Darksiders (Video Game, 2010)

Written by David Nolen | 26 January 2010

Synopsis

Armageddon, the final battle between Heaven, Hell, and Earth in which the fate of creation shall be decided, has come. Streaking to the ground in balls of living fire, the armies of Heaven and Hell lay waste to the Earth and its people, who are not yet strong enough to withstand such an onslaught. Enter into this conflict the awesome visage of War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, there to bring order to the conflict; only to find out that the Earth was not ready, his fellow Horsemen not present, and the final seventh seal was not broken. Recalled by the Charred Council and accused of starting the final conflict prematurely, War is stripped of most of his power, and given the chance to clear his name after being sent back to Earth. There he finds nearly a century has passed and the humans all dead leaving the demonic hordes to run rampant over the ruins of a shattered world. It's going to be a Helluva trip; time to saddle up, lock and load, and show everyone the why for and the whatnot, because they just pissed off the wrong mother fucker.

Review

Wow, my first game review…I need to do more of these. If you're coming to this review, after hearing some of the critiques from other sites let me begin by saying that for the most part, everything they've likely said is true. This is indeed the Legend of Soul Reaver: The God of War Legacy Edition, and to be honest, this is probably the highest praise that can be given to this game. I will however have to differ with most of those who say this game has the most in common with The Legend of Zelda and note to my point of view, this game has the most in common with both The Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver games.

I make this distinction because of the shear level of violence and brutality this game puts forth, as well as the shear level of hate filled revenge the story evokes, is more indicative of our friendly neighborhood soul reaving ghoul after he crawls out of the Lake of the Dead ready to kill anything and everything in his way. This is definitely a far cry from that poor cuckolded fool, Link, who through his many lives has been tapped to save the Princess Zelda though never to end the cycle that binds him to her, or to claim her for his own. You know, that'd be a good game…where Link just says FUCK IT one eon and goes on a Kain type revenge trip. Hell, I could see the end: a bearded barbarian Link on a throne somewhere, the head of Gannondorf on a pike outside, his sword to the side of him, the Triforce on the wall behind him, and a scantily clad Midna, Zelda, and Malon cuddling up to him on the throne. The caption would read: "Hail to the King, baby!" I'd fucking play that game, and replay it if there were some hardcore sex scenes in it.

Mmm…Midna molesting….wait, what was I talking about again? Oh, right.

Another comparison that has been offered has been with the God of War series, of which is almost an obvious sort of comparison given that the main characters of the series are both incarnations of War. Though Kratos happens to be the Greek pantheon version of the concept, who happens to be a god, while War is the Judeo-Christian embodiment, and is simply named as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, that which God will unleash upon the world when the time of his judgment is at hand. Not having played The God of War series, I can't really comment too much on that particular aspect, but from the play videos I've seen, there are certain similarities to be sure. There's even Quick Time Events, though in God of Zelda: Soul Reaver's case, they're not the super dial a combo ones that you'll find in God of War or other games, such as Resident Evil 4 which had some really nasty life ending ones if you didn't get the combo right.

However, I wish to point out to all, what it is I'm describing. You see all the games I mentioned, them and so many others, belong to the same type of adventure game. You run around the world in a sort of sandboxy fashion, collecting clues and power ups, go to the castles, get their power ups and kill the boss there, which in turn offers you new places and such to go. All the while you're unlocking the path to and the power to overcome the big bad at the end. This formula was arguably prototyped in a digital format in the Atari game, Adventure…which I only beat on the hardest level a few years ago.

To be sure though you can point to individual parts of the Legacy of War: The Twilight Legend and say, "That came from such-and-such," game. Zelda has a strong showing here, make no mistake, but it's not the only strong influence, and hell, as I said before, not the strongest in my book. Indeed there are parts in there that reminds me of Dynasty Warriors and another part that actually reminded me of fighting the Worm in Shadow of the Colossus. What you see in Legend of War: Defiance you'll see in so many others, unlike most who try to be a little more creative in their tools and powers…though most just have different names and animations for stuff that has the same effect in each of the games in question.

This is not a bad thing if the game is done right. And I suppose that's the question, isn't it? Does God of Kain: The Ocarina of War take all the stuff it purloined and melt it together with a killer plot and exceedingly kick ass gameplay?

Fuck yeah, it does. Ocarina War Omen kicks some serious ass. Hell, I sat down and took my time to complete as much of it as I could, which turned out to be a significant investment in time…and I almost never do side quests since Final Fantasy X.

Gameplay wise, the combos and weapon skills are fairly rudimentary, however, given the amount of creatures sent to kick your ass, you're not going to have time to play the Street Fighter vs. Capcom dial-an-air-combo some reviewers seem to want for every attack. This is not to say what you'll see will simply be hacking back and forth, back and forth, but there's really only so many ways you can string together some attacks. You can get a little creative if you like switching back and forth between primary weapons, but the amount of times you can hit someone in a string is set, though you can begin a new string right after. Speaking of kicking ass, Legacy of Zelda: Adventure of War Reaver enjoys kicking yours repeatedly. I've been in the RPG arena for so long; I'd been specializing in strategy, and had forgotten how to fight. You either learn to fight or you will suffer a quick demise as the first enemy that takes more than a couple of hits to kill beats you to death in short order.

The various gear that you use, as well as weapons enhancements that you can equip, are quite easy to use and pretty responsive when you do use them. There weren't too many instances of fucked up targeting which annoyed me to no end in games like Dragon Age. Most can be used as weapons of one sort or another, and tend to have unique affects on certain creatures…even being required to beat them in some cases, and not all those cases being boss fights.

The puzzles are diabolical, but are quite solvable with enough trial and error. Hard enough that they will frustrate you to no end, but not so hard as to require that you go and shell out $20 for a goddamn guide. In fact, the only time I ever looked anything up was trying to find the final piece of the Abyssal Armor…and if you don't know where to look for that thing you'll never find it; which is probably the only instance of blatant strategy guiding I can think of. Even some of the hidden chests weren't hidden in such a way as to think you'd be committing suicide to even try to go where you'd need to find that piece.

The only real complaints I have concerning controls are the occasional non responsiveness of jumping and double jumping. There was far too much of my screaming, "I PUSHED THE FUCKING BUTTON!" while War runs happily along into a pit; falling to his doom. I would have really liked to have seen the gun actually be a little more useful or enhanced a bit better with different ammo like lightning and exploding rounds or something. It's really not that powerful when used on most enemies, and is best used to get the attention of fliers which can then be instakilled for much needed health. Also, it takes too long to put the Abyssal Armor together. It would have worked better as adding pieces which slowly increase War's defense, or to have several sets of armor over time, or even for special use here and there.

The artwork, character designs, and environments are nothing short of incredible.  Here, check out the site of the concept artist.  Some complain about the 'busy' look of the armor, clothing, and weapons that the various characters sport, but I rather enjoy the style. It's a very Tod McFarlane's Spawn look to everything, a way of drawing I've been a fan of since the entire Image/Marvel split. I particularly enjoyed the way that War's armor looked as I am sick to death of the Sauron or English Knight design. A little more variety is what I've been wanting and Defiance of War: Kain's Awakening delivers.

The plot isn't quite as polished as it needs to be. This is due to my nature of obsessively picking apart logical inconsistencies within a story and noting minor gaffes which in turn show major plot holes. Having been reviled with some of the nastiest, most vile epitaphs known to man over the years of my nitpicking, I think it's safe for me to say I am indeed obsessive, and definitely on the right track. The biggest hole is that they really don't say what either Heaven or Hell hope to gain by fighting on Earth (or why they'd need to fight on Earth) or more importantly, why the mitigating factor of the Four Horsemen are required. A lot of 'take our word for it' is presented to the player with the general idea that a lot of this was decreed by the unfathomable powers that be over Heaven and Hell and Earth. Unfortunately this was not done with quite the same level of competency as was shown in the first Soul Reaver game, regardless of the fact that Omen of Zelda: Blood War set itself up quite blatantly for a sequel. This doesn't detract from the overall game experience, but had the writer added a little more elbow grease to the proceedings, it would have enhanced the gameplay considerably.

I'd love a copy of the soundtrack. Modern games have put a lot into their various soundtracks, which has gained public notoriety with things like Video Games Live and Zelda War: Soul Reaver is no different. It's something I wish the western cartoon industry would put more into, but then the idea of a 'western cartoon industry' is something to laugh at anymore as we all know. Then again with recent offerings by the 2chan whipped anime industry, the Japanese animation market is about to hit that wall too. We get shit like Assy, and they have harem anime coming out said ass. Truthfully, I can't decide which is worse.

Overall, the misleadingly named Darksiders is an exceptionally fun game. Everything that's been said about the game play in relation to the genre of games it comes from is true. There's nothing here that you've not seen elsewhere, and in almost every case, it's not even trying to disguise itself all that much. It does, however, blend those elements together into a very well done whole that is a joy to play through. One doesn't always need to be original or to ape originality (like most adventure games of this genre do) in order to be a fun game. And that's what we have here: a fun game. I can honestly recommend it to everyone who enjoys games like Zelda, God of War, and Legacy of Kain in all their incarnations. It's a fine addition to this genre, as you'll see if you play through it yourself.

I am, however, going to have to find the character designer of Uriel and beat him to death. Every time that beautiful wing-girl showed up, I was beset by this insane urge to just chew on her for awhile. And she's not even supposed to be fanservice, Goddamnit!