Darksiders or God Of War the comic

Darksiders is one of the first big release games of 2010.  I will be honest with you, I was hyped up for it.  I LOVE brutally violent hack and slash games where I can drown myself in my enemy’s blood.  I think I may have a problem. At any rate, yes, Darksiders was a game I was looking forward to.  My idea was that it’d be a pretty cool hack and slash game that could tide me over until my true love (God of War 3) returns.  However, Darksiders wasn’t the game I expected.

The plot line is very cookie cutter.  Big Bad horse man of war is stripped of all his powers and has to regain his powers while trying to clear his name of the crimes he committed of starting a war between Heaven and Hell.  By the opening prologue alone you already have figured out who is the real bad guy and every plot twist coming your way. Meh…

Sound wise the game is pretty average, which is the problem. It’s very, very average. It doesn’t push the envelope and use the full power of a next-gen system. The music is ok, some good hard rock/classical/epic pieces to fit with the setting of the game, but nothing too outstanding. Voice acting was decent at best. I did enjoy hearing my main man Mark Hamill voicing demons in this game. Though I guess he needed the money until the Arkham Asylum sequel rolls in.

Visually is where one the game started to plummet. Now THQ has a record, a rap sheet when it comes to game graphics (see Saints Row series). I was hoping maybe, you know, they changed this.  Maybe they would learn their lesson.  No, they didn’t.  While the graphics are pretty crisp and clear, there are still a good amount of graphical glitches and awkward camera angles. Though on a redeeming note, the art design and character design are effin’ AWESOME. The design is done by my all time favorite artist, Joe Madureira.  It literally looks like they took his drawings and brought them to life. Beautiful, I say!

Seriously bad ass artwork...but why such a subpar game?!

Now gameplay wise…ok…you guys remember when Family Guy came out, and people were all like: “Oh its just the Simpsons all over again.” Then they started doing stuff that pushed the envelope and totally separated themselves from the Simpsons, then everyone was all “Oh man, Family Guy is so fresh and new!” Yeah…it’s not like that with Darksiders. Darksiders is a good game gameplay wise, but you know what, God of War did it already. Killing enemies to gain points to upgrade weapons and buy attacks, brutal finishing moves on enemies, yeah God of War did that already. Darksiders did NOTHING to separate itself from God of War, it will forever be in the game’s giant shadow.

In conclusion, Darksiders is like dating the kind of hot younger sister of the super hot older sister. It’s fun to play, but you know the other will always be better. It’s a decent game for casual players of the hack and slash genre, but for hardcore players not so much. Its not a game you should totally avoid, but at least rent.