The Darkness 2

TRAILER

The Darkness II is a video game developed by Digital Extremes and to be published by 2K Games. The game is the sequel to 2007's The Darkness. The game features the writing of Paul Jenkins, who previously worked on The Darkness comics. Originally scheduled to be released on July 10, 2011 and then on October 4, 2011, it was delayed for both dates and instead was released February 7, 2012 in North America and February 10, 2012 in Europe for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Gameplay

The Darkness II follows a similar combat template as the first game with the introduction of new features, such as a tactic dubbed "quad wielding," a technique which allows the protagonist Jackie Estacado to use both The Darkness and firearms simultaneously. There is a greater emphasis on the aspect of Darklings, with there now being only one primary Darkling who holds greater importance and is more involved in the storyline and who is useful in all situations; able to go to and lead Jackie to certain waypoints and show him important items during boss fights, and allow Jackie to use him to go into hard-to-reach areas and kill enemies at a distance, while looking through the Darkling's eyes. The Darkling is able to interact with the environment by using items such as a worker drills to attack and torture Jackie's enemies and he can also use standard weaponry such as pistols to attack or threaten them. Jackie can use the environment to his advantage, by using car doors as shields and parking meters to kill enemies. Unlike in the first game, Jackie can use both his weaponry and The Darkness in public places. The Darkness only disappears while in the light or for story purposes.

Each kill, heart collected and enemy urinated on add towards Jackie's 'dark essence', a substance that clings to people and objects that have come in contact with The Darkness, which can be used to make purchases from a tree of abilities from 'talent shrines', such as 'black hole' which allows Jackie to charge an enemies heart with energy and throw it to create a void of vacuum encased in darkness, the ability to see and attack through walls, 'swarm' which allows Jackie to summon a swarm of flies to disable and stun multiple enemies at once, and 'gun channeling' which gives Jackie unlimited ammunition and deals supernatural damage for a short period of time. The character and player feel more uncomfortable in light, with exposure to light resulting in blurring of vision occupied with a high pitched ringing. Light will be more of a physical threat as well with there having a 'light vs darkness' feel.

Vendettas

Vendettas is a mode where the player plays as one of 4 hit men who each have specific Darkness powers and go on missions for Jackie. The Vendettas campaign happens at the same time as the game's main campaign and focuses on securing dark relics from Brotherhood agents. The campaign can be played offline alone or online co-operatively with other people (there is no split-screen). There is also a hit list option where players can replay specific missions from the Vendettas campaign as well as new ones specific to the Hit List mode. Each character has their own upgrade tree.

Development

Visually, the game's textures are designed using a cel-shading technique, emulating the aesthetic of its graphic novel namesake. The style was achieved with the development artists hand painting the majority of the game assets, instead of relying on digital methods to create a comic book style.

Musician Mike Patton reprises his role as the voice of The Darkness, however Kirk Acevedo, who provided the voice of Jackie Estacado in the former game, will not be returning. In his place will be actor Brian Bloom.

Plot

Vendettas campaign

Single Player Campaign

The Darkness II takes place two years after the events of the first game. Jackie Estacado, the current wielder of The Darkness has used his powers to become the Don of the Franchetti crime family. He has been unable to shake the thoughts of his dead girlfriend Jenny Romano and has since, with the help of estranged occultist Johnny Powell and his study into dark essence, contained his supernatural powers, and now The Darkness "wants out in the worst way".

The game starts with Jackie talking to the player about his life and about The Darkness while sitting alone in a chair in a dark, seemingly endless room with a white and black tile floor. Jackie pulls out a pendant with a small picture of his dead girlfriend Jenny and the scene shifts to Jackie getting out of a car and entering a luxurious restaurant. Jackie sits with two blonde twins until one is shot in the eye and a van crashes through the window, killing the other twin and heralding the start of a full-scale mob war, which has clearly been orchestrated by some outside force. Jackie's leg is wounded and Vinnie, one of Jackie's mob associates, gives Jackie a gun to fend off the attackers while Vinnie grabs Jackie and drags him through the restaurant and into the kitchen. Jackie smells gas leaking from the propane tanks as Vinnie tries to pry open the door, just in time for one of the attackers to throw a flaming bottle into the kitchen and igniting the gas into a violent explosion which knocks Jackie back and sends Vinnie through the wall, though they both survive. On the verge of death, Jackie sees Victor, who comments that Jackie is "stronger than his father", Victor then tells one of his henchmen to keep pushing Jackie and then disappears. As Jackie crawls toward the hole in the wall created by the explosion, The Darkness encourages Jackie to "embrace The Darkness", Jackie then releases The Darkness, who then proceeds to slaughter the remaining goons.

While making his way through the streets and into the subway, Jackie begins seeing strange haunting visions of Jenny which beckon him to come to her. In the subway, Jackie avoids being hit by a train and makes his way onto the demolished tracks. He then sees another apparition of Jenny who tells him to dance with her. She then disappears as an oncoming train hits Jackie. The Darkness proclaims that Jackie will not die as Jackie wakes up in a strange dream-like world which seems to be some kind of heavenly hospital. There he sees Johnny Powell and his mob friend Tony, both of whom act strange. Jackie then wakes from the dream and realizes that The Darkness had taken possession of his body and slaughtered the remaining henchmen. He meets up with Fat Tony and makes his way back to his mansion.

At Jackie's mansion, he talks with his Aunt Sara about Jenny and Sara comments on how Jackie is becoming obsessive like his father, which Jackie denies. Through many quests, hunting down everyone involved in The Brotherhood. This quest eventually brings Jackie to an abandoned carnival and into a confrontation with Victor Valente, a mysterious figure who knows what The Darkness is and wants his power for himself. Victor is the head of an ancient secret society known as The Brotherhood, formed thousands of years ago by a saint for the sole purpose of protecting the world from The Darkness. However the saint became corrupted and now The Brotherhood wants The Darkness for themselves, once Jackie finally catches up with Victor through his quest, which includes being pinned in an Iron Maiden and had The Darkness siphoned out of him, he fights a Darkness Empowered Mr. Peevish, which after he defeats him, allows Jackie to collect enough Dark Essence to make a shell of his previous powers, but is not sentient and dead, because there is no spiritual Darkness to power it, once Jackie continues, he confront Victor in Jackie's old house and a battle rages between Victor and Jackie. After defeating Victor, Jackie takes the Siphon of the Angelus from Victor and beats him to death with it, and afterwards tries to stab himself with it, because The Siphon is the only way for The Darkness to truly die and be sent to Hell. Victor warned him that it will kill him and send him to Hell, but Jackie wants to die so he can be with Jenny, and so he takes The Siphon and impales himself. Jackie then wakes up in the mental asylum that The Darkness uses to trap him while his body is being repaired, after realizing that he is in The Asylum and not in Hell, Jackie freaks out and runs down the hall.

Jackie, then asks to see Jenny in The Asylum, but on the way there, the Darkling appears and gives him access to the rooftop. As they rush to the top of the building, the Darkling opens the roof door and light pours in and shoots the Darkling down the steps. As the Darkling begins to die permanently, it previously died within The Darkness and not the Human world, it gives Jackie its goodbyes and wishes him good luck. Jackie then runs to the edge of the roof and tried to jump off when Doctor Victor and Jenny come saying to stop. This is when the player must choose to stay with the fake Jenny in the Asylum or jump and send Jackie to Hell to free the Real Jenny. If Jackie stays, he will dance with Jenny to old music, in the middle of the asylum, and the game ends shortly after.

But if he jumps, Jackie goes to Hell to save the real Jenny. As he continues through a maze, killing strange monstrosities and collecting flesh versions of normal guns, Jackie eventually saves her, which leads to an emotional reunion as Jackie and Jenny embrace each other in joy. Jenny tells Jackie that, no matter what happens, she will always love him, but suddenly apologizes. Jackie is confused and Jenny suddenly flies out of his arms and transforms into The Angelus. Jackie tells her that he will not fight her and demands to know what she has done with Jenny. The Angelus tells him that Jenny is still in her somewhere and that, despite all the suffering he caused her, she still loves him. She tells Jackie that because of all the suffering he created with The Darkness and the fact that he is too powerful, he must stay in the abyss within The Darkness forever. She states that the world has lived to long without her light and that Jackie and The Darkness are now in Hell where they belong. She then flies away, trapping Jackie in the inner abyss. The game ends with Jackie screaming upwards in anger and terror as The Darkness closes up.

Demo

A playable demo (size 1.40GB) of the game has been released on January 17, 2012 (North America) on Xbox Live and is available to Gold members for the first week. A PC, PS3, Xbox Live Silver demo was released on January 24, 2012 (North America) and a day later in EU and Asia.

Reception

Reviews for The Darkness II are generally positive. PSM3 and Xbox World magazines awarded the game 8.1 out of 10 and said that the game is "Not perfect, but deeply satisfying to blast through." Both Official Xbox Magazine U.S. and Official Xbox Magazine UK awarded the game a 9 out of 10, with the U.S. edition praising the dark story, "excellent" combination of Darkness powers and gunplay, brutal finishing moves, and fun cooperative multiplayer, while criticizing the campaign's relatively short length and problems reviving allies in multiplayer and the UK edition citing "It's one of the best shooter-stories we've seen in years - justifying its own ludicrous nature in interesting and unexpected ways. If the ending didn't feel like such a cop-out, The Darkness II could have been on par with BioShock. As it is, the gripping narrative and wonderfully empowering combat mean you'll be talking about it for months after completing it." Playstation Official Magazine also gave the game 9 out of 10, stating "no graphic novel has been brought to life in such a deliciously gory manner, with offing goons turned an art form." Gameshark gave the game 9.1 out of 10, praising the heavy focus on storyline and the action packed gameplay. IGN gave the game an 8 out of 10, praising the visuals and gameplay, but suggested the game lacks polish and the story, while enjoyable, isn't as strong as the original.  GameSpot gave it a 7 out of 10, which is currently the lowest rating given to the game, but GameSpot still praised the gameplay, story, skill tree, and sound. The negative aspects of the game, in their view, include the short campaign, predictable enemy A.I, unsatisfactory multiplayer and linear level design. Gametrailers gave it a 7.4 out of 10.

System requirements

Minimum requirements:

Microsoft Windows XP

Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+

1.5 GB of RAM

NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT 256 MB or ATi Radeon HD 2600 Pro 256 MB

DirectX compatible sound card

10 GB of free hard disk space

Recommended requirements:

Microsoft Windows XP

2.4 GHz quad core

2 GB of RAM

NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512 MB or ATi equivalent

DirectX compatible sound card

10 GB of free hard disk space

Developer(s) Digital Extremes

Publisher(s) 2K Games

Producer(s) Sheldon Carter

Designer(s) Tom Galt

Writer(s) Paul Jenkins

Engine Evolution Engine (Proprietary)

Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Release date(s) NA February 7, 2012[1]

EU February 10, 2012[1]

Genre(s) First-person shooter

Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Rating(s)

ESRB: M

Media/distribution DVD, Blu-ray Disc, download

(My Point Of View) After I play the game. THX! Comment ;)

All Points Bulletin

APB: All Points Bulletin is a multiplayer online video game for Microsoft Windows based in urban sprawls and featuring two factions, Enforcers and the Criminals. Players can join either the Enforcers or the Criminals, and form sub-groups in either faction. The game design was led by David Jones, who contributed to the original Grand Theft Auto and Crackdown, and was developed by Realtime Worlds. It was released on 6 June 2010 in North America, and Europe.

On 17 August 2010 Realtime Worlds was placed into administration. The administrators intended to keep the company trading whilst they attempted to find a buyer for the firm. If a buyer could not be found then the long-term future for the game was uncertain. On 16 September 2010 Realtime Worlds announced APB servers were to be shut down "soon" with no specific date given. On 11 November 2010 online games company, K2 Network, purchased APB for £1.5 million. No time frame for re-release or reactivation of servers was announced. On 16 November 2010 K2 subsidiary company Reloaded Productions, announced that APB will be relaunched during the first half of 2011 as a free to play game, renamed APB: Reloaded.

Gameplay

The game takes place in the modern-day city of San Paro where there is a constant battle between Enforcers and Criminals, and the player will need to decide to which faction they want to belong.
Other activities involving missions within the game allowing the player to earn extra money, which can then be used to upgrade weapons, vehicles, and their character appearances, all of which influence the game.[11] For example, several Criminal players may rob a convenience store within the game; the game will then seek out one or more Enforcer players of equivalent skills and other criteria and will issue an all-points bulletin for them to stop the robbery and apprehend or eliminate the Criminals.
The camera focuses on the character from above the shoulder in which the currently equipped gun is held, allowing the player to peek around corners before they lean around to shoot. The player can also zoom in using right-click for better aim. Weapons cannot be bought straight away from NPC contacts. The player must achieve different goals to unlock the purchase of weapons, varying from completing a certain number of missions successfully, to achieving a high enough standing with a contact or organization. Contacts sell upgrades, equipment, weapons, vehicles and clothing. Ammunition can be bought from Joker Ammo vending machines, scattered around the 3 districts. Players cannot normally attack each other unless they are enemies or allies in a mission. This prevents deathmatching and griefing.
Depending on faction, players will have either a Prestige or Notoriety level, going from 0 to 5. This level goes up as the player successfully performs actions that help their faction's cause, such as killing players of the opposing faction, completing missions successfully, or by engaging in activities unique to their faction. Such unique faction actions include mugging pedestrians for Criminals, or arresting Criminals for Enforcers. The level decreases as the player hinders their faction; for instance, team-killing, dying, and destroying city objects as Enforcers.
0, a player is free to do as they please, and will not have enemy players dispatched against them.
1, the player receives slightly greater rewards from missions, and enemy players will be dispatched against them if they witness them performing certain actions.
2, the rewards are increased even more, and enemy players may be dispatched against their missions.
3, enemy players may be sent against the player regardless of actions, and rewards are increased further.
4, the player will receive increased rewards, enemy players will still be dispatched against them.
5, the player has a bounty put on their head, which allows them to interact with any player on the server. They can be killed by any Criminal or Enforcer, but a bounty player can kill anyone on the server. All rewards are greatly increased for a person with a bounty for being able to achieve goals while under extreme pressure. When someone kills a player with a bounty, unless they are an Enforcer killing a fellow Enforcer, the killer receives a large money and standing reward for being able to kill such a high-threat player. A bounty can be removed by death, or by reducing Prestige/Notoriety enough to reduce the level to 4.
APB also claims it will be the first multiplayer online game title where the player's skill determines the character's progression, as opposed to the normal model of time investment.
At Game Developers Conference 2009 it was announced that Vivox would be providing voice chat for the game. The software allows players to customize the voice of their characters with voice fonts, and to communicate using 3D positional audio.
Also revealed was the ability to synchronize music from your hard drive to the in-game radio. If another player owns the same song being played, it will appear as an ambient sound from your car. However, if the player in question does not own the song: Last.fm will automatically match the track with any similar artist.



Development

APB has been described by Realtime Worlds executive Colin MacDonald as being "the bastard child of everything we've been striving towards over the 15-20 years" and a culmination of "what [David Jones has] always wanted to do from GTA and before Crackdown and APB."
APB was planned as early as 2005, initially as a Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 title, and intended as the flagship title for the then-newly founded Realtime Worlds studio created by David Jones. Then, it was planned that the Xbox 360 release would be in 2010. In the interim time, Realtime Worlds developed the video game Crackdown, released in 2007, which bore some resemblance to the concepts that were to be in APB.
At the 2008 Game Developers Conference, David Jones stated that APB would be released in 2008. Jones noted that APB would be more like a multiplayer online game with players interacting with up to 25 other players at the same time. He also noted that the game compared well to the typical style of fantasy or sci-fi "multiplayer online" games such as World of Warcraft, but did not expect to compete with those games, as the concept was different. On 14 April 2008, Realtime Worlds announced that it had raised $50 million for APB and other future projects. However, he also confirmed that Realtime Worlds was now looking at a 2009 release. In this same announcement and subsequent interviews, the company stated that that game was now scheduled for release on Microsoft Windows in 2009, and with options for eventual versions on the Xbox 360.
On 21 April 2008, Realtime Worlds announced that it had reacquired the global distribution rights for APB, significantly amending the arrangement made in 2005 with Webzen Games. An industry rumour suggested that Realtime Worlds planned to sell the game to Rockstar Games in order to re-craft it as a massively multiplayer Grand Theft Auto, though Realtime Worlds denied these rumors.
In June 2009, Andy Eddy from teamxbox.com reported, "Not only did a spokesperson indicate to me after the EA announcement that the title was being developed for Xbox 360, during today's presentation [at E3 2010], Realtime's Dave Jones said that the first consideration would be the PC release, and then it'll come to the console side. So, while what follows isn't strictly for the Xbox 360, it seems that Realtime Worlds sending the game our way is a definite. If everything that I saw today actually comes to our favourite system, we should all be very, very happy."
In July 2009, EJ Moreland from Realtime Worlds made it clear that APB would be a PC release only for the first release, but they would be looking at the possibilities for a console version.
A PC closed beta ran from 19 October 2009 to 4 June 2010. This was followed by an open beta which ran from June 12, 2010 to June 19, 2010.
On 30 April 2010, a press release was published by official fansite APB Evolved that included pricing information and release dates: 29 June 2010 in North America, 1 July in Mainland Europe and 2 July in the United Kingdom. A subscription-like system was used, where players purchase game time for action districts, either by purchasing hours or by opting for an unlimited playtime option for 30 days. Players were required to purchase a copy of the game which included 50 hours of initial game time.[3] Both the game and the website were available in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian and English.
Development costs were in excess of $100 million.

Music

The game houses an in-game music system similar to Grand Theft Auto. It features established acts, but also emerging artists including Atlas&i and Avosetta.
The game allows players to import music into the music player. If other players also have the same song imported to their music player, they will hear the music on the player's car radio. If another player does not have the same song imported, Last.fm will select a similar song to play instead.
You can also create your own music using the music editor options available in the social district


APBs release was met with some criticism due to a review embargo, planned to last until a week after release. Whilst review embargoes are commonplace in games review, the length caused a large backlash in the reviewing community. John Walker from Rockpapershotgun.com stated "Whatever their reason is, they've crossed a very obvious, very ridiculous line. When anyone anywhere can post a review to their blog, a comments thread, or a site's reader reviews section, it's beyond daft to think that the site itself cannot."  Realtime Worlds responded by stating "Before finalizing reviews, we want you to experience the full, rich experience of APB as it is meant to be seen. We want you to see wild customer customizations, player progression and clans making an impact on the living, breathing city of San Paro. This key code also therefore grants you, along with our pre-order customers, VIP early access before the official launch day; 26 June in North America and 28 June in Europe."

Administration

On 17 August 2010, six weeks after the release of APB, Realtime Worlds entered administration. Former APB staff spoke to the press about the development process, including a lack of management focus and desire to ignore negative comments from beta-testers, and the substandard quality of gameplay including poor driving and shooting mechanics.

Shutdown and relaunch

On 16 September 2010 Realtime Worlds announced the shut-down of APB.
Servers remained online the following day, during which time an unknown source apparently close to the RTW development team sparked rumours that Epic Games, creators of the 'Unreal Engine 3 on which APB was based, were showing interest in the APB intellectual property rights. Dana Cowley, spokesperson for Epic, neither confirmed nor denied the idea, stating:
"Mark [Epic Games CEO] absolutely loves APB, and everyone here loved what they saw. We've got our hands full of Gears of War 3, Bullet Storm and the recently announced Project Sword. If any talks like that are going on, then they would be confidential."
On 11 November 2010 online games company, K2 Network, purchased APB for £1.5 million. On 16 November 2010 K2 subsidiary company Reloaded Productions, announced that APB will be renamed APB Reloaded and relaunched during the first half of 2011 as a free to play game.
On 24 February 2011 invitations to apply for closed beta were dispersed. A selected few of these applications will receive actual entry to the closed beta portion of APB.
On 4 March 2011 APB Reloaded closed beta keys were sent to 5,000 applicants more keys were expected to be sent out in the coming months.
On 15 March 2011, 10,000 more beta keys were sent out to applicants for the 3rd closed beta testing phase.
On 21 April, 1.5 went live and they're inviting the full Closed Beta Applications during the week (totalling 150,000).
On 22 April, they invited an extra 35,000 applicants close to that 150,000. Getting closer to Open Beta.
Open Beta's original date May 18, 2011 was canceled at the last minute due to an error causing players to crash every two hours. The open beta has been released on May 23rd, 2011.
On 7 December, the game was added to Steam under the Free To Play section.

Reception

This section requires expansion.
Reception to APB has been mixed with the game currently holding a 58% average on Metacritic. While the overall customization and gameplay received praise the repetitive missions and unstable servers were criticized.
Initial reviews included PCGamer giving the title 55/100. and Eurogamer giving 6/10 1UP awarded APB a grade of D and Destructoid giving 35/100. Other reviews were higher, with IGN giving 77/100  and Edge granting 7/10.

This game seems to be free. It's more like a GTA game but online. You can customise your car and create your character. 

Details in the future.

System requirements

Windows XP, Vista, or 7

Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+

2 GB RAM

NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX 256 MB or ATi Radeon X1900 XT 256 MB

20 GB hard disk space

Recommended

Windows XP, Vista, or 7

Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4 GHz or AMD Phenom X4 9850

4 GB RAM

NVIDIA GeForce 8800 512 MB or ATi Radeon HD 2900 XT 512 MB

20 GB hard disk space