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OXCGN gets a Hands-On With WAR at Darksiders Preview

by GrathiusXR:

©2009 Arthur Kotsopoulos

A "very" big sword

[Ed: The embargo on the 5 hour hands-on was lifted this afternoon at 4pm AEST, so here's Arthur's report on his marathon hands-on with the game.]

Sure, it’s a bold statement to claim THQ’s multi-platform title Darksiders, due for release January 7th 2010, as the real God of War of this hack ‘n slash action game genre.

But when the main character is named “War ” and is one of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse you would think that it’s pretty suitable to label Darksiders as THE new God of War.

Maybe it’s not entirely original, but the game does do an excellent job of taking what worked in many great 3rd person action titles such as God of War, Legend of Zelda, Soul Reaver etc. and mash them in with a post apocalyptic/Armageddon time line to create one of, if not the, most visceral games I have played in a long time.

E3 this year was where I first laid eyes on Darksiders and initially wasn’t overly impressed with what it had to offer. The E3 demo was sort of a taste of what to expect and frankly it wasn’t anything special.

It had the gore and the awesome chain combo moves but other than that it didn’t look like a must have title.

Fast forward about 5 months and we have November where THQ held a nice little five hour session of Darksiders at Fraser Studios in Chippendale for certain Aussie Media in which we played an almost final build of the game as well as being treated to a nice 7 inch figurine of War and some Darksider Hoodies just in case it gets cold this Summer.

• Darksiders Trailer – God Of WAR

Might I say that Darksiders is CRISP!

A few too many steriods perhaps?

From animation, to lip syncing to the detail on the amazingly devilish creatures of Hell and the heavenly angels of Heaven, everything about this game looked clean and crisp. I was actually quite amazed at how far it has come since E3.

Gone was the one kill animation and now we have different kill animations for each enemy, from crushing zombies’ heads, to jumping up and clinging on to the massive human-sized bats and stabbing War’s Chaoseater sword into their gut.

Each kill is satisfying and still leaves you wanting more.

The simple combat control scheme accompanies the gory kill animations and whilst nothing revolutionary it does have a level of depth to it. Anyone who has played games such as Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter etc. will know that the more buttons you press in sequence the better combo you will do.

Exact same thing here: the more you press in sequence the better the combo and more damage you’ll do. Kill enough enemies with a certain weapon and it will upgrade doing a tad more damage to enemies upon contact.

Purchase new weapons and combos as well via Virgil who is the demon with a hunger for souls and War will slowly live up to his name. You see,  to become more powerful you acquire Souls which can be absorbed by killing enemies and anyone who has been following this game will know that though you are powerful at the start of the game you get stripped of your powers.

This means you get a nice taste of what WAR can dish out when he does have his powers and know what to expect later on in the game when you’ve acquired souls and purchased all the upgrades. Trust me- you’ll need as many souls as you can find because the scope of this game just gets bigger and bigger as you progress.

The game becomes less linear and allows you to traverse the level as you please at your own pace, all while throwing enemies of different kinds at your feet to stop you from progressing. You’ll never know what to expect in Darksiders; one moment you may be slaying zombies and the next flying on a huge griffin which the forces of Heaven control.

Potential Plus

It’s a game that has much potential and to my great pleasure seems to meet that potential.

It knows it has these awesome creatures and characters to use and though sometimes the game does get a bit tedious in that it might give you the same room four times in a row where you have to clear the same enemy type out in a different way, it still is fun killing them off.

The combat can sometime be a bit boring when you don’t have any other weapons for secondary attack or any other powers but the game does offer enough variety to keep you playing.

It’s crisp, clean and full of blood and when I mean blood I mean blood, heck even on the statistic screen it says how many gallons of blood you have spilled which is pretty neat. It has a combat system that whilst still basic does offer a level of depth in terms of the upgrades you can purchase, and it offers you the ability to purchase new powers and new weapons, giving Darksiders a very basic yet welcome RPG element to it.

This helps to add some variety and longevity to the game, keeping it fresh whether you’re 10 hours or 20 hours in to it.

You’ll always be finding new things so the key to Darksiders is exploration. You are given open landscapes to traverse, so make the best of them as sometimes you may find treasure chests, another Virgil seal where you can buy upgrades or other stuff.

A tad linear – but hey

Darksiders does start off quite linear in that the further you try to travel freely in the level pathways become blocked off to basically steer you straight.  However, as you progress through the game levels become more open and hold many more secrets for you to find. I stress that you do explore and do take advantage as the game is a lot more satisfying that way.

So whether you love some good ‘ol fashion hack’n'slash or some exploration to pass the time or just love to take in the apocalyptic sights Darksiders is a game that will not disappoint you in any way.

It may have a few annoying issues to it that hopefully do not play a major part in every area and a combat scheme some may find simple, but overall it will not take away from just how massive in scope Darksiders really is.

Scope. It’s a word that means big in Darksiders. I was told that the 1st main boss you fight in Darksiders is the smallest out of them all and compared to your character War this boss was at least 4-5 times War’s size. So can you imagine the size of the bosses later on in the game!

Pre-Order Now

It’s going to be epic to say the least and much more fun when you take them down.

Darksiders hits stores on January 7th 2010 and may just be the best way to start off the New Year. It intelligently misses the crowded pre-Christmas period and comes out at a perfect time,  a little while before the Q1 2010 lineup gets going. So get out there pre-order and make sure you are ready for Armageddon!

©2009 Arthur Kotsopoulos

• Other games in genre at discount $’s for ALL OXCGN readers + Bonus Points