This past week, we’ve been munching our way through a fair few demos as the lull of game releases comes to an end. By far and away one our favourites has been the graphic-noir styled The Darkness II.
Inspired by Top Cow’s popular comic book series and using a similar art style that seemingly brings the characters right off the comic’s pages to life,
The Darkness II is set two years after the events in the original game where Jackie Estacado’s childhood sweetheart Jenny was murdered. Having used The Darkness to seek his revenge on Jenny’s killers, Jackie is now Don of the Franchetti Crime Family with the ancient demonic force bottled up deep within him.
Strolling through an Italian restaurant and taking his regular table with a couple of busty blonds to keep him company, things quickly turn ugly. Cue one unprovoked, violent attack and said busty blonds have bullet holes in their foreheads, the restaurant is blown to smithereens and Jackie is dragged to safety as a full-scale mob war kicks off. Having never fully shaken off the painful memory of Jenny, Jackie now must not only battle whoever organised the attack but must confront his own personal demons as unable to resist the power, The Darkness that possesses him spectacularly re-emerges and all hell breaks loose.
Two giant, glowing eyed demon arms allows for some brutal smashing, grabbing and throwing of objects and enemies. Swipe one tentacle and a lowlife mobster is thrown to the ground, only to be picked up and ripped apart with the other tentacle before Jackie can eat up his heart as a grim health bonus. At the same time, Jackie can shoot his way through enemy lines, duel wielding weapons which makes for an intense yet satisfying experience. It’s not just blasting away randomly as choice of attack becomes integral to survival. Using the demonic arms to swipe off heads makes for good and gruesome close encounters and pumping bullets into gathering foes whilst shielding behind a car door that's been ripped off its hinges is tense and chaotic. There is never a sense of loosing control or that one technique is favoured over another – it’s guns and tentacles simultaneously blazing as Jackie goes through hell.
Making sure to stay out of the health sapping light, he’s accompanied by a darkling assistant wearing a grotty Union Jack vest top who pees acid onto victims whilst the story, which has been specially written for the game by acclaimed comic book author Paul Jenkins
(Incredible Hulk, Wolverine, The Darkness) is macabre, gritty and twisted. Flashbacks (flashforwards?) reveal another unsavoury character would also like a bit of The Darkness's power which can only be given up by choice by Jackie. Despite some torturous persuasion, the motivation of The Darkness and Jackie's relationship to it can only be guessed at from the demo but with some good vocal performances and scenes that offer a different pace to the frantic action, we can't wait to find out.
A blend of comic book action, gore and story with a totally different approach to the FPS genre, we think The Darkness II is worth checking out when released this coming Friday on Xbox360 and PS3.
