Games Booth

DARKSIDERS II  - an epic game that brought back my faith in platform gaming.

Wow what a game. I must say if you don’t go buy this game immediately then put it on your Christmas list for sure.  It doesn’t matter whether you played the first DARKSIDERS one or not this game is completely playable by all.

In the beginning there were four horsemen and you are one of them, DEATH – a ‘hulk’ of a man with a skull covered face and the ability to turn into your reaper form to help slay those that cross your path.  One of your brothers, WAR, has been condemned to eternal imprisonment for the crime of bringing about the apocalypse – but he’s innocent and you’re going to prove that, and claim his freedom.  Sounds easy right? Oh how wrong you are. We played this on normal mode and still found this game a challenge, so the thought of playing it on hard will really push your fighting skills. 

The worlds you traverse within DARKSIDERS II have been ravaged by something called ‘CORRUPTION’ and it really is causing it everywhere. Unleashing demons, fallen angels, monsters and more from where they once hid, they’re set on stopping you from freeing WAR. I won’t reveal why – that’s a spoiler!

It’s hard to write this review as this game simply has it all, a storyline (although not a particularly strong one), action, challenges and puzzles, side missions, amazing enemies and a massive weapons arsenal.  

Using these weapons and various skills, including running up walls, climbing and jumping and using a grapple hand, you clear a path through the realms searching out people who know what needs to be done to finally save your brother. But they don’t give up the information freely, many set you new challenges (side missions), which could include finding a weapon, collecting ingredients for a potion or something else.  These side missions can’t be done there and then, they are done throughout the lands as you go.   Luckily the developers have included the FAST TRAVEL ability which when unlocked enables you to simply move from land to land with ease from the ‘map’ tab within your inventory.  Alternatively you can choose to ride through the lands on your trusty steed DESPAIR (note he’s only useable when in the open plains, he’s purely a travel method).

Your inventory shows you all your collectables, weapons, maps and tasks.  Collectables include:

Talismans: Bought from traders, or collected from chests across the realms, these enable you to ‘power up’ your abilities

Scythes: These are DEATH’s main weapons, collected from chests or by killing enemies that drop them when defeated, each scythe has a different damage, defense and ability function

Secondary weapons: DEATH can also carry a second weapon, again found in chests or by killing enemies, secondary weapons can include hammers, axes, twin scythes, enlarged blades, claws and fists. 

It’s not all physical battling, as DEATH you have the ability to use WRATH which enhances your physical abilities or provides some added help (such as minions who fight for you, strong forces which absorb your enemy’s health etc). This is one way of healing yourself, but there are also health potions, found in chests, dropped by enemies or bought from the Vulgrim trader.

Great action, scenery and characters make this game fantastic and offers a good 30- 40 hours of playing time (as I said that was in normal mode) If you choose to complete all the side missions or do it in hard mode then there’s several more hours ahead of you.

There’s so much to this game that it simply can’t be put into a review, but suffice to say this is a must play game for any fan of platform, action, intrigue and puzzle games.

Developed by Vigil Games and Published by THQ it’s available now on PS3, XBOX and PC. This could come close to being the best game I’ve played in a long while. Well done to all.  I’ll definitely look forward to playing DARKSIDERS III (fingers crossed) and will even consider getting my hands on DARKSIDERS. 

GamesBooth Score 10/10

PRODUCT INFORMATION 

Darksiders II

Formats:  PC, PS3, X360 Out:  21/08/2012 Publisher:  THQ Developer:  Vigil Games