Darksiders Review

By Tom Bramwell Published 4 January, 2010

Horse business.

Version tested:

Ah, betrayal. With the possible exception of Brain Training (and I stress "possible"), all videogame stories are about betrayal. Darksiders' certainly is. You play as War, one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and in this alternative retelling of the Revelatory bits of the bible you find yourself called to Earth to judge the sinners before everyone's ready.

You've been betrayed. The higher-powers-that-be reckon you're to blame for mankind's untimely destruction. It's only by the grace of the Charred Council - the Simon, Louis and Cheryl of obelisk-based supernatural arbitration - that you're allowed to return a century after the end of the world to try and put a lid on things. And only then if you agree to have Mark Hamill escort you in the form of a devious sprite called the Watcher who lives in your arm.

You're here for revenge, but ostensibly you're here to do the Council's bidding, and that bidding translates into a mixture of puzzle-heavy dungeon-crawling and brutal hackandslash, played out in a colourful, fairly-openworld third-person action game full of collectables and upgrades to gather, many of which allow you to do new things in areas you've already visited. We're back in Metroidvania territory then, but sales of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Shadow Complex last year suggest Darksiders is in good company - and 15 hours rampaging around the end of the world suggest it belongs in that company too.

It certainly has the component parts. Each location yields a new toy - a grappling hook here, environmental Bullet Time there - and puzzle and enemy design falls into step with the timeline of new gizmos, demanding that you consider your new contraption first and foremost before you're gradually invited to use it in combination with other tools once you get the hang of it.

'Darksiders' Screenshot 1

Giant walls of ice and red rock are so transparently anticipating a gadget later on that it can be irritating, but hey, it's... not the end of the world! Right kids?!

As you progress through the interlinked districts of the game's cauldron of post-apocalypse, the developers demonstrate they understand the subtler side of a good Metroidvania too. Some gadgets are nifty in and of themselves - a portal gun, for instance - while others are seemingly prosaic, like a boomerang device called the crossblade and an earthquake gauntlet, but all of them are used in inventive and measured fashion. Most vitally, and no matter the scale of the complicated puzzle you're solving, you come to trust the game to treat you respectfully and deposit you in the right place to make quick progress once you're done with something.

There's attention to detail, but that attention to you is evident all the way through. Some of the puzzles in the Destroyer's tower near the end, for instance, ask you to gather light sources and transfer them to a central hub, which involves retreating through your own footsteps using different mechanisms and combinations of your gadgets to the ones you used originally. While many elements of the level furniture that you require to go in both directions are in plain sight at all times, it's always clear what is relevant now and what will become relevant later on.

Combat is the other great pillar of the game, and there are boatloads of ways to fight people in Darksiders, with an impressive range of mashy sword attacks, secondary weapons and combo attacks to discover or purchase from the sinister shop-demon, Vulgrim. You can also earn Wrath attacks - spikes from the ground, spinning knives, that sort of thing - and equip active and passive modifiers to your key weapons.

You even get to use projectile weapons occasionally, including a sort of angel cannon and a demonic grenade launcher with remote-detonation capability. However you fight though, individual skirmishes usually end as you opt for an ultraviolent one-button finishing move once an enemy is in a dazed state.

These finishers are dazzlingly gratuitous and gory, to the extent that by the end of the game the sight of War merely slicing an angel's wings off and then impaling it on his gigantic Chaoseater sword is utterly blasé. You take out one boss by going inside its head and cutting it apart from the inside out, and in another satisfying outcome you dispatch a long-term antagonist by squashing his head in your fist. Other demons simply have their arms lopped off at the elbow before you stab them in the face, and giant worms must learn not to expose their bellies.

None of it is actually horrendous, however, because Darksiders is deliberately colourful and cartoon-like - which comes as no surprise given that the game's creative director is one Joe Madureira, better known as a comic-book writer and artist of considerable merit. He and his colleagues deserve credit for the game's coherent, engaging aesthetic and the magnetic characters therein.

War, for instance, is a chiselled vision of action-figure doom, who dances through exotic combos and finishers with ballet-dancer choreography, and speaks with an accent and dialogue pitched carefully south of parody despite his growling delivery. Mark Hamill, meanwhile, demonstrates that last summer's Joker (and I suppose Luke Skywalker) was no fluke with his impish turn as the scheming Watcher, and others like the inexplicably Scottish giant Ulthane are hammered into smoother and slicker shape than you might expect.

Likewise, the narrative revelations in the final third and the crowd-pleasing finale are also pleasantly devoid of cliché. Darksiders may be a game where you win the ability to summon or dispense with a magical demon horse by pressing both bumpers, but it's a game built on a story rather than a scenario, with a vision that perhaps deserves the second instalment the ending elegantly requests.

With that said, the combat doesn't mature as enjoyably as the dungeon design, because at least on Normal difficulty the range of options remains a range of options, while you focus on a few successful core techniques (in my case, the harpoon dash, home-run swing and dashing evades) that work more or less throughout.

'Darksiders' Screenshot 2

One of the best twists in the story is the absence of a twist when you most expect it.

There are neat counters and combos galore, but even a few stylish in-line tutorial sections struggle to guide your hand in new directions as effortlessly as the game does with its puzzle design. It does eventually present a few more exotic enemies and overlong engagements, but by the time you're forced to innovate the need to do so feels out of touch with the whole, and becomes frustrating rather than liberating as it might have been earlier.

Boss and mini-boss design is an exception, at least, with some enjoyable brawls that, at their best, are more like hazardous puzzles with a bit of cannon fodder than traditional hackandslash showdowns. There's a giant enemy crab who needs to catch a train, for instance, and a recurring demon robot with a ball on a chain, whose various ends are probably best described as a triumph. Plus, you get to do one and a half boss fights on your horse, and Eurogamer is explicitly pro-horse.

It's the puzzle and exploration side of Darksiders that continually elevate it, however - in the exciting secret rooms that confer souls, maps, artefacts and components of the elusive Abyssal Armour; in the elaborate, dungeon-wide puzzles that draw from every extremity of your growing inventory of tools; and above all in the growing sense that if you're missing something then it must be right in front of you, and not something obtuse that you will resent when you eventually discover it.

The only slight criticism is that it's difficult to keep track of areas that you will need to return to with a new tool, and once the game is over your inability to quickly identify areas with secrets still to reveal may put you off the job of revisiting them for remaining treats - something that feels like a letdown in light of Arkham Asylum in particular.

Still, while on the surface of it Darksiders feels like a game with a lot of good ideas but only a few of its own, where even a brief flying section on an angelic mount owes rather a lot to Panzer Dragoon, overall the silly old story and wonderful art style give terrific heft to the universe, and the clockwork of the puzzles and game systems are precision-engineered in a manner that you come to trust implicitly. It may be a game of betrayal and redemption, but you won't feel hard done by if you choose to begin 2010 in its company.

8 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (76) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • henrix #1 2 years ago

    Want this game!

  • CrunchinJelly #2 2 years ago

    HYPE!

    Hurry up Friday!
    Edited by 1 at 04/01/10 @ 00:02

  • Razorus #3 2 years ago

    Interesting. I never really expected much from this game as it looked a bit shoddy, but may have to give it a try now.

  • stevetuck #4 2 years ago

    SOLD!

  • Hantheman #5 2 years ago

    Finally something for the new year to read!

  • Hantheman #6 2 years ago

    Also, reads like a 9/10.

  • Vitor #7 2 years ago

    I've had faith in this ever since I first laid eyes on it nearly 3 years ago - glad to see my preorder wasn't too foolish and am looking forward to Friday. A colourful game, how fresh! Hopefully Bayonetta won't demolish it too thoroughly in terms of sales on release but they both seem to be offering sufficiently different things to appeal to different audiences and not force someone to chose between the two

  • Jonathan_Fakenham #8 2 years ago

    Yep. I'm getting this.

  • Liam64 #9 2 years ago

    " Also, reads like a 9/10. "

    Comments like that wind me right up. :p As if the number at the end has some sort of almighty power, beyond being taken into account as one fiftieth of a Metacritic score.

    Any word on version differences? I'm not sure which console to plump for.

  • jimboton #10 2 years ago

    The only slight criticism is that it's difficult to keep track of areas that you will need to return to with a new tool, and once the game is over your inability to quickly identify areas with secrets still to reveal may put you off the job of revisiting them for remaining treats - something that feels like a letdown in light of Arkham Asylum in particular.

    what Arkham Asylum eventually did was showing you exactly where everything was, thus turning exploration and secret hunting into the mindless chore of going from one 'secret' dot in the radar to the next. Now that did put me off.

  • asphaltcowboy #11 2 years ago

    Cool! Been very excited about this one!

  • absolutezero #12 2 years ago

    Bayonetta and this in the same week.

    Joy.

  • TriggerHippie #13 2 years ago

    I am also inexplicably Scottish.

  • Harmonica #14 2 years ago

    I imagine it's more the case of them doing the job without actually meriting special discussion.

  • bumgut #15 2 years ago

    I hear the PS3 version has less tearing that the 360 version but is otherwise identical.

    Can anyone confirm?

  • frankfurter209 #16 2 years ago

    I don't recall any betrayal in Batman: AA

  • BabyJesus #17 2 years ago

    Ah and so 2010 begins.

    I shall call this year 'the year my wallet died', but with a bounty of great games, I can honestly say I'm looking forward to it.

  • galerian86 #18 2 years ago

    Brilliant. I like Madureira and I'm glad his first foray into video games is a successful one. Might get this when I got a bit more funds

  • schachmatt #19 2 years ago

    Rather awkward intro paragraph about betrayal being a central motif of videogames.
    Do you want to tell us what happened in the christmas holidays, Tom?

    Darksiders sounds like a cool start of the year. Have to see it in action first, though.

  • mkreku #20 2 years ago

    Tom actually thinks it's a bad thing that the game isn't explicitly showing him where the secrets are? Uhm, that's why they're called "secrets", Tom. Batman did it WRONG.

  • Cadence #21 2 years ago

    Why no mention of the graphics or sound?

  • Beano #22 2 years ago

    "I hear the PS3 version has less tearing that the 360 version but is otherwise identical."

    Judged by some videoes and early reviews, the 360 version have a lot of tearing and even some framerate issues while the PS3 version have no (or worse) AA.

    Seems to me the PS3 version is the one to get for once.
    Edited by 1 at 04/01/10 @ 08:40

  • berelain #23 2 years ago

    Damnit. My review copy hasn't arrived yet, and I was looking forward to playing this >.<

    Glad to read its shaped up well, though; I'm a fan of Joe Mad's work and have had my eye on Darksiders for a while.
    Edited by 2 at 04/01/10 @ 08:56

  • Quint2020 #24 2 years ago

    An 8 almost seems too low based on the text of the review, either way I knew this was going to be a damn good game, I'll be picking it up next month, give me time to finish Borderlands.

  • Darkjinxter #25 2 years ago

    2010 The year of the Tom Bramwell
    Good stuff Tom.
    Shame this game is out now we punters have no money left to spend after Christmas.

  • darkmorgado #26 2 years ago

    Happy: A game that I've been waiting ages for turns out to be very, very good and adds another shining star to the underused metroidvania genre.

    Sad: Between this, Bayonetta and Mass Effect in January alone, my wallet just started crying

  • menage #27 2 years ago

    5 hours in and liking it a lot. Ulthane is fucking fantastic. Combat is a bit hard to grasp with the hold button nd triggers + stick + buttons though, Sometimes I break my paws.

  • SteveB #28 2 years ago

    I'm pleasantly surprised by this. I had dismissed this as a straight forward hack and slasher, but the references to Metroid have piqued my interest and I'll probably check it at some point now.

  • TitusCrow #29 2 years ago

    have been looking forward to this game since i saw it last year early, alas.. wont be getting it right away though thanks to the steam sale, got to many things to play through 1st to prove the were not impulse buys :p *dithers*

  • muscleblade #30 2 years ago

    Getting this and Bayonetta.

  • schnide #31 2 years ago

    Er, no - most games are not about betrayal. This opening salvo put me off the rest of the review, I'm going to read the rest of it again later.

  • kinky_mong #32 2 years ago

    ...and above all in the growing sense that if you're missing something then it must be right in front of you, and not something obtuse that you will resent when you eventually discover it.

    This has made me look forward to this game even more after the disappointing Spirit Tracks has frustrated me with many of it's tedious long-winded puzzles. Now to abuse my wallet even more!

  • Kikekun #33 2 years ago

    It´s out in Spain for several days already and I can say this game is a solid 9. Sorry Eurogamer, we don´t agree on this one.

  • lucky_jim #34 2 years ago

    Bayonetta, Mass Effect 2 and now Darksiders in the same month. January is the new December!

  • irve77 #35 2 years ago

    I've got to agree that from the review i was expecting the score to be a 9/10 .. but hey this is eurogamer and 8/10 should be a very good game !!

    this does look like a good game... shame my money is on Mass effect 2 this month.

  • telboy007 #36 2 years ago

    I haven't even started to play all the games I recently bought on Steam for mucho cheapos in the last few days, how on earth am I going to have time to play this Bayonetta and Mass Effect 2 while still trying to finish Dragon Age and play Modern Warfare 2 online??? How?!?!? Good times.

  • ulikmegee #37 2 years ago

    I got this game yesterday on the PS3. It's quite a good game but IMO the combat is not a patch on GOW2.I don't like one button for combat but I'm getting over it. I like the upgrades you get along the way and the demon's look great I have a 60inch Pioneer Kuro(kurro) and the graphics look every so slightly rough. I have had Bayonetta since it came out in Japan and at the moment I say story,upgrade and character model wise this is wayyyyy better

  • Kikekun #38 2 years ago

    Bayonetta story way better than Darksiders'? o_O
    Maybe is just me that can´t stand Japanese overly exaggerated melodrama anymore...I thought Bayonetta´s "story" was a complete mess. Ended up skipping the most part of the cut scenes.

  • menage #39 2 years ago

    It doesn't use one button, it uses x and y for different weapons and the shoulder buttons in conjunction for combo's.

  • ohcomeon #40 2 years ago

    THEY'RE ALL DORKSADDED
    http://do ctore.blog.is/users/b4/doctore/...

  • mizcicz #41 2 years ago

    i actually do not like button mashing/ fighting kind of games that much...i played and liked all the god of war games. i enjoyed them and they are great, of course they are not fighting games but more like buttonmashingpuzzleadventures hehe.. but i don´t love em. it´s just not my genre. i preordered this one anyways because of the promissing zelda/metroidstyle adventure/ puzzle elements. i don´t think it´s cheap to ´copy´ideas from other games if you´ve built a great gaming universe of your own (adapted from a comic in this case of course)...well wtf am i trying to say here? can´t wait to play this one.

  • Stoatboy #42 2 years ago

    re: "Tom actually thinks it's a bad thing that the game isn't explicitly showing him where the secrets are? Uhm, that's why they're called "secrets", Tom. Batman did it WRONG."

    I think the point is that in the case they're not secrets - you've usually already seen them, you just can't do anything with them until you've got the correct tool. It's my one big bugbear of all these type of games - I haven't got the memory, or the inclination to schlepp back through acres of (often) dead gamespace trying to remember where I saw some poxy cracked rocks, or shiny silver surface who-knows-how-many hours ago, which like-as-not will grant me a few gold pieces, or ammo that I already have plenty of. Marking them on a map so I don't have to remember is courtesy (or at least allowing me to mark them on the map myself would work, to prove I noticed the thing first time around).

  • chrisola #43 2 years ago

    "There's a giant enemy crab..."

    Do you target it's weak points for maximum damage? Does this game have real time weapon swap? Is it based on historical battles which actually happened?

    If the answer is Yes then count me in :op

  • Monkey_Puncher #44 2 years ago

    I like the look of this, but I'm not getting it as I'm still broke from Christmas. Stupid time to release a game in my opinion!

  • jimboton #45 2 years ago

    I think the point is that in the case they're not secrets - you've usually already seen them, you just can't do anything with them until you've got the correct tool. It's my one big bugbear of all these type of games - I haven't got the memory, or the inclination to schlepp back through acres of (often) dead gamespace trying to remember where I saw some poxy cracked rocks, or shiny silver surface who-knows-how-many hours ago, which like-as-not will grant me a few gold pieces, or ammo that I already have plenty of. Marking them on a map so I don't have to remember is courtesy (or at least allowing me to mark them on the map myself would work, to prove I noticed the thing first time around).

    If they are not secrets because because it's plain where they are and how to reach them (once you get the gear) and feels like they are stuck in acres of "dead gamespace" then that's another problem the game has. why bother map or not? where is the fun in that?

    Can you imagine Ocarina of Time or Castlevania Symphony of the Night showing you every heart piece, weapon or hidden anything in the map? Those games were fun to explore and never seemed 'dead gamespace' because you never knew when or where you could discover something new..

  • psgamer #46 2 years ago

    AWESOME!

  • shotgun44 #47 2 years ago

    Eurogamer is last on Metacritic so far. And considering that the last score is an 8, this has piqued my interest more than Bayonetta. may have to look into this!

  • Widge #48 2 years ago

    I think the element from Batman Tom is on about is where you can view the Riddlers challenge in the menu and it tells you that in the area there are X type of various things not discovered. Yes, it tells you on a map once you get the secrets map as well, but I think its that core summary sheet he is on about.

  • andywilkie35 #49 2 years ago

    Shit, I've got so many games left over from xmas and Bayonetta on the way, but this sounds superb. I think I'll try and wait for a bit...

  • bavelb #50 2 years ago

    Some stores broke street date here on it and out of all the games I got this christmas this is eating the most time. Not in the least due to playing on difficulty mode "apocalyptic" and damn is the game a challenge then. And no buttonmashing on that level unless you want to start at your last checkpoint a LOT.

    Zelda should have had this difficulty, as it is, this game is outzeldaing Zelda due to the harder mode and the superb fighting (compared to Zelda, it doesn't quite reach GoW/Bayonetta, but it doesn't need to.

    edit1/2: oh 2 points of critique though, Swordmoves and magicks are bought. This means you don't necessarily need skill X to kill boss Y and thus "wing" certain parts of bossfights, not knowing if what you do is the right thing. Second is related: mobs have no healthbar (similar to Zelda) so you can't see which mvoes are most effective/damaging.
    Edited by 2 at 04/01/10 @ 15:02

  • BigAl-1992 #51 2 years ago

    Right, I'm definitely buying this game now.

  • Alkeno #52 2 years ago

    jimboton, I support Stoatboy's view. I guess you enjoy the exploration and find it rather upsetting that the game tells you where 'secrets' are, I understand, but other people may think otherwise and there is little point in arguing about 'how could someone find that fun'.

    For example, I was glad that Shadow Complex gave me the full map once I finished it, it was my well deserved gift for finishing the game, the developers were telling me "hei, you missed some stuff, don't drop the game already, go get that stuff!" and it worked for me. In any case there should always be a way for players to choose if the game should hint at secrets or not, we can all be happy.

    By the way, Darksiders looks pretty interesting. I'd give it a try if my days were 48 hours long :-(

  • TRUTH #53 2 years ago

    Darksiders:
    Play PS3 Magazine 100/100
    360Gamer 9/10
    IGN AU 9/10
    Da Gammeboyz 90/100
    Game Vortex 9/10
    IGN UK 8.9/10
    GameShark 8.5/10

    A game that's been described as a grown ups Zelda (Nintendo) - but much more larger, violent, deeper sense of scale and adventure/puzzle and off course action (The higher you put the difficulty level the deeper the fighting becomes)...Do not pass this as another GOW clone as it's not!.

    And let's not forget Bayonetta - different to Darkdsiders as it's more action and less adventure game then DS. But for pure explosive action this is all you need!

    Bayonetta:
    Edge 10/10
    Eurogamer(Spain)100/100
    Gameradar 10/10
    Jap Famutsi 40/10
    Gamesmaster 93/100
    IGN 94/100

    Praised as the best hack & slash action game EVER! With plenty of replay!!...made from the same guys who made the original Devil May Cry (Though Bayonetta thrashes it silly). Praised for it's style, graphics, humor, and for the best fighting to grace videogames - already setting new standards in action and fighting games!
    Edited by 2 at 04/01/10 @ 18:23

  • Tallon4 #54 2 years ago

    Anyone played the 360 version? How bad is the tearing? Some guy on neogaf said the tearing was terrible and even worse than Uncharted 1. I know gameplay is king, but I hate tearing...

  • TRUTH #55 2 years ago

    Been reading a few XB360 reviews and no complaints about tearing. Don't know how neo came to claim that!!
    Edited by 1 at 04/01/10 @ 20:37

  • slimspudly #56 2 years ago

    tearing in uncharted 1 ? OH RLY :S

  • figaro7 #57 2 years ago

    Theres not enough zelda-esque game if you ask me, either that or no-one bothers as it will always be compared to the zelda series, which is a shame. Good to see an action adventure do well.

  • TRUTH #58 2 years ago

    Here's more reviews inn:

    8.8 NowGamers (PS3) Darksiders
    9.3 NowGamers (XB360) Bayonetta
    7.9/10 NowGamers (PS3) Final Fantasy XIII (To much budget, not enough substance!)

  • bavelb #59 2 years ago

    There's tearing on 360, specially indoors. It's noticable but not a special hinderance to me.

  • Lord_Gremlin #60 2 years ago

    I'm playing it right now, thanks to early release in Russia. It's well worth 10/10 score. Let's be honest, it's perfect. there are some things in this game that have been done before - in Zelda, God of War, etc. - but who gives a shit?

    Quite noticeable thing - it's pretty polished technically. I'm playing on PS3 - no install, no frame drops, no mid-level loading (at all - like Uncharted 2 !!!). It plays smooth and feels awesome. Graphics is very good by the way, I wasn't sure about it after watching trailers, but now I see - it's really good. Hi-res textures, smooth animation, no screen tearing - a pleasure for gamer's eyes. It's almost as polished as Uncharted 2, but, sadly, it's not that detailed, especially models.
    Edited by 1 at 04/01/10 @ 22:30

  • Tallon4 #61 2 years ago

    Most say the 360 tearing is bad but no gamebreaker. I hope Digital Foundry will check out this game on ps3 and 360 asap

    And yes...there is tearing in Uncharted 1 and in the jungle it's pretty bad I think . Great game though.

  • TRUTH #62 2 years ago

    Most ?...Who...?

    Read all the reviews it's never mentioned !

    Infact several have mentioned both PS3 & 360 are almost identical - though 360 has slightly better color/texture depth (hardly noticeable to be honest)...also both run smoothly and no-one complaining of tearing except you!
    Edited by 1 at 04/01/10 @ 23:12

  • Tallon4 #63 2 years ago

    Truth....please read the topic on neogaf. Everyone who plays the 360 version says there's tearing.
    And there are even some reviews who mention tearing and frameratestutter.
    If you don't mind, that's fine by me...but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.


  • Widge #64 2 years ago

    People who have been playing the 360 version in the forums have been commenting on the tearing and have been wondering why it hasn't been mentioned in reviews.

    I don't think a review is the place to be talking about tearing though, unless it significantly impairs the gameplay experience.

  • craigm #65 2 years ago

    i am also inexplicably scottish

  • TRUTH #66 2 years ago

    It's not even released yet!

  • Tallon4 #67 2 years ago

    Truth...the streetdate was broken. It's been avaible for over a week here in the Netherlands. And...on neogaf are enough guys who play the retail or reviewversion. Yet, you claim everybody is talking crap because it isn't released yet?


  • solidSnake04 #68 2 years ago

    wasnt this supposed to be released 6 years + ago on the ps2 ? or was that the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse ?

  • byakuya83 #69 2 years ago

    Sounds fantastic and much more to my taste than Bayonetta. There is a lot of hype surrounding Bayonetta but nothing I've read seems to justify the level of praise it's receiving - maybe the fact that it's being pushed so much and advertised everywhere is playing into it.

    Still, this game doesn't appear to have the charm of something like Zelda. Are there NPCs to interact with? Side quests/missions to take part in? Sometimes in Zelda I just enjoyed riding the horse about, admiring the scenery and taking some time out to do a little fishing.

    I think if this game had the same push and advertising budget as Bayonetta it would be getting a lot more attention.

  • TRUTH #70 2 years ago

    Both games Darksiders/Bayonetta are quality titles...Bayonetta has been voted so far by many reviews (though slightly spoilt running on PS3 version) as one of the finest action titles to grace gaming consoles, with the best fighting mechanics for fighting...The demo is just the 1st introduction level which does not do the full game justice - but boy does the game really HOT up after this. Most definitely one of 2010 GOTY.

    Darksiders while has action (not to Bayonetta exquiste standard), it does it fairly well (recommended playing on higher level, for better depth and skill challenge), with enough depth for this sort of game. This game is more adventure in the Zelda/Castlevaina vain. Has action, but not the standard as a dedicated action-fighting game (DMC, Bayonetta, GOW). But puzzles, adventure, exploration is the major part - action is still very good, but not it's main base.

    Both are quality, though Bayonetta is the AAA for action. Darksiders is AA(+) for adventure.
    Edited by 2 at 06/01/10 @ 22:21

  • muscleblade #71 2 years ago

    The PS3 version seems to be just as good or even better than the 360 version on this one.
    I bought both this and Bayonetta on Tuesday and i havent even opened this. Im totally addicted to Bayonetta.

  • smelly #72 2 years ago

    Been playing this all night.. Game of the year!!!! (And it's only January!)

    You'd be a FOOL not to buy this!

  • Seabeast #73 2 years ago

    I have played this for almost 5 hours today (got it this morning, despite it being sent on tuesday, damn royal mail) and its fantastic, one of the best games ive played in a long time.

    The combat is fantastic, even the boss fights are very fun and can be challenging (im playing on ' hard ' )

    The puzzles and platforming needed to get from A to B are well thought out and fun to play. The flight section on the gryphon was great fun and not mentioned in many reviews.

    The game seems huge and theres a a huge number of moves/combo's you can learn and many different ways you can kill, you can be very creative.

    So far its a 9/10 game for me, could push a little more if it continues to play this good.

    The reviews I've read so far just do not do this game justice, these nerd reviewers need to stop getting a semi over Bayonetta and realise this is a fantastic game.

  • Laserbream #74 2 years ago

    Very noticeable tearing on the 360 version. Still enjoying it hugely though.

  • VMerken #75 2 years ago

    Bought it on Xbox this saturday, played it a few hours yesterday. Tearing is there, absolutely. Patch, maybe?

    For me, personally, it's a great game, with the only downside being the graphics where the combination of World of Warcraft styled characters (not a fan of that style) and realistic backdrops feels like a bit of a mixed bag as a whole. God of War/Devil May Cry did much better there, maintaining the same style in geometry and cast consistently.

    Oh, and... 8/10? As good as Metal Gear Solid 4 then! That's some great company to be in isn't it, TRUTH, ye who still haven't got a clue about the general irrelevance of review scores? But hey, feel free to keep copy/pasting metacritic/gamerankings thinking it matters one iota.
    Edited by 1 at 18/01/10 @ 18:58

  • kentmonkey #76 2 years ago

    This review is a bit spoilerific is it not.