Not as good as the original but stands on its own.
Graphics: Ok, I know a lot of people have mixed opinions about this, but I liked the graphics for this type of game. You shouldn't really be trying to make a game based off a comic book look as realistic as you can, the use of semi-cell shading was the correct choice in my opinion - 9
Sound: Everything about the sound made the game feel like you were playing a 80's movie. That's not a bad thing, since movies back then tend to always focus on one thing at a time. If your in a shootout, you can hear the guns, explosions, screams, and reloading. If your in a scene, you can hear the footsteps, talking, even a guy coughing across the room. There's no need to an in depth review for this part, the sound is just right - 9
Gameplay (mechanics): My favorite part, the best part about the Darkness 1 was the fact that you felt powerful. You used your powers and mixed in some gunplay for balance. In the Darkness 2, they added more depth to that. Use a car door as a shield, buy a power that allows you to auto-aim with dual weapons plus added damage, or simply just shove one of your tendrils up a guys rear (it's seriously a move called assercution) you WILL feel powerful in this game....depending how you chart your powers. The shooting is down right solid, you aim your sites at a bad guys head, he dies. No aiming at his head and hitting his nipples, you never feel cheated out of a kill. - 10
Gameplay (Dynamics): This is where I had some problems, all that tight aiming and responsive control schematics does nothing if the enemy is either tough as steel or uses annoying darkness powers. Now I'm all for the enemy having darkness powers, but when you have two guys telerporting around the room shooting you and three guys telerporting straight at you with meat clever looking clubs you die a lot of forced deaths. And remember that "tough as steel" part I mentioned? Yeah, later in the game enemies with no armor start to take about a full clip to the body to drop (they have armor on their heads). A lot of your strong powers are melee based, and when your turning around trying to decide which enemy to attack your melee won't amount to much...at all. - 7
Story: Not much to brag about, it was good. - 8
Lasting: Nope, not in this game. If you read the review on ANY game site you know this game is taking a lot of flak for being too short for a $60 game. It's true I'm afraid, I actually beat this game in around 7 hours, and I seriously took about an hour and a half nap while the game was paused. I don't knock games for having short playthroughs (looking at you FEAR 2), but it is something you have to take into effect when you think about buying a new game. - 5
Multiplayer: I'm normally not one to play a multiplayer mode if it feels like it was tacked on, and in my opinion this was tacked on. The characters player different from the basic point, but about 70% of the powers are straight from the single player. The MP campaign feels like an arena style mode, even though it's presented as a story. You buy some powers, manage some weapons, pick up some ammo, and then you go fight like 30 guys. Then you do the same thing all over minus buying powers (you can only do that once on most stages). Now sure, some people love arena shooters, but this is 2012. Multiplayer should always be fun, not a survival mode disguised as a story. If the mutiplayer was a completely separate entity itself, then I would have been all for it. But it's a copy and paste from the single player, if your gonna make the single player 5 to 9 hours long you should have enough space for a larger multiplayer experience. - 6
And in closing, as I said this game is fun for a quick Saturday when your trapped in your house due to bad weather or something of the sort. Don't get your hopes up too far on it because when you start to get in deep the game ends. And the multiplayer will either excite you or bore you so take that how you will.
PS: I didn't mention anything about the collectables because some of them are just too easy to see (I mean you spawn on top of some, lol). Take that as you will, and I'm not going to say if they relate to the game or not (because that will be a spoiler) but I found it more fun to read about them than to find them...
And there you have it folks, my 7.5 rating review on the Darkness II. Final verdict, get it used or wait for a price drop. Don't waste $60 on 7 hours.