System: XBox 360
I grew interested in Darksiders the moment it was advertised. It was a dark, apocalypse-based action-adventure hack n' slash that just looked loads of fun. Sadly, I didn't get a 360 for a while after hearing about it, and by that point there were so many other games I was more interested in I put it off for even longer. That is, until Darksiders II was announced. This time you got to play as Death, it was more puzzle and RPG based, and everything just seemed like it was going to be refined. That got me more interested in the original, so I rented it.
I played it a total of two separate days over the course of a five day rental, and just wasn't into it. It seemed okay, but it was just generic hack n' slash in a fairly epic feeling world. I loved that you could get a scythe as a weapon early, the character War was intense enough, and the idea was appealing... but the combat ended up feeling like the same thing over and over, as did a majority of my surroundings. I gave up on it before I could really judge it more thoroughly, and figured it was better that way. After all, Darksiders II had been officially released by the time it was due back.
I rented it, and this is what I found...
The Presentation - 7/10
The first thing I noticed about DS2 was the presentation. Absolutely nothing felt anything like the original. The atmosphere, the look, the style, and especially the character were all entirely new designs. No longer was I surrounded in identical ruined buildings, being swarmed by overly tedious brutes and never-ending swarms of identical foes. The areas were lush and expansive, colorful and constantly varying. It helps that I have a deep love for snow and winter, and that the opening area is a snowy mountain. It also helps that I immediately liked Death more than War, and that I always prefer scythes to a sword. Immediately off the game felt like it was tailor made for my tastes, and that set the bar high for DS2... in some ways, too high.
While the game has a magnificent way of sucking you in and differentiating itself from its predecessor, it often didn't know when to quit. While every region was indeed completely different from the rest, the regions themselves often felt too long and drawn out, and most of the dungeons felt like slight, but otherwise identical, variations of all the others surrounding it. After a while the dungeons began to blend, and it was hard to remember which one had what, and what you needed to return to because there were no obvious markers to separate it. I often found myself backtracking through each dungeon just to find one small thing I knew I couldn't get yet.
In the presentation's case... it was all breath taking and magnificent, but constantly 'too much of a good thing.' The game often cheated its beautiful scenery, unique designs, and wonderful atmosphere by simply over-staying its welcome.
The Gameplay - 9/10
What hurt the original for me the most was that, while the gameplay was almost entirely based on the combat, the combat just wasn't all that interesting after a while. It felt repetitive and often forced, like you just had to keep killing the same swarm over and over, often seeming endless, just to find out you went the wrong way and have to go back, often having to fight your way through the same respawned swarm. DS2... rarely does this.
The most beautiful thing about Darksiders II (for me) wasn't the fact that it had so many of my personal preferences of theme, style, and design... but that the combat was just that good. Sure, it wasn't the most innovative or revolutionary, but it was certainly on par with any higher end combat-heavy RPG out there. I especially love that, while the game gives you twin-scythes as a primary weapon (which are a ton of fun), there is a colossal assortment of different types of weapons as your secondary. Much like in the original, you could press one button for one weapon's attacks, and press another button for the other weapon. But unlike the original, this one allows you to heavily vary your combat style, combos, and stats by switching between several different weapons and variations of those weapons.
The combat does eventually run a little dry, sadly... but only after you've been playing the game for around twenty hours or so, have reached near peak level, and have approached the end of the game. Sadly, this is entirely due to the game dragging on too much. The game is loads of fun, but after a while it felt like there's a good deal of padding that just wasn't necessary. This is why the Crucible can be an immense amount of fun, or fairly dull entirely depending on at what point in the game you first access it. Early on, well beyond half way... the combat is exciting, addictive, and satisfying. It's not until towards the end that it starts to feel a little repetitive.
The Sound - 7/10
There's not a whole lot to say here, sadly. On one hand, Darksiders II has one of my favorite tracks I've heard in years (the Guardian Theme), while on the other... most of the rest of the game's music is very fitting, but... not particularly memorable. But in a way, that's one of the biggest charms about DS2. The music serves to intensify the experience and enhance the situation, rather than be particularly memorable and stay in your head all day. I don't recall any tracks for this game being bad, or even below average... everything felt where it should be and important, but very little stood out beyond that. The music knew its place, and it stayed there to keep balance with the rest of the game.
The Story - 6/10
I don't think it's a mystery that Darksiders II isn't the first place you're going to want to go for an incredibly engaging storyline. The idea for the story itself is interesting, but the way it's presented can at times be confusing and pretentious, or just all together generic. Nothing really feels like it's happening for a reason, and they're simply plot-points to connect your actions. I don't mind anything about this, as in my eyes most action games should use a story simply as a theme and not as a major part of its quality... sadly, Darksiders II forces its story in a way that feels like it was meant to be a lot more interesting and a lot more important than it actually is. I love Darksiders II, but stuck with it because of the gorgeous scenery, the intense atmosphere, the spectacular combat and exploration, and Death (who is one of the most entertaining protagonist I've seen in a long time.) The story is never why I kept coming back to the game, nor why I missed the game the moment I had to return it to the rental store (and why I bought it very quickly after.) In the end, there's nothing all that wrong with the plot... it's just a little too forward.
Extra points for it being easy to follow regardless of how much you've played of the original, though, as well as the very well done 'loading screen plot summaries.'
The Character & Enemy Design - 8/10
One of the best things about Darksiders II for me was Death. He's not particularly deep as a character, but he's often very humorous in a dry sort of way, and always feels incredibly badass. It helps that he looks like Raziel (Soul Reaver) took a detour through Brutal Legend, too.
Lilith is another character I greatly enjoyed, though a majority of what I liked about her so much is immediately obvious by looking at her. As a character she's relatively basic, and her role is fairly limited.
As for the rest of the characters... they really weren't all that interesting. Most of the NPC's in the game feel one dimensional and placed there for no reason other than to feed more plot to you or sell you items, and the few that did stand out aren't used to their full potential.
The enemies, on the other hand, are a majority of why this score is as high as it is. I have rarely seen enemy designs this creative, while not being outright weird for the sake of originality. Sure, you have your typical skeletons and things, but most of the enemies in this game were far more unique designs that never left me bored. I was always asking myself "What could show up next". Unfortunately... the great enemy design suffers from a very deceptive flaw; the length of the game. After a while in each area I felt myself becoming somewhat irritated that so many new enemies were just becoming reskins of previous designs in that region. It wasn't until much later that I realized it isn't that the game lacks a variety in ideas, but the game simply lasts too long and has to spread that large number of enemies across a substantially larger span of time.
So the enemy design is outstanding, creative, and all around engaging... they just suffer from the game's length making it necessary to overuse them.
Sadly, they didn't overuse the wraiths as much as I'd have liked them too. >>; That's a design I'd love to see again and again.
Insane bonus points for the totally random appearance of what is essentially
Cthulhu, as the boss of the second world.
Overall - 8/10
Darksiders II is a game that I absolutely adore, and really wish I had more of a right to love than I do. It's definitely a great game in its own right, but sadly the game only suffers from one considerable flaw; its length. While I enjoyed the game clear until the end, I think other players would have definitely appreciated and enjoyed it more had it taken about five hours of padding out and just gone for simplicity. The game already feels large and epic, but the way it dragged itself on can sometimes make it feel more repetitive and empty than it deserved to feel.
In my personal opinion, Darksiders II was worth every cent of the $60 I paid for it in new condition, as well as the $14 spent in rentals. I don't see it being worth that much for the average gamer, sadly, and wouldn't recommend it to them for that price. Fortunately for most, I've noticed the retail on this title has massively dropped since its release, and you'd be cheating yourself if you didn't at least give it a shot. But for $30? I don't think you'll feel cheated, or even disappointed in your purchase.
