The Legend of God Reaver May Cry if The Cake is a Lie (Darksiders)

It will be my eternal regret that I nearly passed on Darksiders. First it was the THQ logo. Then it was the lack of advertising. Then it was the reviewers. Now that I've played it, though, Darksiders is easily the best games I've played since Batman. Like I did with Dante, I will do it the courtesy of omitting any comparisons to that other game reviewers can't seem to get enough of comparing it to, pretentious as that sounds, if only because at this point that's a like kicking Vigil games when they're down. Do you really think they didn't know that other guy has a hood and hookshot, guys?

So what you need to know is this, Darksiders is a hack and slash action adventure (and you can actually call it adventure, thank god) full of violence and Gothic imagery. The premise was cooked up by Joe Madureira, and even though it has nothing to do with Battle Chasers, the same style permeates the game. Everything is big and exaggerated and jagged and dark, there's no sense of haste or "stylish" to it at all. Just a big guy with a big sword and a big chip on his shoulder. The entire setting is very deliberate and obvious, but compared to all the wishy washy mood swingy nonsense that has cluttered up the industry as of late, its nice to have a world of people you can legitimately get behind or hate.

The story is about War (and only War), one of The Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse. At some point, The Apocalypse happens but only War shows up. Despite his efforts (exactly what he was supposed to do is never really clarified) Hell beats Heaven and humanity gets wiped out. Now The Horsemen are charged with maintaining the balance, so the fact that War was on scene and the balance went kablooey looks real bad for him, specially considering his co-riders aren't answering their phones. So, a hundred years of healing later, War gets a chance to go back to an earth ravaged by hot demon on angel action and figure out just what went wrong, with extreme prejudice. He's got a babysitter holding his leash, and he'll need to run a few favors for the angels and demons along the way, but sooner or later he'll get there. The good news is you get to drive.

Now War is supposed to be one of the biggest bad asses in documented lore, so the fact that you start with nothing but a basic combo and an area effect spell is an early stumbling block. You do get some nifty (QTE-less, thank god) finishing moves to play with but despite a launcher and some aerial options, combat is a pretty bland affair in the beginning. There IS a wealth of stuff to buy even from the first opportunity to do so, but you'll be broke and bored for a while before and after, a factor only frustrated if you don't buy your secondary weapon right off the bat. Thankfully, once the game opens up and you're making currency souls pretty steadily the pace picks up. There's still a lot of room to make poor choices and hate your "build", but the prices and gains are measured such that you're never too far from heading back to ole' Vulgrim for more.

The meat of the game is housed in the five or six dungeons full of enemies and puzzles you'll need to familiarize yourself with as War climbs, kills, and collects his way to justice. Each one is decked out with a shiny new toy, a mini boss or two, and then a big boss encounter that requires more use of said new toy than raw brawn. In-between the dungeons you'll be traipsing about an Overworld-like arrangement of smaller connecting zones that present you with plenty of combat practice and places to use your acquired toys in the hunt for additional power ups. You'll occasionally bump into a surprise boss fight or some other action event in the open areas too, but mostly its just a lot of satisfactory slash and traveling. Best of all, you're never locked out of any of it, even up to the last boss fight, save the limitations of the items in your inventory. You can always go anywhere and do anything you already did, in case you missed something or forgot something. The only thing its really missing in that regard is a Shadow of the Colossus style "Reminiscence" for old boss battles.

What does suck? Well, there's the obligatory end of game busy work treasure hunt. Tiny carrots dangled in front of you throughout the entire game. You can see them, even touch some of them, but you can't have them. Not until the end of the game when they make you go back and get them. Then there's the horse, Ruin. War is constantly referred to as The Horseman and Rider of the Red Horse. But where is his horse for the first 60% of the game? He's not there in the opening before War gets stripped of his powers, and when you do find Ruin, somebody else is riding him. Not somebody important, just a nobody that you promptly dispatch and then forget about. Even once you "have" Ruin, the places you're allowed to ride are limited, so did they just think "moving quickly" would hinder the first half of game? Also, the game is too easy. Figuring out some of the bosses and puzzles will take you a minute, but you are going to sleepwalk 90% of the combat without a second thought. Committing to anything other than basic sword combos often makes life more difficult, so all your toys and bought abilities are pretty superfluous. There is an Apocalyptic difficulty that tunes the numbers to a place where the world is almost dangerous, but even then you just block and dodge more, no real strategy change.

Finally, I had a big problem with War's final power up; the Mask of Shadows. When active, the mask makes the screen looks a little weird and you can see "hidden objects" like treasure chests and grapple points, but you can't open ordinary treasure chests anymore. You can still see them, you just can't open them. Despite the fact that you can still slay monsters, platform, and otherwise interact with the environment (wield cars, smash statues,etc) as necessary. What reason does this serve except to annoy the player? Maybe they thought just making a bunch of stuff appear on the maps at the end was too stupid (and it is), maybe they thought players wouldn't want a permanent yellow haze on their screen (they don't), maybe they just thought Arkham Asylum's "Detective Vision" was a good idea (it wasn't). Maybe if there were enemies more or less vulnerable in Mask of Shadows mode, puzzles that require you to switch back and forth, or at least different moves available, it would be on, but all it really accomplishes is enabling the aforementioned obnoxious treasure hunt.

Still, those are all very niggling complaints in a very solid game whose sins are just as borrowed as its features. Sure, you can legitimately knock it for originality, what with the boomerang and portal gun, but they have done a far better job of borrowing to create a new experience than just ape-ing other formulas and calling it original. Of course, it is entirely possible that I am just being a huge apologist because it reminds me of the Next Gen Legacy of Kain game we are all still desperately waiting to happen, but that's not its only charm. Needless cliffhanger aside, It manages to traverse its entire narrative without tripping over confused plot twisted feet (Bad guys actually get killed when you kill them! Imagine that, Metal Gear!), its not an exercise in boredom or futility achievement-wise and it certainly doesn't hurt to have another functional 3d member of the action-ADVENTURE game family.

Kudos, Vigil.
-F.

Sam the Fisher...Man.

Ahhhhhh the original stealth shooter franchise is back.After the odd story arc of Splinter Cell:Double Agent; everyone's favorite shadow bound marksman is back. Now I could write a VERY long diatribe about what I love and hate about this game, but I'll keep it fairly succinct for both our sakes. I'll address the game play first, story second.

Firstly the game does NOT punish you as bad for being detected and seems to actually let you try to kill/sneak/distract your way back into the shadows and this makes the game MUCH more accessible to the more casual gamer and first time Splinter Cell players. Now please don't misread that last sentence, if you think you are god's gift to video games, jack the difficulty up and you'll be just as frustrated as ever. Its a hell of a lot better then "the guard heard you fart, game over"

There is a pretty good selection of weapons even if you didn't pre-order the game (dont get me started) and you earn what can only be described as "skill points" which you use to upgrade the weapons. Extended magazines, scopes, different stocks, match grade ammo,etc but only 3 upgrades per gun and the upgrade options are pre-determined, ie no scopes on pistols. In addition to the guns you get a small selection of gadgets, from a personal EMP to frag grenades which also can be upgraded; usually its the effective radius that is upgraded.

Earning said skills points is hit or miss, some challenges are far too easy while others are far too difficult. For the most part you can earn enough to upgrade the guns you use most, the rest is just needed for some achievements. Once you get the FiveSe7en pistol its doubtful you'll use any other pistol, so other then the aforementioned achievement, there really is no need to upgrade any other pistol.

My only MAJOR gripe with the game play is as the levels progress the game it self seems to devolve from a stealth oriented game to more of a run of the mill 3rd person shooter. Sam Fisher deserves better then that. There are certain parts of the game where there is no option to sneak by, you must expose yourself (killing an enemy or otherwise) just to get by. When you get to the big red gas truck you'll understand.

Lastly, the story. I will keep this really brief as to avoid any spoilers. The beginning of the story really grabs you and pulls you in, but as you keep going it gets more and more confusing. I'm not a huge fan of "Tarantino-ing" storylines so maybe when all the flashbacks align I'll be on board, but since I haven't finished the game yet I'm still a little lost.

As of this moment, none of my friends have the game, so I cant comment on multi-player. And no, I have no faith in playing with strangers on this type of game.

The game is a solid 9.1 out of 10

Quick tip for you US gamers with cell phones , text the word weapon to 44144 and you'll get a free bonus weapon. No I wont spoil the surprise, and you are welcome.


~Malenko