Vigil Games proves familiarity isn't a bad thing in their first title, Darksiders.
When you start up Darksiders, you'll be given a quick run down of Heaven, Hell and the third kingdom of Man. At one time, Heaven and Hell were at constant odds with each other. To preserve the balance, the Charred Council sent their greatest warriors, the four horsemen to kill the agents of Heaven and Hell until a truce was formed. Upon the formation of the third kingdom of Man, the Council foresaw their role in the battle between Heaven and Hell and decided that a final battle between the three forces will occur once the Seven Sacred Seals are broken and the Horseman would be summoned to seek out and bring judgment to the wicked and bring order to the chaos.
The game starts off in the present. Armageddon has finally begun and the agents of both Heaven and Hell are raining from the sky locked in a furious battle with one another, killing humans and destroying the world as we know it in the process. In order to bring order to the final battle, War, one of the horseman and rider of the red horse lands on earth as well. War however, quickly discovers that seventh seal was in fact, not broken and his brothers were not summoned. After losing his powers, Straga, one of the Destroyer's Chosen defeats him. War is brought in front of the council and at his insistence, he is allowed to seek out those responsible for wronging him and bring down his vengeance. The Watcher, an agent of the Council who is bound to War however, keeps a tight leash on him from the sidelines. The story has a strong narrative and it's compelling enough to keep players hooked as they cavort with the legions of Heaven and Hell and get down to the mystery of this premature Armageddon.
Darksiders' gameplay is made up of many familiar things. There's a bit of Zelda mixed with some God of War with a strong dash of Devil May Cry. War gets a horse named Ruin, a gun, a shuriken that acts as a boomerang, an item very similar to the hookshot from Zelda and even his own portal gun! Along with his trusty sword Chaoseater, you'll slay countless demons and angels. There are also two secondary weapons, the scythe and tremor gloves because War doesn't need a blade to kick ass. Combat is pretty basic and it's usually more effective to just button mash until you choose to either swiftly kill your opponent with a gory finisher or just beat them to death. However, there are plenty of other techniques War may learn by trading in the souls he's collected for those who want to kill their enemies in flashier ways. Using his Wraith(aka magic), War can summon blades from the ground, poison those around him or use a more defensive spell and turn his skin into stone. War also has a demon form he can transform into when he has built up enough chaos by using Chaoseater. It's the perfect way to deal with the larger and peskier demons.
However, Darksiders can't help but feel too familiar at times though. The dungeons War will slice his way through and items he collects are very reminiscent to Zelda. The combat reeks of God of War and Devil May Cry in terms of upgrading and purchasing items. While the game manages to mesh all of its inspirations into one great game, they can't help feel but feel a little overwhelming at times and end up taking away from the magic of the game. And as previously stated, War does have plenty of other techniques and magic abilities at his disposal, but it's usually easiest to just button mash your way to victory since enemies don't force you to try new tactics except for the bosses and even they just require you to approach them differently. The game also lacks replay value. Anybody who takes the 20 hours to hunt down all of the games hidden treasures won't find any reason to come back to the apocalypse outside of beating the game on harder difficulties.
Darksiders doesn't sport the greatest looking graphics either but that's not saying they're bad. You can definitely see the game's comic origins as the characters and environments do have a nice touch of detail. The cut scenes are well done and tend to play out like panels from a comic book. If you have the 360 version, expect a lot of screen tearing and plenty of slowdowns as it has some frame rate issues. The voice acting is solid and the sound effects are good which make up for the graphics. Mark Hamill even lends his voice to the game. It's just too bad he's stuck doing the Joker throughout the entire game.
For Vigil Games' first title, it's a very solid game. While it's inspirational sources are clear and ever present, it manages to put all of them together into one fantastic package. It's got an excellent story and solid gameplay mechanics. If you're looking for a fun Zelda or God of War fix or just want something to distract you until the bigger first quarter releases hit shelves, Darksiders is certainly the game to take care of the job.