Darksiders: The Very Definition of Bad-Ass
The more hands-on time we get, the more we like it...
Australia, July 1, 2009 - War; what is he good for? Skipping through daisy fields handing away peace, love, and mung-beans like a sissy girl? Nope. Scything through demon freaks hewing away pieces, limbs, and minced-brains like a semi-automatic God? You bet your arse. Apparently, War is also good for freelance protagonist work, and we were fortunate enough to saddle up some hands-on time with his latest side-project, Darksiders.
Now, in case you haven't heard the word; Darksiders is a slashtacular ride that takes heavy inspiration from the nastier happenings in the Good Book (The Bible, not The Best of Penthouse Letters... hereafter known as: 'The Awesome Book'). The general idea is to take the role of War, an annoyed horseman of the apocalypse who is determined to trample the party - or 'parties' - responsible for prematurely kicking off Armageddon. You see, War never faxed out the official "game on" memo in the first place - but, for whatever reason, heaven and hell still went hammer and tongs at one another, the human race caught a slight case of death, and the forces of evil eventually laid claim to the wreckage. Which is how it should be, because good is dumb.
This season, ridiculously oversized is in, slim-fitting is out.
Wrongly accused of starting all the mischief, War is brought before The Charred Council who are essentially a bunch of scheming fence-sitters that mediate between heaven and hell. With the other three horsemen AWOL, the council hold War solely responsible for the shenanigans, strip him of his vast powers, and three-wood him back to Earth in a meteor. To keep him in check, War receives a purgatorial parole officer, a chap named The Watcher (voiced by the eminent Mark Hamill). As his name suggests, The Watcher is there to watch you, to offer semi-helpful advice, plus he has been granted the power to end your equestrian arse if necessary – just think of him as a 'tough-love' version of Navi...
Grabbing a controller, our hands-on time began in the first section of Darksiders, the Crossroads, where you'll get to wield War for the very first time. The thing that initially strikes you about the game is the beautiful visual style – and not beautiful in the classical sense, it's more akin to the way the wastelands in Fallout 3 were simultaneously hideous and attractive. It's been a whole century since mankind got the karmic kybosh and the city skyscrapers are now hulking skeletons brimming with all manner of hellish demon spawn, not to mention small pockets of angel resistance.
This awesome visual design extends to War too, who looks like he is wearing the latest ensemble from the Warhammer Spring Collection, due to his hulked up armour and the oversized fist gauntlets covering his massive hands (and you know what that means ladies: epic back massages). But despite his intimidating presence and thunderous gait, War still deals out death like a psychotic acrobat. Armed with 'Chaoseater' - a Zweihänder sword large enough to be God's personal letter opener – you can mete out choppy justice to anything stupid enough to get within range. For any idiots outside of dismemberment range, War has access to a boomerang-esque Crossblades, and a four barrelled hand-cannon named Mercy that distributes large, calibre-based, 'gunishment' into saints and sinners alike.
Your trusty steed Artax.
Freely distributing the pain in Darksiders happens thusly: 'LT/L2' is a lock-on toggle that gives the screen a Zelda-esque letterbox effect, lets you focus your rage on zombified humans (or 'mouth breathers' as the Watcher likes to call them), and it also lets you flick between targets with the right analogue stick. 'RT/R2' unleashes whichever projectile weapon you have equipped, and 'RB/R1' serves as both a block button (that can counter attacks if timed right), and may be used as a fast dodge if you input a direction. Using these three features, every battle becomes a fast and furious ballet (with the emphasis on pruning, rather than prancing).
If swift evasion and range aren't your bag, you can always slice through bone like it is candle wax with Chaoseater. 'X/Square' governs all of your sword-based attacks, 'Y/Triangle' is assigned to punching things with War's ample mitts, and 'B/Circle' grabs cars to hurl at enemies (or you can just cut out that particular middle man by grabbing said enemy and crushing his skull like a rotten egg). As you can imagine, War has a plethora of four-to-six button combos available, including ground attacks, aerial juggles, and 180 moves designed to give anyone behind him the closest shave a zombie-man can get.
If that isn't enough unbridled horseman violence for you; War can also acquire Chaos Attacks which can be assigned to a face button and accessed by holding 'LB/L1' as a modifier (our personal favourite being a localised earthquake of fire blades). These are limited-use magic attacks that may be replenished by harvesting the juicy souls of your enemies to fill a special Chaos meter located in the upper left of the screen. Engorge this meter completely and you can then tap 'LB + RB/L1 + R1' to unleash Havok Mode, which basically turns War into a Balrog on crystal meth, for about ten seconds or so. Needless to say, once War makes the transformation, no glowy staff - nor cry of "you shall not pass!" - will be sufficient enough to stop the pain train a-rollin'.
Up until this point, the God of War fans among you have probably just been ticking off the boxes, waiting to find out what is new about Darksiders – well, let's address that. First and foremost, the free camera used in Darksiders is a breath of fresh air – that said, Vigil Games has wisely retained some fixed-cam for some truly cinematic boss encounters, and the optional lock-on function always keeps the view dynamic as well. Having large, non-linear explorable hub areas is a huge tick too, and this is made even better by having access to a bitchin' mode of transport. Because hey, you can't be a horseman of the apocalypse without a horse... man.
The fight against Ganondorf kicks ass!
A little bit further into our hands-on The Watcher took us to an arena section where a demon had the cojones to claim War's trusty steed, Ruin, as his own. In a boss battle reminiscent of a bull fight, we had to avoid being trampled underneath Ruin's molten hooves, while attempting to perforate the rider or lure him closer into our stabby embrace. Once we did de-horse the brute, War impatiently kicked a sword over to him and the battle was rejoined on foot – at least, it started on foot, War soon sheared him off at the knees for his horse-jacking impudence.
Ignoring The Watcher's command to destroy the wild horse, War had a touching 'Horse Whisperer moment' and, from then on out, Ruin could be summoned. Next up came a riding tutorial, as a massive worm burst out of the ground and we had to gallop about for our lives. Without spoiling too much of the encounter for you; Ruin handles and animates like a dream, is happy to let you wield a minigun, plus being a magical horse he can materialise out of the ground if you get pitched off. Just like all of War's other equipment, over the course of the quest Ruin can have his 'horsepower' further upgraded.
Walking away from the demo we were suitably impressed with Darksiders, but did notice a few niggling problems. First off, we had some issues when it came time to do a finisher on a larger enemy; once they become weakened an icon appears above them and you tap 'B/Circle' to begin their end. Problem is, the same button insists on grabbing all the lesser enemies first, not to mention any piece of useable debris near your intended target – which is probably a matter of tuning. While we're on the topic of finishers; though the satisfying kill animations are like one of Charlie Manson's wet dreams, they offer zero Quick Time input. Honestly, we have yet to decide whether this omission is a good thing or a bad thing – and so we'll just list it here as a 'missing thing'.
Char-ming. Sorry.
Other than those minor peccadilloes, we can barely reign in our enthusiasm for Darksiders, and it is shaping up to be one… uh… hell of a good ride. The cinematics have the highest production values, the plot puts you at the centre of an intriguing 'Melrose Place' satanic bitch-fight, and the voice acting is nothing short of top-notch. After experiencing more leg choppin' and head poppin' than we could poke a serrated stick at, we can't wait to give in to our anger and make our journey towards the Darksiders... something, something... complete.
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