Penned by legendary comic book artist Joe Madureira (X-Men, Battle Chasers, The Ultimates), Darksiders: Wrath of War is set in a Post-Apocalyptic demon-ravaged world where evil forces have prematurely brought about the end of the time. Originally sent to oversee the destruction of Earth, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have been betrayed by their master, stripped of their powers and cast down to Earth. Players take on the role of WAR—the first of the Four Horsemen—as he embarks on a brutal quest of vengeance and revenge against the forces that betrayed him with the help of his phantom steed RUIN. Darksiders: Wrath of War features open-world exploration, a deep combat system and a huge arsenal of modern and mythical weapons.
So, I just completed Darksiders.
I was impressed.
Not because of the game play, which is a combination of Devil May Cry and God of War, but because of the storyline and setting.
I really enjoyed their take on heaven and hell, as well as the apocalypse. It was quite interesting to be one of the four horsemen, and it was quite cool how you ended up walking in the middle of both moral extremes - you were hunted by heaven, and hated by hell.
So everyone is out to get you.
The horsemen, for example, aren't a part of either army, but are a stand alone justice system in place by the charred council to maintain the 'law/treaty' between angels and demons, and to stop them spilling out onto the humans - at least until the humans have been given the chance to prepare for the final battle (see: apocalypse), and stand a chance at winning or surviving.
The game looks good, graphically, and the music is pretty well done. The design for the game is awesome, if only because they got Joe Madureira to draw up the characters (in his typical comic fashion), and it worked. I really liked his comics, and I really liked the characters in this - especially how the 3D model makers actually textured the models like a comic.
One thing I don't like, is the repetitiveness of the game. A lot of the time I felt that 'I've done this about 4 times now', or 'didn't I just do this for that last puzzle? in this exact same order?'.
But, I guess you can't have everything.
One other down side, is the lack of 'open world', as they call it. To me, open world is GTA 4, running around a huge open space and being given free reign to run anywhere - in this, you have specific paths, like DMC or GoW, and they aren't as open as they would want you to believe; not to mention the horse kind of comes in useless, since you can only ride it at specific times in 'slightly larger open areas'.
However, on the whole, despite some annoyance with jumps going wrong or slow controls getting me killed (his dodge move is a tad limited and could use some tweaking to give it some more range, or a faster use time - if not both) it was quite a solid game. Nothing innovative, mind you, but solid.
Oh, for those of you who loved Portal, you'll love the Voidwalker ability - it's basically the same as portal, save you can only use them on certain portal plates on walls/floor/ground, etc, but it was awesome.
I think most who like the hack and slash genre should check it out, and those who loved Devil May Cry or God of War, you'll love this one for sure.
I'm going to return it, personally, but only because I want to put the money to other games coming out - such as Army of Two: 40th, Splinter Cell Conviction and Mass Effect 2, to name a few.