Weekly Demo Watch
Weekly Demo Watch
By Liam Martin
The Darkness II
What is it? The follow-up to 2007 supernatural FPS The Darkness, the sequel picks up two years after the events of the original. Once again the game stars Jackie Estacado, now a mob boss and current wielder of the demonic powers of The Darkness. The new game contains a brand new quad-wielding gameplay mechanic, essentially granting Jackie the power to use four weapons at once.
What’s in the demo? The demo introduces players to Victor Valente, the crazed leader of The Brotherhood, an organisation desperately trying to extract the power of The Darkness for themselves. There are three extended gameplay sequences, framed by an interrogation scene involving Valente and Estacado.
How is it shaping up? The demo begins with a restaurant-based shootout between Jackie and a group of unknown goons. It’s not long before the The Darkness breaks free, however, and the quad-wielding gameplay is introduced. Surprisingly simple and wholly satisfying, players use the trigger buttons to fire up to two guns at a time, while the bumper buttons are used to unleash the power of The Darkness. Glowing items such as poles, trash cans and car doors can be thrown or used as shields, while stunned enemies can be sliced open and ripped apart with relative ease.
Though not fully explored and utilised in the demo, Jackie is accompanied by a Darkling, a small demon capable of stunning enemies, reaching switches and opening doors. With the Darkling in toe, not to mention the crucial role played by light and darkness, we hope to see a few taxing teasers in the finished product. There also appears to be lots of new skills to unlock, which should further enhance the already enjoyable quad-wielding gameplay.
The cel-shaded visuals, while not mind-blowing, seem well suited to the game, and give it something of a comic book feel. The voice acting also impressed, while the story involving the Brotherhood and their hunt for The Darkness is somewhat intriguing. Jackie’s visions of his dead girlfriend remind us a little too much of Dead Space 2, however, although we’ll give the developers the benefit of the doubt until we’ve seen the final product.
When is it released? The Darkness II will be released on February 10, 2012.
Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning
What is it? An action RPG sharing similarities with God Of War (aka it features quick-time events), Fable and the Elder Scrolls series. Appearing as if out of nowhere, Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning has quite the team of developers. Its lead designer was the man behind Morrowind/Oblivion, it’s being penned by fantasy author R.A. Salvatore, drawn (not exclusively, of course) by Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, while Rise Of Nations developers Big Huge Games are taking care of the day-to-day stuff. Naturally we expect big things.
What’s in the demo? The demo contains the game’s opening sequence – essentially a glorified tutorial – followed by a timed period of questing and exploration…assuming the demo doesn’t crash, of course. The demo introduces players to the combat and the conversation system, which is like a less developed version of the one used in Mass Effect.
How is it shaping up? Even with the fairly lengthy demo, it’s hard to tell how Kingdoms Of Amalur will turn out. The demo crashed twice, forcing a couple of restarts, so this could surpass even Skyrim in the glitch stakes. When it did work, however, the game was enjoyable, if a little conventional. The action is a lot like Fable, with speedy combos, powerful spells and secondary long-range weapons used to dispose the majority of foes. Stealth kills are also included to add extra variety, while reckoning sequences grant added speed and skill, as well as button-specific executions.
The game’s colourful and cartoonish visuals will likely prove divisive, though we found the early areas quite attractive. The success of the visuals largely depends on how much variety the developers inject into the landscape and dungeons. Recycle too many interiors or dwell too long in areas, and they’ll likely lose their appeal. Despite having the freedom to explore, this is by no means an open-world, sandbox game. The game is quite linear by design, which won’t be to everyone’s taste.
As for the plot, the evil overlord overarching story seems a little bog-standard, although we are interested in finding out the fate of our fully customisable lead character, and how he was able to return from the dead. Once again, it’s far too early to pass judgement on this aspect of the game, and we look forward to meeting new characters and finding out about the in-game world.
When is it released? Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning will be available to buy on February 10, 2012.
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