The Darkness II

The first Darkness game was released to OK reviews, but built up a word of mouth reputation after it's release for being emotionally involving. It was, but as the reviews pointed out, it was only really an OK game. In a way, the follow up fails to pick up on the strengths of the first game, and focuses firmly on the stuff that was kind-of cool (like the tentacle killings) rather than making something even more involving.

It's solid enough, with some better than average writing, but it could have been more.

Graphically the follow-up seems more inspired by Borderlands than the original game, and this debt can also be seen in Vendettas, a substantial bonus game included. Like Borderlands, you can pick one of four classes, you kill lots of stuff and you get the feeling it would be more fun playing co-op (which you can, I just tnd not to).

It's hard to really fault The Darkness II, it's just there was potential for it to be a truly memorable game, where all to often it can feel alarmingly derivative despite it's unique control twists.

7/10.