The Darkness II(Playstation 3) Review

This was a particular game I always had a fondness for. This among other games was one of the titles that showed me that shooters didn't have to be an endless game of shoot, getting hit, duck behind cover, wait for health to regen rinse repeat. Playing Darkness 2 again still shocks me that it came out in the 7th gen at all. While having the tropes you assiociated FPS games at the time with like weapon limits, regen health, sprinting, and aim down sights, it uses the license that it's based on to stand out from the pack. Partner that with a solid story and it's one of the best FPS of it's time.

The story is well written and enjoyable for the kind of game this is. I haven't played the first game in a long while but it's just as easy to jump into this game and still be up to speed. All you really need to know is that Jackie's girlfriend is dead and is now dealing with the aftermath while dealing with a proxy war between 3 factions: the Brotherhood, the Darkness controlling him and one revealed at the end. All of them thinking they are in control when really, they aren't.

What sells the story is how well acted and written many of it's cutscenes are. Character interactions are quick and to the point and they never get in the way of the gameplay. The load screens inbetween levels do a great job at giving backstory on Jackie Estacado's and why characters like Jenny and Aunt Sarah are so important to him as well giving an insight into the former's upbringing. The single Darkling that is with you has some funny lines and helps you out during gameplay. You can unlock an upgrade to throw him at enemies, he can give you materials to kill enemies, as well as stealth sections whenever Jackie is in a bind and can't do anything. Johnny Powell is very fun to listen in how he's a crazy wackjob but he also gives information on the lore and the greater story at hand regarding the titular Darkness.

The side characters while not having an overwhelming screen time do have memorable interactions to stand out like Sarah keeping Jackie sane because of the aftermath of Jenny's death or Vinnie and Jimmy being people Jackie can trust.

One really cool detail is that Jackie always attacks his enemies when none of his underlings are around. It gives him a sense that he cares about his people for the Darkness not to accidentally kill them.

The asylum sections are also interesting in that Jackie along with the player is also questioning their own sanity if anything transpiring is real along with the numerous flashbacks to Jenny.

My only big gripe is the cliffhanger ending. It was foreshadowed but it felt like a cheap shot with the happy music playing just for it to end with no continuation to this day.

Gameplay is also really good. You have all the things that I mentioned at the start but now The Darkness license is used to make what could be a by the numbers shooter stand out all the more. I even played the game on Hitman difficulty just because I welcome the challenge for this combat system. However with that said, Demonic Path is the best path for all the cool powers that can help you.

You got the moves that you can do like using guns but ammo is scare enough that you will need to use the powers. There is tentacle swipe and this is move you will need to replenish ammo and health. It can take a few seconds for the prompts to pop up for the takedown animation. You can throw objects to impale or you can grab a car door for a shield. There is single weapon use as well as dual wielding and two weapon use. Throwing a Darkling can also help.

What is great about this combat is that health is brought back by eating hearts rather than much of the health regeneration that plagued the era. The only issue is that sometimes the button prompt to eat a heart doesn't appear fast enough and could lead to a cheap death when in a pinch.

It doesn't end there. You also need to deal with light sources that when in stepped into, you can't use your powers and become much weaker. First it's regular street lights, then generator lights then car vehicle lights to flashbangs to enemies flashing lanterns at you and you need to shoot them to destroy it.

The enemies are also no slouche either. First you fight generic mafia goons who mainly use guns but after there's The Brotherhood enemies where they use guns, shields, armored, to the aforementioned lantern users and my personal favorite enemies can use the whip to pull Jackie's currently held weapons out of his hands meaning more improvasion.

Combine all this and you get a combat system where you are always on your toes and never feel like you are always powerful. You could be dominating one minute but then you could lose your Darkness powers, lose your weapons or be ovwhelmed and need to improvise.

Some criticize the game for being "short" but the game throws so much at you from the Carnivale level onwards that an extra 5 hours would feel like diminishing returns.

One major criticism I do have with the lantern enemies is that once you are in the light, Jackie is much weaker can most of his moveset is gone and can't take as much damage. A second chance system where you give up your health bar chunk to destroy a light source or have some grenade throwables could help.

Overall, Darkness 2 is still very good, I might check out the comics now.