The Darkness 2

The Darkness II is a first-person shooter video game developed by Digital Extremes and published by 2K Games. The game is the sequel to 2007's The Darkness. The game features the writing of Paul Jenkins, who previously worked on The Darkness comics. Originally scheduled to be released on July 10, 2011 and then on October 4, 2011, it was delayed for both dates and instead was released February 7, 2012 in North America and February 10, 2012 in Europe for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
==Gameplay==
The Darkness II follows a similar combat template as the first game with the introduction of new features, such as a tactic dubbed "quad wielding," a technique which allows the protagonist Jackie Estacado to use both The Darkness and firearms simultaneously. There is a greater emphasis on the aspect of Darklings, with there now being only one primary Darkling who holds greater importance and is more involved in the storyline and who is useful in all situations; able to go to and lead Jackie to certain waypoints and show him important items during boss fights, and allow Jackie to use him to go into hard-to-reach areas and kill enemies at a distance, while looking through the Darkling's eyes. The Darkling is able to interact with the environment by using items such as a worker drills to attack and torture Jackie's enemies and he can also use standard weaponry such as pistols to attack or threaten them. Jackie can use the environment to his advantage, by using car doors as shields and parking meters to kill enemies. Unlike in the first game, Jackie can use both his weaponry and The Darkness in public places. The Darkness only disappears while in the light or for story purposes.
Each kill, heart collected and enemy urinated on add towards Jackie's 'dark essence', a substance that clings to people and objects that have come in contact with The Darkness, which can be used to make purchases from a tree of abilities from 'talent shrines', such as 'black hole' which allows Jackie to charge an enemies heart with energy and throw it to create a void of vacuum encased in darkness, the ability to see and attack through walls, 'swarm' which allows Jackie to summon a swarm of flies to disable and stun multiple enemies at once, and 'gun channeling' which gives Jackie unlimited ammunition and deals supernatural damage for a short period of time. The character and player feel more uncomfortable in light, with exposure to light resulting in blurring of vision occupied with a high pitched ringing. Light will be more of a physical threat as well with there having a 'light vs darkness' feel.
===Vendettas===
Vendettas is a mode where the player plays as one of four hit men who each have specific Darkness powers and go on missions for Jackie. The Vendettas campaign happens at the same time as the game's main campaign and focuses on securing dark relics from Brotherhood agents. The campaign has both single player and online co-operative play options. There is also a Hit List option where players can replay specific missions from the Vendettas campaign as well as new ones specific to the Hit List mode. Each character has two unique upgrade trees corresponding to their unique weapon and darkness power, and a third tree improves the characters skill with guns.
The player(s) are tasked to assault settlements belonging to the Brotherhood to gain information, eliminate a target, or obtain an artifact. The first mission requires you to find and bring Johnny Powell to the Mansion, and as artifacts are uncovered the player(s) have to look for the Spear of Destiny at a heavily armed business facility owned by a millionaire named David Graves. Once he has been found, he plunges the Spear of Destiny, having been used to contain Jackies dark essence following his capture, into his chest transforming himself into a flying hell beast, very dragon-like in appearance. Once defeated the four characters return to the mission table and are congratulated unpon their success. The campain ends with the mob leaving the four to carry on with their own motives but being told not to leave the city as the mod say they will likely once again require their help in the near future.
==Plot==
The Darkness II takes place two years after the events of the first game. Jackie Estacado, the current wielder of The Darkness, has used his powers to become the Don of the Franchetti crime family. He has been unable to shake the thoughts of his dead girlfriend Jenny Romano and has since, with the help of estranged occultist Johnny Powell and his study into dark essence, contained his supernatural powers, and now The Darkness "wants out in the worst way".
The game starts with Jackie talking to the player about his life and about The Darkness while sitting alone in a chair in a dark, seemingly endless room with a white and black tile floor. Jackie pulls out a pendant with a small picture of his dead girlfriend Jenny and the scene shifts to Jackie getting out of a car and entering a luxurious restaurant. At the request of Vinnie, one of his associates, Jackie sits and chats with blonde twins when a van crashes through the window, killing the twins and heralding the start of a full-scale mob war, which has clearly been orchestrated by some outside force. Jackie is wounded in the leg and Vinnie gives Jackie a gun to fend off the attackers while he drags Jackie through the restaurant and into the kitchen. Jackie smells gas leaking from the propane tanks as Vinnie tries to pry open the door, just in time for one of the attackers to throw a flaming bottle into the kitchen and igniting the gas into a violent explosion which knocks Jackie back and sends Vinnie through the wall, though they both survive. On the verge of death, Jackie sees a mysterious figure, who comments that Jackie is "stronger than his father". The man tells one of his henchmen to keep pushing Jackie and then disappears. As Jackie crawls toward the hole in the wall created by the explosion, still severely wounded, The Darkness encourages Jackie to "embrace The Darkness" and unleash its power once more. Reluctantly, Jackie releases The Darkness, which makes quick work of the henchmen outside of the restaurant whilst also healing Jackie's injuries.
While making his way through the streets and into the subway, Jackie begins seeing strange haunting visions of Jenny which beckon him to come to her. Continuing to fight off more goons, Jackie is reintroduced to a Darkling, a figment of Jackie's subconscious taken form by the powers of The Darkness, who aids him in battle. In the subway, Jackie avoids being hit by a train and makes his way onto the demolished tracks. He then sees another apparition of Jenny who tells him to dance with her. She then disappears as an oncoming train hits Jackie. The Darkness proclaims that Jackie will not die as Jackie wakes up in a psychiatric ward. There he sees Johnny Powell, who encourages Jackie to "find him," and his mob friend Tony, both of whom act different from the people Jackie knew before. Jackie then wakes from the dream and realizes that The Darkness had taken possession of his body and slaughtered the remaining henchmen. He meets up with Fat Tony and makes his way back to his mansion.
At Jackie's mansion, he tells his men to find Johnny Powell to aid Jackie in his quest. He then talks with his Aunt Sara about Jenny with Sara commenting on how Jackie is becoming obsessive like his father, which Jackie outright denies. While investigating the cause of the attack, he is captured by the Brotherhood, an ancient secret society formed thousands of years ago by a saint for the sole purpose of protecting the world from The Darkness but is now seeking it for personal gain. Attempting to discover more about the Brotherhood, he enters a brothel located in an office complex, and with the help of a contact posing as a prostitute, Venus, Jackie ventures further into the dilapidated building. After being ambushed and knocked out, Jackie is nailed to a cross and confronted by Victor Valente, the head of the Brotherhood, who was present at the hit at the restaurant. He threatens to kill Aunt Sarah unless Jackie turns over the Darkness willingly, in addition to revealing that he has taken over the mansion. All the while, a mystical object is siphoning away the Darkness from him. He is then tortured and while unconscious, he considers giving up the Darkness. However, the Darkness reveals that it has trapped Jenny's soul and promises to release her when Jackie breaks free, forcing him to resist the Brotherhood's torture. He eventually breaks free from the cross and makes his way to the mansion along with Butcher Joyce and various other members of his organization. At the mansion, Jackie talks with Johnny Powell, who tells him that the mystical object is the Siphon, an object created by the an entity called the Angelus, the sworn enemy and polar opposite of the Darkness. It created the Siphon to contain the Darkness and is capable of killing its host for good. Jackie then proceeds to take back the mansion. However, while trying to rescue Aunt Sarah, he is incapacitated by a combination of direct light and a gunshot wound and is left helpless as Aunt Sarah is murdered by Bragg, Victor's subordinate. He then shoots Jackie in the face with a shotgun, rendering him unconscious for four days while the Darkness heals him.
Upon reawakening, Jackie attends Aunt Sarah's funeral, where he is attacked by Bragg and a group of Brotherhood thugs. Enraged, he slaughters all of them, personally ripping Bragg's heart out with his own bare hands, but not before learning of Victor's location, an abandoned carnival where Jackie and Jenny used to hang out together. Fearing for the safety of his men, he orders them to lay low while he deals with the Brotherhood. Jackie then makes his way to the carnival, where Victor pins him in an Iron Maiden while completely siphoning the Darkness out of him. The Darkling manages to free him and he finds Victor, although he has transferred some of the Darkness into his right-hand man, Mr. Peevish. He kills Peevish and manages to collect enough Dark Essence to make a shell of his previous powers, which requires Jackie to power it through various means due to the lack of the spiritual Darkness. He confronts Victor in Jackie's old house who reveals to Jackie that his father had promised The Darkness to the Brotherhood many years ago and that they've come to finally collect it. The two battle, ending with Jackie taking the Siphon of the Angelus from Victor, who begs him to stop and that he doesn't know what he's doing, and bludgeons him to death with it. He then impales himself with the Siphon in order to die a true death in order to venture into Hell and free Jenny's soul.
Jackie then wakes up in the mental asylum that the Darkling claims The Darkness uses to trap him while his body is being repaired, after realizing that he is in The Asylum and not in Hell, Jackie freaks out and runs down the hall. He asks to see Jenny in The Asylum, but on the way there, the Darkling appears, in the guise of a janitor, and gives him access to the rooftop. As they rush to the top of the building, the Darkling opens the roof door and light pours in, mortally wounding him. As the Darkling begins to die permanently, having been wounded in the Darkness and not the real world, he gives Jackie its goodbyes and wishes him good luck. Jackie then runs to the edge of the roof and tried to jump off when a non-disfigured Doctor Victor and Jenny come begging him to stop. At this point, the player can choose to either stay with the "Asylum" Jenny or jump and send Jackie to Hell to free the "imprisoned" Jenny. If Jackie stays, he will dance with Jenny to I Only Have Eyes for You by the Flamingos (1959), in the middle of the asylum, and the game ends shortly after.''
If Jackie jumps, he goes to Hell to save the "imprisoned" Jenny, eventually succeeding and rescuing Jenny's soul from the clutches of The Darkness. Jackie and Jenny have an emotional reunion as they embrace each other. Jenny tells Jackie that, no matter what happens, she will always love him, but suddenly apologizes. Jackie watches helplessly as Jenny suddenly flies out of his arms and transforms into the Angelus, revealing her to be its next host. Jackie tells her that he will not fight her and demands to know what she has done with Jenny. The Angelus tells him that Jenny is still in her somewhere and that, despite all the suffering he caused her, she still loves him. She tells Jackie that because of all the suffering he created with The Darkness and the fact that he has become too powerful, he must stay in the abyss within The Darkness forever. She states that the world has lived too long without her light and that Jackie and The Darkness are now in Hell where they belong. She then flies away, trapping Jackie in the inner abyss. The game ends with Jackie screaming upwards in anger and terror as The Darkness closes up.
==Development==
Unlike the first game, the graphics for The Darkness II were developed using a cel-shading technique, emulating the aesthetic of its graphic novel namesake. The style was achieved with the development artists hand painting the majority of the game's assets, instead of relying on digital methods to create a comic book style.
Musician Mike Patton reprises his role as the voice of The Darkness, but this time sharing the voice acting with actor Brian Bloom. Brian Bloom furthermore replaces the role of Kirk Acevedo, who provided the voice of Jackie Estacado in the previous game.
==Reception==
Reviews for The Darkness II are generally positive but slightly less than its predecessor, with an average rating of 81.14%. PSM3 and Xbox World magazines awarded the game 8.1 out of 10 and said that the game is "Not perfect, but deeply satisfying to blast through." Both Official Xbox Magazine U.S. and Official Xbox Magazine UK awarded the game a 9 out of 10, with the U.S. edition praising the dark story, "excellent" combination of Darkness powers and gunplay, brutal finishing moves, and fun cooperative multiplayer, while criticizing the campaign's relatively short length and problems reviving allies in multiplayer. The UK edition said "It's one of the best shooter-stories we've seen in years - justifying its own ludicrous nature in interesting and unexpected ways. If the ending didn't feel like such a cop-out, The Darkness II could have been on par with BioShock. As it is, the gripping narrative and wonderfully empowering combat mean you'll be talking about it for months after completing it." X360 magazine listed the game with its predecessor as one of their "Favourite Shooters With More Than Just Guns".
Playstation Official Magazine gave the game 9 out of 10, stating "no graphic novel has been brought to life in such a deliciously gory manner, with offing goons turned an art form." Gameshark gave the game 9.1 out of 10, praising the heavy focus on storyline and the action packed gameplay. IGN gave the game an 8 out of 10, praising the visuals and gameplay, but suggested the game lacks polish and the story, while enjoyable, isn't as strong as the original. GameSpot gave it a 7 out of 10, which is currently the lowest rating given to the game, but GameSpot still praised the gameplay, story, skill tree, and sound. The negative aspects of the game, in their view, include the short campaign, predictable enemy A.I, unsatisfactory multiplayer and linear level design. Gametrailers gave it a 7.4 out of 10.
==Links==
*Official website
*"Official XBOX Magazine | The Darkness II review".
*"The Darkness 2 PS3 review".
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