I was a huge fan of The Darkness and have been looking forward to the sequel for quite some time. The good news – the game looks prettier, with improved graphics and a nice graphic novel-esque cell-shading to the gameplay. The bad news, Kirk Acevedo is no longer the voice of Jackie, so I’m guessing the full game will take some time to get acclimated to this new Jackie.

While this is just the demo and wreaking havoc on dime-a-dozen henchmen is fun, there’s no sign of what made the original game so great, the mundane world. This was the game where you could literally sit in an apartment and watch “To Kill A Mockingbird” in its entirety or ride the subway to quiet streets completing side quests, giving an action game a great RPG element. It was this great contrast, where the power of the Darkness was impressive, creeping its way into a realistic city and allowing you to fully appreciate the advantage you had over normal people. The demo, for what it’s worth, was a constant run and gun. It was fun while it lasted, but here’s to hoping 2K didn’t ditch the one aspect that made this more than just your typical first person shooter with extra gore.

The Darkness II demo is available now on the Xbox 360 – gameplay and commentary from Robert Welkner.

Related video:
The Darkness II interview with Producer Seth Olshfski – https://coin-op.tv/?p=3779