Darksiders Review
Much has been said in the gaming criticism community about the derivative nature of Darksiders: ‘it’s Zelda meets God of War with some Panzer Dragoon in there. And there’s a healthy helping of Bubble Bobble.’
Ok, so maybe Bubble Bobble isn’t in there, but people need to relax and take a step back. Darksiders isn’t just a ‘re-skinning of Zelda,’ it’s a unique product that builds off the success of its predecessors (as do all games). Critics have short changed Darksiders, because it’s one of the best action adventure games in recent memory.
What went right?
Style
You play as War, one of the horsemen of the apocalypse, and the story takes place in a post apocalyptic earth inhabited by angels and demons. War has a chunky, powerful look that hints at Joe Madureira’s (the art director) origins in comic books. His giant sword and bulky armor has a Blizzard / Square feel and although sometimes that stands in contrast to War’s swift and fluid motions.
In addition, the environments vary significantly from desert wasteland to eerie gothic cathedral and even ruined urban environments. Enemies are distinct and well defined by their silhouettes, and the giant bosses you occasionally face off against are memorable in appearance.
War’s combo maneuvers look satisfying and effective, and even the cutscenes and menus feel fully integrated into the art style. Do you like the way Warcraft or Diablo looks? Do you like gaslight fantasy? You will love Darksiders.
Combat
What is it with people and ‘button mashing?’ ‘Oh my god that game takes no skill, it’s just a button masher!’ ‘You can’t beat me fairly in Street Fighter 2, you just mash buttons!’ You know what, I love mashing buttons. Not only does the combo system in Darksiders reward button mashing with fluid combos and impressive weapon sweeps, but adding in secondary weapons and additional abilities adds some depth.
Exhibit 1 shows War stabbing somebody. He will do this during the game many times. He has a stabbing problem and needs community support
In addition, your horse (Ruin) adds some great horseback combat in certain scenes that is a welcome change of pace. There are also ‘finishing moves’ for each enemy when you get them below 1/3 of their health that allows you to finish them in one hit with a brief canned animation. While they are somewhat simplistic, and sometimes you see the same one ten times in a row, they are extremely well integrated into the combat. Not only can you begin them at any time (even mid sword swipe), but they aren’t wholly distinct actions and while you’re performing the killing animations your sword sweeps can hit other enemies. You aren’t taken out of the game world.
Furthermore, there are two additional resources that add choices to the combat. The first are wrath abilities which are the equivalent of magic, and can either do direct damage or increase your armor etc. Finally, there is ‘chaos form,’ which is where occasionally you can change into this ridiculous flame demon for a brief time where you’re invulnerable and do absurd damage. I cannot reiterate enough how this requires no skill and completely breaks the game especially when you use it on a boss and wtfpwn them in ten seconds, but it’s so satisfying each time.
There is this hilarious delay after you trigger it where War transforms into this full screen demon where you get to anticipate what’s coming. Even better is that many of the later enemies react to your transformation (although with less horror than they probably should) and just makes it that much more satisfying. Every game needs chaos form. Even Tetris. It’s the greatest game mechanic ever conceived.
Storyline
I’m not going to lie: the story in Darksiders is pretty thin. That doesn’t change the fact that it has one of the greatest final ten seconds of any game ever made. If you were at all excited about the game, and can see the potential that Vigil has unlocked with this initial effort, then you can’t help but find the ending to be incredible.
They have set up the perfect sequel, and introduced an idea that everybody with any sense was thinking about during their playthrough. I completed the game and then went back and watched the final ten seconds on YouTube about 10 times just to appreciate just how great it was. Well played.
This demon, while giant, is unfortunately mere fodder for War the unstoppable dynamo
What were they thinking?
Lack of debris
You’d really think the apocalypse would have more trash. The world of Darksiders is oddly sparse, and even more curious is that Vigil first puts you in one of the worst environments. Most developers like to start on a strong point, but Darksiders looked terrible right at the start with simple burnt out car models and empty streets and developed into a brilliant postapocalyptic fantasy playground.
Boss patterns
I realize this game took a lot of cues from Zelda, but boss fights were one area where they might have considered real innovation. The bosses are visually impressive but boil down to pattern recognition. Only two of the 8 or 10 boss fights utilize the game’s combat system, and it’s no fluke that those are the most satisfying.
The boss fights could also have used some more epic orchestral soundtracks. Or at least use the Mortal Kombat theme song for every boss fight. That would have made this game of the year.
This thing on the right is War's chaos form. This thing on the left is a demon meeting the chaos form for the first time. $50 on the chaos form, I'll give 10-1 odds
Environment traversal
Vigil wanted to sell Darksiders as an open world game, but it’s not really open world. While there are convenient teleportation locations that speed up travel time significantly, they are too few and far between to make backtracking to a specific location to search for items anything other than a chore.
In addition, the minimap has a woefully small view range and makes frequently consulting the cumbersome map a necessity.
Confusing puzzles
Some of the Darksiders puzzles are great with elegant solutions. Some, on the other hand, aren’t intuitive and have few cues to clue you into what you’re supposed to do. In addition, some of the later puzzle sequences go on a little too long. That being said, many of the puzzles build on skills you’ve been taught previously in the game and give you a clear sense of progression.
These shortcomings of Darksiders are small and niggling, and for good reason: Darksiders is a high quality game. It is fun and just the right length. It has great set pieces and interesting environments. Its combat is fun and its ending is one of the finest in any game.
While Darksiders won’t have the impact of a classic Zelda game back when they were still innovative, it builds on and adds to the experience to the point where ex-nostalgia it is likely the best Zelda game of all time. Darksiders won’t be game of the year. I probably won’t play it again. But it’s a fun romp that is more than worth 12 or 14 hours of your time.
Also: chaos form. The defense rests.
