Darksiders as you no doubt have heard takes elements from other games including The Legend of Zelda and God of War. This isn't a bad thing, as the feel of the game is probably the closest thing 360 and PS3 players have to playing as the great warrior Link and is also a great game for Nintendo fans who have multiple consoles and want something Zelda-like to play. As War, one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, you will engage in battles with demons and angels as you uncover a plot that threatens the delicate balance and truce both groups have established. War is a pretty bad-ass character and has no problem dishing out pain to anyone who crosses his path.
The plot involves the idea that the horsemen are the warriors of an council who must ensure the truce between heaven and hell remains, but hey this is a game, so things about that truce go wrong and War is called to restore balance. The only problem is that War was the only Horsemen called, so from the beginning until the very end of the game, you must find out why that was. It's a pretty cool story, with interesting characters to encounter, and plenty of combat and puzzle solving along the way.
The comparisons to Zelda come into play with how you must solve the various puzzles in the game, a little demon that will talk to you about bosses, and some of the weapons you will acquire. You will gain a multitude of weapons and tools to use, and each will all come into play for puzzles and certain boss fights as well. Just found a new item in the game? Well keep it equipped because you're probably gonna need immediately upon finding it. There's a sword, a boomerang type of weapon, and a gun that shoots portal, like the Valve smash hit Portal. Even the colors of the portals are orange and blue. Yeah. It's not a total ripoff of Zelda or anything, but the gameplay will feel familiar to a lot of people, so not much innovation here.
The combat is pretty fun and similar to other action games like God of War and Devil May Cry, with many combos to unlock and weapons to level up, so you can vary up your tactics and switch out weapons depending on what you're fighting. I would say the game is about 80% action and 20% puzzles that when they come up on you, will be a welcome break, until you find out a few of them can be frustration.
Towards the end of the game of the is when you will find the hardest puzzles that will incorporate all the you have learned across the games' 15 hour adventure, so just take a breath, remember what you have used so far, and take your time on these frustrating little puzzles!
Darksiders overall is a great puzzle/action that will remind gamers of past games, but it does it all pretty well and is a great game to start of the 2010 lineup.
+ Great Action and puzzle solving that will fell familiar
+ War is a pretty interesting and bad ass character
+ Fun game to start off 2010
- Not much innovation
- Minor Graphical issues
How Does it Play?
A lot like Zelda and many great action games
How Long Does it Last?
It took me about 15 hours to complete on the hardest difficulty, which wasn't as hard as I though it would be. There seems to be some great replayability here though.
Should I Buy or Rent this game?
I would say Buy if you like great action adventure games, but Renting it for a week allowed me to experience almost all of the game except for a few missing achievements and unlockables I missed out on.
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