Quick Look: The Darkness II

Wait, 50 comments and not one person mentioning that the darkling is dressed like Gerri Halliwell?!

Or am i being an idiot...?

@vinsanityv22: Or plumbers... Or assassins... Or fighters... Or crusaders... Or henchman... Or boxers... Or informers... Or emperors... Or soldiers... Or weird guys...

This seems alright.

COMBO CHAIN X2, Upgrade your guns!! fuck off.......... Let's remove all subtleties about the first game and add black outliner on everything SO IT'LL LOOK LIKE A COMIC BOOK. EVERYONE LOVES THOSE especially kids who are looking for a gripping tale of morality, young love and human loss. Sometime I fucking hate video games.

So why is this not on youtube?

@Impossibilium said:

You can't sell serious moments with cartoons.

It isn't a cartoon, its called stylization and their are roughly 30-40 years worth of animated films and tv shows that prove you so very very wrong. Can Pixar films not be taken serious? how about award winning Don Bluth movies, infamous for their dark themes and subjects despite being "kids movies". How about the endless anime such as Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Evangelion that deal with subjects so deep and complex people spend years and years still trying to analyse them.

Anyone who thinks anything with an art style can't be taken serious is a fucking idiot, you have no idea how oblivious, naive and ignorant you are being. Open your fucking mind and try not viewing the world as "I only like it if its real, everything else is dumb" because you are missing out on some of the greatest creative works in human history.

This looks too great.

@Lazyaza said:

@Impossibilium said:

You can't sell serious moments with cartoons.

It isn't a cartoon, its called stylization and their are roughly 30-40 years worth of animated films and tv shows that prove you so very very wrong. Can Pixar films not be taken serious? how about award winning Don Bluth movies, infamous for their dark themes and subjects despite being "kids movies". How about the endless anime such as Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Evangelion that deal with subjects so deep and complex people spend years and years still trying to analyse them.

Anyone who thinks anything with an art style can't be taken serious is a fucking idiot, you have no idea how oblivious, naive and ignorant you are being. Open your fucking mind and try not viewing the world as "I only like it if its real, everything else is dumb" because you are missing out on some of the greatest creative works in human history.

Jesus, dude. No need to be a giant, gaping asshole about it, despite being correct.

@Lazyaza: This...

@Impossibilium said:

You can't sell serious moments with cartoons.

It isn't a cartoon, its called stylization and their are roughly 30-40 years worth of animated films and tv shows that prove you so very very wrong. Can Pixar films not be taken serious? how about award winning Don Bluth movies, infamous for their dark themes and subjects despite being "kids movies". How about the endless anime such as Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Evangelion that deal with subjects so deep and complex people spend years and years still trying to analyse them.

Anyone who thinks anything with an art style can't be taken serious is a fucking idiot, you have no idea how oblivious, naive and ignorant you are being. Open your fucking mind and try not viewing the world as "I only like it if its real, everything else is dumb" because you are missing out on some of the greatest creative works in human history.

picking this up today and Kingdoms Of Amalur

@Branthog said:

@igloochan said:

@vinsanityv22: I think the correct question is when making a video game with mobsters why do they always make them italian?

As opposed to what? All the powerful Swedish gangs in NYC over the last hundred years?

This idea sounds awesome!

Also, the art style of this game looks fantastic. Screenshots sell it short, I think.

I also find the ultra-stereotypical Italian mobsters hilarious, "so uh, are we gonna fuggin' hit these pricks ova the head with a pipe or what? Ey!"

Enjoyed the first one well enough. Dig the art style change.

I randomly rented the first game and I was pleasantly surprised, but the trailers for the sequel didn't look promising. This QL makes it look pretty solid though, I might pick it up. I wonder if it still has the point-blank gun executions, they were definitely my favorite part of the original.

Looking forward to playing this.

Can any one name the song that plays while Jacky and that girl are dancing?

The health meter in the preview image looks like it's having 3RL.

Nice. Been waiting for this.

"It's a small world but I wouldn't want to murder everyone on it." Ryan Darkness

This was a day 1 purchase for me and I dislike derpy console games but this one has a "goldeneye" charm to it that will more than make up for the expensive retail price with weekends worth of drunken co-op deathmatch fun.

Oh boy, an Equilibrium reference. Sign me the F up!

I wasn't expecting much with the developer switch, but it looks like they did a pretty good job with it.

Hell yes, Brian Bloom! It's a shame for those who loved Jackie's original VA, but you could a lot worse than Bloom's authentic-ass NY tough guy talk.

This looks just excellent. Nice work, Digital Extremes.
I'm looking forward to playing this game, which DOES NOT happen often for me.
Really good stuff!

I wasn't sure what to expect with this one; a friend bought me a Steam pre-order, but there was a very real chance it just wouldn't capture the fiendish glee of the original.

It did.

The gunplay and combat in this game is so... brutal, and responsive, and generally brilliant, that it props up the weak (yet enjoyable) comic book plot and the overly-linear levels. I especially like that it seems to be really hard if you go in with just guns blazing; mastering the use of all your Darkness techniques really seems to be key to success, and it rewards experimentation with cool different ways of people dying. That's all an FPS has to do, right? In that respect, Darkness II is one of the better shooters to come out recently. I'm having a really good time with it. :)

I missed the first game? Is it worth going back to?

Someone got their Crackdown in my Drakness

From now on, please refer to me as "Jimmy the Grape". Oh, you were already? Cool, thanks.

Oh, it was the minion I was hearing.

Ack, am I the only one having trouble with the video? Anything I try to do, and the video restarts. Can't go full-screen, can't skip, nothing.

Really liked the first one, and what I see here makes me miss some of Starbeezes presentation. I enjoyed seeing everone's name for some odd reason, but I especially loved the art aspects coupled with well drawn locations which helped in turn to carry the story.

I can live with what I see here, seems like another viable approach. I hope theres more to see, so to speak, than Jackie tearing dudes apart from start to finish in good ole NYC, though that always figuered in, not saying otherwise. There was this gun I remember getting in the Darkness that visually just rocked, and I will never forget the train with the rail cannon or that Dive-bomber giving Jackie hell. I'm glad to hear of the improved shooting mechanics though(if I remember some fustration right) and I do like that cell shading in this kind of mature theme.

We will see.

I didn't like the first one at all. This looks like a better looking version of Darkness 1. I'll pass. Fun QL, though.

Mike Patton.... inside my mind....

I really liked the first game and the sequel looks like it's just as good, Anyone know if there are any full length TV shows / movies that the first had in this one.

Wonder if the Jenny visions are really that Angelus character trying to get to Jackie.

Hmmmm, I'm not really digging this art style. The first game looked really good with all the deep dark shadows and grimy look.

Also, the original voice actor for Jackie is gone, which sucks! It's great to have Mike Patton at least, but I think him and Kirk Avecado really formed a good duo.

It also looks like they retconned the original ending?

Thought I'd let you guys know that I ran out to buy this game immediately after Ryan threw that lead pipe.

I believe in a thing called loooooooooove.

@RobertOrri said:

It also looks like they retconned the original ending?

How exactly it's set two years after the first game there was nothing in the QL that showed something had been re-written or changed unless i missed something

I love the visual style. What a great looking game and holy shit is it brutal. Ripping dudes up looks very satisfying.

I think it's totally fine if Vinny and Ryan do the quick look, but it'd be nice if Jeff could do the review only 'cause he did the original. If not, that's fine.

Woah there, XIII cel-shading.

@walkingcarpet: I played the demo of 2 then went back to 1 because I realized I never finished it and it was pretttttyyy rough. Definitely early early next gen material.

I really dig the art style of this game. Super cool.

Hmm, according to the gamespot review, it's meant to be like 5 hours long and is a strictly linear affair. No subway hub or calling up random phone numbers. Damn shame, since while I really didn't like the shooting, and there weren't all that many Darkness powers in the original, all the extra-curricular stuff in there was brilliant. It's not hard to see why it's heralded by so many. Darkness 2, while it has much better shooting and darkness powers (from what I see here), removes a lot of what made the original Darkness so special.

Scent of a Woman reference out of the gate = Win!

Game looks awesome, great QL aswell guys.

I still don't really dig the changes but the story is intriguing.  
I may get this when it's cheap. Could be worth at least one play through. Shame it sounds like its kinda short though- although that's not necessarily bad but... I don't know. Hard to say if its worth full price of admission what with the art style change (which is ok but for a sequel to a game with a drastically different style is odd) and the voice changes and Jackie looking different and what appears to be no more open world but rather more corridor crawl.  
I don't know, we'll see.