PLAYSTATION 3 (also on Xbox 360)
I’m trying to figure out how to start this…..ok..now that’s out of the way.….Darksiders or in some circles Darksiders: Wrath of War.
THQ’s brand new studio Vigil Games bring their first offering unto the world. This game brings a lot of familiar aspects into this game. There’s a little Legend of Zelda, Portal, Prince of Persia…..but when it comes down to it, it’s pretty much a GOD of WAR clone. Not that it’s a bad thing……taking good aspects of other games and making a game that utilizes all of them sounds like a win for everyone.
Let’s start with the Box Art….IT’S FREAKIN MONEY!!! I was at Best Buy and the box art sold a copy to an employee that didn’t know anything about the game. Opening cinematics were Amazing! Graphics look sweet but no where as clean (as Uncharted 2 or Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time)…..the opening cinematic’s brilliance is where it stops and drops off graphically. The kingdoms of Heaven and Hell call a truth to their never ending battle till the third kingdom, the Kingdom of Man, are able to handle their own. Unfortunately, due to a ungodly screw up (PUN), the apocalypse comes early and WAR, of the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse, is awoken and he’s one cranky panda! Whoever let the shit hit the fan, managed to place the blame on WAR as well. Mr Han Cholo now has to clear his name….while he’s at it, has to hunt down bits and pieces of shards, artifacts….etc, that help restore his powers and abilities to full ass kicking force!
Character design looks great…..although WAR did look like a character from “War Hammer 40K”. This action adventure game has a lil open world aspect to it as well (just a lil….). Voice work is cool and especially since Mark Hamil is voicing, The Watcher (an unhelpful ally/watchdog for WAR). There’s also an underworld merchant by the name of Vulgrim, who would sell you weapons, upgrades and skill sets, for souls that you would collect as you go along. As you move from stage to stage, location to location, you’ll find chests where you can acquire more souls (green=health, blue=currency, yellow=rage/rage meter). You’ll also find other types of chests that contain missing shards, attack ability add-ons, etc.
The mechanics of the game are for the most part simplistic. However it doesn’t all come together that well. At times it seemed awkward. Also for an action adventure game especially with a plot like this, you expect to be dealing with a lot of attacks and opponents at any given time, or even really strong, big bosses. You do…..and at times you expect to be able to block attacks that are coming at you. Unfortunately, the blocking mechanic in this game is completely CACA (SHITTY for the uninitiated). Yes you can block, but it hardly makes any difference at all. You might as well just take the hit, as most (and it’s a very good majority) of your enemy attacks are too powerful for your block to even make a noticeable difference. WHAT THE FUCK??!! You’re better off using your “Dash” move, which happens to be the same button, to avoid damage. As for the “Dash” move, it is functional, but when facing a powerful opponent, it doesn’t get WAR completely clear from the blast radius.. That can be frustrating at times. Especially if you got boss battles that could last as long as ten minutes (IF YOU DO EVERYTHING RIGHT!)
Gameplay is for the most part smooth and fluid. My saving grace was that I got the Playstation 3 edition instead of the Xbox 360 version. Yes, as you may know by now, the Xbox 360 version suffers from screen tearing and frame rate issues. There were also camera issues as well….which I also experienced in the PS3 version (although not bad) and I noticed small amounts of frame rate issues on the PS3 version as well. Other than that, the PS3 version runs better and smoother than the Xbox 360 version, just in case you were trying to decide which to go for. (A patch is in the works to rectify those issues for the 360 version as this review is being done) You’ll also encounter some puzzles during gameplay (just like God of War) that help unlock secret chests, doors and to help progress the story. The puzzles are fairly simple and wouldn’t require much time figuring out, although I did run into a few that posted more of a challenge but nothing that you stop you in your tracks and go “HUH?” The game brings a decent length as well….it wasn’t too short and it didn’t completely drag it out with boring dumb repetitive crap either. Gameplay was about 20ish hours…might extend a bit more if you really go hunting for everything. My BIGGEST gripe with the game was that it took about three odd hours in before it really picked up. I was actually getting a little bored at one point and I was two hours in! You know how they say “First Impressions are important?” The same can certainly be said about video games. It felt very repetitive and it didn’t have that “Je ne sais quois” that the God of War franchise brings to the table, especially in the early stages. Like the term illustrates, they are both hack & slash button mashers but the latter delivers something that keeps you in the game and boredom at bay. In other words, they didn’t “NAIL IT!”
All in all, Vigil Games delivers a really fun and decent game in the action adventure arena, which in the next couple of months will bring the likes of Dante’s Inferno and God of War 3. Best part is that the storyline doesn’t really fall short, especially since we’ve all been victims of that (e.g. Halo, Gears of War….Yeah I said it! Take your head out of your asses and you’d realize I’m right.) If you’re looking for some button mashing fun to tide you over till God of War drops, Darksiders might be the game to fill that void……maybe.
Clickaticlick on these pics:
