Darksiders 2 | Review

By: Christopher Brimmer

Posted: September 1, 2012

My son loved the original Darksiders so when he heard that there was a sequel being made, he went bezonkers and begged me to pick up a copy. I reminded him that last time around, the PC controls were atrocious and it was a sloppy port from the console. He explained that this time it’d be completely different.While the PC controls stayed relatively abysmal, the game itself kept bringing a certain phrase to mind, "If it aint' broke, don't fix it!"

Story

Awakened by the End of Days, Death, the most feared of the legendary Four Horsemen, embarks upon a quest to restore mankind, and redeem his brother’s name. Along the way, the Horseman discovers that there are far worse things than an earthly apocalypse, and that an ancient grudge may threaten all of creation. Darksiders II follows the exploits of Death, a Horsemen of the Apocalypse. This epic journey propels Death through various light and dark realms as he tries to redeem his brother War, the Horseman who was blamed for prematurely starting the Apocalypse. The surprisingly detailed story plays out like an episodic comic book. And might I say a rather good one. Death, voiced by Michael Wincott, does a fantastic job voicing the contemptuous and driven Reaper. Giving what most others would play off as a dry lifeless character a great level of cynical depth, even criticizing the player from time to time.

Story 8/10

Gameplay

After playing Darksiders II for an hour it became clear that the game was cast from the same mold of its predecessor, but that's not a bad thing. The first game was a blast to play and the sequel doesn't disappoint. The action and combat flow well with a little puzzle solving and story added in for good measure.

Death's combat style is different from playing as War in the first Darksiders. War's tactics consisted of devastating attacks while going toe to toe with enemies. Death carries a primary weapon (scythe) and secondary weapons with which to engage in a more agile, flurry of strikes method of combat which kept the pace fast and intense. Additional weapons such as axes, hammers, claws and more help add variety to the constant hack and slash with your main weapon and can end up giving you some pretty devastating combo moves.

The controls for Darksiders II were clearly made for console controllers, which would be great if I wasn't playing on the PC. The controls for mouse and keyboard are horrendous and it wasn't until I plugged my Xbox controller in that I felt like I was playing the game as it was intended. This is the penalty that many PC gamers suffer for not choosing to play it on a console. Game developers have been, for the most part, good about taking the time to include decent controls when they port it over to the PC but it takes only a few popular titles such as this one to really spotlight how bad it can be when you don't do it right.

I really enjoyed the RPG elements such as leveling up and choosing abilities for Death. This is a welcomed feature to the action genre and gives you choices on molding death's prowess in combat. When you take down various monsters and bosses, you will gain experience and a currency called “gilt”. You can spend gilt to upgrade Death's attacks while your experience gain upgrades his skills which add new abilities.

Boss battles were definitely challenging. Each boss forces you to figure out its weakness and then quickly exploit it before it takes you down. This was great and I found myself reloading a few times in order to figure out each boss but I never felt as if I was being punished or that the game was “cheating”.

Darksiders II has a campaign that is about twice as long as the first, yet doesn't feel as if things are dragging along. There's plenty of side-quests and objectives to do that will definitely help instill the notion that you got what you paid for.

Gameplay 7/10

Presentation

The graphics in Darksiders II are phenomenal on the PC. While typically the first thing I do when I get a game is to tinker with the settings, Darksiders II had a very limited set of choices. This concerned me at first, but then after spending some time in game, I was blown away. Bosses tower over Death and have a great amount of detai. Riding along on Death's steed leaves an eerie trail of impending doom. THQ really knocked the ball out of the park on this one.

I also found the music to be a huge highlight. Like the in-game aesthetic the soundtrack is ominous yet colorful. It’s an odd mix that truly makes the game stand out among other titles of its genre. Each track gives great atmosphere to an otherwise lifeless world and during times of distress, pump the player up for the battle on screen.

Presentation 9/10

Overall

If you enjoyed Darksiders, or you like the action combat games you will definitely dig this title. The only negative thing that I could say about this game is that if you are planning to play on the PC, I would highly recommend you pick up an Xbox 360 controller to avoid the frustration of playing with the keyboard and mouse will certainly bring.

Darksiders II 8/10

Game Info

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, WiiU, PC
ESRB: M

Publisher: THQ

Developer: Vigil Games

Release Date: August 13, 2012

Christopher Brimmer doesn't just write for HalfReal Review ya' know! Be sure to check out his site NoobSource.com where he writes not just game reviews, but board game reviews too!