Darksiders

Preview from Luke - Friday, 06 November 2009 @ 11:09am

It seems like zombies have been getting all the love recently, gone are the days where you could just sit on the couch and smite demons back to hell. Well that is about to change as Vigil Games and THQ team up to bring us Darksiders, a back stage ticket to the biggest post-apocalyptic game to hit our country early next year.

Darksiders puts you into the boots of War, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The apocalypse is triggered prematurely which causes the world to come to an end. Basically the planet as we know it is now a shit hole as Hell has won the battle against Heaven. War is stripped of his powers and sent to Earth after it is suspected that he was the one that initiated the events. Our protagonist seizes this opportunity on Earth to find out who started the end of the World, where the rest of the horsemen are, and why he wasn't invited to the Armageddon party.

This is a third-person action-adventure game that plays very much like Devil May Cry and God of War, but it was also mentioned to me that the Legend of Zelda series also gave some inspiration. The world contains a number of different dungeons to explore, within these dungeons you will be collecting souls as you fight off some very intriguing enemies. These souls are traded to unlock or upgrade abilities which can be used to further increase the damage done by weapons War has at his disposal. The other thing about these abilities is that they will allow the player to backtrack to places that they have previously visited and unlock hidden areas that may not have been accessible before.

Now that is what i call a sword!

Combat is where this game really seems to kick into high gear with its astonishing amount of combos and finishing moves. The d-pad allows you to swap out your arsenal and go crazy using weapons such as a cross-blade or that big fuck off sword you see War holding in all the images. While performing special moves the player is given control over the camera that will enable you to position it to where you think will be the best spot to watch all the action unfold. Being able to get a nice angle as War rips off the wings from an unsuspecting demon is just something that is very satisfying to watch. A block and counter system has also been put in place, using all of these options at your fingertips you'll be able to get an insane numbers on the combo meter. In addition to the weapon configuration, you can also add enhancements to them, for example applying fire properties to your sword and see it light up in all its glory.

Lower... Lower.... To the right.... AHHH yeah that's that spot

There are puzzle elements that get mixed into the game that will require you to use some brain rather then just slashing away at demons with your sword. One of the boss battles I saw was a scenario where the player is required to throw sticky bombs, and then target these explosives on the enemy with your gun. While all this is happening bits of wall and rubble are flying at you from all directions, the surrounding environment was destructible and the boss was not afraid to take advantage of that.

It's coming right for us!

Comic book genius, Joe Madureira, is the creative director for Darksiders and it definitely does show. War would have to be one of the most bad-ass looking main characters that I've seen within the last few years. To give some of these designs some real soul, the developer has brought in some fantastic people to work on the voices. Mark Hamill has stepped in to play The Watcher, a character who is sent to keep an eye on War throughout his journey and guide him in certain tasks.

Darksiders is shaping up to be something special with all the awesome things that I have seen from this game so far. It is going to be interesting how this one does pan out though, there are some big titles due at the start of Q1 next year, im just hoping that people do get a chance to check Darksiders out.