Darksiders 2 Review
Developer: Vigil Games
Publisher: THQ
Platform: PC, PS3, X-Box 360
Release Date: Out now
Darksiders II developed by Vigil Games and published by THQ is the eagerly anticipated sequel to one of 2010’s game of the year contenders Darksiders. The original Darksiders was praised for its gameplay, storyline and excellent voice acting and was one of few games to fully deserve all the praise it received.
Darksiders II is a parallel sequel set during the same time as the events of the original Darksiders which was based around Wars story. This time the focus shifts to his brother “Death” who is on a grand mission to clear his brother’s name.
For starters, Darksiders II is a massive game. An average play through of the game was estimated at up to twenty hours and that is just the main storyline within the game. Darksiders II also offers various side quests along with tons of hidden loot, dungeons, weapons, armour and much more to have players continue to play for longer.
The main storyline follows the horseman Death on his journey to restore humanity and clear his brother War’s name. Fans of the original Darksiders will not only see familiar characters popping up but also have the option to use their save file from Darksiders to gain access to some bonus items in Darksiders II.
The story is deep with various twists and turns to keep the player intrigued as to what will happen next right up to the games conclusion. Most of the NPC’s within the game are very interesting and Death can interact with them by making use of a dialogue wheel to investigate further.
Customisation within this game is one of its core elements, players can choose how they want to play, whether it be a heavy hitting Hammer wielder, or a nimble gauntlet wielding fighter landing a few quick hits before dodging and outmanoeuvring the enemy to land a few more. The entire game is based around each player’s own preference of how to approach the fight and gives two specialisation trees to level up through from within the game. The “Harbringer” skill tree which is essentially the fighter or melee skill set or the’ Necromancer ‘ skill tree which is more magic orientated such as summoning a murder of crows or ghouls to attack your enemies. Whichever tree the player decides to choose or perhaps to mingle between the two there is a lot of customisation even down to the armour you choose to outfit Death with and is one of the games bigger strong points.
Visually the game is beautifully constructed and the comic inspired environments are designed in rich detail and will make you stop at times to admire your surroundings. This experience is further enhanced by the games outstanding soundtrack composed by Jesper Kyd who is known for composing the soundtracks to Assassins Creed, Hitman and Borderlands as well as other games. The soundtrack he has composed for the game is sheer brilliance as fans of his earlier works will expect. Voice acting within the game is of a good standard and includes Michael Wincott as the voice of Death along with Phill LaMarr, James Cosmo and Moon Bloodgood all providing voice talent within the game.
Now moving onto the downside of Darksiders II unfortunately the game is not perfect. Many of the games dungeons are repetitive and always involve the same routine I feel Vigil could have tried to vary it up a little bit more as dungeons become more of a bother to complete than an exploration. This isn’t a big issue in comparison to next on the list. The game is buggy, it is a great game when it runs but in my play through I encountered game freezes at numerous stages, along with other bugs such as the music or sound suddenly disappearing from the game at random times, usually these were minor things that would be fixed either by restarting the computer or just reloading the game but it is still an issue within the game and other people online have complained about similar bugs that have stopped their progression within the game. The developer team has posted they are working on patches on many of the glitches they know of so far and that these patches will become available soon but till then players will have to deal with these bugs within the game.
Overall Darksiders II is a thoroughly enjoyable game that offers hours of entertainment along with lots of replay value. Gameplay is fun and addictive, and is quite easy to get to grips with so that even the less experienced players can pull off the big flashy combos. The story is very good and keeps players interested and the game world is huge, despite the various bugs within the game it is still a must buy for any gamer.
SCORE 8.5/10
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