Since the most recent E3 two games have managed to stay removed from my mind’s eye: Dante’s Inferno and Darksiders. These two, very different in presentation, were set aside for, what I perceived to be more impressive titles such as Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2 and Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. However, now that those games have come to soundly rest on my shelf, I am once more able to see the game lineup for the coming year. While Dante’s Inferno has yet to be released, Darksiders found its way to the shelves and, more importantly, my heart.

Before I present my exposition as to why this game has captivated me (in such an unexpected way) let me first say that what others are saying can be labeled true: this game is “derivative”. Though derivative is such an unflattering word, I’d prefer to think of Darksiders as an amalgamation of beloved gameplay elements, and I will explain why in good time.

The entire premise of this game revolves around War, not the abstract term describing conflict, but the big, hulking badass in this game that rides along side the three other biblical horsemen of the book of Revelations. In the introductory sequence the apocalypse comes to the Kingdom of Man, and War happens to be on the flagship of destruction, so to speak. The game allows participation in the final days of man as War hacks and slashes his way through city streets filled with both demons and angels. All the while his awesome powers are being drained for some mysterious reason.

As it turns out, the apocalypse was triggered unbeknownst to the high authority known as The Council, the very entities which are supposed to give the orders to start the aforementioned end-of-the-world event. Seeing as how War charged into the fight – killing demon, angel, and man alike – The Council accuses him of treason for triggering the apocalypse prematurely and destroying the Kingdom of Man. Stripped of all the cool powers War was allowed to play with in the beginning, he is sent out to search the decimated landscape of Earth for the real traitors who triggered the apocalypse.

At first this game appeared to be your typical hack and slash variety, with colorful, stylistic graphics and a fairly intriguing story, all designed to keep you at your controller. But upon playing deeper into the game it was revealed to be much more. Darksiders dabbled in the veins of many games, and in doing so it created a brilliant way to keep itself from becoming monotonous. From the beginning of the game you will notice a slight air of Devil May Cry mixed with God of War. As War sliced through demon’s with the fluidity of Dante, he performs the brutal executions of Kratos (by pressing the O or B button when it appears above enemy heads. Coincidence, PS3 owners? You decide). To add more mix to the stew, the huge boss battles are permitted only after a sequence of dungeon crawling, puzzle solving, and  side item/weapon acquisitions much like Legend of Zelda. War even gets a horse to ride later in the game. There were even some side items that hold similarity to other games’ main weapons, such as Dark Sector’s Glaive and God of War’s Blade of Artemis*.

These elements, combined with a well-paced storyline, made for quite an enjoyable adventure. There was not one moment when I felt completely frustrated with any particular element. The best part of Darksiders was that it never gets too hard and it never gets too easy. It maintains difficulty and it never shows lack in the strongly structured story. To sit alongside that positive point was the gameplay: as a whole its consistent switch from hack and slash to platformer to puzzler and beyond kept my hands glued to the controller and my brain constantly buzzing with questions and solutions. Not to mention that War was able to turn into a giant fire demon that can level pretty much any enemy without much effort. Which is always a plus for gameplay (of course you had to earn that form by killing enemies first, and even then it lasts for about 30 seconds). Also, the open world element allowed you to travel to many drastically different locations. For example, a desolate desert, a lush forest oasis, and a dilapidated sewer system/subway station to name a few. All of which have treasures to be discovered cleverly hidden away.

All of that being said, Darksiders was not without flaws. Even still they were minimal in their existence. The enemies did recycle their dialogue quite a bit, but it was delivered with such vigor, and by a somewhat rhythmic rule, that it did not yield too much annoyance. The game did drop its framerate at moments when the action gets extremely chaotic, but its nothing that would have you taking it back to the store and demanding a refund. To top off the downside, some of the boss battles felt a bit lacking in challenge when compared to their dungeon. But that seemed to be more of a personal opinion than an official one.

The game is an astounding hybrid of so many genres that it seemingly created its own little niche in the video game universe. With an interesting storyline, stunning presentation, and smooth, familiar, yet unique, gameplay Darksiders has managed to win my approval and a spot on my shelf.

A-

Exceeds Expectations

+ Well written story and well delivered voice acting
+ Campaign has hours of playability with open world exploration and treasure to uncover.
+ Art design is colorful, crisp and creative.
+ Meshes different genres of gameplay together incredibly well.

Needs Improvement

- Framerate loss in some situations.
- Enemies spit out recycled words quite often.
- Some bosses don’t seem to live up to their dungeon’s challenge.

*the weapon that parallels Dark Sector’s glaive is called the Cross Blade. The God of War weapon parallel to Blade of Artemis is simply called the Scythe (and yes, I’m sure it’s not more like Dante’s Inferno).