Whenever someone starts to review or talk about Darksiders, talk inevitably turns to the game being a loving tribute to franchises such as The Legend of Zelda and God of War…and for good reason too. Whether you're trying to solve a puzzle in a dungeon or trying to defend off a wave of enemies, it ultimately feels like both games the game is trying to recreate. It's flattering and fun to play a more mature Zelda game, but Darksiders ultimately falls apart by the time the end comes.

You play as War, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, whose sworn duty is to serve The Council. A truce has been created, which keeps the angels of heaven and demons of hell from waging war on the planet while humanity grows into maturity. The war between the figures cannot happen unless seven signals are broken, and then it's up to War and the others to help the picture right itself. When the apocalypse finally happens and War is called, he finds out that he is the only one of his brothers to show, and that somehow he has just become a patsy for some ancient force. With his sword in his hand, will War be able to right the wrongs done to him and make those responsible pay?

War

The story premise and idea are solid, but it's the execution that is lacking. There's a smattering of in-game cutscenes here and there to fill the narrative in, but the breaks between narrative and gameplay are so far apart it's very difficult to remember what was going on and why something just happened. There are several twists and turns, but by the time the game was over, I had to go and find a forum thread to help make sense out of what just happened. The game really did need a more solid and constant narrative than the sprinkling we got.

Gameplay wise, Darksiders is equal parts puzzle solving, hack and slashing, and world exploration. In order to find all the hidden artifacts and armor pieces, you've not only got to keep an eye out, but remember places for reference so you know where to come later on. Much like in the Metroid series, many locations are off limits until a specific item is found, but then you've got to work up the care to go traversing back just to look again. It can be tiring running all over the place, but luckily wormholes and a trusty horse help you somewhat move around faster by the end of the game.

In terms of hack and slashing, the game certainly takes some inspiration from God of War, but it lacks the fluidity and fun that makes those games so amazing. For starters, War's repertoire of moves is quite lacking in the beginning, and only gets somewhat more exciting as you level. You can level powers to be more effective, buy new magics, buy new healing items, and even buy new combat maneuvers. A problem with many of the unlockable maneuvers is that they require more button presses and correct timing, so they often don't get used too often. One annoyance I have with the combat system is the finisher system, which lets you deliver an instant kill whenever you do enough damage to an enemy. While it's great to see something get its head sliced off or a body ripped into two, it becomes more annoying than anything when every enemy of the same type gets finished in the exact way each and every time.

My biggest problem with Darksiders' combat is the dodge button, which is completely useless. I started playing Darksiders after my time with Bayonetta, where a properly timed dodge actually helped you dodge any damage. In Darksiders, however, dodging simply means sliding a short distance away with the hope that you won't be hit. Because your character doesn't slide "enough," enemies with weapons (almost all of them) will constantly hit you after a dodge just because their weapon is that damn long. Trying to dodge boss attacks is equally frustrating, as a successful dodge rarely happens.

The game works somewhat better as a dungeon crawler with puzzle elements, but even then it's still not perfect. As many have said, I feel that Darksiders does dungeon puzzles better than many of the more recent Zelda titles. Perhaps it's the settings and some of the neat new ways they try to do things and incorporate new items, but solving a puzzle – mildly challenging – is great fun and a nice accomplishment. The problem with the dungeon crawling is that many items and uses for them aren't used except in one particular point and then never again. One power you get – to ride over mystical bridges – works only one time and that's it. A Portal-esque gun gets used a lot in a final dungeon, but nowhere else before. The game is filled with these moments where something is introduced, but then never fully fleshed out or smoothly incorporated in one way or another. You get a special eyesight later-on, which is good for finding one thing and one thing only. I shouldn't be telling people anything new really, as the developers have even said they had to rush some things, and so it's easy to see why some elements feel rushed, as afterthoughts, or thrown together at the last minute. There are many more elements in the game that are introduced in such a way. You don't use your horse all that much, using angel guns is helpful in only one or two places, etc. It just feels like the developers weren't exactly sure what kind of game they wanted to make at all times, and so they threw a lot together in the end to see if something stuck.

Big Boss

Graphically the game is quite nice, as the characters, enemies, and war-torn apocalypse all look fantastic. For those who don't know, Joe Madureira – the artist behind such titles as Battle Chasers (shame that book had such a horrid release schedule) – provides the sketches and designs for everything, so it definitely feels like you're playing a comic book that was drawn by this guy; everyone has a very 90s comic feel to them. The game also has some excellent vocal talent, thanks to the likes of Mark Hamill and Liam O'Brien. Does Hamill sound a little too much like the Joker? Does O'Brien sound just like Gaara from Naruto? Yes, on both occasions, but those similar sounding voices didn't ruin their roles for me. Meanwhile, the sound of combat is pretty repetitious, and the background music is just there – I can't remember anything about it one way or another.

While it lasts, Darksiders is a pretty fun game. I have to applaud it for how it tried to mimic the gameplay styles and mechanics of several different games, but ultimately it also fails to live up to the pedigree of those games. The game might've been better with a more engaging story, but then again, nothing is certain. I'm curious to see what the team could do with a sequel, but as for my copy of Darksiders, I've had my fun, and it's just not noteworthy enough to keep. I guess I'll be trading it in on another game coming out soon.

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