Darksiders (360/PS3)

[Renevent]

Just finished the game this morning...totally awesome game. If you're an older guy/gal and have fond memories of games like Zelda: Ocarina of Time then grab this game immediately.

Most people describe the game as a mix between Zelda:OOT and God of War...and it's a pretty accurate description. Combat is fast pace and visceral like the GoW games, but the meat of the game is much like Zelda which is running around a large world (not as big as Hyrule, though), finding secrets, collecting items, getting new equipment which opens new paths and options, and solving really neat dungeons and fighting bosses.

Combat is great, you get (eventually) 3 different main weapons, a few gadget that can be used in battle, 4 spells, and most of it is upgradeable. Your main weapons level up and you can purchase new moves for them. You also find socketable charms that grant the weapons power and abilities. Overall it's very smooth and even somewhat tactical...and there's nice touches like finishers that are pretty gruesome.

The adventuring is great. The game world is holds a lot of secrets and rewards you properly for taking your time and looking carefully. As I said it's not as big as Hyrule, nor is it as open (in most places)...but it does a great job regardless.

Where the game really shines is the dungeons, which are full of well designed puzzles. They follow the familiar formula of finding maps, legends, and of course a new item which will help you solve the dungeon (and of course kill the boss).

Overall Zelda: OOT is still a superior game, but Darksiders does a really excellent job of capturing the Zelda magic. I like the setting and atmosphere a lot too...it's bloody and dark...much cooler then Zelda's often silly and cute world.

Anyways, big thumbs up from me and I would recommend it to anyone interested in this type of game :D

[Dragonero]

I bought just this morning for xbox 360. Unfortunately this time I'm busy with work and not be able to play with. Next month, however, I'll start it for sure.
:)

[medierra]

Some of my former colleagues from ILE who are now at Vigil did a little work on this.

[Renevent]

Very cool, not sure what they were responsible for but the team at Vigil did a great job. The ending is awesome too...first time in a while I played a game with such a kick ass ending.

[Darktruth77]

I'm playing this too just started. can wait to go back to it this weekend.

[chris01]

yeaaa i finished maybe one of the best endings
add my on psn:Warrior77733;)

[climber]

Will have to check this out, but with Mass Effect 2 being released don't think I'll have time to fit it in much.

[Blarginator]

Finished it last week. It's an awesome game and it does remind me of the good old zelda formula. They did a great job with the combat system, the upgrades, the puzzles and of course the super ending. Looking forward to a sequel!

[chris01]

Finished it last week. It's an awesome game and it does remind me of the good old zelda formula. They did a great job with the combat system, the upgrades, the puzzles and of course the super ending. Looking forward to a sequel!

yeaa with this kind of ending its 10000% guarenteed that the will make a 2nd one hopefully the next one will have 4 play =) or even online

[Iconik]

I'm still playing TQ:IT and plan on playing it for awhile. The problem is...FFXIII comes out in a month. I want to play Darksiders pretty badly but there's just NO room! My backlog is retarded.

[climber]

I'm still playing TQ:IT and plan on playing it for awhile. The problem is...FFXIII comes out in a month. I want to play Darksiders pretty badly but there's just NO room! My backlog is retarded.

Whoever has been complaining about gaming and the lack of quality titles on the pc and consoles is so out of touch. my backlog is huge right now. Still have demon souls, batman AA, uncharted 2, torchlight, and a half dozen others just sitting around. Now with ME2, darksiders, and many others coming out soon as well I honestly don't have the time to get to all of them.

[Coridan]

This game is being released on PC next month! If you buy it on steam, you get TQ Gold as well. I'm definitely adding this to my "have to buy" list, which is getting a bit long.

[Mind Dragon]

I saw the game but the uninspiring screenshots gave me concern. If it is a good game, then I would encourage an update of the marketing.

The description is a bit funny too.

So, you are a Horseman of the Apocalypse, and somehow you are tricked by evil (no less) to prematurely end the world. Now you are accused of breaking laws. What is an apocalyptic horseman to do? Are there no good lawyers? I, War, can go down and fix things myself, really? Wow. Um, ok.

[ASYLUM101]

I saw the game but the uninspiring screenshots gave me concern. If it is a good game, then I would encourage an update of the marketing.

The description is a bit funny too.

So, you are a Horseman of the Apocalypse, and somehow you are tricked by evil (no less) to prematurely end the world. Now you are accused of breaking laws. What is an apocalyptic horseman to do? Are there no good lawyers? I, War, can go down and fix things myself, really? Wow. Um, ok.



LOL - this has to be the best analysis of the game.

Don't get me wrong, it looks like a fun game, but I always wondered that too. Like, wtf?

[Renevent]

The story in the game is quite good actually, and it's presented well with the cut-scenes.

Also not sure what's "uninspiring" about the screenshots (which ones?)...the game has really fantastic art calling them uninspired I think is a disservice the the talented artists who worked on the game.

*edit*

Oh also wanted to mention if you buy Darksiders on Direct2Drive you get Red Faction Guerrilla for free...steam is a better service but if you already have TQ it might be worth using D2D in this case.

[Mind Dragon]

The steam screenshots.

[Coridan]

Yeah I recommend Red Faction: Guerilla. It's a really good game for stress relief. Bad day at the office? Take down a building. Angry at a friend? Blow up a bridge. How can it get any better than that?

[Coridan]

Sorry for the double post, but about how long does this game take to complete, anyhow?

[Renevent]

I think it took me around 12-15 hours to complete, although I didn't find all the secrets/items in the game.

[Coridan]

Well I'm sold on that, then. I'll have to pick this up some time soon.

[ElitesamuraI26]

I'm gonna wait for the PC version and I hope my system can run it.

[Harlequin]

I gotta make a list of PS3 games I want to play.
When I hit 15 I will get myself a ps3.^^

(I am at like 7 now I think...)

[Kardiophylax]

I gotta make a list of PS3 games I want to play.
When I hit 15 I will get myself a ps3.^^

(I am at like 7 now I think...)

Yeah, but by the time you get up that high most of the games will have been released on PC except the ultra exclusive ones (like the God of War series).

[Mind Dragon]

Where is PixelJunk Shooter for the PC.

[Kardiophylax]

Where is PixelJunk Shooter for the PC.

I said "most". I could spend all night naming exclusive PC titles as well.

Getting back on topic, Darksiders looks like it would be quite fun to play, but with so many other releases I already want to pick up in the next month or two, it's just not got enough of what I'm looking for to push back any of my other purchases. I'm not usually a big fan of such oversized worlds with extra large protagonists wielding extra large swords, but the videos reviews I seen make combat look fun (if perhaps a bit too whiz-bang flashy at times).

Perhaps I'll pick it up during a Steam holiday sale. I think it's one I'd like to play at some point.

[Kardiophylax]

Pretty decent sale on this right now (for PC) at Direct2Drive. Buy there and register/download it in Steam, so no need to deal with them except for the sale.

$19.95
-20% off HOHOHO coupon code
=15.96

Even though I don't need another game right now... I'm still considering it for that price.

[shawnmck]

You should maybe also try Castlevania: Lord of Shadows (XB 360/ PS3)
Sounds a bit similar.

[Kardiophylax]

You should maybe also try Castlevania: Lord of Shadows (XB 360/ PS3)
Sounds a bit similar.

I only have a Wii and a PC at the moment. I'm not likely to buy a 360 or PS3 at any point. I'll probably hop on-board when one of whatever the next gen's systems will be.

[Kardiophylax]

I've been playing this game the last few days after picking it up for $10 on Steam the other day. I am going to have to eat my words and say that the graphic style is actually spot on for this game. I've been having a lot of fun playing this game and am looking forward to progressing even further in it.

Thanks for the recommendation nearly a year ago, Renevent. :)

[Harlequin]

Yeah, but by the time you get up that high most of the games will have been released on PC except the ultra exclusive ones (like the God of War series).

Actually almost all games I am interested in (e.g.: Team ICO Collection!) wont come out for PC so soon and maybe never.

[Josho]

I've been playing this game the last few days after picking it up for $10 on Steam the other day. I am going to have to eat my words and say that the graphic style is actually spot on for this game. I've been having a lot of fun playing this game and am looking forward to progressing even further in it.

Thanks for the recommendation nearly a year ago, Renevent. :)

The boss fight cutscenes are incredibly satisfying. There are a lot of moments in that game which are just so much fun to go through. If I were to fault it, I would say the story kinda falls apart a bit. But I think the ending is awesome and it wraps it all up nicely. Basically, don't get too concerned if you are unable to follow the story all the way.

For a new company, doing a brand new IP, Vigil deserve a lot of kudos for the product they put out.

[Kardiophylax]

The keyboard controls are somewhat frustrating, that's about the only complaint I have right now. The PC port of this game is very barebones. Having to hit CAPS LOCK and a number key, while dodging attacks, all on the same hand, is a bit much for me. Thankfully I switched it to TAB + number and activate stoneskin before the fight and I'm good to go. I'm playing on Apocalyptic mode and I just downed the Griever. I'm half way or so I guess?

One other complaint and an annoyance: Last night the sound effects died on me after awhile. They just stopped working completely. Hopefully they will return today. Also, ALT-TAB and this game do not get along. It crashes nearly every time.

Considering my complaints are all either PC controls or PC port based, I'm really enjoying the actual game. I don't play a lot of these types of games, but the story behind it and having to fight both heaven and hell is pretty interesting to me.

[Josho]

Oh I see.

The PC port is actually flawless if using a controller which is what I did. Actually, I lie, the port could do with some advanced graphics options, but I'm running on a laptop screen and never had any problems.

And yeah, after the Griever, you are about probably a bit over a third of the way through the game.

[REDASSBABOON]

Oh I see.

The PC port is actually flawless if using a controller which is what I did. Actually, I lie, the port could do with some advanced graphics options, but I'm running on a laptop screen and never had any problems.

And yeah, after the Griever, you are about probably a bit over a third of the way through the game.

Im playin this game right now, and its beast, but is it better to play it with keyboard or a controller, becauz keyboard to me seems a bit off

[yerkyerk]

So, I finished Darksiders on the PC. I gotta say, it was an awesome experience.

I loved the animations, War's action moves were awesome. This, to me, was the core of the game. Hacking enemies to dust in style. And the finishing moves were really well done.

The story was surprisingly good. It unfolded a lot better than I had imagined and it didn't feel like the story had been cut short (a feeling I get more often when playing games these days). The loose ends are tied together well before the end. It's quite epic.

The setting and artwork were very well done. Sometimes the areas felt a bit empty, but I guess that's due to it being a console game. I think PC exclusive games tend to have a lot more detailed environments. It still looked pretty good though.

There were some downsides as well. There was too much travelling. War moves slow. Really, really slow and the areas he traverses are quite large. The teleport system is lame, as instead of insta teleporting you, you have to run through some kind of shadow dimension. While the dimension looks cool and I have no problem running through it once or twice, it's rather pointless to do it a dozen times, as there's no goal and no challenge in running through it. There are also way too many lame puzzles. I want to hack'n slash monsters to dust, not solve the same, already extensive portal puzzle 3(!) times. I guess this would be a pre for some players though. I don't think the game has any real replayability though. You finish it and that's it. No incentive to continue, even though you got a fully decked out warrior. That's a bit of a shame really, as the gameplay is pretty good.

Some bosses were extremely hard, even on Normal difficulty (I had quite a lot of problems with Tiamat, for example). Mostly, the difficulty seemed spot on though. And it was well playable with a keyboard. The biggest problem was to select Wrath skills, whoever thought that keeping CAPS LOCK pressed while activating Wrath skills was a good idea wasn't thinking straight. Also, the keyboard controls could have been smoothened out. Whereas in a console it'd be normal to limit the number of utility weapons you can switch to, there's no reason to limit them for the PC. Now you have to switch to the inventory each time you need to acces another utility weapon besides the three you got equipped. If people are using a keyboard, give them the full advantage of it...

Another annoying thing was the inability to save. Revisiting the same area over and over again just because you can't get past a small segment is really annoying. Looking at in-game cutscenes everytime you fail a bossfight is annoying as well. And well, there were quicktime events. They suck. I've seen worse implementations, but quicktime events don't belong in games, imho.

Not sure if this counts as a con, but Darksiders rips off a whole bunch of games, most notably God of War (never played that though), but also Portal (I never really liked Portal, I'm probably the only one) and apparantly a lot from Zelda.

Also, I had a few bugs; a few times the game lagged shortly and a few times I got an error and the game quit. I assume the latter happened because I was alt+tabbing a bunch. Once I got a weird sound bug. Bugs didn't happen often enough to be a real gamebreaker, just a minor nuisance.

Anyway, awesome game, it has its flaws, but those can be easily overlooked. I don't want to give any spoilers, but you'll see some pretty epic stuff if you play through it. Imho, it's definetely worth getting, but I guess it all depends on taste.

Well, that's my 2cents.

[Renevent]

Glad you enjoyed it, sure you know I am a pretty big fan of the game myself :p

I wouldn't really call it a "rip" though...I think the game experience stands out on it's own and even if it has taken many things from other games, looking at the game as a whole I think they made it their own. Kinda similar to TQ and Diablo I guess, except Darksiders uses more than one genre instead of TQ using just the one hehe.

I do agree with the movement criticism though...and I'll even add to it. One things I thought they really didn't implement well is the horse. When you first get it yeah it's freakin' awesome...the combat on it is fun and the horse itself is badass like War. However, unlike getting the horse in Zelda: OOT I don't think it really helped with traveling around the world. Felt more like there was only a few areas worth using it (mainly the desert) and other than that it wasn't useful riding him around. Either that, or in many cases you couldn't due to restrictions.

Maybe it was due to the way the world was designed in Darksiders, or maybe it was intentional....either way I think they missed a cool opportunity there.

Oh, and the puzzles were one of the highlights of the game for me personally. Big fan of Zelda games so probably why :D

[Josho]

There were some downsides as well. There was too much travelling. War moves slow. Really, really slow and the areas he traverses are quite large. The teleport system is lame, as instead of insta teleporting you, you have to run through some kind of shadow dimension. While the dimension looks cool and I have no problem running through it once or twice, it's rather pointless to do it a dozen times, as there's no goal and no challenge in running through it. There are also way too many lame puzzles. I want to hack'n slash monsters to dust, not solve the same, already extensive portal puzzle 3(!) times. I guess this would be a pre for some players though. I don't think the game has any real replayability though. You finish it and that's it. No incentive to continue, even though you got a fully decked out warrior. That's a bit of a shame really, as the gameplay is pretty good.

Completely true.

One thing you may not have picked up on though was in the shadow dimension, after getting the mask, it will highlight a different path on one particular shadow path to get an extra wrath or health level thingo. But still not reall worth it.

Also, the only real replayability comes with carrying over the complete Abyssal armour into another run through. Again, it isn't really worth it, though I can say the game is much more easier with it.

The ending to Darksiders though was excellent I thought. While the story did come apart a bit in the middle with its twists, it certainly did pull it back nicely at the end.

[yerkyerk]

Completely true.

One thing you may not have picked up on though was in the shadow dimension, after getting the mask, it will highlight a different path on one particular shadow path to get an extra wrath or health level thingo. But still not reall worth it.

Also, the only real replayability comes with carrying over the complete Abyssal armour into another run through. Again, it isn't really worth it, though I can say the game is much more easier with it.

The ending to Darksiders though was excellent I thought. While the story did come apart a bit in the middle with its twists, it certainly did pull it back nicely at the end.

I actually finished the game with the abyssal armor (found 9 pieces myself, had to use the big wide web for the 10th piece), but somehow it didn't get recorded. I started a new game on Apocalypse to see if it worked and now I lost my savegame. Falling back to about where I got the horse -.-

And yea, the horse could've made some difference in travelling, but it didn't really fit in most areas. Still, it's really an epic game. I never played God of War though, so I don't know how much it rips off. Just saw a bunch of gameplay footage (which was almost as satisfying as actually playing the game, felt like a little kid watching through the windows of a toystore, but having no money to buy anything).

[Kardiophylax]

Glad to see your thoughts on this. I agree with most of them, especially regarding caps lock + number wrath powers. That's why I stuck with stoneskin. It's the only one you can really activate before the battle gets heated, and trying to hit those two keys in a small window of time while fighting was just too difficult otherwise. Also, stoneskin fully leveled up looks pretty awesome. Volcanic War rocks.

I also thought the dimensional travel thing should have been an event you did once or twice. After that it should have just warped you instantly, since, as you said, there was no real challenge to it anyway. I wonder if they primarily used that as an opportunity (aka distraction) to start preloading the new zones.

I disagree on the quicktime events. I don't really recall any of those. Sure, occasionally I had to press "E" if I wanted to execute an enemy or boss, but it was hardly a strain to press it in-time. In fact, several of the bosses would sit there almost indefinitely until you pressed it. I thought QTE was spot on in this game. Compared to Red Steel 2 (Terrible, instant death Dragon's Lair styled lightning fast QTE) and Mad World 2 (Also lightning fast, but at least you only took damage and didn't die instantly), I really liked their implementation of it.

I still need to finish the game though. I got sidetracked, so I am still in the process of solving puzzles in the big tower with the portal creator.

[yerkyerk]

Well, the ending bugged out twice for me. After beating the game, I don't get the proper achievements and when I start a new game, I can't choose the Abyssal armor. When I choose to redo the final battle though, it shows me the final scene and than just goes to credits.

Kinda sucks... I want my abyssal armor from the start!

[Harlequin]

Yesterday I started Darksiders for PC and so far it is a lot of fun for me.

I was a bit afraid of it being a console-port but it is surprisingly well done. In that regard I have to completely agree with what yerkyerk wrote. The Capslock+number is weird because I think the numbers aren't really used alone.
(Correction: They are used to switch secondary weapons that you put in that tiny menue onscreen, 4 slots)

I just finished Tiamat and the game became even more fun with the Chaos-Form, especially that one challenge where you had to kill a set amount of enemies while in that form.

The fast-travel is weird, I was hoping that you only have to walk through those worlds once but seeing what yerk wrote...meh. Still shorter than going the full way.

Savespots: I am personally a fan of pre-set save-spots final-fantasy style. This comes kinda close and so far they appeared to be fair.
Yerk you can cancel most cutscenes with mouse-click.^^

So far I like it, looks like I am getting Darksiders 2 as well.

[Harlequin]

Okay looks like my 15-hour savegame is ruined. I glitched through a beholder-wall (the ones you open with keys) and can't get back. Since I didnt create additional saves or anything (why would I) I have no way of getting out of there...