Darksiders
- Thread starter fillyacup
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Ok, here is my review of Darksiders, and my bad for being late. I’ve been busy with business and prepping myself for Mass Effect 2, so I didn’t get a chance to post this. So I’ll just jump right in and give you the heads up, and remember, I’m just like you all, I’m a gamer and I gain nothing from providing this review. I know that times are hard for a lot of people and many don’t have a lot of disposable income and can’t just throw $65 down for every game that comes out.
Let me start by telling you what Darksiders isn’t. Darksiders isn’t God of War, DMC, Bayonetta, Zelda, Metroid, Ninja Gaiden, Onimusha, Maximo, Panzer Dragoon or Castlevania. However, with the exception of Bayonetta, Dakrsiders is a game with elements from all the games I mentioned above so basically it’s a gumbo mix. Now there are some pros and cons when taking this approach with the pros being most of it is done correctly, is fun, keeps the pacing, and may bring up feelings of nostalgia. The cons are some of the things feel awkward, done incorrectly and there is nothing in the game, aside from the story/plot and art style that screams ORIGINAL!
GRAPHICS: Overall, the graphics in the game look good. I’m playing on a 32 inch HDTV and the game looks superb. The colors in the game stand out, the art style makes everything seem “BIG” and the animations are on point. However, there are times when the graphics look less than stellar (the Ashlands come to mind) and some of the enemies could have used a bit more variety when it comes to how they look. One thing is for certain, the world does seem large and it does seem like an end of the world setting as you’ll see collapsed buildings, cars, ruined cities, etc all over the place. Also, it should be noted that the game does experience screen tearing and frame rate dips (especially in the Ashlands.) I’m on the PS3, and while I didn’t experience a lot of it, the Ashlands was the section where most of this occurred. In addition, from what I’ve read 360 owners actually have it worse so if you’re gonna play it try to get the ps3 version. Moreover, there are times when the camera just doesn’t work well, but these are far and few in between.
EDITED TO ADD: There is some jaggies here and there and the game doesn't have anti aliasing. Even though the game still looks good.
AUDIO/SOUND FX: The audio was actually cool, and for some time I would play with my cans (headphones) on and other times I would play without. When you have a good sound system you can actually tell where some of your enemies are as their footsteps and groans will come from the direction they are. The score was ok, pretty dramatic at times and is appropriate for the game setting. You won’t hear death metal or music similar to DMC, but think of Choir music, chamber music and “quest” music (from like LOTR or something) and that’s what you get. When it comes to sound fx swords clang, you hear War’s footsteps as he travels the land, the acoustics are different when he’s in water as opposed to if he’s walking in a hallway, and the enemies will often taunt you. Overall it’s sufficient but nothing to write home about.
GAMEPLAY: So this is the big question. How does the game play? For the most part I’d say it plays pretty good. You have your primary weapon (square) and secondary weapon (triangle), action (O) and jump (X). You control War with the left thumbstick, change camera with the right thumbstick and can zoom in when you press in on the right thumb stick (I forgot what happens when you press in on the left). The directional pad is used to assign/map weapons/gear items (you also use a button to use them) and the shoulder buttons are used to do various things like dash, lock on, use gear items, etc. There is no button mapping, so if you want to reconfigure your controller and map everything your way you can’t. I think that was wrong as sometimes there are times when I felt the controls should have been layed out differently, but it’s pretty much standard third person controlling, and everything comes together pretty well.
As previously stated, this is not DMC, GOW or Ninja Gaiden. While you can combo, for the most part everything is done with the square button with combos being based on how long you held the button, what direction you pressed the thumbstick and what moves you purchased with souls which are the currency of the game. You have three weapons to level up, the chaos eater (sword) which is your primary weapon and the tremor gauntlet and scythe (harvester if you used the code) which are your secondary weapons. You can switch the secondary weapons on the fly and chain your combos, but the secondary combos are very limiting. So can you button mash and beat the whole game with the sword? No, because some of the fights (boss fights and mini boss fights) actually require you to use certain weapons as well as gear items, but for the non-boss fights you pretty much can get by with it. One thing I didn’t like was the leveling up system of the weapons. See war levels up by finding the wrath cores (basically allow you to do special abilities like increase defense, call up green monster ghosts, etc) while the shards act as tanks/hearts from Metroid and Zelda. There is also a “chaos form” where War turns into a giant red demon thing but in order to do it your meter must be full (you fill it by attacking enemies.) But when it comes to weapons, it takes forever to level them up because you have to constantly use them, and even then, they don’t give you enough weapon experience to speed things along. In addition, farm/grinding spots are few, so you can spend hours fighting, traveling, allowing enemies to respawn, etc just so you can build those weapons up. There are times when you get “guns” from the demons and angels and both perform differently. In addition, there is also a shooting level similar to Panzer Dragoon but this isn’t something to write home about but it does keep the pace of the game going.
Imho, the enemies are harder than the bosses. The bosses required a pattern to beat, and for the most part if you did it three times you were able to beat the boss, so again, it’s very nostalgic/old school. The game has various puzzles and some of them are very easy while some of them will have you asking WTF? However, nothing in the game will make you want to throw the controller at the screen and break the disk.
When it comes to exploration this game has it. There are tons of things to find (wrath and health shards) artifacts (these are coins you basically sell) armor pieces (collect ten and war is granted a new armor) and enhancements that can be placed in weapons. Enhancements are similar to "materia" from FF7. If its “passive” it doesn’t matter where you equip it you’ll get the benefits but if it’s “slotted” it has to be in a specific weapon to get the benefits. There is a level map and world map, and while you’re playing there is also a compass map that shows a small layout of where you are. I think they should have labeled each section when it comes to the area map, but they that’s just me. You can get around the game by using Snake tunnels from Vulgrim (he’s the guy who sells you stuff) a portal type device that only works on the portals and Ruin, Wars horse. So while there is some backtracking (especially if you’re grinding and looking for things) it doesn’t get tedious. However, Ruin doesn’t control very well, I’d say it’s like the Mako from Mass Effect, and the fact you have to use him in the Ashlands, which is the worst part of the game technically, doesn’t help.
Something/someone who is totally useless in this game is The Watcher. He is basically implanted in Wars left hand and you can call him up by holding select. He’s basically there because “The Chared Council” doesn’t trust you so if you try to go sideways he’s on your head. The problem is he doesn’t really do anything to you except in cut scenes, and is totally useless in battle.
STORY: The story is about “War” one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The story is not really rooted in the bible and neither are the characters. For example, in the bible, there is no horseman named “War” and Azrael and Samael are from apocryphal text. Moreover, Abbadon is the angel of the Bottomless Pit, and Uriel is one of “the four”, so if you’re going in looking for something rooted strictly in the bible or jewish lore you’re not gonna find it. They take those elements and weave their own story, which is, the end of the world was started early, and you’re blamed for it. However, your mission is to find those responsible and along the way you’ll uncover the major players and how you were set up.
The story would be good if they polished it up. You have cut scenes here and there, and you can pretty much figure things out before the game ends. In addition, the majority of the story comes at the last couple of hours of the game, and there is a cliff hanger that screams DARKSIDERS 2 that will have you playing as the Four Horsemen as they don’t make an appearance in the game until the very end (in the form of comets.)
REPLAY VALUE: Replay value depends on you. I played on the hardest difficulty, got the Abyssal Armor, missed three artifacts, a legendary item, a wrath core, some other items, didn’t purchase all the moves/upgrades and didn’t max out my secondary weapons. In total it took me 35 hours and some change, and again I didn’t find everything. I have no reason to go back and find anything because they won’t enhance the experience in a profound way. I could get the trophies for going back in, but again, I’m not too concerned about that.
Overall, I say the game is one you should play, but owning it and renting it should be left up to you. I’m building my PS3 library up (Heavy Ran and FF XIII are my next PS3 games) so I didn’t mind the purchase. However, those who aren’t trying to build their library, or don’t have the cash to shell out for a new one would be best to wait until it gets traded in/price dropped or rent it. I can’t compare it to Bayonetta because I haven’t put too much time in Bayonetta, but even based on my limited time, the two games are different as one has it’s emphasis on fighting while the other has rooted in exploration. In any event, make sure you play the game as it’s something you will definitely enjoy if you’re looking for a good single player quest.
Let me start by telling you what Darksiders isn’t. Darksiders isn’t God of War, DMC, Bayonetta, Zelda, Metroid, Ninja Gaiden, Onimusha, Maximo, Panzer Dragoon or Castlevania. However, with the exception of Bayonetta, Dakrsiders is a game with elements from all the games I mentioned above so basically it’s a gumbo mix. Now there are some pros and cons when taking this approach with the pros being most of it is done correctly, is fun, keeps the pacing, and may bring up feelings of nostalgia. The cons are some of the things feel awkward, done incorrectly and there is nothing in the game, aside from the story/plot and art style that screams ORIGINAL!
GRAPHICS: Overall, the graphics in the game look good. I’m playing on a 32 inch HDTV and the game looks superb. The colors in the game stand out, the art style makes everything seem “BIG” and the animations are on point. However, there are times when the graphics look less than stellar (the Ashlands come to mind) and some of the enemies could have used a bit more variety when it comes to how they look. One thing is for certain, the world does seem large and it does seem like an end of the world setting as you’ll see collapsed buildings, cars, ruined cities, etc all over the place. Also, it should be noted that the game does experience screen tearing and frame rate dips (especially in the Ashlands.) I’m on the PS3, and while I didn’t experience a lot of it, the Ashlands was the section where most of this occurred. In addition, from what I’ve read 360 owners actually have it worse so if you’re gonna play it try to get the ps3 version. Moreover, there are times when the camera just doesn’t work well, but these are far and few in between.
EDITED TO ADD: There is some jaggies here and there and the game doesn't have anti aliasing. Even though the game still looks good.
AUDIO/SOUND FX: The audio was actually cool, and for some time I would play with my cans (headphones) on and other times I would play without. When you have a good sound system you can actually tell where some of your enemies are as their footsteps and groans will come from the direction they are. The score was ok, pretty dramatic at times and is appropriate for the game setting. You won’t hear death metal or music similar to DMC, but think of Choir music, chamber music and “quest” music (from like LOTR or something) and that’s what you get. When it comes to sound fx swords clang, you hear War’s footsteps as he travels the land, the acoustics are different when he’s in water as opposed to if he’s walking in a hallway, and the enemies will often taunt you. Overall it’s sufficient but nothing to write home about.
GAMEPLAY: So this is the big question. How does the game play? For the most part I’d say it plays pretty good. You have your primary weapon (square) and secondary weapon (triangle), action (O) and jump (X). You control War with the left thumbstick, change camera with the right thumbstick and can zoom in when you press in on the right thumb stick (I forgot what happens when you press in on the left). The directional pad is used to assign/map weapons/gear items (you also use a button to use them) and the shoulder buttons are used to do various things like dash, lock on, use gear items, etc. There is no button mapping, so if you want to reconfigure your controller and map everything your way you can’t. I think that was wrong as sometimes there are times when I felt the controls should have been layed out differently, but it’s pretty much standard third person controlling, and everything comes together pretty well.
As previously stated, this is not DMC, GOW or Ninja Gaiden. While you can combo, for the most part everything is done with the square button with combos being based on how long you held the button, what direction you pressed the thumbstick and what moves you purchased with souls which are the currency of the game. You have three weapons to level up, the chaos eater (sword) which is your primary weapon and the tremor gauntlet and scythe (harvester if you used the code) which are your secondary weapons. You can switch the secondary weapons on the fly and chain your combos, but the secondary combos are very limiting. So can you button mash and beat the whole game with the sword? No, because some of the fights (boss fights and mini boss fights) actually require you to use certain weapons as well as gear items, but for the non-boss fights you pretty much can get by with it. One thing I didn’t like was the leveling up system of the weapons. See war levels up by finding the wrath cores (basically allow you to do special abilities like increase defense, call up green monster ghosts, etc) while the shards act as tanks/hearts from Metroid and Zelda. There is also a “chaos form” where War turns into a giant red demon thing but in order to do it your meter must be full (you fill it by attacking enemies.) But when it comes to weapons, it takes forever to level them up because you have to constantly use them, and even then, they don’t give you enough weapon experience to speed things along. In addition, farm/grinding spots are few, so you can spend hours fighting, traveling, allowing enemies to respawn, etc just so you can build those weapons up. There are times when you get “guns” from the demons and angels and both perform differently. In addition, there is also a shooting level similar to Panzer Dragoon but this isn’t something to write home about but it does keep the pace of the game going.
Imho, the enemies are harder than the bosses. The bosses required a pattern to beat, and for the most part if you did it three times you were able to beat the boss, so again, it’s very nostalgic/old school. The game has various puzzles and some of them are very easy while some of them will have you asking WTF? However, nothing in the game will make you want to throw the controller at the screen and break the disk.
When it comes to exploration this game has it. There are tons of things to find (wrath and health shards) artifacts (these are coins you basically sell) armor pieces (collect ten and war is granted a new armor) and enhancements that can be placed in weapons. Enhancements are similar to "materia" from FF7. If its “passive” it doesn’t matter where you equip it you’ll get the benefits but if it’s “slotted” it has to be in a specific weapon to get the benefits. There is a level map and world map, and while you’re playing there is also a compass map that shows a small layout of where you are. I think they should have labeled each section when it comes to the area map, but they that’s just me. You can get around the game by using Snake tunnels from Vulgrim (he’s the guy who sells you stuff) a portal type device that only works on the portals and Ruin, Wars horse. So while there is some backtracking (especially if you’re grinding and looking for things) it doesn’t get tedious. However, Ruin doesn’t control very well, I’d say it’s like the Mako from Mass Effect, and the fact you have to use him in the Ashlands, which is the worst part of the game technically, doesn’t help.
Something/someone who is totally useless in this game is The Watcher. He is basically implanted in Wars left hand and you can call him up by holding select. He’s basically there because “The Chared Council” doesn’t trust you so if you try to go sideways he’s on your head. The problem is he doesn’t really do anything to you except in cut scenes, and is totally useless in battle.
STORY: The story is about “War” one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The story is not really rooted in the bible and neither are the characters. For example, in the bible, there is no horseman named “War” and Azrael and Samael are from apocryphal text. Moreover, Abbadon is the angel of the Bottomless Pit, and Uriel is one of “the four”, so if you’re going in looking for something rooted strictly in the bible or jewish lore you’re not gonna find it. They take those elements and weave their own story, which is, the end of the world was started early, and you’re blamed for it. However, your mission is to find those responsible and along the way you’ll uncover the major players and how you were set up.
The story would be good if they polished it up. You have cut scenes here and there, and you can pretty much figure things out before the game ends. In addition, the majority of the story comes at the last couple of hours of the game, and there is a cliff hanger that screams DARKSIDERS 2 that will have you playing as the Four Horsemen as they don’t make an appearance in the game until the very end (in the form of comets.)
REPLAY VALUE: Replay value depends on you. I played on the hardest difficulty, got the Abyssal Armor, missed three artifacts, a legendary item, a wrath core, some other items, didn’t purchase all the moves/upgrades and didn’t max out my secondary weapons. In total it took me 35 hours and some change, and again I didn’t find everything. I have no reason to go back and find anything because they won’t enhance the experience in a profound way. I could get the trophies for going back in, but again, I’m not too concerned about that.
Overall, I say the game is one you should play, but owning it and renting it should be left up to you. I’m building my PS3 library up (Heavy Ran and FF XIII are my next PS3 games) so I didn’t mind the purchase. However, those who aren’t trying to build their library, or don’t have the cash to shell out for a new one would be best to wait until it gets traded in/price dropped or rent it. I can’t compare it to Bayonetta because I haven’t put too much time in Bayonetta, but even based on my limited time, the two games are different as one has it’s emphasis on fighting while the other has rooted in exploration. In any event, make sure you play the game as it’s something you will definitely enjoy if you’re looking for a good single player quest.
Yeah I'll do the same thing for Heavy Rain, Mass Effect, FFIII God of War 3 and anything else I'm playing.
EDITED TO ADD: I'm trippin, Ninety nine nights 2. Yeah from what I've read everything is beefed up now, solid framerates, better graphics and more enemies on screen. Also, the story seems to be longer then the first. I guess that was a downside of the first. If you're into that game you should also check out NEIR. But keep in mind NEIR for the PS3 and the 360 are two completely different games, even though they have the same characters, so watch out for them.
EDITED TO ADD: I'm trippin, Ninety nine nights 2. Yeah from what I've read everything is beefed up now, solid framerates, better graphics and more enemies on screen. Also, the story seems to be longer then the first. I guess that was a downside of the first. If you're into that game you should also check out NEIR. But keep in mind NEIR for the PS3 and the 360 are two completely different games, even though they have the same characters, so watch out for them.
