The Darkness II Review (Misunderstood Everything Killer)
A very good FPS game. Being able to control the darkness gives another dimension to your gameplay, another weapon in your arsenal. It is rare to see modern games attempt new ways to evolve gaming and The Darkness II being quite old, definitely made a fantastic attempt and nailed it.
-Graphics: Looks like an updated "Borderlands" style. Graphics are quite dated but does everything it needs to do to be able to convey the story.
-Story: Pretty good story overall. I did not play the first game but there is a summary at the beginning so you can start with this title. I mostly dislike American-Italian mob movies and games but, being quite a short game and pretty linear it does not over stays it's welcome. You can skip most of the story which is a plus.
-Theme: The campaign and vendettas all feel like locations that would exist. Obviously, there are some convenient "ramp which leads you to the next section of the map" but, they make it work to the point it has some logic. The Italian family theme is heavily emphasised in the story and it does give you a sense that you are a part of a mob. Then there is the darkness which looks very hellish and pretty good world they have made for it.
-Gameplay: This is the only reason why you would play this game in my opinion. Having control of the darkness's tentacles can be clunky but they become very satisfying weapons overtime. Super fun to use, crazy execution you can pull off with the tentacles and some of them are hilarious. This game had me smiling at times with the little details they added into the game.
The gun play is quite underwhelming but compared to other FPS of the time, it is quite decent. It is a bit of a grind to get all the talents to actually enjoy the game as it should be played, making you into a quite formidable killer. There are some talents like the void which are incredibly fun to throw around as you watch everyone getting sucked into. Also the staple abilities which you still have to unlock, give breathing room when in tough situations.
Another great aspect is the light. Having to destroy lights around the map so that the darkness does not fade from your body is a very good mechanic. It can be tedious after a while but learning to kill the lights so that you can still use your darkness abilities is vital in some situations.
Overall the game is not hard and very lenient on the hardest difficulty. AI can seem a bit silly but mostly quite deadly if you are not careful which is good and take cover often. It is a shame that the game is short but vendettas co-op adds another pack of missions to beat and quite fun to play. I played it solo which added 4 new characters play with different play styles. It felt like a fully fleshed out DLC and very entertaining.
Only major downside are the bugs but with a very accessible restart level and checkpoint, you can revert to a previous checkpoint since they are very abundant and it will be just a few minutes of backtracking.
Audio: Voice acting was just fine and dandy. The problem is audio when in combat. I could not differentiate whether I was being shot from behind or afar. Other than not allowing me to understand my surroundings, it does a fair job and is not a huge problem.
Campaign and Vendettas: The game will run you 4-6 hours to finish the campaign and vendettas can run you an additional 2-3 hours. It is a short game but quite an effective game that does not waste your time. This is the type of game we are missing these days,