Review: Darksiders

Dec 20, 2010

This recipe is simple to follow. You take 1 part WOW, 1 part Zelda, 1 part Devil May Cry, and 1 part apocalypse. Mix evenly, bake, and serve. Basically, there is nothing original about Darksiders. There character models are derivative of Warcraft; the mechanics and story telling are parallel to Zelda;  gameplay borrows from DMC; and the plot is balanced on biblical proportions. Don’t get me wrong – this is not a bad thing. In fact, I like that it’s obvious, clear, and deliberate that the crew at Vigil Games (developer) took the best ingredients of these three meals and created something new. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

The protagonists name is War – one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Without giving away the story, he basically is a dude who is forced to act as the sword of The Council – think of it as the United Nations of everything non-human and non-living. When the balance of Heaven and Hell is disturbed, the Council forces War to deliver justice. This happens in a very Zelda fashion, and again, that is welcomed here. There are so many games that try to create new methods of delivering a story and fail miserably. One can only appreciate the effort so many times…

Along the way, War finds new weapons and earns souls which he uses to upgrade the items and add new moves to his arsenal. War can also leverage magic items that are limited in use by a Wrath meter, which is refilled by performing finishing moves and opening yellow chests. War also has a the ability to mutate into his beastly-looking form – it’s very cool, and very limited.

Worth buying – If you are looking for 15 hours to kill and easy trophies/achievements, this is a great game for you. It can be found for $20 or 450-ish points on Goozex. Again, it’s not the worlds first loaf of bread, but if you like the above mentioned ingredients, you’ll absolutely enjoy Darksiders.

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