Dark Half 2

Dark Half 2 is the second insatllmetn in the Dark Hafl series. It is the sequel to Dark Half. It is developed by DECA and uses the W4rtech engine. It is released on Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC.

The setting of the game is based of the Pan Am Flight 103 conspiracy and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. The game is set in a unknown african country in central Africa.

Story
The game starts with the main protagonist Tobin Wade explaining the situation he is in. He is a CIA operative, not a regular one. He says that he's part of a false flag operation called: Operation Corea. He tells him that he knows more than other people, but also misses a lot which is behinds his back. He tells you that the people where close, finding out what it was, but failed when thinning that it was only the Pan Am flight. Corea is a worldwide operation, with him controlling drugs transport through Africa. They get the drugs, they transport it to Angola, but he doesn't know what happens with it after that, neither does he care for it. At last, he tells you that he sometimes raises the question for himself: Who wins, who loses? After all, all he knows that it's not him who loses.

A scene starts playing with three choppers scouting the savannah. One chopper is moving a sniper towards his position, while the others approach an enemy convoy. The other chopper gets the order to land and get the package from the convoy, while the other chopper needs to be at the LZ when the strike team has succeeded. Tobin is part of the strike team and lands on the ground, stepping off the chopper running towards cover. The sniper starts engaging on the convoy, who are surprised by the attack and grab their guns. Strike team starts to engage on the targets, taking them all out. They approach the convoy of trucks and a few people move into the trucks while others cover their back. One soldier shouts Jackpot when he finds the boxes in the truck. They load out and the extraction chopper lands next to him. They load in the boxes and step in, leaving the convoy as a dead prey in the middle of nowhere.

Leaving a dead convoy in the middle of nowhere, the CIA chief named Reginald Konrad gets a warning letter from a local warlord. The warlord tells Konrad to give back his drugs or he will get problems with his soldiers in the area. Konrad is not impressed by the statement and sends Tobin alongside fellow squad mates Mark DeSanta, Dan Stigman and Jack Tuwey on an assassination mission on the local warlord. The squad proceeds to the warlord's camp's perimeter on a hill and DeSanta gives Tobin a sniper to cover them. The three go down the hill while Tobin covers them. When the three footmen smokes out the warlord, Tobin kills him from afar and the camp is set on fire. They return back to the camp, where Konrad is waiting for them. He tells the group that the job is done, but a wildfire unfortunatly draw attention of journalists, who could find out what they've done.

That night, the squad is tasked to stop a revenge attack from the warlord's militia. It is believed that the transport boat is rigged with an explosive and the team executes operation Dark Stalker to stop the detonation. However, they cannot go loud under any circumstances and kill as less as possible. If so, they need to get rid of the bodies. After loading their gear, they head towards the harbor. They enter the ship via the water and leave as many people as possible alive before entering the storage. The storage is full of packages and they use a sensor to look for the explosive. They find t explosive, which is hidden inside a briefcase. They take it with them and try to retreat, when suddenly a massive explosions rips off the front of the shi. The ship starts collapsing and sinking, with the CIA trying to escape from the enemies, who are africans. The enemies have RPGs and the explosions make it difficult to escape. Ultimately, the team escapes and gets some footage of the burning ship, in case of suspicious behaviour from the authorities.

They head back to the base, where the command tells them that they have lost all packages on board and that the buyers of them are going to ditch their contact if they won't deliver the amount of drugs they promised. Konrad arrives and tells them that they are trying to track the drugs route for a big score, but they believe that they know who set up the trap. It is a CIA agent, who recognized by Tobin and the others as Bobby, a friend of them. Konrad says that he is on the run since what they believe to be a few hours before Dark Stalker and that the squad needs to find and kill him. The squad goes into the wild and use a unmanned drone to shoot footage of their position to look for him. Sometimes, they bumb into enemy outposts and can decide to attack it or pass by.

After a while, they find Bobby in a ranger's hut. They decide to let Tobin get in, while the others secure the area to prevent him to escape. Tobin sneaks towards the hut, finding out that Bobby killed the rangers inside it. He walks right into the room with him and Bobby reaches for a gun, but Tobin tackles him first. They have a fist fight and Bobby makes a run for it upstairs. Tobin pursues him, but gets ambushed by a ranger, who has survived Bobby's attack. He smacks Tobin in his face, but is kicked in the balls and pushed out of the window, dropping dead. Tobin sees Bobby jumping from a balcony and grabs the ranger's hunting rifle. He aims at Bobby, who's running through the tall grass and hits him, not mortally. He calls in the others, who arrive in a jeep. He walks towards Bobby, who's trying to get away but doesn't get far with a bullet wound in his leg. The others arrive at Bobby and ask Konrad what to do, who immediatly tells him to execute him and ditch the body in the wild. Bobby softly brings out that they can't do it and that he has seen things, but Tuwey buts a bag on his head and DeSanta fires his pistol in his head. Tuwey and Stigman get rid off the body, while Tobin waits for them in the jeep and drives them back to the base.

When they arrive at the base, the operatives are getting ready for a raid. A fellow operative tells them that they found a massive drug storage twenty clicks from their position. The squad splits and Tobin steps in an armored vehicle, amnning a machine gun. They head towards the safehouse and began their attack buy demolishing the building by using rockets and machine gun fire. Tobin then steps out and goes with another fifteen soldiers into the building, grabbing all crates they can find while defending their position from enemies. After enough is loaded, Tobin gets back in his vehicle and they start escaping. However, enemies are going into a hot pursuit and on the escape, an RPG hits the road in front of Tobin's vehicle and the driver is killed. With only one hand, Tobin tries to ge the vehicle under control, but they crash and Tobin blacks out.

After waking up, Tobin finds himself next to a burning vehicle with two badly hurt operatives. Enemy soldiers are approaching the truck and Tobin tries to give first aid, but is forced to run for his live. Using the tall grass and a croaching position, Tobin takes out the enemies like a crocodile in the water. After finding an accessable vehicle, he escapes and uses an enemy radio to mark an LZ for extraction. He succeeds and arrives at the LZ and is taken back to the base.

When arriving at the base and rendez vous with his squad, the team is called alongside other operatives to the main office of the base to witness a speech of Konrad. They do so, and Konrad tells them about the last situation and how the situation would've been when they had lost everything. If they couldn't deliver anything anymore, the operation would be blown. Suddenly, an overwatch interupts the speech via the intercom. He tells the operatives that they lost contact with the convoy, which was transporting all of their packages towards the harbor. It is possible that the convoy was raided by criminals, but the convoy was heavily guarded and brute force must've been. Konrad gets angry and goes towards the communication room. During the chaos, the satellite confirms the location of the convoy, which is raided and left behind without any trails of the packages.

After engaging in multiple reconnaissance missions to find out where the packages are, Konrad contacts the squad and tells them that an unidentified arms dealer has stored away all the drugs. They want someone to get in and assassinate him from inside and Tobin is chosen to do so. He is placed directly into the operation as a mercerany, because the real one has disappeared before he arrived, but left a note for them so that they knew where he was going to. He will have limited contact with the base, but he knows what to do. The only thing he needs to remember is that he doesn't to look further than his objective, which is a spoken rule in operation Corea. Tobin is given one last map to find his checkpoint with the militia of the arms dealer, who is dubbed as "The Jagaer".

The next few hours, Tobin makes his way to the Jaeger's safehouse. At some point, a poor looking guy says he has to follow him into a cabin. When Tobin asked what the problem is, the guy tells him that he knows he is the mercernay, because most bloodthirsty merceranies are white and there are not so many white people around. The guy then tells him that the deal continues, but doens't need to be afraid when he blacks out. Tobin doesn't understand it, but suddenly a man from behind puts a bag on his head. A narcotic liquid is sprinkled on the bag, making Tobin go unconscious.

Suddenly, Tobin wakes up in an wooden office, with two black men with AK rifles standing next to him. Tobin is facing a man in a chair from the right side, because he is facing the wall. He tells him a brief introduction to his organization, talking in a british accent. If Tobin gets the job done, he will get what is promised. If he gets more than the job done, they can negotiate about a higher price. Tobin takes no risks and says that he is interrested in the offer from him and that he will get done what has to be done, namely more than the job. The man laughs and agrees on Tobin's wise words and give's him a headphone, to keep in contact with him while doing the chores, and navigator. Tobin leaves the room, being nervous due the black men looking at him. After he leaves the room, he goes outside and starts to do some chores for the Jagaer.

After doing multiple tasks like assassinating targets or retrieving packages, Tobin goes back to the Jaeger and asks him if he can get that promotion. The Jaeger laughs and asks what it would be. Tobin responds by saying that he wants to know anythign about the infamous drug raid, which he had planned. Instead of feeling suspicious, the Jaeger starts laughing louder and says he has to follow him. Tobin follows him, feeling a bit strange about the Jaeger's response. He then enters a room with 5 briefcases. The Jaeger tells him that the drugs is sold to a busy businessman and that the money is for somethign big. With all the drugs gone and no oppertunity to kill the Jaeger, Tobin calls base to have a meeting with Konrad and his man to give a SitRep.

That night, Tobin travels towards coordinates: Rhino. A 3 jeep convoy arrives and Konrad, his squad members and some others step out. Konrad asks why the fuck it is taking so long and Tobin explains that the drugs are gone. Konrad is amazed by that, but suddenly gets outraged and shouts at Tobin that he has to kill the son of a bitch. Tobin tells him that it is not a regular black man, but he's a white european man. Konrad says that he doesn't care and that Tobin must get the job done. Tobin asks why they can't do it, but that's because the CIA can't enter the territory without major fights. He gets to complete his job before the next nightfall. Tobin hesitates when saying that it is going to be dealt with, but Konrad steps angrily back in the jeep. Tuwey tells Tobin that it is going to be just okay when he is done with it, but DeSanta says that Tobin is playing it too safe and that he has to pump that bastard's body full of metal. The convoy drives away and Tobin returns to the safehouse, still thinking about how he can take out the Jaeger.

The next day, Tobin doesn't report for duty, but is spying on the daily schedule of the security of the safehouse. He finds out that the security is pretty solid and plans to sabotage most of it before killing the Jaeger. He plants some explosives or sabotages devices in and around the building in stealth. He then executes his plan and the security is put off for most part. Tobin goes inside and starts fring at the enemies in teh buidling, slowly making his way to the office of the Jaeger. After a long fight in the slowly burning to ashes building, Tobin arrives at the office, but nobody is in it. He looks for anyhting in the office, because he gets nervous due the fact he blew his cover and failed to kill him. He finds a wrap of papers on the desk. One reads the "Deathlist", and the name of Alec Frost is marked. Various other names are on it, including Raul Vasco's, but at the end it says "you". Another file says: "False Flag operation. Kill the HVI under any circumstances." The file tells about a whole Black op to kill the target, an MI6 agent which Tobin thinks is Frost. Tobin puts the files in his vest and flees from the building, back to the base.

After a long walk, he arrives at the base and goes towards Konrad, who's in the stratefy room. Tobin tells him that the mission failed, but that he knows who the Jaeger is. Konrad is surprised hearing Frost's name and asks how he knows that. Tobin throws the files on the table and asks angrily why he was targeted when he was a MI6 agent. Konrad remains silent when Tobin points out the similarity between Bobby's death and this operation. Konrad suddenly starts to laugh silently, saying that Tobin broke the one rule he didn't have to make. He tells the others that Tobin is turning to the enemy and a guard knocks Tobin on the ground. Tobin is barely awake when he sees two feet approaching his face. His head is lifted by a hand and he looks Konrad right in the face. Konrad laughs again and tells him that he should've been less suspicious. Tobin tries to reach Konrad's neck, but is too weak. Konrad pushes away the hand and headbutts Tobin knock out.

Slowly, Tobin starts seeing light, but goes knock out again. This repeats a few time before he knows that he is in a car. He goes out again and wakes up when being pushed on the ground, with his hands tied together. At the car are standing DeSanta, Stigman and Tuwey. DeSanta is holding a gun, while Tuwey is walking away from him. DeSanta says that this is only because he got the orders, but Tuwey starts shouting at him that he can't betray a friend. Stigman remains silent. DeSanta then turns around Tobin's head who's now facing the skyline of the savannah. When DeSanta is right about to pull the trigger, Tobin grabs the gun with his hadns behind his backs and twists his body. The gun and DeSanta fall over and Tobin gets of the rope from his hands and grabs the gun. He aims at Stigman who's reaching for a gun and shoots him in the shoulder. Tuwey raises his hands to surrender, but Tobin does shoot him in his leg. Suddenly, DeSanta jumps on Tobin and tries to submiss him, but Tobin fires twice in his chest. seeing the three wounded friends, Tobin runs away into Frost's territory where the CIA can't come. When he thinks he is far enough in the territory, Tobin gets some rest to let the experiences from those seconds ago get through him. He then only feels anger towards the CIA for betraying him and raises his middle finger in the air. Another scene shows a CIA operative watching the satellite footage of Tobin raising his middle finger and calls Konrad, who's leans forward to see him. When the operative asks what to do, the only thing Konrad says is: "Well played. It's going to be a lot of fun to rip you apart."

Gameplay
Dark Half 2 continues with Dark Half's mechanics. Gun jamming, skill trees, included bullet and more return in Dark Half 2 after positive feedabcks on those features. However, in Dark Half 2, the player can buy weapons from african people for small amount money, besides collecting weapons from missions. However, these guns are in bad shape, don't have much basic ammunition and have bad or none attachements. The player can buy the guns at most people who aren't on guard or fighting and most of the time cost not more than 100 dollars.

The player can now get money from tasks and looting people, with an average of 50 dollars for a task and 10 dollars from looting. Next to buying weapons from people, the player can upgrade weapons, buy merceranies and buy medical supplies and narcotics.

The AI is also improved. The interaction between AI with the player and other AI is upgraded to logical movement and other interactions. The AI have more things to say and will have a wider knowledge of words to use at a moment, which makes the enemies not shout the same phrases over and over again. Also, the AI includes civilians and employers, who work on land, shops or are just doing nothing. They still have many ways to react on actions and can even attack the player if they think they're in danger and able to attack.

Gamemodes
Story missions - Missions following the storyline's progress.

Domination - Conquer or destroy outpost to dominate special areas and gain access to special things.

Dead or alive - Takedown HVI's and have the decision to interrogate or to kill the target.

Arms deal - Intercept weapon transport to collect weapons and attachments.

Deadeye - Kill a person or takeout a whole militia.

HVC Raid - Intercept High Value Cargo en route.

Controversy
Dark Half 2 received many critical responds, aimed at the many racist conversations between people. Especially Reginald Konrad, voice from Glenn Morshower, has many dialogues where he talks bad about black people. An exemple of that is the sentence where Konrad gets a warning letter from teh local warlord in the prologue and says: "If that nigger thinks he can rape me in the ass, he is wrong. You slaughter them all and if you got a problem with that, just look at their color and your finger will shoot for you..." and DeSanta replies: "Don't worry Chief, that is why my body count is so high."

Also, furhter in the game, Tobin starts torturing people, which is interectable and detailed. Many people think that the Mature rating for the game isn't enough and that the game lines have to be rewritten and some points to not influence the people who play the game.

DECA has responded to the criticism and understands it, but also explains that the game is based on real life, with people who really think like the characters in the game. They do not want to make people aware of racism, but want to portray reality. They basically knew that there would be controversy about the dialogue and had problems writing it, but they wanted to achieve the standard of the nationalistic western soldier.