Darksiders Review PS3

Darksiders is a game that took elements from many different games and claimed to be original, yet ended up being another clone of something else. Darksiders takes elements from Zelda, God of War, and World of Warcraft and meshes them together into a mediocre game that is easily forgotten in the bargain bin. Darksiders is a story about one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, named War, who is wrongly accused of starting the End of Days. A war between humans, angels and demons rages on as a result with humans losing the battle and only angels and demons remaining to fight on the battlefield. War is tasked with clearing his name and restoring balance. The story is the average good versus evil plot with a few predictable twists along the way and horrible voiceovers combined with lame one liners. It is one thing to imitate other games as flattery and another to blatantly copy game mechanics and art style, Darksiders performs the latter in a bad way.

Graphics and sound:

The graphics in Darksiders were supposedly hailed as a unique art style by the developer, but are a blatant rip off of the art style of Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft franchise. Everything from color palettes to the overall character design are imitations of World of Warcraft. Outdoor environments are large, but overly restrictive in where the player can traverse until certain events are completed. Environmental elements and character models are overly simplistic and lacking detail. From a graphical standpoint, if a player has played World of Warcraft, one will fit right in with the graphic style of Darksiders. Voiceovers in the game seem to sound like amateurs recording sound in a basement and using clichéd vocals for characters such as the Charred Council. Horrible one liners are used in the game constantly, which will make most players want to grit their teeth against the pain.

Gameplay and controls:

Gameplay is a single player experience akin to God of War with contextual button mashing boss battles, minor puzzle solving, and platforming. Some large enemy bosses can be ridden, much like in God of War. Areas are sealed off until certain enemies or bosses are eliminated. Many times, to the point of monotony, there are challenge areas that force the player to eliminate a preset number of enemies within a time limit. It becomes a jarring experience that takes away from the overall flow of the game and story. Battles become a button mashing fest to clear areas that becomes tiring after the first few levels. Controls are easy to use, with a radial menu to change loadouts.

Overall:

Darksiders had a lot of promise when the storyline was first revealed and the developer touted the game as unique in art style and gameplay, but the game that was released was anything but unique. Darksiders takes many elements from different games and tries to combine them, but results in a sub-par game. If a player wants World of Warcraft’s art style, God of War’s gameplay mechanics, or Zelda’s game elements, they should go play those far superior games. Darksiders is just overly predictable, tedious and boring to play. Rent this game if the need for a filler game is strong, but please do not buy this trash. Supporting bad imitation games is never good for the industry.