I was lucky enough to have a play of Darksiders and it was with great excitement that I was invited to see where it was in its development. For those who are unfamiliar with Darksiders, you are War, one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The Apocalypse has been unleashed upon mankind but unfortunately, due to the forces of evil, it was a tad early. Now as War, it is up to you to exact revenge and set things right. Unlike my last play, we got to start from the very beginning. A cut scene introduces the scenario – War has been framed with the undue unleashing of the apocalypse and has been given a chance by the Council to return to earth to prove his innocence. And so sets us upon a bloody, violent path of destruction and revenge.
CLICK TO ENLARGE
We commence the game in the city with shrieking, cowering civilians running this way and that. Demons appear and this is where you learn to wield your weapon, the mighty ChaosEater. With a mere button press, you’ll be slicing and dicing through demons with ultra-violence, God of War style. Similar to God of War, when enemies are weak, with a brief context-specific button press, you can invoke a blood-splattering, violent gorefest upon your sorry combatant. Of course, you can continue just hammering the hell (excuse the pun) out of the demon, but with the more entertaining method, you will get more souls. Souls are your form of currency and and luckily for the lazy players amongst us, gravitate towards you. As the vanquished demons start piling up, your Chaos gauge starts filling up until you are be able to unleash Chaos Form. What is Chaos Form, I hear you ask? You transform into a huge, powerful, unworldly hulk of a creature, leaving a mass of destruction and corpses in your wake. War can also interact with the environment, picking up random objects, and swinging or throwing them around. It’s oh so satisfying just picking up a van, just slamming it into the head of the nearest demon and then throwing it at another demon flying past (It’s kind of like WWE but better).
I was also impressed by the type of combat in Darksiders. A lot of combat seems to be more strategic than simple button-mashing. Timing and positioning as well as which attacks to invoke play a large part in your success. The Bosses are pretty magnificent and so sweet when brought down. Success with bosses requires a little bit of logic and pattern recognising, but when they fall, you can’t help but smile and be satisfied. Later in the level, you get to trade with Vulgrim, a demon trader. Also, Zelda like puzzles start rearing their head and Metroid-like exploration of old areas, that are opened with newly acquired items, is required. I am a big fan of Zelda like puzzles but re-exploration of old areas can get frustrating if you don’t catch on to where you need to go. I do prefer Darksider’s approach though, when compared to a totally linear approach.
The graphics are highly detailed and I did not detect any frame slow-down with the levels I played. The gentle rumble is not intrusive and really adds to the whole experience. The levels, that I played through, were well designed, gently introducing the player to the controls and the concepts. It was not difficult working out where to go, so players could really concentrate on the game. The cut-scenes were excellently animated with good voice-acting. The game itself looks to be deep and rewarding for players who invest their time. Even though I didn’t get to play through as much as I would have liked, Darksiders is still looking like a game to keep your eyes out for.
CLICK TO ENLARGE
Ho Wong (Impulse Gamer Review)