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Jackie can take out rival mobsters with firearms or his deadly tentacles in 'The Darkness II.'

Jackie can take out rival mobsters with firearms or his deadly tentacles in 'The Darkness II.' (2K Games)

Jackie can take out rival mobsters with firearms or his deadly tentacles in 'The Darkness II.'

Jackie can take out rival mobsters with firearms or his deadly tentacles in 'The Darkness II.' (2K Games)

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When an ancient evil combines with modern evil, you know the outcome isn’t going to be filled with rainbows and baby pandas.

And “The Darkness II” from 2K Games reveals just how gruesome the results can be.

The M-rated shooter — based on comics by Top Cow Productions — tells the story of mobster Jackie Estacado. It picks up two years after the original game in which he learned he had inherited the Darkness, a demonic force that gives him incredible powers but also seeks to consume him.

In the intervening time, Jackie has successfully kept a lid on his powers despite becoming the don of a New York crime family. That changes when a bunch of thugs try to rub him out while he’s dining with a pair of bimbos. In order to survive the attack, he unleashes the Darkness and all hell breaks loose.

Under the Darkness’ influence, Jackie is a very formidable opponent. He can dual-wield a variety of guns — but that’s old hat for most gamers. Jackie’s deadliest weapons are a pair of hideous tentacles, one that grabs and one that slashes. Using them in tandem can be devastating. You can grab a foe by the neck and obliterate his head or — if that’s not gruesome enough for you — you can grab him by the ankle and literally rip him in half. It’s definitely not a game for the squeamish — even before you start eating the hearts of your victims so you can regain health.

As the game progresses, you can upgrade your tentacle and weapon skills and add abilities such as releasing deadly swarms of insects and hurling black holes to eradicate your foes. As a result, you have a truly impressive array of attacks that can be combined to devastating effect. The controls are very smooth, so it’s easy to switch from eviscerating one foe to blowing the brains out of another.

Jackie isn’t alone in all this action. In addition to assorted mob henchmen, he has a demonic sidekick who can be helpful in combat when he’s not urinating on the bodies of dead enemies.

Of course, it’s hard to feel sorry for your victims since they’re aligned with a mysterious society known as the Brotherhood, which is run by Victor, a creepy sadist who seeks the Darkness for himself. You definitely hate the guy, but Jackie isn’t exactly likable himself. He’s a vengeful sociopath who’s obsessed with his dead girlfriend.

However, I must admit that Jackie’s story is very well told by first-person-shooter standards. Even though I didn’t like Jackie and found a lot of the action disagreeable, I was very interested in learning how his tale would end. Fortunately, the campaign is relatively short, so that didn’t take too long.

After you complete the single-player campaign, you can continue the mayhem by inviting friends to join four-player co-op missions. In these, you play as Jackie’s henchmen, who have a small slice of their boss’ powers. The missions actually represent a parallel campaign that fleshes out sidelights of the main story.

The game’s artistic treatment, known as graphic noire, is superb. It conveys the feeling of a graphic novel, not with traditional cel-shading but with “painted” accents that make characters and backgrounds appear far richer and more substantial.

The game definitely deserves its M rating, with copious violence, gore and profanity. There’s also a trip to a brothel that features a wide array of sex acts being performed behind partially open doors. That and a number of other incidents seem to be designed more to shock than to advance the story.

Bottom line: C- “The Darkness II” delivers interesting game play and wonderful graphics. However, it’s exceedingly hard to enjoy playing the part of a demon-possessed Mafioso smeared with guts.

Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC

Online: www.embracethedarkness.com

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