Welcome to the final Spontaneous Sunday of Semester 2! This week I have played Darksiders (2010, Vigil Games, Xbox 360). Darksiders is free on Xbox Live this month and I remember being interested in playing it when it first released, so I decided to finally take my chance today. Spontaneous Sunday will return when semester 3 of my MA begins after the Easter break.
"Darksiders is an action role-playing hack and slash video game developed by Vigil Games and published by THQ. The game takes its inspiration from the apocalypse, with the player taking the role of War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The game was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on January 5, 2010 in North America, January 7, 2010 in Australia, January 8, 2010 in Europe "
- Wikipedia on Darksiders
What do I expect from the game?
I first became aware of Darksiders when I read a preview of it in a games magazine some time before its release, I recall having a bit of interest in playing it but I never got around until now. From what I have seen, I think that Darksiders will have an interesting art style and visuals. I expect it to a linear, level-based games with hack-and-slash and action/adventure elements.
I expect there to be gothic and demonic themes throughout. The story is apparently inspired by a biblical story, so there is likely to be biblical themes, though I expect a lot of artistic license will have been used. I imagine the gameplay will be fairly simple and consist mostly of defeating large numbers of demonic enemies to progress, maybe with a few puzzles thrown in aswell. I expect the game's strongest features to be it's combat, while I expect the themes and story might not be completely to my liking - I find that hack and slash games and games with demon/hell-style enemies can sometimes be a bit "tacky" in my opinion - but I will try to keep an open mind!
First Impressions - What do I think of the game in its first few minutes?
The game throws you right into the deep end, with this opening battle occurring at the beginning of the apocalypse. You are faced with a few enemies and the mechanics of attacking and locking on to enemies are introduced. You are also introduced to War's "Chaos Form" ability, which involves him jumping into the air, spinning around and becoming a large, flaming dragon/angel beast, before crashing back down to the ground - it's a flashy and satisfying animation. The combat itself is fairly simple but feels substantial - as one would expect and desire from a hack and slash game.
I set about the task of battling the various demons and angels and traversing the city streets as meteors rained down, buildings fell and roads cracked open into big pits of lava. This first level does a good job of creating an atmosphere of chaos and apocalypse through the inclusion of these scenes of destruction, and the audio of distant sirens and explosions and terrified citizens. Particle effects of smoke, fire and dust are also used to good effect. However, I immediately thought that this level's graphics are not particularly high quality - the textures look low-res and this gives the overall feeling of a lack of polish to the visuals. This is particularly jarring because the intro cutscene had very good graphics.
 |
| "Chaos Form" |
The first level takes the player through the city's streets, then up onto rooftops and into a building, before returning back to the streets where a cutscene plays in which a giant demonic hand shoots from a pit of lava and kills "Abaddon", the general of Heaven's army. The player must then defeat this giant enemy in what is the game's first boss battle. The trick to the boss battle is to dodge his attacks and throw cars at him until he is stunned, then get close and perform melee attacks. As first levels go, it is perfectly sound from a gameplay and level design standpoint. It introduces the main mechanics and combat and has an interesting layout/path that includes some verticality. The boss battle is pretty good, if a little under-ambitious in terms of creativity.
 |
| First Level Boss Battle |
In the end though, War is defeated and sent to the "Charred Council" where he is accused of triggering the apocalypse himself by going to Earth early without being summoned, and siding with the forces of hell. He defends his innocence and comes to a deal: stripped of his powers and accompanied by "The Watcher" (who is a bit like War's parole officer), War pledges to find and destroy those who are really responsible - and this goal is the main driving force to the game's story.
What do I like about the game? What does it do well?
I played Darksiders for about 4 hours and got a decent way into the story. The game's biggest strengths are its combat, the breadth and depth of unlockable/purchasable upgrades and abilities, and the interesting game world and story. Darksiders exceeded my expectations in that it has more depth and substance than I would normally expect from a hack and slash game - in my experience with the genre (which is admittedly quite limited), I've found many hack and slash games to be a bit superficial and focus too much on simply racking up kills and combos to entertain and reward the player. Darksiders has a lot more to it, with kill-counts and combos not being the be-all and end-all of the gameplay. The game offers some pretty well-designed levels, the combat is great and there's a lot to unlock and gain as the game plays out. Also, while I was initially unimpressed with the game's graphics/visuals, I eventually warmed to them and began to appreciate the game's chunky hand-painted textures. The game begins to look a lot nicer once the world has been taken over by the forces of Hell and taken a post-apocalyptic turn. The environments are nicely designed and varied. It's just unfortunate that the quality of the first level's visuals don't quite match up with the rest of the game.
The combat is fluid and satisfying and fairly easy to get the hang of. It's not long before you're killing all manner of hellish creatures efficiently and with style. It can get a little bit button-mashy at times, and some of the larger enemies seem a bit overpowered, but for the most part its an enjoyable experience. The attacks feel substantial, and there's also execution-style kills than slow time and have some brutal and impressive animations. There's a whole host of different combat skills and abilities that you can purchase with "souls" (the game's currency) and this level of tactical choice of abilities makes the game play a lot like an RPG. Another RPG element is the Character menu, which allows the player to use gear & consumables, passive abilities, "Wrath abilities" (which use souls collected from enemies), and customise their weapons. During my play session, I didn't unlock enough things to get any substantial use out of this menu, but it looked useful and intuitive.
I played Darksiders for about 4 hours and got a decent way into the story. The game's biggest strengths are its combat, the breadth and depth of unlockable/purchasable upgrades and abilities, and the interesting game world and story. Darksiders exceeded my expectations in that it has more depth and substance than I would normally expect from a hack and slash game - in my experience with the genre (which is admittedly quite limited), I've found many hack and slash games to be a bit superficial and focus too much on simply racking up kills and combos to entertain and reward the player. Darksiders has a lot more to it, with kill-counts and combos not being the be-all and end-all of the gameplay. The game offers some pretty well-designed levels, the combat is great and there's a lot to unlock and gain as the game plays out. Also, while I was initially unimpressed with the game's graphics/visuals, I eventually warmed to them and began to appreciate the game's chunky hand-painted textures. The game begins to look a lot nicer once the world has been taken over by the forces of Hell and taken a post-apocalyptic turn. The environments are nicely designed and varied. It's just unfortunate that the quality of the first level's visuals don't quite match up with the rest of the game.
The combat is fluid and satisfying and fairly easy to get the hang of. It's not long before you're killing all manner of hellish creatures efficiently and with style. It can get a little bit button-mashy at times, and some of the larger enemies seem a bit overpowered, but for the most part its an enjoyable experience. The attacks feel substantial, and there's also execution-style kills than slow time and have some brutal and impressive animations. There's a whole host of different combat skills and abilities that you can purchase with "souls" (the game's currency) and this level of tactical choice of abilities makes the game play a lot like an RPG. Another RPG element is the Character menu, which allows the player to use gear & consumables, passive abilities, "Wrath abilities" (which use souls collected from enemies), and customise their weapons. During my play session, I didn't unlock enough things to get any substantial use out of this menu, but it looked useful and intuitive.
 |
| Gear & Ability Menu |
The game's shop comes in the form of Vulgrim - a demon merchant who also figures in the early story by telling War the location of The Destroyer (the main antagonist's) lair. Vulgrim can be found at set locations around the game world and the player can buy things with souls, which are collected through killing enemies. The player can buy weapons, abilities and upgrades. This system means that the player is always adding to their character and gameplay experience and earning things, which will make them feel accomplished and add enjoyment to the game.
The game world and story are another strong point. The game's designers and developers have done a good job of making a game world that is interesting from both a story and a visual point of view. The story is essential one of a character who is framed or wronged by the justice system, and therefore falls from grace and has to redeem themselves and get revenge. It's a familiar story, but is delivered through a very imaginative and unique means. I expected there to be more biblical elements to the story, but its much more a case of the biblical story being tapped into for a starting point, then taken and ran with. Nevertheless, it makes for an interesting backstory and the fact that the story is familiar at its core makes it easy to care about.
The game has some interesting characters. Vulgrim in particular is nefarious and creepy but somehow charming and likeable. The Watcher is technically a "bad" character in that he has been tasked with keeping an eye on War to make sure he does as he needs to, and he is often cruel or threatening. However, he actually acts as guide and the player can summon him and he will say a few words to remind you of what to do or give a little tip, so in terms of gameplay he is actually good. The fact that such creepy and evil characters are actually helpful and likeable is a triumph of character design and writing. Every character also has terrific voice acting which just makes them even better.
What do I not like about the game?
I have struggled to find anything really objectively wrong with Darksiders. I am not usually a fan of the "gods and demons" fiction genre. I find the tone of works of this genre to be a bit corny and I think they don't do enough to explain themselves. There's often lots of random epic-sounding but meaningless words thrown around with nothing to back them up and it can often border on nonsense. Darksiders was far from the worst culprit of this, but it still did suffer from a bit of that "gods and demons" cheesiness.
There's only a few other minor negatives that I picked up on. I think that enemies should have had health bars, so you know how close to death they are and can prioritise which order to attack them in or whether to flee accordingly. Finally, the game featured some arena-like sections in which the player had to defeat a certain number of enemies in a big room within a time limit. These sections were very enjoyable, and I found myself thinking that it was missed opportunity for a 2 player mode! They could have added a simple 2 player wave-defence mode. This could have been done quite easily, but the payoff of having a new game mode and co-op would have added a lot of appeal to the game.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I have been pleasantly surprised by how much I have enjoyed playing Darksiders today. While the gods and demons theme isn't quite entirely to my liking, there is no denying that this is a very decent game from a gameplay and design point of view. It has a creative story, some very nice environments and game world, and the combat is maybe the best hack and slash combat that I have found in my limited experience with the genre. The RPG elements add a welcome level of depth to the game, and I was drawn in by the story's classic themes of injustice and vengeance in a fresh manner of delivery. I can say that I will most likely return to play more Darksiders in the future!
 |
| Vulgrim's Shop |
The game has some interesting characters. Vulgrim in particular is nefarious and creepy but somehow charming and likeable. The Watcher is technically a "bad" character in that he has been tasked with keeping an eye on War to make sure he does as he needs to, and he is often cruel or threatening. However, he actually acts as guide and the player can summon him and he will say a few words to remind you of what to do or give a little tip, so in terms of gameplay he is actually good. The fact that such creepy and evil characters are actually helpful and likeable is a triumph of character design and writing. Every character also has terrific voice acting which just makes them even better.
What do I not like about the game?
I have struggled to find anything really objectively wrong with Darksiders. I am not usually a fan of the "gods and demons" fiction genre. I find the tone of works of this genre to be a bit corny and I think they don't do enough to explain themselves. There's often lots of random epic-sounding but meaningless words thrown around with nothing to back them up and it can often border on nonsense. Darksiders was far from the worst culprit of this, but it still did suffer from a bit of that "gods and demons" cheesiness.
There's only a few other minor negatives that I picked up on. I think that enemies should have had health bars, so you know how close to death they are and can prioritise which order to attack them in or whether to flee accordingly. Finally, the game featured some arena-like sections in which the player had to defeat a certain number of enemies in a big room within a time limit. These sections were very enjoyable, and I found myself thinking that it was missed opportunity for a 2 player mode! They could have added a simple 2 player wave-defence mode. This could have been done quite easily, but the payoff of having a new game mode and co-op would have added a lot of appeal to the game.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I have been pleasantly surprised by how much I have enjoyed playing Darksiders today. While the gods and demons theme isn't quite entirely to my liking, there is no denying that this is a very decent game from a gameplay and design point of view. It has a creative story, some very nice environments and game world, and the combat is maybe the best hack and slash combat that I have found in my limited experience with the genre. The RPG elements add a welcome level of depth to the game, and I was drawn in by the story's classic themes of injustice and vengeance in a fresh manner of delivery. I can say that I will most likely return to play more Darksiders in the future!
No comments:
Post a Comment