Reviews

Darksiders 2

"I looked and there before me was a pale horse. Its rider’s name was Death."
– REVELATION 6:7-8

Darksiders 2 The world is in the bin thanks to the apocalypse that plagues the streets. The human race is completely obliterated. The horseman who attempted to restore the balance between the kingdoms of heaven, man and hell has failed and is now in the hands of the Charred Council awaiting his punishment. I guess we’re really in deep now. With no hero to save us we might as well wait for death to come for us all... and that is exactly what we should count on.

That’s right folks, believe it. The second installment of the exciting apocalyptic Darksiders game series has arrived to show off its glory. Within its first week of debut, players got to experience Darksiders on a whole new level.

With an amazing new protagonist and a totally new, powerfully driven storyline combined with an insane gaming experience, Darksiders 2 offers so much more than just your simple hack and slash.

Continuing on from Darksiders, which saw the horseman called War defeat heaven's traitor, Abaddon, War now stands guilty before The Charred Council, convicted of the crimes of unleashing the apocalypse and dooming mankind.

Convinced that his brother is innocent, Death embarks on a journey to restore mankind in order to convince the council to allow his brother's release. His only hope is to succeed in finding The Tree of Life, which is the only source of power capable of restoring human civilisation, and the only hope he has in freeing his brother.

Playing as Death is more flexible and fast-paced compared to his brother War, who you played in Darksiders. Death's attacks and quick dodging capability allow him to bring down opponents faster than War because of his heaviness and bulkiness, which often resulted in death or unnecessary potion usage.

Unlike the previous Darksiders, Death carries a secondary weapon that helps deliver critical damage to enemies when you combo it with your primary weapon. This works well with Death's evasive maneuvering and tends to end battles quickly.

A new loot system has been added too. After defeating an enemy you get armour and weapons to help strengthen Death by using the attribute table that displays his current strength, defense, magic, attacks, etc., all of whichcan be used by equipping various weapons or armour and leveling up.

To make Death more devastating an ability tree has been added to the game, which lets abilities be purchased using the skill points you earn by leveling up. Be warned, though: leveling up can take some time, so use your points wisely.

Darksiders 2 offers a much larger world than the first game, and is much more demanding. Besides the completion of the main storyline, there are also side missions that draw the game out further. Although they are tiring, applying yourself to side missions will also help you to gain better items and level-up points.

To balance out the pace of the game, puzzles have been included. The puzzles are based around moving objects and scouring walls to activate switches, which reminded me of The Prince of Persia series. At times it can be frustrating: simple jumps can turn disastrous if not performed correctly.

It’s unfortunate to see that the graphics are not at as high a standard as most of the games that have been released recently. Some areas in the game have over pixelated graphics that tend to look like PS2 graphics. Some parts are chunky and blocky, and the scenery doesn’t look very realistic.

Regardless, Darksiders 2 offers an excellent RPG experience that delivers well on many levels. Although the graphics may not be too crash hot, it’s easily compensated for by the exciting gameplay action, the cool customisable weaponry and armour, and the hard-driven plot, not to mention the sense of adventure. It is truly worthy of having as part of your Dark Siders collection.

4 and a half out of 5.

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