Premise:
Darksiders is an action adventure game that follows the story of War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as he tries to clear his name from being framed for destroying the human race and throwing heaven and hell out of balance.
Gameplay:
Many have compared this game to Nintendo's Zelda games, however, since I have never played any of those games (yup, its true) I cannot speak intelligently on any comparisons between the two. I can say that there are some slight similarities between this game, God of War and Devil May Cry, but in my opinion, this game really stands on it's own as something completely different.
There are branching attack combos which can be upgraded using souls (the games currency). As you play through the game, War becomes more and more versatile and powerful, almost overly so in that I felt it was a bit easy to beat most of the game's bosses. War has access to a sword, a scythe, and a tremor gauntlet as his main weapons. He also has several secondary weapons and gadgets that allow him to solve various puzzles throughout the game world--oh and he also has a horse. I have never played a game that had this many attributes applied to a character, and though it got a bit cumbersome to map and remember what items I had at my disposal, it was never overwhelming to the point where the game was not fun to play.
The combat didn't feel as tight and responsive as either of the aforementioned games, however it is much more forgiving, if a bit more repetitive, and was never clunky enough to become frustrating. I felt that the game focused a lot more on the exploration and puzzle solving than hacking and slashing, which while satisfying, was a bit weird considering War's hulking size. Once I finished the game I felt like it would have been nice to have an arena mode where I could go in and spend time chopping up baddies.
Story:
I'm not going to spend much time here, only because the story was a bit hard for me to follow. This is not because it wasn't well written, but it took me over a year to find the time to finish this game and I can't remember the details well enough to comment on it. I can say that the atmosphere created in this game was spectacular. The characters and environments were beautifully designed, and I can say it was once of the richest experiences in terms of character design I have ever seen. Joe Madureira is one of my favorite Comic artists, and his style is beautifully rendered here in 3-D. I also should mention that this game is really long, I would have to estimate 15-20 hours of content. Not bad in an era where games are getting a bit shorter and focus more on multiplayer.
Absolutely beautiful. The character design in this game is nothing short of amazing. Once of my favorite effects was the way the massive Tormented Gates would be visible moving off into the distance long after they allowed War access into a new area. I also really enjoyed the use of color in this game, though it is supposed to be a post-apocalyptic setting, the colors are nice and vibrant. There were a lot of nice environmental touches throughout the game that made the experience feel quite polished, like the sky and fire effects. It was also really satisfying to break glass and destroy the many burned-out cars all over the game world. One particularly nice experience I had with the game was how sneaky some of the enemies were. I can't remember the last time I played a game and was startled by an enemy who had hidden behind a pillar or was lurking just out of sight. It was a common and welcome occurrence in Darksiders and it was due to the game design and not to errors in code. It was also satisfying to see how far away enemies would notice War's presence and start running toward him for a fight.
Sound:
The sound in the game is really well done. The sounds of environmental destruction are all convincing and visceral. The weapons all sound like you would imagine (if you could imagine the way a 100lb sword would sound swinging through the air). The voice acting was also noteworthy. Mark Hamill did his customary best as The Watcher, and the other characters performed well enough that I was always interested in what was being said, and at no time was I unable to hear what was going on. Vulgrim was a surprise favorite, as I always found myself smiling when I visited his locations.
Overall:
I really enjoyed this game & give it an A-. I was actually a little sad that I reached the end of my time with it, and I would play through another time just to experience the atmosphere and artwork again. I felt there could have been more time spent on combat, and some sequences felt a bit clunky, but it was never frustrating if a bit too easy. The amount of content and variety in the gameplay was impressive and executed in a manner I felt was balanced and easy to use. Even though there were instances where I would put the game down for months I could return and easily recall the controls. All in all I look forward to the upcoming sequel and the opportunity to explore more of the Darksiders universe.
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