It's been too long Jackie, we're glad you're back boss. The original Darkness was an extremely fresh breath of air when it saw the light of day a few years ago and series protagonist Jackie Estacado is back with a vengeance. Sure the art style has gone a bit cartoony and the developer has changed but The Darkness II should take us for a wild ride.

The Darkness 2 has no shortage of brutal first person action, as it will take players through a fast paced and absolutely vicious campaign that more than trumps its predecessor in that aspect. Jackie was able to control the looming darkness within him for about 2 years, which is the gap between the end of the first game and the beginning of the Darkness 2. Digital Extremes has applied a stylized, cartoony appearance to a game that will wow you from start to finish.

When I first booted up The Darkness 2, I was taken through a quick flashback on what has happened in the original game including Jenny's fate, before the story starts up without much delay. After bringing the darkness back out of him, Jackie becomes an absolute monster of a battle machine with its dual wielding guns and two manic beasts extending his powers. The gameplay of The Darkness 2 is unbelievably fast paced, yet allows players to stay in full control of their battlefield. Jackie is able to use his two human arms to control weapons, while his two demonic arms allow him to grab enemies and snap them in half, throw them or impale them with parking meters.


The combat possibilities make this game one of the coolest experiences to have on a console today. The gameplay mechanic, which was often marketed as quad-wielding may not be as limitless as first promised, since the demonic arms have their limits, but it sure allows players to be as creative as I have seen on a console to date. The Darkness 2's story is much easier to understand this time around and makes for a rather enjoyable and exciting playthrough. The game is also quite a looker with some great lighting effects and well animated characters. Some of the enemies seem a bit repetitious but this does's really break the experience, since the they'll be dead well before they can blink. Another short coming of the otherwise excellent presentation are some glitches you'll come across such as wiggling enemies who are stuck in the environment, again - this isn't enough to put a dent into the experience.

When you're not busy slaying everything in your way as Jackie Estacado, you can jump into the very excellent four player coop. The Darkness 2 includes a great cooperative multiplayer mode where you'll be one of four Darkness-powered assassins who complete missions, which are directly tied into the single player story and answer some of those open questions from the campaign.

When all is said and done, The Darkness 2 has to be labeled as one of 2012's best games so far. Digital Extremes has lived up to the challenge with the successor to a great title and created an awesome and near flawless follow up. The single player campaign will have you wanting more, while the excellent coop can keep you busy until The Darkness returns with its excellently ferocious action and addicting universe.

Score: 9 / 10

The Darkness 2 was developed by Digital Extremes and published by 2K Games for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on February 7th. A retail copy of the Xbox 360 version was provided to us by 2K Games for reviewing purposes.