Darksiders may not have the best gameplay compared to any hack and slash, but the story makes it recommendable.
The story to Darksiders starts off in the world of flesh and bone. The forces of Heaven and Hell run amok and the one of the four horsemen, War arrives on the scene. As he fights his way through the turmoil, he discovers that he is not only losing his powers, but that the Apocalypse has happened too soon. Standing his final ground and being brought to testify before the Charred Council, War is given a shot at redemption by finding the culprit responsible for this madness and restoring the balance to the way it was.
The story to Darksiders is so remarkable and so well done, I can't think of a single word to describe it. I feel as if that any complimentary word I know of would be an understatement as to how great this story is. The characters are wonderfully developed; everything is paced remarkably, and remains intriguing as the game progresses.
War is perhaps one of the most unique protagonists I've ever seen. His entire duty is to police both Heaven and Hell. He is unique in the since that he's neither good nor evil. Every main character in every story I've seen was either one of the two. War is perhaps the most unique and intriguing character I've ever seen due to this fact.
The voice acting in this game fares just as well. Liam O'Brien voices War. Phil LaMarr does the voice of Vulgrim. Mark Hamill voices War's accomplice, The Watcher. Every voice matches each character perfectly and the voice actors do a superb job in acting out their characters.
The graphics and visuals are pretty good. The environments look big and every map is nicely detailed. Nothing in this game feels recycled. One thing I might say is that even though the visuals are good, they don't feel consistent with one another. The game's intro scene embodies a different visual look. It feels very realistic. Almost like something one would expect from the animated adaptation of Todd McFarlane's Spawn. Most of the game has more of what people have called a 90s comic book feel. The animations and character designs, while nicely done, can feel cartoony at times. This feeling did detract a little from the brutality of the game's combat. Despite that, the game does run very smoothly. The character animations run very well and I've encountered little to no gameplay glitches.
As I hinted at earlier, Darksiders combines a lot of gaming genres to make one unique and satisfying game. The game plays like a cross between Zelda, Legacy of Kain, and Devil May Cry. There is a lot of exploration and puzzles throughout the game. Each does wonderfully in balancing themselves out.
Combat is diverse and satisfying. War has many abilities that he can purchase from Vulgrim using collected souls. War's weapons range from a sword, scythe, gauntlet, crossblade, pistol, etc. The square button is used for sword attacks and comes with many different moves when pressed in a certain sequence or while keeping certain analog and shoulder buttons held in a certain way. Secondary melee weapons are assigned to the triangle button. The secondary weapons function in the same manner as the primary weapon in combo attacks, but they can also be condensed with one another's combo patterns. L2 locks onto a target and R2 launches the selected projectile weapon, or gear item. Projectile weapons and gear itmes not only help in combat, but they can also be used for puzzles, teleportation, and reaching high places. These same weapons come in many forms with many uses for certain situations. These items and the secondary weapons can be quickly assigned to an active slot by using Left, Right, and Up on the D-pad.
There are also weapons some enemies drop that War can use to his advantage in certain parts. These weapons are only limited to canons. Melee weapons are dropped, but for some reason War can't pick them up and allow the player to use them. If anybody reading this has played Bayonetta, you remember how the player was able to use each weapon that was dropped by enemies against any ensuing foes for a limited time. War technically can, but the player isn't allowed to do it during gameplay and only during the finishing moves. War can is only limited to using the canons against enemies during gameplay. I know this is a minor complaint, but I think it would've made the combat more satisfying.
Not only is War armed with melee and projectile weapons, but he also has magic abilities and a transformation form. The magic abilities are assigned to a status screen that is activated by pressing and holding the L1 button. While holding down L1 the assigned spells can be activated by pressing either X or triangle depending on their assigned slots. The same status screen can also be used for using recovery, or temporary upgrade items. War also has a Chaos form that is activated by pressing L1 and R2 simultaneously. Chaos form increases his strength and gives him more of an edge in crowded fighting scenarios. Chaos form is activated and lasts as long as the wrath gauge permits. When the wrath gage depletes, War is reverted back to his normal form and the gauge can be refilled by either taking recovery items, or through defeating enemies.
Aside from dungeons, open worlds, and puzzles there are also side quests and mini-games. Most of the mini-games consist of completing certain challenges in combat situations with certain penalties, like defeating a certain number of enemies before the time limit, acquire a certain number of successful blocks against attacks, performing a certain number of finishing moves and the like. Two other mini-games include a segment of defeating more enemies than that of the Blacksmith while going to his lair and another where War rides an angelic creature and shoots hordes of targets like that of Panzer Dragoon Orta. The side quests are not as intuitive as any RPG, but they do consist of things like collecting artifacts for Vulgrim for souls and collecting fragments of armor.
The gameplay to Darksiders is great and the combat is engaging. My only complaints are that the puzzles feel a little too easy, I do wish there where some more dynamics in the combat, and some of the combat animations did feel stiff in terms of movement during some of the quick-time events. Despite these complaints, neither one of them deter from the game's enjoyability.
Darksiders may not have the best gameplay compared to any hack and slash, but the story makes it recommendable. The game is fun to play and the combat is potentially excellent, but the gameplay could've used some tweaks here and there, in my opinion. Darksiders is a lengthy game and does offer a lot to satisfy any fan of hack and slash games. I'm currently playing Darksiders 2, so until then stay tuned for a review.