The Darkness II is basically Venom and Spawn decided to watch Goodfellas or Godfather. It is as emo as it gets with a very edgy looking protagonist. Not as good as its predecessor. But it works well.
Visuals:
The visuals aged well, the visual style has this comic book style that looks good. Even the Demon Arms look great. But it’s kind of a double edged sword. The game looks great but it lacks that enveloping atmosphere the first game had, the first game was gloomy and much darker and it aided the narrative and overall direction much more. This game looks better, but it doesn’t capture how saddening the overall story of The Darkness was.
Audio:
The sound design for the weapons is satisfying and the Demon Arms sound design is also pretty good, the audio mixing ain't bad either. Not only that, but the voice acting is pretty good. Brian Bloom is definitely the best voice actor for Jackie, and Mike Patton does a phenomenal job too, and those are just the standouts. Everyone else does a good job. However I have a personal gripe with the licensed soundtrack. It’s a good soundtrack, but for some reason I think this game fits much better with some edgier music, the licensed soundtrack is pretty good but a lot of it doesn’t fit how emo the game is, Jane’s Addiction, Tone Loc, and Ram Jam are good artists. But to me it doesn’t work or fit as well in a game like this. Great songs however, the original soundtrack for this game is really good. I love the main menu theme a lot and even the track Together Again is well-composed. Honestly a great job was done here.
Gameplay:
The combat for the game is good, it never once got boring and stayed fun. The Demon Arms were really entertaining and a hell of a good time using. There’s even a skill tree and I’m kind of astonished at how much effort and creativity is present within the gameplay, there are faults however. The game does get repetitive, true a lot of FPS games can feel that way. But after playing Quake and Prey. It is odd that this game feels like fighting the same enemy more and more. And that gets worse during the later hours. Overall, very fun but it’s strange how a game this short can get repetitive.
Narrative & Writing:
This game’s narrative and writing is the sequel’s biggest downgrade from the first game, don’t get me wrong the writing isn’t bad. The characters are memorable, the moments with Jenny are sweet and heartwarming. But it is missing the intrigue and how memorable the first game was. The first game had more intimate moments, the premise and the atmosphere was significantly more interesting and tense. It even has one of the best scenes in gaming where you could watch the entirety of To Kill A Mockingbird with your girlfriend. It sounds pretentious true, but it’s an intimate moment that not many games have done. The first game is better because you had actual motives, a more fleshed out narrative, and the characters were written well. It could’ve been a poorly written festival of pretentious writing but it turned out to be a gloomy and depressing game in the right ways. This game while not bad in this department, feels rushed and lacks some of the things that made the first game stand out from its peers. It’s not bad but could’ve been so much more.
Technical Aspects:
This game ran fine enough for me, however I heard this game had a lot of issues on PC. The first game had some annoying glitches and had jank, but it was tolerable. The second game apparently was a hassle for PC users, I’ve seen numerous reports of framerate drops, the game crashing when you boot it up, apparently even the Steam demo has some issues. I’m adding this in because even though the game ran well for me, this game has more issues on PC.
Final Verdict And Another Complaint:
This game is a 3/5. Yes, the gameplay is incredibly fun, the music is good, voice acting is great and the visuals aged well. But the game lacks the charm and intrigue of the first game as well as suffering from taking only four-five hours to complete. And there’s a bit of an issue, this game is overpriced. I tried to find a new copy but in the storefronts I went to. A digital copy is on average thirty dollars and finding a physical copy has been pretty difficult. I get that it’s an older game so finding a physical copy would be difficult, but thirty dollars for a digital copy of a four-five hour game is absurd to me.
If you are looking to play this, wait for a sale. Not a bad game but the price tag for it is absolutely absurd.
Visuals:
The visuals aged well, the visual style has this comic book style that looks good. Even the Demon Arms look great. But it’s kind of a double edged sword. The game looks great but it lacks that enveloping atmosphere the first game had, the first game was gloomy and much darker and it aided the narrative and overall direction much more. This game looks better, but it doesn’t capture how saddening the overall story of The Darkness was.
Audio:
The sound design for the weapons is satisfying and the Demon Arms sound design is also pretty good, the audio mixing ain't bad either. Not only that, but the voice acting is pretty good. Brian Bloom is definitely the best voice actor for Jackie, and Mike Patton does a phenomenal job too, and those are just the standouts. Everyone else does a good job. However I have a personal gripe with the licensed soundtrack. It’s a good soundtrack, but for some reason I think this game fits much better with some edgier music, the licensed soundtrack is pretty good but a lot of it doesn’t fit how emo the game is, Jane’s Addiction, Tone Loc, and Ram Jam are good artists. But to me it doesn’t work or fit as well in a game like this. Great songs however, the original soundtrack for this game is really good. I love the main menu theme a lot and even the track Together Again is well-composed. Honestly a great job was done here.
Gameplay:
The combat for the game is good, it never once got boring and stayed fun. The Demon Arms were really entertaining and a hell of a good time using. There’s even a skill tree and I’m kind of astonished at how much effort and creativity is present within the gameplay, there are faults however. The game does get repetitive, true a lot of FPS games can feel that way. But after playing Quake and Prey. It is odd that this game feels like fighting the same enemy more and more. And that gets worse during the later hours. Overall, very fun but it’s strange how a game this short can get repetitive.
Narrative & Writing:
This game’s narrative and writing is the sequel’s biggest downgrade from the first game, don’t get me wrong the writing isn’t bad. The characters are memorable, the moments with Jenny are sweet and heartwarming. But it is missing the intrigue and how memorable the first game was. The first game had more intimate moments, the premise and the atmosphere was significantly more interesting and tense. It even has one of the best scenes in gaming where you could watch the entirety of To Kill A Mockingbird with your girlfriend. It sounds pretentious true, but it’s an intimate moment that not many games have done. The first game is better because you had actual motives, a more fleshed out narrative, and the characters were written well. It could’ve been a poorly written festival of pretentious writing but it turned out to be a gloomy and depressing game in the right ways. This game while not bad in this department, feels rushed and lacks some of the things that made the first game stand out from its peers. It’s not bad but could’ve been so much more.
Technical Aspects:
This game ran fine enough for me, however I heard this game had a lot of issues on PC. The first game had some annoying glitches and had jank, but it was tolerable. The second game apparently was a hassle for PC users, I’ve seen numerous reports of framerate drops, the game crashing when you boot it up, apparently even the Steam demo has some issues. I’m adding this in because even though the game ran well for me, this game has more issues on PC.
Final Verdict And Another Complaint:
This game is a 3/5. Yes, the gameplay is incredibly fun, the music is good, voice acting is great and the visuals aged well. But the game lacks the charm and intrigue of the first game as well as suffering from taking only four-five hours to complete. And there’s a bit of an issue, this game is overpriced. I tried to find a new copy but in the storefronts I went to. A digital copy is on average thirty dollars and finding a physical copy has been pretty difficult. I get that it’s an older game so finding a physical copy would be difficult, but thirty dollars for a digital copy of a four-five hour game is absurd to me.
If you are looking to play this, wait for a sale. Not a bad game but the price tag for it is absolutely absurd.