Darksiders (PS3) Final Review

THQ finds itself in an interesting position these days. As one of the top video game publishers today, THQ has positioned itself in the top three, alongside Activision and EA. In 2006, THQ (Toy Headquarters) acquired Vigil Games, which was formed by comic book artist Joe “Mad” Madureira and David Adams, an American video game designer. But the world wouldn’t see any products from Vigil Games until early 2010, when Darksiders: Wrath of War debuted with mixed reviews and fanfare.

Much of the celebration over Darksiders early on was, in part, due to the creative direction by famous comic book artist Joe Madureira. I had to do some Googling and Wikipedia searches to find more info about Joe, and was astonished that he worked on one of my favorite comic book series of all time: Age of Apocalypse (Uncanny X-Men, 1994). This alone would pique my interest above and beyond the simple fact that Darksiders was to be an action/adventure title, my favorite genre in video games today. As it turned out, Darksiders launched with a mixed bag of criticism and praise. I’m in the latter camp, and despite the glaring controversies surrounding the game’ influences – which I will cover in detail – I had a blast with Darksiders and can’t wait for the sequel. Let’s dive right into the final review and see how Darksiders rises above many games in this genre.

PRESENTATION

I’m going to try something new with my categories to streamline the reviews I write (much to your benefit, I assure you). Presentation should include graphics and sound,because it’s the graphics and sound that ultimately “present” the game universe to you. Don’t worry, I’ll still wax eloquent about graphics, the engines, and the cool tech gadgetry that makes us all sputter with excitement, but it will be included in this category instead of its own.

I mentioned Joe Madureira was creative director on Darksiders, right? Even if you’re not a comic book fan or familiar with Joe’s work, you should revel in the world he created for War, our protagonist in the game. If you pre-ordered the game through a certain retail outlet, you scored a copy of the Darksiders graphic novel/art book, which proved to be a cool gift for no additional cost. The pages are rife with concept art for the enemies, the Four Horsemen (even though one is female and you don’t actually play the other three in the game), environments, and items/weapons, each beautifully penciled and colored to exacting detail. If you think this level of design is reserved for the art book, you couldn’t be more wrong. The game is stunning in its design, artistically speaking. The weapons are huge – a shout-out to the Eastern style of anime art – and so are the characters with their caricature-esque features and augmented body parts…I dig it. It’s a far cry from the realistic nature present in modern fantasy titles today and a breath of fresh air in the realm of artistic expression. Joe and company created a living, breathing comic book,and the artistic detail is a testament to this level of professionalism and creativity.

The other side of this coin isn’t so pretty…let’s talk about the graphics. I couldn’t find an actual reference to the engine employed in Darksiders, but if I had to compare it to anything, it’s very Unreal-esque, which is a bittersweet compliment. Why? The Unreal engine is showing its age – think Bioshock 2 – and with games like Uncharted 2, Metal Gear Solid 4, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the envelope is officially pushed further for graphical technology. Companies using old tech are going to take more flack, especially when such a grand artistic vision is limited ONLY by the inadequacies of the graphic power plant.

On the PS3, the reported screen-tearing and frame-rate issues aren’t as problematic as on the 360. I believe there’s a patch in the works to address this, but that’s an unconfirmed rumor at best. My experience with the PS3 version has been fantastic in that regard. There is some screen-tearing and frame-rate issues present, but nothing so bad that it affects the gameplay experience. I noticed the problems more in the Ashlands, which is gargantuan…I mean, it’s huge. If you want the Dark Rider trophy/achievement, this is the place to get it. I did some in-game measuring between landmarks and there are literally miles between some points. What I find frustrating is that the graphic engine can’t quite keep up with such a grand design scope. Perhaps Darksiders 2 will get a graphical overhaul, and it will be a welcome addition. Again, it’s not a show-stopper whatsoever, but it’s a noticeable annoyance at times. Put it this way, by way of comparison, it’s not nearly as bad as Dragon Age: Origins on PS3.

The camera was the most frustrating part of the game for me. With a world this open, it amazes me that camera problems still exist, especially when a “Z-targeting” system a la Zelda is used. Targeting is easy enough and works well most of the time, but in the claustrophobic confines of caves and dungeons, the camera falls apart frequently. It’s a glitch that, again, I could overlook and compensate for, but it’s annoying that something wasn’t done about it during development. When the White Knight mashes you against the wall and the camera goes berserk trying to figure out where to go, it can get you killed right quick.

As I stated in my First Impression review, the sound quality is just amazing. Regarding presentation, the voice-acting drew me into the experience unlike anything else, including the art style. War’s voice is a bit heavy-handed and it sounds like he’s working on moving his bowels most of the time, but in general the quality and talent is top notch. One stand-out performance belongs to the incredible Mark Hamill, the voice of Watcher, your annoying and unhelpful sidekick and leash of the Council (more in the story section). Excellent work, Mark, as always! In game sound effects are placed exactly where they should be and fit the situation at all times.

Overall, the presentation of Darksiders is impressive, hindered only by the graphics engine used. But being that this is Vigil Games’ very first game credit after being acquired in 2006 by THQ, I’d say this is one hell of a first effort (pun intended).

SCORE: 9.2/10

STORY AND CHARACTERS

War is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse according to religious lore scored from the book of Revelations (the Bible). You play as War from beginning to end, not surprisingly. The thrust of the story is that War is blamed for starting the Apocalypse prematurely, resulting in his damnation and downfall (think Lucifer and the fallen angels). But it’s not just the Council who’s pissed at War; Heaven and Hell are equally upset because Earth was the third and final realm maintaining balance in the never-ending struggle to retain control for the Council. Because War unleashed Hell on Earth, so to speak, he’s the target of angel and demon alike! He’s everyone’s enemy, a message that isn’t lost to me at all in modern symbolism – War being hated by all? Don’t we see that theme on the news almost daily? Regardless, it’s an interesting concept, but nothing truly groundbreaking or compelling. Anti-hero fights angels and demons, and is caught in a web of lies and deceit at the hands of a few characters. Still, the tale does a good job of pulling you in, and it’s not a bad story; it’s just nothing new or fresh. You fight as War to redeem yourself and take revenge on those who besmirched your “good” name.

Being that the last game I reviewed – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – had next to no coherent story or structure or flow or interesting hooks, Darksiders is a story dream come true. But, comparing it to other games in the same genre leaves it a bit stale and uninspired. It pains me to be this honest, because I adore Darksiders for what it is, but that’s the problem. Darksiders has no identity of its own. In other words, it tries to be other games that are, quite honestly, much better. As you’ve undoubtedly read elsewhere, this game has been compared most to God of War and Zelda, and for damn good reasons. The combat is Kratos with a huge sword instead of twin chained blades…oh wait, Kratos does get a sword, doesn’t he? Oh, well, so much for that difference. But it doesn’t end there. Context sensitivity is a paramount feature in the God of War franchise, and Darksiders tries it with not as much success. In God of War, players are forced to time and link many button presses to take down the larger foes. In Darksiders, big or small, difficult or easy, any context-sensitive button requirement is a single button…and it’s always the circle (PS3). Sure, it takes more damage to get this finisher indicator on tougher baddies, but it’s always a single, unchanging press. To make matters worse, each enemy has only one finishing animation. They’re done well, but it gets soooooooo booooorrrrrrriinnnngggg watching War finish the enemies the same way over and over again. I mention this in the Story and Characters section because this drew me out of the head-space of War and into a mindless finger-numbing exercise of repetition.

War, as a character, hooked me right out of the gate. Wow, I get to play one of the Four Horsemen!! But in the end, War is the same at the end as he is in the beginning: pissed off, revenge-filled, and unremorseful. Change is integral to character development and reader/player interest, and War fell short of that for me. He’s awesome, don’t get me wrong, and for many that’s enough – for me, honestly, it was enough – but I would’ve liked to have seen more from the brute in the form of conflicts that challenged his decision-making and swift judgment. Perhaps in the sequel…

SCORE: 8.3/10

GAMEPLAY AND CONTROLS

I already mentioned the shoddy camera, but the controls overall in Darksiders left something to be desired. Mainly, the problem centered on there being too much stuff going on. Consumables are mapped to a HUD accessed with the L1 shoulder button, giving four slots mapped to the four D-pad buttons. But wait, you have four Wrath Powers that map to the same HUD…you can carry up to eight Consumables. See the problem? Four powers, up to eight consumables…that’s 12 items that can map to a four-button HUD. I know it’s not Vigil’s problem to work with the already-limiting power of a console controller, but it seemed as though a much larger HUD needed to be used, like Dragon Age: Origins, where the HUD opens, but you can access a ton of stuff using the wheel method. Why this wasn’t done in Darksiders is beyond my comprehension, and hopefully they change this for the sequel.

The control issues don’t stop there, however. Jumping is still an exercise in patience, but it’s waning in recent days. Approach an edge and jump too late at your peril, as rarely will War actually jump. I’ve heard of this in other reviews, so it’s not me. Trust me, I play these games enough to know how to jump off a ledge. I’ve fallen off so many it’s not even funny. I wish I could measure how much health I’ve lost as a result. Jump too early, though, and your Shadowflight ability may not carry you far enough. It’s such a stupid bug that I’m not sure how it made it past QA…time, probably. A patch, please?

Gameplay is where Darksiders borrows so heavily that I can’t ignore it. I stated before that God of War and Zelda are the two franchises that it’s compared to most. But I’ve added more to the list: Prince of Persia, Panzer Dragoon, and Portal. War grabs onto ledges and scurries across them just like our Prince does, and the gauntlet slide down walls is almost identical. The Voidwalker item - a cool-as-hell thing to behold – is the Portal gun from Valve’s famous FPS, basically. Shoot one end of the portal in this plate, shoot the other end in the other plate – BAM! Instant worm hole.  Flight on the Angelic Beast early in the game is almost straight out of Panzer Dragoon.  Again, cool concepts, but none of them are Darksiders’! God of War combat, Zelda dungeons and items (Crossblade = boomerang; Abyssal Chain = Hookshot; Ruin = Epona; bombs…the list goes on), Prince of Persia platforming, Portal‘s worm holes, and Panzer‘s flight all equals great gaming wrapped in a single package, but nothing unique, daring, or innovative whatsoever in terms of actual gameplay. It’s still good, but not stand-out.

SCORE: 8.0/10

SUMMARY AND FINAL SCORE

I rocked Darksiders, and I rocked it hard. I couldn’t put it down. The sheer number of collectibles (artifacts, enhancements, lifestone shards, wrath shards, and weapons) and genius design in the dungeons (mostly) spoke to those portions of my brain which recognize brilliance in any form, even borrowed, and allowed me to forgo the obvious. Yeah, that’s it. I’ll go with that. I have no other explanation except that Vigil Games managed to touch so directly on so many other gameplay wonders as to create a pseudo-identity. Some called it “safe,” and I agree. Some called it “uninspired,” and I can see their point. But I can’t deny my love for the title and the love that was put into the first effort by Vigil Games. I want more Darksiders, period.

FINAL SCORE: 9.1/10 (NOT AN AVERAGE)