Review – Darksiders

Hack and slash/adventure

War is my shepherd.

2010, the mark of a new decade, era and what have you. This year may or may not mean a lot to some people but to gamers this is a promising year full of triple-A titles that jumped out of the boat of 2009 to avoid the iceberg that was Modern Warfare 2.

Darksiders has been offered the dubious honour of being one the first games to be released this year to a wanting crowd of gamers who are sick of playing their Christmas copies of Avatar: The Game. Unfortunately for Darksiders it was released on the same day as Bayonetta, a game much publicised and championed by the hardcore.

In Darksiders you play as the most pleasant of the Four Horsemen, War, who is summoned to Earth where the battle between Heaven and Hell is running rampant and generally tearing the place apart. War soon disovers that something is wrong when he realises that he isn’t as strong as he should be and the other three Horsemen don’t show up to the party. It turns out that he wasn’t invited. To warrant the Horsemens’ appearance there are seven seals (laws) which need to be broken but one of them is still intact, causing war to inadvertantly destroy the world and the Kingdom of Man. So after being scolded and sentenced to death (surely not a problem if that’s one of his buddies – Ed) by The Council, War returns to Earth to find some answers or die trying.

So far so generic. The story is not going to win any Oscars in its own right. A game about War just generally tearing shit up would be quite uninteresting and vague to warrant any sort of interest. Luckily the supporting cast is well-rounded with some fantastic voice acting thrown into the works and some of the best characterisation I have witnessed in the past few years. Joining War is a being known as the Watcher, a character who is bound to War to make sure that he doesnt betray The Council. Mark Hamill does a very good job of bringing life to this creature and weaving a tasty thread of venom into the Watcher’s lines.  The monster and character design is also brilliantly realised, particularly with the ‘Tormented Gates’ that are in fact giant, monstrous golems made of rock who block your path due to a curse that is placed upon them.

The entire intro of the game is entirely designed to draw the audience into an epic world of conflict but is a damp squib compared to the rest of the game, War marches by numerous enemies that engage him in what seems like sub-par hack and slashery. As a first impression it does little to inflame a sense of wonderment, just a sense that you have seen it all before. The game starts to pick up once you soon get introduced to the puzzle-based dungeon areas which provide the true meat of gameplay.  Although the puzzle solving is a welcome rest from all of that heavy combat it becomes difficult to not think of a few other games that fathom the deep membrane of nostalgia.

Now you may have read many comparisons between Darksiders and the of the Legend of Zelda or God of War games and while it does ape the Zelda dungeon crawling archetype, the incremental upgrades to weaponry and new toys to play with each level mean it has little do with God of War minus the odd huge boss fight. These are the main comparisons to the game but many more begin to surface as you continue playing, the game throws a lot of references at you which may seem bizarre in context but offer some brilliant puzzles and set pieces for your trouble. My favourite and most unexpected appearance had to be that of an item which allows you to create portals, (twenty points and hug to anyone who gets where they got that idea from).  The game has many influences but they do not outstay their welcome – unlike many less-ambitious titles that clone one game style and hope you don’t notice (here’s looking at you Army of Two).

Rich Secondary Review As far as debuts go, Vigil Games’ Darksiders is quite impressive.  It mixes various playstyles (hack and slash, platforming, shooting and puzzle-solving) to great effect and feels solid, and satisfying, throughout. That said, an over-reliance on puzzle sections (the same old mix of block-pushing, back-tracking, switch…er.. pressing and using valves to adjust flood waters to access new areas) spoils things a little.  Especially around half-way through the game where your heart will sink every time you walk into a large room with even the slightest hint of a fucking switch puzzle. As much as I love the combat in this game, coming up against contrived, tedious puzzles every few minutes wears thin.  A less-than-helpful map, a few too many inventory options and a few too many rough edges presentation-wise also relegate this game from the top drawer to being merely ‘good’. Well worth checking out for the right price but not a classic. Secondary Score: 6/10

Just like the gameplay mechanics, the graphics are a bit of a mixed bag. Despite the game’s title, the game is far from dark. Instead you are greeted with a colourful, comic-style aesthetic which has more in common with World of Warcraft than Dante’s Inferno. War himself looks like a well-levelled character giving him the height and bulk of a man with short person anxiety. The world looks great though, the game shifts from the usual apocalyptic brown to the unexpected lush green clearings of a ruined city drowned in water. It is clear that Vigil has put a lot of care and effort into the way that this game has been presented. It is quite uncommon these days to find a game which offers such diversity in the hands of a keen explorer, just as well seeing as that is what you will be doing as the items and weaponry you pick up in the dungeons will allow you to traverse through otherwise unreachable areas in the earlier open parts of the game.

If exploration is not your bag though you can warp to other areas by means of serpent holes which are nicely dotted around by your good friend Vulgrim, a demon merchant who you can also buy upgrades and new attack combos from with the in-game currency of souls. You can also put hoof to floor when War rescues his faithful steed Ruin who basically acts as a very satisfying run button, allowing you to ride past foes or slash them while passing.

Darksiders does have a few problems. Due to its derivative nature some will see it as a poor pretender to the titles it imitates.  It lacks the depth of  Zelda’s dungeon sprawls and the combat has more in common with the original Devil May Cry than God of War, making it seem robust yet unfinished. It also falls victim to some horrible screen-tearing. The Watcher also is an underused character which seems strange considering the talent that voices him. These problems though are mainly just minor niggles in an otherwise excellent piece of entertainment.

This game will more than sate the hunger for fans of comic book action and is most definitely the closest that the xbox 360 and PS3 will ever get to Zelda.

Rating: 8/10

 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 8:06 pm and is filed under Xbox 360. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.