Darksiders Review
| Game Name: | Darksiders |
| Platforms: | PS3 (Reviewed) 360 |
| Publisher(s): | THQ |
| Developer(s): | Vigil Games |
| Release Date: | NOW |
| ESRB Rating: | 18 |
Coming Screaming from the bowels of hell into my shopping trolley came the release of Vigil games ”Darksiders”.
In the few days I have spent with it and its no bullcrap protagonist War I have come to realise two things. Angels are much cooler with guns and dudes who wear hoods should not be fucked with,ever.
You play as the before mentioned War who somewhat bizarrely gets blamed for kick starting the apocalypse even though he doesn’t show up until about 20 mins after it started, he’s quickly given the smack around by a big car throwing dude and sent back to talk to the council of three for a good old spanking. War, confused and pissed gets his powers dumbed down, a ghost voiced by Mark Hamill bound to him and some friendly death threats thrown at him for good measure. He awakens 100 years after the apocalypse and has to piece together what exactly happened, and who the hell to beat down.
Plot wise its all very over the top, characters are generally extremely good or extremely bad with War standing somewhere in the middle. As a main character; War sounds like a complete douche at first but you quickly come to look past his ridicules voice and begin looking forward to his next one liner and slow mo gutting. Its also nice to play as hero who actually does look like he can rip the wings of giant bat and shove them up its own arse at a right angle to its face. Although a number of the characters are cookie cutter archetypes of characters from other sci-fi fantasy outings-they are drawn with sublime detail and the stylised graphics create a very consistent and well crafted world that’s never less then nice to look at. There are some standout characters, Ulthane and Sameal being the ones that stick in my memory the most. Its War himself who wins the battle of best model though as his hooded bulking exterior moves with just the right amount of weight and grace you expect from a biblical psychopath, his armour is littered with detail and his inky black wings look awesome when gliding.
Now,I hate reading the same information in reviews especially when I’m reviewing it post release,but; if you follow gaming at all you know that there has been a lot attention directed at the fact that the game borrows from other titles. Yes, the combat is very like God of War (you even collect different colour souls as currency to upgrade Wars gear and abilities) and the dungeon and puzzle elements are ripped from any Zelda game you have ever played. So, lets make this clear, you will not care. Not everyone is a super critical Edge reader who gets ill at the though of playing a game that doesn’t push gaming forward as a whole, if you are one of these people then don’t play Darksiders, because you will face palm yourself into the next room several times in the first 20 minutes.
To me, the game feels like its inspired by these titles and never takes without giving a little back, the combat is similar to God of War but it incorporates a one kill finishing move instead of a QTE at end of fights allowing for slick finish to battles without having to participate in everyone’s favourite pet peeve. The same goes for the puzzle elements, yes the find a weapon and use it to solve puzzle format is well worn but Vigils puzzles are fun and always held within the context of the game world.
This isn’t to say the game is perfect, the first hour of combat is pretty laborious with one button combat being its highlight. The story is a little convoluted and plays host to some odd twists – its also missing something that I cant for the life of me understand but it could be considered a spoiler so I wont say it here. The difficulty curve is also oddly paced, you will go through sections with relative ease and then suddenly meet an area or enemy that will have you bouncing your dual shock off the wall(see multiple threads online to read more of the broken stairway’s infuriatingly cheap mid boss) also if you wanted to put the peddle to the floor you could count the relative easiness of the puzzle as a factor hard core gamers may mark it down for. Oh, and sometimes the control scheme can have your fingers in a knot but no more so then trying to snipe someone from behind cover in Killzone 2, not a problem for me so; because I own at that game.
I played the PS3 version so I saw nothing of the technical issues that seem to be plaguing the 360 version but from what we hear a patch is on the way.
In the end, THQ’s Vigil games have released an extremely fun, engaging and interesting title that holds its head high in a month dominated by AAA titles and console exclusives. Drop your guard folks this game is worth your attention and will keep you smiling all the way to end battle. Just be prepared for a few rage quits along the way.
Not sure which to buy this or bayonetta , bayonetta has the overall higher scores and feels more like Devil may cry (which rocks).
Plus this feels to similar to G.O.W for my liking. Wonder how dante’s inferno will fare given how similar that is to darksiders.
Don't ask me why but Bayonetta just dosent appeal to me, I love Devil May Cry one but 2 and 3 were for me lacklustre. Darksiders is a real surprise.
Both darksiders and bayonetta are 45 euro in gamestop, ill probly buy bayonetta and put a review up, if no one else does in the mean time,
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Can't you guys order from amazon.co.uk as its only £32 (GBP)
Thats about 40 euro plus delivery.
ah right not worth it then, i thought amazon were doing free del to ireland now but perhaps not on everything.
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