Sometimes, a little thing comes along and gives you a pleasant surprise that lasts for a couple of hours.

Then something comes along and surprises for LOTS of hours. Darksiders is such a thing.

You are WAR. One of the Four Horsemen, called upon to exact justice when the Balance between Heaven and Hell tilted. As you try to restore the balance, you realize you were setup as no other Horseman is there. You are killed.

You bargain for a chance to prove your innocence and capture/kill the culprit. Thus, with mighty sword in hand, your journey begins.

Darksiders is a platform game set on an earth ravaged by the war between heaven and hell. You will battle demons and angels on the quest to prove your innocence.

The control scheme is relatively simple to a point. Different buttons correspond to different weapons and magic. Special moves are accomplished by use of triggers and bumper buttons and can sometimes get confusing. But it's not really that bad. Also, like God of War, there is an instant kill button for when you get someone close to death...and it is just as, if not more, satisfying to watch.

You gain different abilities as you progress such as phantom wings to help you glide and the ability to transform into a rampaging behemoth for a short time. And can purchase upgrades and moves with the souls you collect from the mass of things you have separated from their mortal coil.

The world is huge and vastly entertaining to walk around in. There are a few puzzles, but nothing too hard or confusing. Mainly, as you walk around the world, slicing enemies with your massive sword or humongous scythe, and solving these puzzles you get a great sense of satisfaction that is missing from other games. Also, the ability to return to previous areas to fight more and collect things you missed or couldn't obtain earlier reminds me of Symphony of the Night (the best of the Castlevania Series, hands down.)

One of the more entertaining aspects of the game are the challenges. At certain points in the game, you will have to go and fight challenges. Things like "Kill X number of enemies in a time limit" or "Kill X number of enemies in the air" or by Insta-kill or while raging as the behemoth/Chaos Form. They are mostly easy and give you large numbers of souls to be used upon upgrades.

Also, you fight giant Sandworms....think Dune or Beetlejuice...

...on horseback...


The music really fits the whole mood of the game and doesn't get in the way. The voice acting and scripting, on the other hand, leaves a bit to be desired from War, though other characters are great.

EDIT:

The game looks gorgeous for the most part with very little to complain about aside from some graphical glitches regarding chests during certain segments.

Some of the art designs might throw people off. For Instance, War does have one hand that is about as big as the rest of his body.


This game is great! Highly recommended. And with the $20 price tag on XBL, it is well worth it!