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This thread has been linked to the game 'Darksiders'.
War – What is it good for?
The 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse are so often seen as the bad guys that it comes as some surprise when Darksiders reveals War to be a simple agent, just doing his job. Unfortunately for War, his job is to oversee the Apocalypse when the seven seals are broken and Heaven and Hell collide. Even more unfortunate, it seems someone has been manipulating this law and War comes in only to find out that he’s been called early before the final seal is broken.
After being reprimanded by his bosses, The Charred Council, for apparently bringing about the end of the world against the rules, he pleads his innocence and is sent back to Earth, stripped of powers, to find the one responsible. Being the untrusting sort, the council send along one of their watchers to keep an eye on War and generally annoy him.
It’s the End Of the World As We Know It…
So begins what seems like another hack-n-slash adventure in the same vein as God Of War. But dig deeper and you’ll find that it has many more tricks up its sleeves. Weapon progression includes both power-ups and new weapons that can be bought alongside magic and powers. This almost-RPG style system lets you choose what weapon to take next and allows you to mix and match different elements once you’ve collected enough souls. The trading is done via a demon called Vulgrim who pops up at certain places in each game world. This means a fair bit of re-treding across areas if you want to collect enough souls for a new weapon, then back to where Vulgrim waits in order to trade them, but it adds another layer of strategy to the game.
In addition to this there are some great little puzzles that go one step further than the usual ‘find the key to open the door’ and some great combat arenas which feel a lot like the challenge rooms in Batman Arkham Asylum. All of these make Darksiders a far more rounded experience.
Devil’s in the Detail
Graphically, the game isn’t the best when compared to some of the big titles out this year but it does hold its own thanks to the environments and cleaver map creation that keeps the game interesting and gives the player a lot more freedom than a traditional hack-n-slash game. That said, some of the set pieces are beautiful and you’d be hard pressed to see another game about the end of the world that had so many colours.
It’s worth mentioning the presentation and voice acting during the game. If you think War’s guardian sounds eerily like The Joker then you’d be right. Mark Hamill provides the creepy voice to great effect. Elsewhere the characters all have the gravitas and ambience you’d expect from demons and angels and the cut-scenes blend in to the game itself perfectly.
Apocalyptic Times
However, once the game gives you a fair amount of power it does start to level off a bit. As with any other game in the genre it relies on you wanting to follow the story through and cope with hacking up the same bad guys over and over in varying patterns.
Luckily, the story is good enough that you’ll want to persevere during harder parts of the game, such as the aforementioned challenge rooms, to find out exactly what is going on in this Demon conspiracy. As you do, your powers will manifest and give you new ways to dispatch the ever growing legion of enemies that face you. With just the right balance of difficulty and progression you never feel like you are being punished when you die.
In The End
Darksiders is a surprising game, adding a much needed injection of originality to the genre and generally being a great romp through the End Of Days. It’s the most fun you’ll have in an Apocalypse!
8/10
The 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse are so often seen as the bad guys that it comes as some surprise when Darksiders reveals War to be a simple agent, just doing his job. Unfortunately for War, his job is to oversee the Apocalypse when the seven seals are broken and Heaven and Hell collide. Even more unfortunate, it seems someone has been manipulating this law and War comes in only to find out that he’s been called early before the final seal is broken.
After being reprimanded by his bosses, The Charred Council, for apparently bringing about the end of the world against the rules, he pleads his innocence and is sent back to Earth, stripped of powers, to find the one responsible. Being the untrusting sort, the council send along one of their watchers to keep an eye on War and generally annoy him.
It’s the End Of the World As We Know It…
So begins what seems like another hack-n-slash adventure in the same vein as God Of War. But dig deeper and you’ll find that it has many more tricks up its sleeves. Weapon progression includes both power-ups and new weapons that can be bought alongside magic and powers. This almost-RPG style system lets you choose what weapon to take next and allows you to mix and match different elements once you’ve collected enough souls. The trading is done via a demon called Vulgrim who pops up at certain places in each game world. This means a fair bit of re-treding across areas if you want to collect enough souls for a new weapon, then back to where Vulgrim waits in order to trade them, but it adds another layer of strategy to the game.
In addition to this there are some great little puzzles that go one step further than the usual ‘find the key to open the door’ and some great combat arenas which feel a lot like the challenge rooms in Batman Arkham Asylum. All of these make Darksiders a far more rounded experience.
Devil’s in the Detail
Graphically, the game isn’t the best when compared to some of the big titles out this year but it does hold its own thanks to the environments and cleaver map creation that keeps the game interesting and gives the player a lot more freedom than a traditional hack-n-slash game. That said, some of the set pieces are beautiful and you’d be hard pressed to see another game about the end of the world that had so many colours.
It’s worth mentioning the presentation and voice acting during the game. If you think War’s guardian sounds eerily like The Joker then you’d be right. Mark Hamill provides the creepy voice to great effect. Elsewhere the characters all have the gravitas and ambience you’d expect from demons and angels and the cut-scenes blend in to the game itself perfectly.
Apocalyptic Times
However, once the game gives you a fair amount of power it does start to level off a bit. As with any other game in the genre it relies on you wanting to follow the story through and cope with hacking up the same bad guys over and over in varying patterns.
Luckily, the story is good enough that you’ll want to persevere during harder parts of the game, such as the aforementioned challenge rooms, to find out exactly what is going on in this Demon conspiracy. As you do, your powers will manifest and give you new ways to dispatch the ever growing legion of enemies that face you. With just the right balance of difficulty and progression you never feel like you are being punished when you die.
In The End
Darksiders is a surprising game, adding a much needed injection of originality to the genre and generally being a great romp through the End Of Days. It’s the most fun you’ll have in an Apocalypse!
8/10
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War – What is it good for?
The 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse are so often seen as the bad guys that it comes as some surprise when Darksiders reveals War to be a simple agent, just doing his job. Unfortunately for War, his job is to oversee the Apocalypse when the seven seals are broken and Heaven and Hell collide. Even more unfortunate, it seems someone has been manipulating this law and War comes in only to find out that he’s been called early before the final seal is broken.
After being reprimanded by his bosses, The Charred Council, for apparently bringing about the end of the world against the rules, he pleads his innocence and is sent back to Earth, stripped of powers, to find the one responsible. Being the untrusting sort, the council send along one of their watchers to keep an eye on War and generally annoy him.
It’s the End Of the World As We Know It…
So begins what seems like another hack-n-slash adventure in the same vein as God Of War. But dig deeper and you’ll find that it has many more tricks up its sleeves. Weapon progression includes both power-ups and new weapons that can be bought alongside magic and powers. This almost-RPG style system lets you choose what weapon to take next and allows you to mix and match different elements once you’ve collected enough souls. The trading is done via a demon called Vulgrim who pops up at certain places in each game world. This means a fair bit of re-treding across areas if you want to collect enough souls for a new weapon, then back to where Vulgrim waits in order to trade them, but it adds another layer of strategy to the game.
In addition to this there are some great little puzzles that go one step further than the usual ‘find the key to open the door’ and some great combat arenas which feel a lot like the challenge rooms in Batman Arkham Asylum. All of these make Darksiders a far more rounded experience.
Devil’s in the Detail
Graphically, the game isn’t the best when compared to some of the big titles out this year but it does hold its own thanks to the environments and cleaver map creation that keeps the game interesting and gives the player a lot more freedom than a traditional hack-n-slash game. That said, some of the set pieces are beautiful and you’d be hard pressed to see another game about the end of the world that had so many colours.
It’s worth mentioning the presentation and voice acting during the game. If you think War’s guardian sounds eerily like The Joker then you’d be right. Mark Hamill provides the creepy voice to great effect. Elsewhere the characters all have the gravitas and ambience you’d expect from demons and angels and the cut-scenes blend in to the game itself perfectly.
Apocalyptic Times
However, once the game gives you a fair amount of power it does start to level off a bit. As with any other game in the genre it relies on you wanting to follow the story through and cope with hacking up the same bad guys over and over in varying patterns.
Luckily, the story is good enough that you’ll want to persevere during harder parts of the game, such as the aforementioned challenge rooms, to find out exactly what is going on in this Demon conspiracy. As you do, your powers will manifest and give you new ways to dispatch the ever growing legion of enemies that face you. With just the right balance of difficulty and progression you never feel like you are being punished when you die.
In The End
Darksiders is a surprising game, adding a much needed injection of originality to the genre and generally being a great romp through the End Of Days. It’s the most fun you’ll have in an Apocalypse!
8/10
The 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse are so often seen as the bad guys that it comes as some surprise when Darksiders reveals War to be a simple agent, just doing his job. Unfortunately for War, his job is to oversee the Apocalypse when the seven seals are broken and Heaven and Hell collide. Even more unfortunate, it seems someone has been manipulating this law and War comes in only to find out that he’s been called early before the final seal is broken.
After being reprimanded by his bosses, The Charred Council, for apparently bringing about the end of the world against the rules, he pleads his innocence and is sent back to Earth, stripped of powers, to find the one responsible. Being the untrusting sort, the council send along one of their watchers to keep an eye on War and generally annoy him.
It’s the End Of the World As We Know It…
So begins what seems like another hack-n-slash adventure in the same vein as God Of War. But dig deeper and you’ll find that it has many more tricks up its sleeves. Weapon progression includes both power-ups and new weapons that can be bought alongside magic and powers. This almost-RPG style system lets you choose what weapon to take next and allows you to mix and match different elements once you’ve collected enough souls. The trading is done via a demon called Vulgrim who pops up at certain places in each game world. This means a fair bit of re-treding across areas if you want to collect enough souls for a new weapon, then back to where Vulgrim waits in order to trade them, but it adds another layer of strategy to the game.
In addition to this there are some great little puzzles that go one step further than the usual ‘find the key to open the door’ and some great combat arenas which feel a lot like the challenge rooms in Batman Arkham Asylum. All of these make Darksiders a far more rounded experience.
Devil’s in the Detail
Graphically, the game isn’t the best when compared to some of the big titles out this year but it does hold its own thanks to the environments and cleaver map creation that keeps the game interesting and gives the player a lot more freedom than a traditional hack-n-slash game. That said, some of the set pieces are beautiful and you’d be hard pressed to see another game about the end of the world that had so many colours.
It’s worth mentioning the presentation and voice acting during the game. If you think War’s guardian sounds eerily like The Joker then you’d be right. Mark Hamill provides the creepy voice to great effect. Elsewhere the characters all have the gravitas and ambience you’d expect from demons and angels and the cut-scenes blend in to the game itself perfectly.
Apocalyptic Times
However, once the game gives you a fair amount of power it does start to level off a bit. As with any other game in the genre it relies on you wanting to follow the story through and cope with hacking up the same bad guys over and over in varying patterns.
Luckily, the story is good enough that you’ll want to persevere during harder parts of the game, such as the aforementioned challenge rooms, to find out exactly what is going on in this Demon conspiracy. As you do, your powers will manifest and give you new ways to dispatch the ever growing legion of enemies that face you. With just the right balance of difficulty and progression you never feel like you are being punished when you die.
In The End
Darksiders is a surprising game, adding a much needed injection of originality to the genre and generally being a great romp through the End Of Days. It’s the most fun you’ll have in an Apocalypse!
8/10