Zelda this, God of War that... Darksiders is in a league of its own.
Developed by: Vigil Games
Published by: THQ
Players: 1
Darksiders for the PC: Played the game with this simple setup, so judgement with overall graphics and performance may vary with users: Phenom X3, MSI Motherboard, 4GB DDR2 800 RAM, 320 GB HDD, PC HD4670 1GB. (as of 05/26/11)
Graphics:
For starters Darksiders has a lot to offer in terms of graphics, the graphics are very realistic in a post apocalyptic way, though it would be even greater (in my opinion) if it was designed like the POP (Prince of Persia Second Installment) or Borderlands to match the artists (Joe "Mad" Madureira) original comic design, still the developers from Vigil Games took their time and made a great job in character modelling, environments and overall effects.
Performance with the game through the given setup are already amazing, though visual tearing may be visible even though vsync was forced, it was not so visible and was only a minor setback, in which i repeat, may vary with different hardware, the game was fast and everything else just seemed to work smoothly.
Story:
You play as War, one of the four horseman of apocalypse, as one of the horseman of the apocalypse you are entrusted with the balance, War is accused of launching the apocalypse a earlier than expected, being innocent and not knowing what happened, you question as to how you are wrongly sentenced to death and offers redemption through defeating the one truly responsible, "The Destroyer".
The story of Darksiders may be unoriginal to many, and may even be dubbed as "another anti-hero" but in my opinion, the theme with other games may be similar but Darksiders brought the players to a new dimension, It was not a matter of being a copy but simply it just came out first, and for me games that dive to a players imagination and give them what they vision is simply unique in every aspect.
Gameplay:
Darksiders gameplay may not offer anything "original" or as I've mentioned before "they just came out first". Comparison with "Zelda" in which I've never played before are truly mediocre, Zelda may have hook-shots or boomerang or probably a hoodie but bear in mind that the game development and concept art were developed separately, so the developers never wanted another link, but simply the choice of arsenals simply came from the artist itself, which is a renowned comic artist which makes a lot of originals.
Battles are always fast-paced, though your protagonist may seem large and bulky, he's actually quick on his feet combos are really easy to execute and subweapons are ever so useful if utilized correctly, battles will vary from each enemy, finishing moves may be the same for each type of enemy but seeing the way in which it was executed is such a beauty, others prefer to call it "gore".
Audio:
The soundtrack of the game is superb, conversations with demons or angels, environmental effects, and all of what may are executed perfectly, even your protagonist voice has sort of a intellectually mannered person, his accent for example is non of what you may expect, a brute if you may perceive from his ravaged look similar to the Lich Kel' Thuzad from War Craft.
Overall:
Darksiders is a great, no an amazing game, it was simply what i wanted my game to be, unoriginal maybe, but still the game was just perfect for me, it also gave hardcore gamers something to look forward to with all of its unlockables and rewards, which was missing in most of the games today and definitely a sore relief from all the shooting games, if you're really into gaming, Darksiders is the game for you.