Embracing the Darkness

Photo courtesy of 2K Games

Video games based on comic book franchises have been very hit and miss throughout the years. It seems a no brainer that characters draped in grandiose 20th century mythology should make amazing video game protagonists yet developers have time and time again failed to deliver on many a revered and respected hero. Superman, Spider Man and The XMen have all seen lackluster adaptions and it wasn’t until ‘Batman: Arkham Asylum’ that gamers felt a character had truly been translated to their console of choice. What a lot of people seem to overlook is the ‘Darkness’franchise; this dark epic story graced the pages of image comics throughout the 90’s and is now a game franchise that can stand toe to toe with the very bestof the comic-strip hero games.

Photo courtesy of 2K Games

‘The Darkness’ was adapted by Starbreeze Studios early into the current generation of consoles. It was a dark first person adventure game that gave the game’s protagonist“Jackie Estacado” run over the city of New York. With a personal vendetta to settle, and an ancient and growing power within him, Jackie battled through flesh and blood mobsters, and the grip the Darkness had put on his psyche. The game was a critical darling and was the first First Person Shooter of the generation to bring adventure to the table (‘The Darkness’ was released before ‘Bioshock’). The darkness emphasized a gritty realistic style over the glam of the 90’s comics and while it was a slick game it was not without its faults. The open world ultimately broke down to a few subway station hubs and the levels surrounding them.The multiplayer was void of originality and stripped the powers that the campaign was built on and the combat was slow paced. Finally many of Jackie’s powers were unwieldy, and the games controls were at best loose.

Photo courtesy of 2K Games

The first game was released in 2007 and the sequel ‘The Darkness II’, has hit five years later. Built by a new studio (Digital Extremes), this game is a very different beast. ‘The Darkness II’ is a true sequel, taking place two years after the events of the first game, but aside from the games storyline there is little common ground between ‘The Darkness II’ and its predecessor. This game is not an action adventure game but a straight up Arcade Shooter throwing scores on the screen for every enemy you rend, tear, impale and every heart you eat. “TDII” is a linear game and does not feature any sort of over-world or branching environment, its A to B and in the FPS genre that’s to be expected.

Photo courtesy of 2K Games

‘The Darkness II’ does feature a mishmash of elements although they are unlike that of the original ‘Darkness’. The shooter game-play is somewhat akin to games like ‘Far Cry Instincts’ in that it features gun-play augmented with special powers. The game also throws in a stat based skill tree (while the original featured an upgrade system it only allowed for powers to be enhanced rather than learned). The last slice of the pie is the multiplayer, which is in essence this franchises take on ‘Left For Dead’.

Photo courtesy of 2K Games

Development studio, Digital Extremes has taken a very different approach to the game’s look. While Starbreeze went for a gritty realistic look with ‘The Darkness’ the ‘Darkness II’ is much more in tune with the original look of the comic book. Much hulabaloo has been made about the games use of cell shading, the truly remarkable aspect of the graphical fidelity is the texture work, all of which has been hand painted. The game’s textures push the look straight into the realm of the printed panel in a way that cell shading alone could never achieve. While many may feel that the game looks a little rough around the edges when the action slows down for a story segment, the gameplay’s natural pace provides for a lush motion rich experience. You’ll truly be able to appreciate the artistry throughout the game, not just in the artistic direction or technical wizardry. It runs well…really well, you will get amazingly good frame rates out of the PC version even on an older card, and the console versions are no slouch either.

Quad wielding is the order of the day. Using two guns and two demon arms to obliterate enemies is pretty sweet. Here’s how it works; you use one button to grab elements of the environment (guns to wield, pool cues to impale enemies, gas tanks for a fiery missile, fan blades for some ‘gravity gun-esque’ decapitations), another button slashes enemies (up into the air, down into the ground or a nice wide horizontal slash), individual buttons handle the guns in Jackie’s left and right hands. Using guns, demon tentacles and bits of the environment in unison is fantastic, truly giving the player a variety of options for brutal violence. When Jackie grabs a stunned enemy he may choose from one of several execution abilities that will not only give you that nasty smile of personal satisfaction, but also reward you with health, ammo or a cool ability boost. While executions were featured in the original game they weren’t nearly as visually impressive and did not feature any tangible rewards.

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The combat is as much about challenge and strategy as it is about experimentation. While the game’s enemies are dumb as rocks it’s not just a power playground; different enemy types keep you on the move and while you will encounter all of them by the games midpoint the numbers thrown at you and the unique battlegrounds keep the challenge present. Light and shadow play important roles in the game, while in the dark Jackie can use all the abilities at his disposal, however stepping into the light will cause the games color to bleed out and Jackie will nearly be blinded (a sort of mini flash-bang effect). While in the light Jackie is relegated to the guns in his palms which is a very dangerous situation. To keep Jackie cloaked in the power of the Darkness you will have to shoot out lights and smash generators, while this broke out into tedium with the ‘The Darkness’, the ‘Darkness II’avoids this issue with tight controls and engaging enemies that actively use light against you. In addition to the quad wielding abilities Jackie can learn to fume out insects that will stun enemies and wrap himself in Darkness armor (just like the original comic). The black hole ability from the first game returns as well, though it is spawned from corpses and then thrown like a grenade. The first game lost its challenge after Jackie learned this ability, as it could be spammed if Jackie stayed in the dark, ‘The Darkness II’ gladly dodges that issue.

The level design is straightforward, while it opens up in arena-like-areas, it is for the most part a very cleverly designed hallway and the flying way-point ensures you’ll never get lost. The campaign features three boss battles two of which are quite fun if a little familiar. The second boss fight, which is gladly not the last, is far too easy (even with the added challenge of fighting without your powers). Stealth sequences play into the game as well and while they are quite simple, “use a little goblin to sneak up on guys and climb on walls” they are also a fun change of pace. Unfortunately there are only two stealth sequences in the game and they are quite short.

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Although the story is not technically the strongest element of ‘The Darkness II’, it is my favorite. I am a huge fan of the original comic book series and the original ‘Darkness’and feel the three entities (the comic series, original game and this sequel) compliment one another. This game leads right out of its predecessor and sees Jackie leading his crime syndicate in the wake of his (still) broken heart. Jackie has kept the Darkness at bay for two years, but is plunged back into the realm of the supernatural when a cult worshipping theDarkness attempts to steal the ancient power for its own nefarious ends. The game manages to keep all of its narrative elements strong, while the mob characters are the weakest dramatically they are also the funniest and I found myself cracking up several times. The central antagonist is a well-voiced opponent and engages the most interesting aspect of the franchise: the lore of the Darkness. The cast does well channeling their comic book counter parts and the drama, especially the scenes featuring Jackie’s lost love Jenny, come across as sincere. The soundtrack is very interesting in that many of the tracks are licensed and used to enhance the game’s atmosphere, The soundtrack is very interesting in that many of the tracks are licensed and used to enhance the game’s atmosphere, I was stunned when I heard Blind Melon in a flashback scene featuring Jackie and Jenny’s adolescence.

Photo courtesy of 2K Games

The game does interesting things with its story, playing into Jackie’s inner battle with the Darkness as well as his darkling companion who features a distinct personality and connection with thenarrative. The story is not free of trite however and when faced with the ability to make a choice within the game do not be surprised when it amounts to nothing. With the exception of the games closing chapters what little choice you have affects the narrative in the most superficial of ways, I wish this gimmick had been omitted all together. The story is strong (basing a story off a successful comic book series helps) and a sequel is set up very nicely for those who stick around past the credits.

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While the multiplayer is not original in any way it is extremely well implemented and fully featured. It’s built around four player co-operative play and with so many competitive shooters out there that’s a great and somewhat rare thing. The story campaign centres on four mercenaries who wield artifacts linked to the darkness; A samurai wielding an ancient Katana; A Mossad agent with an evil sawn off shotgun; A shaman featuring a cursed voodoo stick and a Celtic warrior with a magically returning tomahawk. The characters’ all feature their own distinct personalities and voice work, they all utilize a dual weapon setup (with a hand gun and their own unique artifact weapon) or a two handed rifle. Each Merc. plays differently and may be upgraded through a unique skill tree, their powers and artifacts all act differently such as the shamans ability to levitate enemies and create black holes or the Celtic Merc’s ability to fling his axe and summon exploding Darklings. The campaign also features a story that runs concurrently with Jackie’s as well as different levels and varied gameplay objectives built around team-play. The campaign is fully featured but it is quite short at around ninety minutes long, it is re-playable with varied difficulty settings ala ‘Payday: The Heist’. In addition to the campaign shorter levels built around combat are also available and quite fun when you just want to blast things and play with the character abilities. I really enjoyed the multiplayer and would love to have seen a longer campaign and more character abilities.

While the campaign is short (and that’s a sort of genre trend) ‘The Darkness II’ does extend its play and value through its multiplayer and a game plus feature that will allow you the chance to max out Jackie’s skill tree and truly steamroll the shit out of the levels. ‘The Darkness’ is an amazing comic book series and the games are getting to that level as well. I’m thoroughly excited for another sequel I just hope it isn’t going to take another five years.

Photo courtesy of 2K Games

THE DARKNESS II

RECOMMENDED FOR: people who love comic books, like first person shooters that throw powers on top of solid gunplay, twisted kids who like tentacle violence.

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR: anyone expecting this game to emulate Starbreeze Studios version of the adaptation, the squeamish, people who think corridor shooters R dUmB.

-Max Romano