First Impressions: The Darkness II

It's been a while since I played a demo for a game set to come out, mainly because I haven't found a demo that I felt was worth reviewing (aside from Rayman Origins, but that's because you would have already known weather you liked it or not). As a fan of the first game, I decided to give The Darkness II a shot. And, I have to go on the record saying this: I'm pretty disappointed.

That's not to say I hated it, far from it. The game play is fun, and using the titular Darkness is addictive and satisfying. One tendril aids in executions, eats hearts, and destroys doors, while the other slashes and maims everything, which creates a variety of ways, especially when combined with your guns, to kill your enemies. You also have a selection of executions you can do, including ripping people in half (which is incredibly, if not, disturbingly detailed). These are fun to do, but there's a big issue I have with them. Every time you do one, words pop on the center of the screen, as well as a score counter, making it seem like an arcade shooter.

The whole game, in fact, has that aesthetic. The levels are linear, doing away with the semi-free roaming aspect the first game had, as well as side missions. You get experience to build up your powers in a more RPG style leveling for abilities. I never knew that the Darkness had the power of "Carrying More Ammo," but that's a minor rant. This works for this game, due to the fact that Jackie still has his ability to use the Darkness, but he hasn't used it in so long that he may be able to reroute the ability. In the first, he just had his basic abilities because he was learning them, which makes sense. Luckily, you have the demon arm from the beginning.

The problem I have with the other power aspect is the Darkling. You have one, and he acts like a drunk groupie for a punk band. He isn't even voice by Richard Horvitz, and is intelligent, not a follower of instincts. I know that it's a character issue, not game, but consider this: the first game is story and character driven. This one is character driven still, thus still story driven (the character is the story), yet, they altered aspects of the character within the character to make it completely different than what was established. It's like watching a movie about a killer with MPD, finding out who the killer personality was, then finding out in the sequel that the killer personality was actually Rabbit the mute boy. Figuring that the Darkling even mentions that he came from Jackie's head, this does apply.

I also have issues with the controls for the arms. R2 is used to attack with the right tendril. R2 would feel more natural as the gun attack, both because it feels like a trigger, and because it's lower on the controller. The way its mapped feels very clunky. I'm hoping you have an option to remap these controls.

But, the game is fun. It's also well acted (sorry Kirk Acevedo, you never sounded 21-23). It looks beautiful, too. It looks like an old comic book, which works for it. Stay tuned for more when The Darkness II comes out in two weeks.