The Mythical Gods of Heaven & Hell Fight For Supremacy
©2010 Arthur Kotsopoulos
With 2009 having now ended we look to 2010 and see what games to excite us are on their way to make us want to spend what money we have left after Christmas. What better way to start off 2010 than with Vigil Games‘ Darksiders (ex-Darksider: Wrath Of WAR) which releases in the 2nd week of January – 8th Jan 2010.
Darksiders follows a member of the mythological Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Conquest, War, Famine, and Death) who ride to Earth during the end of the world and bringing on a war between the forces of Heaven, Hell and the mankind to see who will come out victorious as the superior race.
The problem is however, that WAR is the only one of the Four Horseman who rode out the Apocalypse, and for one reason or another, is slowly weakening and questioning his presence in the battle.
It’s in the opening sequence where you will see just how big the scope of Darksiders is and realise that the journey you are on is a long one.
• Darksiders: Interview with Joe Madureira
At every turn there is Heaven’s Hellguard fighting the creatures of Hell, meteors raining down from the sky as well as humans scurrying for their very lives in an attempt to escape the chaos. Anything and everything is happening during the apocalypse and WAR is smack bang in the middle of it.
Whats makes the opening level even more interesting is the fact that Abaddon, Heaven’s greatest warrior, questions WAR’s presence as well as the whole apocalypse based on the fact that the 7th Seal was not apparently broken (The EndWar can only be triggered once all 7 seals have been broken).
A couple cutscenes later we see WAR before The Charred Council between Heaven and Hell who end up holding WAR responsible for the start of the EndWar, and as punishment they strip him of his powers.
But WAR, based on what Abaddon has said, questions the whole Apocalypse and seeks that The Council send him back to Earth to find out how the Apocalypse came to be and restore the balance. They grant him his wish only on the condition that he is closely bound to The Watcher (voiced by Mark Hamill with his ‘Joker‘ voice in full force).
• Darksiders: In-Game gameplay.
Upon returning to Earth things had changed from WAR’s last visit. He had been dormant for almost a century with Hell having won the battle and The Destroyers’ army now reigning supreme, and the Gates of Heaven have shut leaving the Hellguard stranded on Earth. Man seems to have been wiped out of existence.
It’s something that WAR has to live with and it’s here that his true journey begins in restoring the balance and finding out what the truth is. Accompanied by his trusty Chaoseater sword, WAR is on a mission that will span over 20 hours and cross a diverse landscape of dust, jungle, underwater tunnels and much more.
The main drawcard of Darksiders I have to say is the combat mixed with the art style. Darksiders comes from the mind of Joe Madureira who some may not know is known for his work on Uncanny X-Men comic book and another short comic series called Battle Chasers.
From seeing the comics and game side by side you can see that’s Joe style oozes within Darksiders, from characters to weapons, the game has been infused with an artistic style of brilliance.
Environmentally the game is ever changing, with each new area having a unique and distinct look and feel from underground tunnels, to an old ancient church, to a massive desert, to a highway that has been over run by jungle-esque branches and vines.
The Environment
The game features a semi-destructible environment in which you can pick up almost anything removable such as benches, cars, light-posts or metal bars and overall it will make you sit back and appreciate the work put into the game to make each area different.
With the added ability to use the environment to your advantage Darksiders may still not be as diverse or complex as say Devil May Cry or Bayonetta in combat and you won’t be pulling off 100+ hit combos but rest assured the combat is satisfying.
Each enemy can either be killed via your regular sword attacks or once you have dealt enough damage a “B’ appears above their head meaning you can do a lovely executioner move which to many is very satisfying to pull off. Weaker enemies such as zombies can have their head crushed via your hand but others such as the Hellguard need to be damaged first then you can chop off their wings and stab them through the gut.
You start off with the most basic of sword combos at first but once you collect enough Blue Souls (which are currency for moves and weapons) you can purchase new combos or Wrath Abilities off Vulgrim, a demon who has gone solo and is offering his specialties for a price. As he puts it: “Feed my hunger, and I shall feed your curiosity”. (Ed- actually that sounds a bit sus….)
Vulgrim locations are in almost every area and can be easily found by seeing the Vulgrim symbol hanging off walls or in tunnels throughout the landscape. It’s best that you find as many as you can as in the later stages of the games Vulgrim will come in handy on many occasions.
The weapons of destruction
One thing that Darksiders does right is that every new weapon, enemy and story plot twist are perfectly spaced apart. In certain areas where you start to get bored of the same old gameplay the game gives you new enemies to deal with, new locations, new characters, and a new toy to mess about with.
It’s a perfect blend of combat, exploration and puzzles. Many since seeing it at E3 have praised it for combining elements of God of War, Devil May Cry and even leaning heavily toward elements of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Throughout your journey in Darksiders you’ll obtain new abilities like the Tremor Gauntlet which is a glove that can dish out pain, an Abyssal chain which can grab enemies and latch onto certain object and a several others.
These items play a key role in Darksiders based on the fact that certain areas, items, chest, and enhancements are not accessible without these items. It’s the beauty of Darksiders that once obtaining a new item you will want to go back to see what is behind the giant Blue Crystal wall or what is up on the ledge that you couldn’t reach without the Abyssal chain.
They not only offer ways to gain access to areas in the world or areas in the dungeons you couldn’t previously but actually aid you in battle if things tend to get sticky. The Abyssal Chain can grab weaker enemies and pull them towards you, the CrossBlade can target up to 5 enemies at once and deal some serious damage.
It’s reassuring that Vigil have given each item some substance in the sense that you will be using them time and time again rather than a one off thing where you use it once and never touch it again.
Time is on your side
With this in mind, Darksiders never tends to feel tedious nor a chore, even after 10 hours. This is a rare attribute in games today which can become boring half way through. Darksiders feels fresh until the end and each time you pick it up to play it’s like you’ve never played the game before.
This is reinforced by the fact that the 3 main weapons can ‘gain experience’ with each hit to an enemy and level up to dish more damage and enhancements can be gained/found throughout the world that can add damage bonus, grant extra souls, gain extra experience and so forth.
Darksiders does an excellent job of pulling the gamer in and secretly forcing them to have to explore the world if you wish to gain access to the good stuff. Without exploration you’ll miss out on enhancements, health pieces, Wrath shards, Abyssal armor and many other helpful items that will aid you in battle.
These not only add statistical advantages but also add a nice cosmetic touch to your weapons; whether it’s purple mist or red blood dripping off. These weapons add depth and a very basic-RPG element to the game.
It’s addictive and will make you want to continue playing this game even when you feel you’ve played enough for a day.
The frustrations
What I should add that hinders the overall experience though are a few technical issues present within the game. For some inexplicable reason in the first couple of hours the game has some pretty bad screen tearing issues.
It’s quite frequent upon starting the game but as you progress it seems to die down in frequency and this to me is quite strange as other games don’t have screen tearing of this nature.
Other hindrances are the difficulty and dash move that WAR has.
Playing on a setting titled ” Apocalyptic ” would have you thinking that this game will be brutal and challenging but that isn’t the case. The game doesn’t throw more enemies at you, it doesn’t make them smarter, it just raises the experience your weapons can gain, adds more health to the enemies as well as making their attacks deal more damage.
As well there is the dash move which seems to need a bit more work. There are moments where WAR does not have many health cores and when you need to dash out of the way of an attack WAR somehow tends to dash either into the range of the enemies’ attack or just straight into them.
What’s even more disappointing is that the giant bosses that you encounter at the end of the 4 main dungeons aren’t that hard nor complicated to deal with, though more casual gamers will appreciate that. Still, this is the root of my main disappointment with Darksiders: the bosses, whilst giant in size, don’t offer any more of a challenge then your regular Hellguard.
All that aside though, Vigil’s first entry into the gaming world with Darksiders is a great way to start off 2010 in terms of gaming.
It offers at least 20+ hours of exploration, combat and secret items to find, a brilliant use of colours in such an eventful setting, will remind you of the great golden gameplay you enjoyed as a younger gamer and will allow you to play as one of the Four Horsemen! That alone is enough to warrant purchasing this game!
©2010 Arthur Kotsopoulos
“9.0/10
• Darksiders Media screenshots
Filed under: 3rd Party Games, Console gaming, Game Impressions, Gaming Videos, New Game Information, New Xbox 360 Games, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 3rd Party Games, Xbox 360 Game Reviews, Xbox 360 News Tagged: | 360, Battle Chasers, Chaoseater sword, Conquest, Darksiders, Darksiders Game Review, Darksiders review, darksiders Wrath Of War review, Death, Earth, Famine, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, History, Joe Madureira, Mark Hamill, Microsoft, mythological Abaddon, The Charred Council, Twentieth Century, Uncanny X-Men, Vigil, Vigil Games, Vigil Games' Darksiders, War, wrath of war review, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 Game Reviews
