The Darkness 2 - Autumn 2011 - PS3, 360, PC

Brerlappins little hat wrote:

Tafdolphin wrote:Some of the gameplay is annoying as strawberry float (I'm thinking the WWI sections) but the narrative through-line is amazing. Has to be one of the best stories in gaming and not because of any twists or gimmicks but simply because the characters are so real.

Im probably alone in this but the atmosphere of those sections was so good that i didnt mind them at all. Also i love anything about WW1 which helped alot. But just the whole thing really felt like hell, no evil demons and brimstone, butbeing stuck in a war that never ends, the soldiers literally being stitched back together to fight, and never being able to die, it was strawberry floating amazing. Yeah the gameplay wasnt great in it (and the darkness guns were actually bloody useless), but it was one of the most nightmarish things ive ever seen in a game.

The Darkness is one of the few games I really, really enjoyed that I've never replayed, and I think those sections are a large part of why. Not because they were so tedious to play (even though they were) but because they're so horrible to experience from a conceptual point of view. They're genuinely disturbing. I didn't enjoy them in the same way you don't enjoy the rape scene in Irreversible, but the experience of suffering through it makes the experience of the whole that much better

strawberry float, that sounds really weird.

I found the WW1 sections a nice change in pace and setting and the horror of the situation was quite well done, don't get the hate

The Darkness , another amazing game that deserved to be played on 60fps on the pc instead of the slides how version that was on ps3. I still loved the game even though I played the 360 version.

Anyone that thought The Darkness was good, needs to play Escape from Butcher Bay.

Not the whole WW1 section is gooseberry fool.

But it's the part that you have to go look for the actual Darkness guns itself is god damn awful. Foggy sections, with resurrecting whack-a-mole enemies popping up and the ability to shoot at you from a great distance isn't fun. But then World War 1 isn't pretty fun for the soldiers, I suppose.

Even all that trouble, the Darkness guns itself is pretty much underwhelming.

My biggest gripe with the original was the travelling on foot bits. Like when you left the subway and had to go to the butchers or his aunty's or whatever the strawberry float it may have been, it was really tedious. But I loved the original run of the comic (Ennis and Silvestri ) so I'm sure I'll be giving the sequel a bash at some point.

What I like about The Darkness is the sidequests. I hope they're still there in the sequel.

Saint of Killers wrote:My biggest gripe with the original was the travelling on foot bits. Like when you left the subway and had to go to the butchers or his aunty's or whatever the strawberry float it may have been, it was really tedious. But I loved the original run of the comic (Ennis and Silvestri ) so I'm sure I'll be giving the sequel a bash at some point.

I really liked those bits. Made everything feel like one massive complete package instead of a series of shooting levels. Just the simple option of walking alone the streets and popping the streetlamps and windows and gooseberry fool with darkness arms. Im one of those idiots who plays with everything in games with freedom so spent strawberry floating hours just being a nob head on the street and playing with the bins and random crap.

Falsey wrote:

Saint of Killers wrote:My biggest gripe with the original was the travelling on foot bits. Like when you left the subway and had to go to the butchers or his aunty's or whatever the strawberry float it may have been, it was really tedious. But I loved the original run of the comic (Ennis and Silvestri ) so I'm sure I'll be giving the sequel a bash at some point.

I really liked those bits. Made everything feel like one massive complete package instead of a series of shooting levels. Just the simple option of walking alone the streets and popping the streetlamps and windows and gooseberry fool with darkness arms. Im one of those idiots who plays with everything in games with freedom so spent strawberry floating hours just being a nob head on the street and playing with the bins and random crap.

If a game does it right I'll walk *everywhere* even if there's a fast travel option (like in the Yakuza games), but with the Darkness it just felt lifeless, the streets all looked the same and I never knew where the fup I was. So as much as I wanted to like it (and being a fan of comics I *really* did want to like it -and though I didn't I take great joy in the fact others did) in the end I just gave up on it. But I've d/l the demo (ps3) and am looking forward to trying out this new one!

I thought it was interesting how the darkness arms were controlled on the pc with the middle click and mouse gestures. Not sure how its handled on the consoles.

With the bumpers.

EDIT - Oh you mean slashing? One of the bumpers is held down and the right stick is used for the swiping motion.

Started the first game this weekend, strawberry floating hell it's mad IMO It's like Max Payne, from his perspective, on drugs.

I was impressed by the demo, the visuals were '13' esque but clearer and they certainly showed off some good gameplay. I am a little dubious over ther extreme violence, it could be a new peak for in game guts and glory. It has no impact on me at all anymore, but it does mean I cannot play the game when my partner is about - annoying!

Played some of this just now. Only got up to the end of the level after the demo. Looks to be the narrative driven FPS that I wanted. Plus the combat is fluid and you really feel powerful with the darkness backing you up.

But some PC gripes. It's still a console port. Although there are no major problems and everything is smooth the graphic options are limited. FOV needs ramping up from console level and some higher AA wouldn't go amiss.

Gamecentral seems to disagree:

The Darkness II is a good game, but whether you consider it a good sequel will depend entirely on what you liked best about the original. If it was the storytelling and exploration then you may find this disappointing, if it was the OTT violence and bizarre Darkness powers then this is still a hell of a lot of fun.

In Short: It’s more direct approach won’t please everyone but this is a worthy follow-up to the original game, that isn’t so much dumbed-down as actioned-up.

Pros: Expanded Darkness powers work very well, with a never-ending series of ways to dismember bad guys. Distinctive graphics and extensive co-op campaign.

Cons: Despite all the options combat can still seem flat and repetitive, with some fairly unimaginative level design. Short (and silly) story.

Score: 7/10

http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/games/889594-the-darkness-ii-review-turn-off-the-light#ixzz1lnF5EZzz

Six hour story as well unfortunately.

Memento Mori wrote:Gamecentral seems to disagree:

The Darkness II is a good game, but whether you consider it a good sequel will depend entirely on what you liked best about the original. If it was the storytelling and exploration then you may find this disappointing, if it was the OTT violence and bizarre Darkness powers then this is still a hell of a lot of fun.

In Short: It’s more direct approach won’t please everyone but this is a worthy follow-up to the original game, that isn’t so much dumbed-down as actioned-up.

Pros: Expanded Darkness powers work very well, with a never-ending series of ways to dismember bad guys. Distinctive graphics and extensive co-op campaign.

Cons: Despite all the options combat can still seem flat and repetitive, with some fairly unimaginative level design. Short (and silly) story.

Score: 7/10

http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/games/889594-the-darkness-ii-review-turn-off-the-light#ixzz1lnF5EZzz

Six hour story as well unfortunately.

Rescued from the bottom of page 2 Did anyone else buy this?

Really enjoying this and I really liked the first one. No complaints from me about the style etc. Playing on the difficulty below the hardest and quite few of the fights seem to be cases of just about surviving by executing for a health boost, before grabbing the next guy and just surviving again, keeping it tense in the fights. Some of the character conversations are great as well, been a while since I chuckled at dialogue in a game.

Six hour story? I played for about 3 hours last night and just got to the end of where the demo leaves you i.e. I've just properly met the Bad Guy for the 1st time so I'd think there's quite a bit more to go. Then again I've had a good look around the Mansion, spoke to all the characters and explored the world, rather than extend my epeen by sprinting through all the main story missions in a stright line race to the credits, as seems to be the style nowadays.

I'm definitely planning on picking this up when i get the money. Glad to hear a few of the guys on here have got good things to say about it. Doesn't seem to be too much interest from the forum in general though.

Got this as well. So awesome, very curious to see how this turns out compared to the first.

They did it again...

Finished this this morning, it's great. Starting up a New Game+ just now.

Ending Spoilers:

I wonder if they'll bring the Witchblade into it now that we have both the Darkness & The Angelus.

This game totally reminds me of Dead Space 2, with the girlfriend thing: