Crafted by newcomers Vigil Games and its founder, renowned comic book artist Joe ‘Uncanny X-Men’ Madureira, Darksiders is a 3D action-adventure game that borrows, very liberally, from a vast array of classic titles of all genres. Released at the same time as similar videogames such as Bayonetta and Dante’s Inferno, and with God Of War 3 and Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow on the way, is there enough to distinguish Darksiders from the pack? Or is it more a case of Dullsiders from Vigil Games on their maiden voyage?
The Seventh Seal has been broken. It’s the end of the world as we know it. The final battle between Heaven and Hell rages on Earth, but something is wrong. Summoned to bring a bit of order to proceedings, Horseman of the Apocalypse War discovers that his fellow horsemen are absent. Smelling a rat, War ploughs through the battlefield but gets his ass handed to him by the humongous demon Straga. Blamed for the end of days, War is stripped of his powers and sent to the mortal plane to track down the nefarious forces at work. Will the post-apocalyptic jockey reveal the truth behind his fall from grace and the destruction of mankind?
Most of the pre-match hype surrounding Darksiders revolved around its art style and the Book Of Revelations, Old Testament-inspired storyline. Madureira, or ‘Joe Mad’ to his fans, has gone for an aesthetic that largely panders to the Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer crowd, but it also borrows from Ridley Scott’s Legend, particularly in the satanic design of War’s enemy of his enemy, Samael. As for War, he receives the old musclebound warrior treatment. It’s pretty uninspiring stuff for anyone on the hunt for something cutting edge.
Call that a sword? This is a sword!
The enemies are even more generic. Hells’s armies are all cartoony. horned monsters or skeletal extras, possibly from Jason And The Argonauts. Meanwhile, Heaven’s angels look embarrassingly like Brian Blessed’s crew in Mike Hodge’s Flash Gordon movie. Which is normally no bad thing, but here it jars against the po-faced design of the other characters. Azrael, the angel of death, is an exception to the rule, looking suitably ethereal in his gown and giant halo.
Sadly, the same lack of originality that marks Darksiders’ bog-standard character design also seeps into the script, too. As far as revenge storylines go, this one’s pretty flat. Only the sequel-promising ending raised anything like the kind of dramatic pull one would expect from such an adventure. War, as you would probably expect, is a monotone, one-note hero and far too po-faced to care about for the 14 hours it will probably take you to complete the game.
The other characters are almost as forgettable, and it’s likely you’ve seen them in 50 other games. Shopkeeper Vulgrim is a typically wispy, camp and vacuous addition in the mold of Resident Evil 4’s retailer. Your warden, The Watcher, is a rasping idiot who performs a similar function to Vampire Hunter D’s symbiotic left-hand crossed with Transformers: The Movie’s Unicron. He also doubles-up as a guide when you’re stuck. What’s more disappointing is that Vulgrim and The Watcher are voiced by stalwarts Phil LaMarr, of Samurai Jack fame, and Star Wars’ Mark Hammill, respectively. Memories of Hammill’s great performance as The Joker in Batman: Arkham Asylum will become a distant memory. Commando’s Vernon Wells is one of the few bright spots as Samael, proving that he doesn’t need leathers, chainmail, or even a knife to put in a hearty, scenery-chewing performance.
Vernon Wells in Commando, with knife, leather and chainmail.
Having a flat storyline and unengaging characters doesn’t usually stop videogames from being successful, so what does Darksiders have in its favour? It might be short on original ideas, but it successfully integrates most of those it borrows. Whilst the game follows the classic Zelda/’Metrovania’ game design, it also finds time to add elements from God Of War, Ninja Gaiden, Portal, and there’s even an unsuccessful Panzer Dragoon-style, on-rails shooting section. The Portal-inspired puzzle sections of the penultimate chapter are a major highlight, proving that the team at Vigil Games are a talented bunch when it comes to dungeon design – dungeon level variety is certainly a strength of Darksiders’. Although seasoned gamers might take offence at the number of classic games ripped off, casual gamers will likely be more forgiving because these ideas are well-executed.
Jerky and sometimes unresponsive, the all to simple combat is another matter entirely. There are very few moves to execute and using the same attacks quickly grates. Although several weapons are available, they effectively use the same moves set, with little variety or necessity to mix it up, rendering some superfluous for the majority of the game. The crunches, clangs and boffs are quite satisfying, and there is a certain pleasure in dispatching enemies with finishing moves, but, after the 100th time, they too become rather repetitive. Competing in a field full of smart brawlers such as Bayonetta, the combat really lets the side down.
The boss battles fare no better. Nods to Dune and Shadow Of The Colossus in the sandworm match-up fail to paper over cracks in a disjointed and confusing scrap. War’s long-awaited rematch with Straga struggles to inspire and proves remarkably easy, although it does have the decency to make proper use of the Portal gameplay mechanic for defensive measures – a nice touch. The final showdown with The Destroyer attempts to bring together the fighting techniques learnt throughout the game, but defeating the so-called ‘Destroyer’ requires only two moves for effective combat.
The good old Havok physics engine, as used for Bioshock 2 and Dante’s Inferno, does a decent job, but the graphics look a little dated. Even though the engine creaks and splutters out slowdown and screen tearing on occasion, there’s never a great deal onscreen. Going back to Madureira’s character designs, the detailed characters never quite look right against the boring and barren backgrounds. The sound design is stronger, and the music is actually rather impressive. The dark and foreboding pieces in the latter half, reminiscent of Full Metal Jacket’s ominous score, conjure atmosphere where the graphics and script often fail.
Trudging around barren landscapes on two legs for 3/4 of the game is quite a chore. You may start avoiding fisticuffs through boredom rather than fear of death. Empty and bereft of interactive elements, Darksiders’ pseudo-sandbox world offers surprisingly little variety beyond the usual lava-land, water-land, sand-land, etc. Sometimes you’ll see something interesting in the distance, but you can’t actually get there – the game doesn’t always make its boundaries clear. Similarly, death isn’t always signposted as it should and several jumps unexpectedly resulted in War’s demise. Speaking of jumping, there is a slight delay in pushing the button to the character responding, so expect regular and frustrating restarts.
High Plains Drifter
The introduction of your equine pal, Ruin, is welcome, but too late in the game. Rarely will you need his horsey powers outside of relic collecting and a few combat sections because Vulgrim the Shopkeeper can teleport you from his shop locations to several key destinations, although that can be a ball ache in itself. Scaling the otherworldly stairs of Vulgrim’s spectral plane is quite novel at first, but after several jaunts I just wanted to teleport immediately.
All they asked was that we let you know you can get it from their website, right here.
Bottom Line
Despite some solid level design and rehashed gamplay ideas, Darksiders ultimately pales in comparison to it’s forebearers such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Ninja Gaiden. Rip-off or homage, the line is a blurry one. For fans of Lord Of The Rings, Dungeons & Dragons, Games Workshop and Joe Mad, Darksiders will have enough heavenly moments to appeal. For the rest of you, War might just be hell.
Excellent review, Graham!
Nice to see Vernon Wells is still gainfully employed these days…
February 22, 2010 at 00:30 OneMetal Team Member
Wow, I had actually hard good things about this game (rating-wise, at least), but now this makes me not want to play. I’ll probably rent it for kicks. Awesome review, and thanks for the heads up! At least now I can’t be surprised if I hate it. :)
February 23, 2010 at 07:25
I didn’t read any critical responses to the game until after the review. That it was so well-received really surprises me, although you can’t trust most videogames rags, in my opinion.
Games TM were on the money when they said “It’s an open world that’s not open, a Zelda game with no wit or brain power, and a God Of War clone without bite.”
Souless.
February 23, 2010 at 10:24 OneMetal Team Member
Yet another game that is assigned to the folder labelled “missed opportunity” I think. Seem odd that so much time energy and, lets be honest, money, could be put into something has so little soul. You can almost here the development meetings go “Its got a sword in it.. kids like swords right?”.
But a great review non-the less Mr Gough.
February 23, 2010 at 15:12 OneMetal Team Member
sadly, i feel when reviewing this game, the same was done as everyone else seems to do when reviewing every other game, just comparing it to other games, usually the bestselling titles in whichever genre it was labled as.
instead of perhaps actually examining it as its own. just like fps have suffered when pitted against goldeneye. which i loved but even if played today doesnt hold up. and those first impressions that such titles make can never be – usually – overcome, not even by sequels, which are like younger siblings being compared to the achievements of their older brothers. so imagine when a game from ANOTHER series gets pitted. if that were the case why not just get constant remakes?
i dont see that happening with music, for example. reflections on albums or songs, do mention similarities or influences/inspirations, but i dont ever see that bringing them down. it’snot like “oh such and such played that note better”, or even worse “first”. no, even better, we enjoy those little quirks, and praise them.
i’m not by any means saying originality is overrated – although it might be – i’m just saying that adaptation is as much an important part as originality is.
just take games for what they are, and enjoy them.
honestly i played this game with blank slate and loved it.
to me more than “just another GoW clone” it felt like a classic 90s adventure platformer, such as Demon’s Crest, but carried out in a modern perspective.
[i was gonna say more crap, but i think i made my point, and also i forgot. go me!]
April 28, 2012 at 23:18
@Josepher
Normally I would agree with the bulk of what you’ve said, but when a game is as cynically and explicitly ripped-off from other, better titles as Darksiders is, a reviewer has a duty to talk about it.
May 3, 2012 at 07:50