War, what it good for? Well in this case he is good for an amazing game.
Darksiders has a rather unusual concept for a story, the game starts out just as the apocalypse has been brought about. Meteors fall to the earth and demons and angels are battling for supremacy whilst mankind watches on in abject terror. However there was a mistake, for the apocalypse was not scheduled for this time and the council (strange skull like beings who govern all three realities) are incredibly angry at this turn of events. Fortunately, there is a scapegoat to be had in the form of War, the first horseman of the apocalypse. War however has no idea why this has happened and why his fellow horsemen weren’t called along with him, so the council gives him a chance to redeem himself. They strip him of his powers and force him to accept the symbiotic watcher into his body. The watcher was created to govern the horsemen and has the power to destroy them if need be. Now powerless and plagued by the watcher (voiced brilliantly by Mark Hamill) War has to go forth into the mortal world and try to clear his name before the Destroyer (the big bad of the story) manages to amass enough power to tip the balance in hells favour. And that is where you come in.
I had my reservations when I saw this game, I thought that here was another wannabe platformer that will have no substance. I was pleasantly proven wrong. As I started to play through the game I found myself becoming captivated by the story line and the sheer force of character provided by the talented voice artists. The game itself proved to be a bigger challenge than most games of its ilk, even the easy mode will prove a challenge to gamers, experienced or otherwise. There is just so much to see and do in this game and the replay value is amazing. You will play this game again and again just to collect all the artefacts and explore all the areas you may have missed.
As an avid gamer I noticed a lot of similarities between this game and a few others. Now I’m not saying that this is a bad thing, in fact it feels like a tribute to these other games rather than the designers being lazy. The main resemblance would be to Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda series, the puzzle sections being the main focus of this point. You have to use various artefacts that in my opinion have more to do with the Zelda series than any other game. Examples would be the bomb plants in Zelda and the bomb growths in this game. The boomerang in Zelda and the cross blade in this game. Actually the list goes on and on, so much so that I get the feeling that this game will eventually be called Zelda for grown ups. This does not detract from the game however as it is an amazing experience in it’s own right.
The control system is a varied mix of easy to use to a little complicated, basic attacks are well strung together with little effort on the players part. The more complicated moves take time to master however and even after playing for a while you may find yourself getting killed through an incorrect button press. Unfortunately (or not as the case may be) you cannot progress through the game without learning all the various moves given to you. Some enemies can only be defeated with a set combination of said moves and are impossible to beat otherwise, some people may think this is a bad thing but it actually adds to the overall feel of the game, making you work just as hard as War himself in order to pass through the various goals and challenges presented to him.
Talking of challenges lets move on to boss battles. Most games these days it’s a case of hack slash and move on with the majority of boss battles. Not this game, in this game you have to use those thinking muscles if you want to get any further and most boss battles can take you up to 20 minutes to complete the first time you play through and that’s only if you are lucky and don’t get killed. Each boss has very specific weaknesses that incorporate the moves you have learned throughout their particular levels and if you have battered your way through to get as far as the boss without paying attention you may find it a little bit tricky to get the job done. My advice is to take your time, you may want to complete the game as fast as you can in order to find out the full story but you may end up taking even longer than if you had been methodical and patient.
I actually find it hard to say anything negative about this game, there is just so much to do and see. I think the developers have brought out a genuine classic game and although there are so many games out there that bear the classic title, there are very few of them that actually live up to the hype! This game plays like the labour of love it so obviously was in the development stages and with an ending hinting towards a sequel I don’t think this lot are going to have much of a problem finding a market for this franchise.
I heartily recommend that you go and buy this game as soon as you can, it has something for everyone (just stick to the age range folks, this is not a game for kids).
VideogameUK verdict: 10/10 A first for this reviewer!
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