The Darkness II review

Although this game did come out a couple of weeks ago, I finally have been able to get my hands on it and concoct a review. The sequel will please fans of the first as it is more gruesome than it's predecessor.

First things first, the combat in the Darkness II is a lot more fun and polished than it was in the first. Though there was no problem with the combat in the first installment, there just wasn't much to it. All you could really do was point and shoot, and use the darkness to snap at your foes. In the Darkness II, there still is a lot of shooting, but it is accompanied by more darkness powers, and even a little minion that does your bidding for you. The demon arms can now pull off different maneuvers that can rip and tear Jackie's enemies in half in a few swift motions. As for Darkling, the little minion at your disposal, you can send him off to do his special attacks on enemies which include urinating acid on them and eating their flesh. The ability for Jackie to quad wield the demon arms with a pair of guns also makes for innovative and fun combat. The game encourages you to kill your opponents in various ways by rewarding you with points, similar to Bulletstorm. This includes using your environment, and any tools that you have at your disposal. The points matter because they allow Jackie to unlock new powers and moves. Jackie also has the power to grab objects in his environment and use them as weapons i.e using a street sign as a spear and impaling his enemies.

The multiplayer is a nice addition to the game, giving it more depth and a higher replay value. In the multiplayer, you and your friends take over the roles of Jackie's henchmen that are called upon to do jobs that Jackie doesn't have time for. All of the henchmen have darkness powers like Jackie, and are able to perform the same attacks. The multiplayer ties into the actual campaign of the game, so it's not some forced in, gimmicky multiplayer, but a thought out and well crafted addition to the game. 

The story is absolutely lackluster and brings this game down a bit. The premise is that an unknown person is after Jackie and wants Jackie to give up his powers so he can harvest them himself. Sounds decent enough, but the game doesn't do a good job of making you care. Though it's kind of cheesy, the excessive mourning over his girlfriends death give Jackie some depth and help us realize that he has weaknesses like any every human being. Though the story lacks, it really comes together at the end to make an exciting conclusion. You'll just be wondering why the first few hours of the game couldn't have been executed as well as the end.

The graphics in the Darkness II are impressive. The developers at Digital Extremes took a different approach after taking over the series, using a cel-shading technique similar to the one used in games like Sly Cooper. The music goes well with the overall atmosphere of the game, making it feel gritty and dark. The dialogue of the characters is fantastic as well, and almost gives this dull story some life.

Though it is successful with it's graphics and sound, the game falls short of excellence because of it's bugs and errors. Many enemies look the same which takes away from the experience and they also tend to fall through the ground or through walls. In some instances, the frame rate tanks, leading to frustrating moments such as dying because of the extreme lag. There will be glitches and bugs that will force you to go back to your last checkpoint,  so be weary of that before you buy the game.



If you can get past all of the bugs in this game, then you have a game that is solid. It's not incredible, but it's worth playing. I personally wouldn't drop $60 on it, but I would rent it, or even wait for a price drop and buy it used.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning; a pleasant surprise

Before about a week ago, I couldn't tell you anything about Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Now that it has been released and has received some positive attention from major publications, I took it upon myself to see what this game really has to offer.

What I found was that this game has a lot to offer, and one of the things this game offers is outstanding gameplay. This game is revolved around it's combat mechanics and they are excellent. The combat reminded me of Fable in a way, but it was more deep and more fun. The battles you will fight require you to hack, slash, parry, roll, and use spells to attack and defend yourself from your foes. There are plenty of weapons and armor to chose from, so you can deck out your character to whatever fits the style you want to play most. The ability to customize your abilities and loadouts on the fly also make you feel less restricted with decisions you can make, or even less skeptical.

The story, like most RPGs today, is extremely deep and will suck you in. Written by New York Times best selling author R.A. Salvatore, allows the player to create his or her own character, and control them through a beautifully crafted fantasy world. The game starts with your player being revived in a structure that we find out is called the "Well of Souls." There is no predetermined destiny for your character, so the story will progress based on how you play, and the decisions that you make. This really gives you ultimate power in really playing the game how you want to play it. With such freedom, the possibilities in the game are almost limitless adding layers and layers of depth. Dialogue amongst random characters is well done and not redundant. You will venture to different regions and talk to different people and never feel as if you have talked to the same voice actor one million times before. One problem that I had was the characters, and monsters aren't all that stunning, but more so bland and uninteresting.

Graphically, this game is beautiful. There are five different regions, all unique in their own way, and the attention to detail in textures, shading, and lighting is phenomenal. Once again, the game reminds me of Fable, just a little more polished. Movement of the characters are strikingly similar, and the world itself is reminiscent of the world of Albion. The musical score is well done and adds to the overall atmosphere of the title.

Unfortunately, like most big open world titles, Amalur has some technical bugs that may take away from the experience. There were various instances in combat where my frame rate tanked, making combat much harder and more frustrating than it needed to be. That's really all I saw as far as bugs go. Unlike games in the Elder Scrolls series, I never fell through the map, or even got stuck in a spot that I couldn't get out of. This relieved me of the anxiety that something stupid and out of my control could happen, so I didn't need to save my game too much.



Since the game is so deep, there are countless hours of gameplay that you can invest in it. There are four different races and three different classes to choose from, and they all come equipped with different powers and perks. The races are Almain (cvilized Humans), Dokkalfar (Dark Elves), Ljosalfar (Light Elves), and Varani (nomadic Humans). The classes you can choose from are fighter, rogue, and mage, and each come with 22 abilities per tree giving the player a lot of choices and a reason to play through the game more than just once.

All in all, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a very good game that will give you a lot of bang for your buck. The combat is a whole lot of fun, the story is easy to get immersed in, and it looks fabulous. Though it is held back by a few technical bugs, and poor variety in character modeling, that shouldn't hold you back from playing this game. This is a game that is worth buying because not only is it well executed, but it is a game that you could come back to maybe a year from now and start another adventure that will most likely differ from your first.

Howard reveals potential ideas for Skyrim DLC

Todd Howard, the creative directer at Bethesda studios, mad much to say about new ideas that he and the team have been brainstorming over while he spoke at DICE 2012 games industry convention in Las Vegas. Howard stated that he told his team to just go away and brainstorm ideas that could be added to a Skyrim DLC. He also stated that all of the ideas listed are strictly experimental and there is no telling as of now, which will be added to the DLC. Here are some of the ideas that Howard's team came up with, courtesy of IGN entertainment, along with my input on each.


Spears- Hopefully much more useful than the spears in Fallout: New Vegas... those sucked.

Kill cams for magic: Kind of cool I guess, but will probably just remind me of V.A.T.S

Water arrows - Don't know what these means really...

Giant mud crabs - Will be cool if they actually can take a lot of damage.

Paralysis runes - This would make me happy because I love to paralyze my enemies in Skyrim. Nothing like hacking your enemies to pieces while they lie there and aren't able to do anything about it.

Seasonal foliage - This would add even more depth to this game. Especially if they go as far as have different creatures out and about during the different seasons of the year.

Speedy water currents - The currents in the game are already pretty fast. I guess they want to add some rapids in there, give the player a real drowning helplessly in the river experience.

Dragon mounts - That would be too good to be true. If Bethesda follows through with this, Skyrim will easily be the most epic game of all time. Especially if they add combat abilities like controlling your dragons fire breath or even just shooting fools with your bow while mounted.

Dark dungeons - Could add a little more realism to the game and actually force players to use torches, or spells that illuminate areas.

Adoption of children - Wouldn't really add much to the game, unless you had to bring food home to them and care for them (which I doubt will be the case).

Advanced home building - This would be a nice feature to add in the game. The players could become the Skyrim version of Martha Stuart.

Epic new mounts - Sabre cats, bears, mammoths, or even on  the shoulders of giants maybe? One could only hope.

Fast travel portals - Kind of pointless because we can just use the map...

Kinect dragon shouts - Honestly would give me all the reason I need to actually buy a kinect. Would also be really funny to see people try to pronounce the shouts, fail miserably, and look really goofy.

Enhanced water visuals - The water wasn't all that great looking nor was it bad looking. This is something that really doesn't matter, but couldn't hurt if added.

Ice and fire arrows - I mean... you can already enchant them can't you? Don't really see the point.

Lycanthrope perk tree - Please do it Bethesda. The whole werewolf thing was cool for like 5 minutes, then I decided to just get rid of it. A perk tree would add more depth to this power and probably make it a lot more fun to use than it is now.

Vampire imp minions - Who doesn't want minions? Actually let me rephrase that... what kind of fucking vampire doesn't want minions? Hopefully these little guys could actually be of use and do some damage on enemies.

Goblins - I forgot that the Elder Scrolls series usually has goblins as enemy creatures... kind of goes to show that they really aren't needed...

So there you have it. Some of the ideas on this list look really cool and promising, like the idea of various new mounts including dragons, and the kinect dragon shouts that will probably make everyone look insane. Most of the others I've seen done in mods already, but will be cool for console players to be able to enjoy. Others unnecessary like the ice and fire arrows and the fast travel portals because those are things that the player can already do regardless of which platform they are playing on. This has gotten me all excited now, but I still have to realize that there is no real information released on this yet, so who knows when we will be able to get our hands on this DLC.