The Darkness 2

The Darkness 2, all I can say is wow. I wasn't expecting to like this game nearly as much as I did. I admit I bought the first one when it went on sale at Gamestop for about 4 bucks when I worked there, and then let it rot in my game library. I still haven't actually played it shame on me.

The talent tree expansion system really won me over. With some games this system gets incredibly annoying, but in this game I didn't find myself cursing and screaming when I couldn't find a portal to use. The gradual progression left me hungering for more ways to earn dark essence from kills and left me wanting to find all 29 collectibles in the game since they were worth a whopping 300 essence a piece.

The collectibles were not overdone and certainly didn't feel like a chore. Some games include hundreds of collectibles and can feel repetitive. The Darkness 2 avoids this as there are 29 different collectibles hidden in the levels and the best part is that on the pause screen the game will tell you how many collectibles are in the level and how many you have found. It leaves the guesswork that some other games have that often can drive people up a wall, me especially.

A New Game+ feature makes the achievement getting much easier as you can restart the game with all of your previously bought talents and then utilize them on a harder playthrough, which is especially useful for people looking to get the achievement for playing on the hardest difficulty accomplished. Also, this feature is great for completing all the talent trees, of which there are 4 to complete, in my first playthrough I collected all the collectibles and was able to finish 2 trees and get about halfway on the other 2 tress I had left.

The Vendettas campaign and Hit List is a great way to incorporate multiplayer into the Darkness. Giving 4 different characters with different abilities and weaponry really reminded me of the Left 4 Dead series especially with the drop in drop out play. Start a level alone and end with a full team beating the Brotherhood down in a sweep.

The experience was one that I wasn't sure I would enjoy when I rented this on a whim. I nearly didn't bother with this game and am now glad that I did. This game engrossed me in the content and left me wanting more after the end. The multiplayer didn't feel stale and old and the missions weren't so long that I wanted them to be over. The difficulty was spot on and with 4 different ones to choose from people new to games all the way up to old pros will find something to challenge their skills.

If you haven't played this I highly recommend you pick this up and give it a try, it is well worth the 60 dollar price tag, and for sure at least worth a 2.99 Blockbuster rental or a 2.00 Redbox night.

At the end of my 4 days with this game I got 31/50 achievements for 500/1000G. And I had a damn good time doing it too. I might start a new game before returning this tomorrow to mop up a few achievements I have left but I'm not sure yet. Time will see. I might find myself moving onto some of my backlog fodder to fill my time.