Painful at times, but rgood game overall
User Rating: 7 | Dark Souls X360
Combat is good but not great. Controls are occasionally slow to respond which in this game always leads to death. Many times I hit the heal or hit buttons only to sit there doing nothing. Losing souls when you die feels like punishment and can be extremely aggravating. Story is practically nonexistent and there are no major choices that affect the game. I really liked the character designs and environments. There is a huge environment that is smartly designed to allow you to travel (nearly) anywhere at any time. There is a really weighty feeling to striking and blocking and when the controls are working well the combat is very fun. Armor and weapons are cool, as is the upgrading process. When you down a boss you feel a serious level of accomplishment. Helping people online is great multi-player option, I wished it could have had more co-op. Killing players who have invaded you is a blast, getting killed hurts but you can report their terrible conduct making their gaming experience harder, so yay! My first play-through was just over 100 hours, I spent quite a bit of time exploring and farming souls to level. Final boss is too easy (oddly enough) especially if you have done some soul farming. There is no real explanation of what you accomplished by doing all this killing in the end so combined with the weak final boss and the poor story the end is anticlimactic. I played as a tank style warrior and after Skyrim I will likely try another playstyle/character.
