Not often for me does a new game release take my by surprise. Undeservingly Darksiders was on my "pay no mind" list. It was interested but not foaming at the mouth for info. Darksiders put me in my place however and completely wowed me. You play as War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. His 3 horse riding side kicks are no where to be found after he is summoned to earth at what appears to be the biblical end times. You have to figure out why you were summoned and clear your name in the super natural realm. The characters are all well designed and have a lot of personality in their faces. That really helps to make the story more compelling in a story which could have easily been the other way around.
Darksiders has been described as a Frankenstein of different game concepts. While those people aren't wrong Darksiders is it's own thing and stands tall on it's own. For a good deal of the beginning of the game you are hacking and slashing in the vein of Devil May Cry and God of War. That combat is not too deep at first but you can add moves to your stable by spending "souls" you collect on your journey. The combat does get close but is not as rewarding as the combat is the previously mentioned games. However, I did enjoy the context sensitive kill moves that require only one simple button push where as in God of War by starting one I'm getting myself into 2 or 3 more presses as enemies circle around me.
One of most surprising parts of Darksiders is the elements that have been most closely compared to the legend of Zelda series. Large dungeons full off puzzles baddies to fight. All the puzzles are well done without being unnecessarily difficult. Through out you are rewarded with new toys to play with including a "boomerang", "hook shot" and even a horse (you are a horsemen after all). It was refreshing in a weird way to have a game without a golden trail or an arrow guiding the way for you (not that I dislike that concept). Exploring the dungeons was a fun experience and something new and unconventional to modern games.
Darksiders is an amazing first entry for a new studio, or any studio for that matter. Taking familiar concepts and fine tuning them and creating a compelling story and world easily puts Darksiders in my buy column. This is a definite must try even for people that are fans of those specific games.
