ZiG's Darksiders Review

Clif hates Joe Madureira, so I get the Darksiders review.
You'll have to ask Clif why this is so, because to hear him tell it is, as always, enthralling.

Darksiders is the first release from new developer Vigil Games, published by THQ. It is the story of War, first Horseman of the Apocalypse and patsy for the early end of creation. Blamed for kick-starting Armageddon before its time, War is given a single chance at redemption. He can go to Earth (after a century long time-out) and find exactly who is responsible and bring them to justice.

Derivation? Homage?

Both, sure. It doesn't matter how you say it, it's right. Darksiders borrows (steals, fine) from many that have come before it.

The overworld/dungeon structure is lifted straight from The Legend of Zelda. New weapons/tools are acquired mid-dungeon, then become the tool needed to conquer the dungeon's boss. Upon returning to the overworld, the new tool becomes the key to open the next dungeon, as well as collect the many chests and treasures hidden in the world.

Combat is strangely simple and complex at the same time. Sword combinations are handled exclusively with the X button (or Square), with modifications made by variations of timing, lock-on, or changes in direction. The complication lies in the lock-on and dodge buttons. Numerous times in combat, you'll find yourself holding the left trigger to lock on to the largest threat in the room (who's usually both sufficiently large and threatening), while also hovering extremely close to the right bumper to dodge frequently, all the while mixing it up with dash attacks and uppercut slashes and mixing it up with your scythe on the Y button. There are a lot of buttons used at the same time in this game. It's one of those things where, as long as you're engrossed in combat, it's second nature; but the second you stop to think about it, you're going to screw it up.

So here's what I loved:

I'm a voiceover fiend. Nothing gets me into a game more than a great voice track. This game nails it. War himself is voiced by Liam O'Brien, who is apparently well known from every anime ever. He does a great job conveying the anger and weariness of War. He sounds threatening and powerful, and some lines he delivers gave me chills (especially the game's last line of spoken dialogue).
Mark Hamill plays the ever-present Watcher, a spectre chained to War's soul and ready to break him at the slightest disobedience. This is a great character, and Mark plays him perfectly. The vocalization is very reminiscent of The Joker, but in a good way. The character really needed that sadistic, almost seductive lilt of that voice.
All the other performances are great, with standouts in the Demon Samael and a supporting character named Ulthaine. The voice acting is top notch and stands up to some of the biggest budget triple A titles available.

This game has color!
Post-apocalyptic games are grey and brown, right? Wrong. Darksiders features wildly differing locales ranging from destroyed cityscapes, vibrant forests, and wind-swept deserts. The coloring for these environments is vibrant and alive. Enemies pop against the backgrounds and distinguish themselves in the battles. The game is beautiful, and I'm pretty sure the character model for War has more colors than Fallout's entire palette.

Here's what I didn't love as much:

Get to it, already!
The first two thirds of the game are peppered sparsely with hints of story, most of it in snippets between clearing the dungeons of their bosses. But the final third pours the lion's share of the story on you all at once. I feel like the pacing could have been handled better; the conspiracy twists mean much more if they don't all happen within a half hour of each other. Also, for a game with as much powerful backstory as Darksiders has (hopefully explored in sequels and parallel media), you would expect to see more of it. I feel like there's so much still unsaid at the end. Things that should have been said.

Awesome Powerups! Nothing to use them on!
There's a lot of stuff to find in this game. There are numerous weapon enhancements to be found, including four "Legendary" enhancements. These four are well hidden, and will take a lot of exploration to find. Problem is, your first real chance to hunt them all down comes right before endgame. The most awesome of the powerups is split among ten chests hidden throughout the world (and beyond), and is really something to see. But by the time you get it, the ONLY thing left to do is fight the final boss and watch the credits. I don't really know how they would have done this any different, but there's no real incentive to comb through the world to find everything if there's nothing to use it on. I don't know how a new game + would have worked on Darksiders, but I bet it would've been fun.

If you like Zelda, if you like God of War, if you like Devil May Cry or Soul Reaver or even Rygar, you should take a crack at Darksiders. It's a good story wrapped in a great game. The game is charming and immersive and challenging and rewarding. For the first offering of the new year, I was not disappointed.

Darksiders was developed by Vigil Games and Published by THQ.
Played the Xbox360 version to completion and stuck around to polish off most collections. Aside from some screen tearing issues on Xbox, no significant differences between Xbox360 and PS3 versions.