Monday, October 25, 2010

Darksiders (X360/PS3/PC) Review


Raging hell on earth, high tech angels soaring in the sky, civilians running through the midst of the chaos, and you, you are War one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse just trying to figure out what the hell happened.





You have been framed for starting the apocalypse by breaking the 7th seal, which is the only reason hell hasn’t already destroyed earth. Being stripped of your powers and weapons, you must redeem yourself and reveal who framed you. Followed by a mysterious shadow demon, you must be cautious of what you do at all times. Early in the story you meet a demon who is willing to provide you with information at the cost of five hearts from various creatures, the bosses of the game. The story may sound fine, but isn’t it a bit familiar. It made me feel like I was playing Assassins’ Creed again. Assassins’ Creed may be a great game but who wants to buy another one that’s simply not as good. Darksiders should have its own story, not just a good one.
            
When playing a game with any level of combat it always irritates me when you can simply take out enemies by button mashing, a key part of combat in this game. As you progress through the game you gain new weapons, which for the most part you will never use. You always find your way back to the button mashing of the sword.  I wish that the other weapons of the game could have been incorporated as much as the sword, so that you would rather use them in certain situations. The combat in most aspects may be basic and boring, but after severely weakening a powerful enemy it’s very entertaining to watch War do various finishers, including him ripping off their heads and chucking their bodies or stealing their weapon and bashing their skull into the ground with it. You may not use new weapons very much, but along your path to finding who framed you, you collect a few new powers that are the most fun you’ll have with combat. You get a few powers to help you with solving puzzles such as being able to glide for a short period of time and then you also get kick-ass powers, like becoming a giant, fiery beast who can crush just about anything in his path.  Along with the story being familiar so are the levels. The puzzle solving throughout the levels feels a little bit too much like the Zelda series. However, the enemies are in abundance and diverse, ranging anywhere from gigantic man eating worms to sinister demons. In addition to the enemies looking completely different, their attacks are unique as well.

When it comes to graphics Darksiders excels. The scenery and the environment are diverse and completely beautiful in each level. Whether it’s the streets filled with abandoned cars or the beating sun on the humongous desert environments look gorgeous. It is loads of fun to ride through the broken world on your trusty steed, Ruin, and just enjoy the view.  Although the graphics are beautiful I think that Vigil Games took the wrong approach. This is the apocalypse of Earth; they should have shown people running through the streets in fear of their lives throughout the game not just the first level. Although you still see buildings you end up feeling you’re in more of a hellish land. The bosses and other enemies are also unique, each one looking completely different from the last. 

As for audio there isn’t much to say. The game didn’t include much music aside from the cultish whisperings played in the background, which is disappointing. When I play a game I prefer great music, but because Darksiders is about the apocalypse, I think it was fine. As for the character voices, they were perfect. War sounded determined and tenacious while the demons sinisterly whispered.
            
The replayability in Darksiders is merely average. As you progress through the game you are continuously immersed. When you beat the game you don’t get the same effect. The game provides no alternate endings or other ways to play through, other than separate difficulty levels. I think Vigil Games could have put a lot more time into getting people to keep coming back to Darksiders.

Darksiders is a good game but is it its own game? I think not, I felt as though I was playing Zelda with an Assassins Creed twist on the story. Darksiders tries too hard to be other great games but can’t compare. Darksiders struggles with finding its own voice and for that it can’t be considered great.

-Blake Everett

                                                            7/10 Good
                                                                Value: $45

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