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History of The Darkness and Darkness 2 Impressions

 

2007 was a hell of a year for shooters. Games like BioShock, Mass Effect and Call of Duty 4 are engrained in our brains as hallmarks of the genre, but one shooter flew under the radar. It didn't sell truck loads of copies, stores didn't run out of pre-orders or hold midnight releases and there weren't any Fox News stories about it, but The Darkness deserves its own praise for what it accomplished.

Starbreeze Studios first gained attention in the industry with its brilliant take on the Chronicles of Riddick movie series with its 2004 release, Escape from Butcher Bay. Who knew someone could make a good Vin Diesel game? A great story, amazing visuals and smooth gameplay turned what some would see as a simple cash-in of the movies into a cult classic. Three years later Starbreeze would undertake its newest project: The Darkness.

What is The Darkness?

Created by Marc Silvestri, Garth Ennis, and David Wohl in 1996, The Darkness was a spin-off of the Witchblade series. While it enjoyed relative success, Top Cow had to relaunch the franchise in 2002 due to lagging sales. For its game, Starbreeze adapted the main aspects from the first volume of The Darkness.

Meet our "hero", Jackie Estacado. Adopted by the don of the New York Italian mob, "Uncle" Paulie Franchetti, Jackie was raised to be a hitman. While lethal in his craft and having little remorse for his enemies, Jackie only showed a human side when he is with his girlfriend, Jenny Romano.

The player's interaction with Jenny in The Darkness is quite possibly the most genuine moment of love I've experienced in a game. While visiting Jenny on your 21st birthday, Jackie "kill-everything-without-remorse" and Jenny cuddle together on a couch and watch old movies. The player actually has the ability to watch "To Kill a Mockingbird" in its entirety. As the movie goes on you'll hold hands, put your arm around Jenny, kiss her and she'll eventually fall asleep on your shoulder. You can leave at anytime, but more often than not I found myself staying with Jenny and watching the movie for more than an hour. As dull as it sounds, this is actually as close to "real life" romance as it gets. And what happens next is all the more heart wrenching.

This has become one of my favorite moments in gaming."Uncle" Paulie decides to betray Jackie and puts out a hit on him. After being cornered in the bathroom of a cemetery, The Darkness reveals itself to Jackie and allows him to harness its power so he can escape. After the botched assassination, Paulie goes after Jenny instead. Luring Jackie to the Orphanage where he and Jenny grew up, The Darkness takes over Jackie and forces him to watch Paulie kill Jenny. It's a heartbreaking scene because the camera doesn't pull away at all. You are forced to watch as your girlfriend is shot in the head less than a foot from you. It also lets the player know that Jackie doesn't control the Darkness, it controls him. After witnessing Jenny's murder, Jackie kills himself out of pure emotional distress. But the Darkness won't let him die.

The gameplay of The Darkness is quite unique. Aside from having the ability to duel wield, you also have two demonic serpents on both of your shoulders. These serpents have many uses from attacking enemies to restoring health by eating the hearts of said enemies. The one thing Jackie has to be careful of is well lit areas. If the area has numerous light bulbs, the Darkness must retreat and Jackie is extremely vulnerable. Before running into an area, the player must analyze the room and destroy the lights with his guns or attack them with the demonic arms while not getting too close. Jackie also has the help of Darklings, small demonic creatures that he can send to do his bidding. Some of the Darklings attacked with claws, others with guns.

The voice acting for The Darkness was top notch. Special kudos go towards Faith No More's lead singer Mike Patton for giving us an incredible yet disturbing rendition of what the Darkness would sound like.

Storywise, the rest of the game is a revenge tale of Jackie hunting down Paulie while at the same time slowly taking control of the Darkness. It ends on a sweet but tear jerking moment.

***SPOILERS***

After killing Paulie and taking control of the Darkness, the final cutscene reunites you and Jenny one last time.

***END OF SPOILERS***

The Darkness 2 Demo Impressions

The Darkness 2 picks up two years after the events of its predecessor. Jackie is now the head of the Italian mob and he has completely suppressed the Darkness inside him.

The demo begins with Jackie being nailed to a plank and an unknown person explaining to Jackie that he wishes to extract the Darkness from him. It is later revealed that he is part of The Brotherhood, a shadowy organization that has been attempting to harness the power of the Darkness for centuries. Jackie realizes that this man lead the attack at the restaurant where Jackie was eating earlier in the day. The game then flashes back between this interrogation and Jackie's escape from the restaurant.

Dental is not included with a Brotherhood membership.The first moment when the player can control Jackie is when he enters the restaurant. Much like with the first Darkness, Darkness 2 is very cinematic. As you're walking through the restaurant you'll overheard discussions about the food, people asking the waiter to bag up their meals and so on. You get to see how much life has changed for Jackie since be became the head of the mob. He is wearing a nice suit, everyone respects him and he gets the finest table in the restaurant (complete with two ladies). But all of this is shattered when the Brotherhood attacks. The initial strike cripples Jackie and he must be dragged to safety by one of his men.

Here is where the game actually starts. While slowly going from one room to another, Jackie must fight off his attackers. The gameplay, just like in Darkness 1, is fantastic. The fighting is frantic/chaotic with people running everywhere, much like how I would imagine people would do who were trapped in the middle of a firefight, and the sound is amazing. From glass breaking to bodies falling the sound is superb.

The biggest change people will notice from D1 to D2 is the artstyle. Starbreeze went for a very realistic, dark look while Digital Extremes is trying to make it look like the comic books. Both styles work great and I don't think the new artstyle takes away from anything in this game. I'm glad that DE went this route. While Starbreeze set the bar with this franchise, DE needed to make it its own.

Once Jackie reaches the kitchen, he realizes that he is trapped. The Brotherhood knows this as well and tosses in a Molotov cocktail, igniting a broken gas pipe. The resulting explosion almost kills Jackie. As he is crawling to safety, the Darkness speaks to Jackie. Jackie realizes that the only way to survive is to give into the Darkness. Once he does, all Hell breaks loose. Not only does the Darkness return, but it turns out that Jackie must obey it. Apparently, the Darkness has Jenny's soul and unless Jackie does what it demands, she will be tormented forever.

At Estacado libosuction, we just like to take a bit off the middle.

D2 feels like an upgrade of D1, as it should. You still are able to duel wield and use the serpents, but now they can do more than just kill and eat hearts. You'll find electrical boxes that must be cut in a certain direction, doors than can be ripped off, pipes that can be thrown along with other new things. Once again, Jackie must stay in the shadows and avoid well lit spaces.

The Darkling returns as well, but this time instead of multiple servants, you only have one Darkling (he sounds like a demonic Ozzy Osbourne). This guy will serve the same purpose as in D1: attack enemies, help with puzzles etc.

I'm happy to say that Mike Patton has returned and the Darkness has never sounded so evil. I'm also happy to say that Paul Jenkins will pen D2's plot. Jenkins is a frequent guest writer of The Darkness comic books and he also wrote the story for D1.

The biggest change gameplay wise is the new talent system. Jackie gains Demonic Essence which can be used to purchase new abilities and attacks on four unique talent trees. Such upgrades include increasing Jackie's health or the damage done with the demonic arms. Essence comes from finding relics in the world, but the majority of Demonic Essence comes from killing enemies. The more skillfully the enemy is killed, the more essence is gained. Example, while you can kill an enemy with guns and get 10 essence, you'll get 30 essence if he is executed with the demonic arms. The game is really open to experimentation because you can kill with guns, demonic arms, via executions or team up with the Darkling and perform special "Darkling kills".

The multiple trees ensure a different experience for everyone.

The Darkness 2 is shaping up to be a fantastic sequel to one of my favorite shooters and I can't wait. Digital Extremes seems to be taking things slowly and making sure they have done it right. Brought back Mike Patton and Paul Jenkins? Check. Gunplay is smooth and fun? Check. Demonic arms still badass? Double check. Engaging story? Check.

The Darkness 2 will be released on February 7th for 360, PS3 and PC.

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