colorful cel-shading. The new style gives the game a much different look, harkening back to its comic book roots. While I personally would’ve liked to have seen the visuals continued to trend along the gritty path, I can’t deny that “The Darkness 2” is one slick looking game. Also, don’t worry that the change in art style has downplayed the amount of violence and gore – because it hasn’t.

The next big change in “The Darkness 2” is that the action is broken up in levels, rather than traversing various areas using the subway system, as in the first game. This keeps the action and story moving along at a nice clip, never letting any steam it’s built up go to waste. Levels usually begin in Jackie’s penthouse apartment, allowing you to explore collected items or talk to your cronies. Though this can be bypassed easily enough if blowing fools away is more your speed.

As in the first game, Jackie can wield a vast array of guns as well as being able to dual wield pistols and smaller machine guns. But this time around, his Darkness powers play a much more prominent role in combat. Dubbed “quad-wielding” by Digital Extremes, Jackie is able to use two guns as well as his Darkness arms at will, creating some devastating attacks. The left arm is used to grab objects – turning car doors into shields, pipes into projectiles and enemies into bloody piles of limbs (via the game’s incredibly violent executions). The right arm is used for melee attacks and the direction of the attack can be aimed with the right stick, allowing you to dismember enemies as well as perform special attacks.

Make no mistake about it, “The Darkness 2” is intended solely for mature audiences as it pulls no punches during the combat or in its narrative. Jackie’s enemies, The Brotherhood, have a history of committing atrocities attempting to control the Darkness and the Darkness itself is the literal embodiment of evil. To this end your Darkness arms will be tearing out enemy hearts for health, and performing various, nasty execution moves on stunned enemies to gain health, ammo, a shield or recharge other Darkness powers (like Gun Channeling and the Swarm).

Actually using those executions during a tense firefight is much easier earlier on in the game, where you’re afforded a bit more time to enjoy the theatric finishes as opposed to the later stages of the game where you’ll often be teetering on the brink of death as you blast away with both guns, flail your Darkness arm wildly and search for some semblance of cover. Though the earlier levels of “The Darkness 2” aren’t very challenging, you’ll be facing some tough opposition later on. Since the Darkness can only operate in areas of relative dark, the Brotherhood employs mobile, high-powered lights as well as grenades that blast surrounding areas with bright lights to weaken the Darkness and force Jackie to seek darker surroundings. Though the Brotherhood pursues Jackie relentlessly, these encounters are never too overwhelming or cause fits of controller-throwing rage.

I was very surprised by the story presented in “The Darkness 2.” Not because it was shocking in any sort of grotesque way (trust me, the visuals and gameplay will dole out plenty of the “grotesque”) but because of the way it easily toys with the player. Numerous times during the course of the story, the narrative takes a dramatic turn, dropping the player into unknown territory, forcing you to decide if you can trust exactly what the narrative is telling you. The themes of “The Darkness 2” are actually very similar to another standout FPS title, “BioShock.” In both titles you take on the role of a character who believes he is acting of his own free will, accomplishing his own goals, but in the end we find that someone, or something, else may actually be pulling the strings.

“The Darkness 2” also introduces multiplayer to the series in the form of the “Vendettas” missions. A separate campaign that runs parallel to Jackie’s story, Vendettas are missions designed around four-player cooperative play. It seems that Jackie, as the current host of the Darkness, has attracted others to his cause – others who wield powerful artifacts that are powered by dark essence. Each character has a specific dark-weapon that not only acts as a powerful melee attack but also is how these characters perform. Each also has a unique tree of skills to unlock as well as a unique Darkness power. For instance I played as Jimmy Wilson who wields a large axe that can be thrown and recalled on command, as well as being able to summon Darklings who seek out enemies and explode, causing massive damage. Vendettas can be played online or offline but being that many unlockable skills are related to buffing the stats of other players, it is a mode that was definitely designed to play with others.

As a fan of the original game, I was quite happy with the way that “The Darkness 2” turned out. Though the change in art style may be a bit too much for some to come to terms with, the copious amount of blood, gore and violence will no doubt assure those on the fence that this game hasn’t lost the edge of its predecessor. The deeper, twisting story will no doubt keep players in the dark (pun not intended) and on the edge of their seat, even after the credits finish rolling. Plus, the inclusion of multiplayer and a New Game + mode (after completing the single player campaign once) give players plenty of reason to keep coming back to. “The Darkness 2” should available for a relatively cheap price these days and, to an FPS fan, is worth every penny.