Darksiders (Xbox 360)

I wasn't a big fan of Hack'n'Slash video games which is why I never really got into games like the Ninja Gaiden games on Xbox or God of War. Then one day I was in a Pawn Shop and I saw a copy of Darksiders and I thought I'd give it a try, but I didn't know it was a hack'n'slash game until I played it. And I absolutely loved it.

First of all though, at first I thought the story was going to be generic, as it's centered around a war between Heaven and Hell with humanity caught in between. However, I was pleasantly surprised when the character you play as along with characters in later games, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse are actually the good guys. You play as War, one of the four horsemen. The four horsemen are to be called when the war between Heaven and Hell begins once humanity is strong enough to survive it. However, the war starts early and War is summoned, but the three other Horsemen are nowhere to be seen. Later on, after being defeated by a demon and the general of the Angel soldiers is killed, you are blamed for the early coming of the apocalypse and the destruction of humanity. However, War convinces the Charred Council, the ones who made the Seven Seals, to let him go out and search out who tricked him. The story isn't very original if you think about it, but the designs, the characters and the overall plot that goes on after the beginning is very entertaining and interesting.

Now onto gameplay. It's a hack'n'slash game where you swing your weapon around, hitting enemies that surround you and killing them in brutal fashion. Not as brutal as God of War, which I was honestly grateful for. Eventually, I'd get tired of seeing blood and guts spilling all over the place, but here, it's not as bad. But still very fun to see. There's also puzzle solving. The puzzles are simple enough and easy to figure out except for one, which is pretty much a rip-off of the Portal in concept and color (Blue and Orange circles). There are also some very creative designs for enemies and bosses throughout the game, with many of the bosses you have to think about how to beat them and by the end they are very satisfying to defeat. There doesn't seem to be a wide variety of enemies though for some parts. Like there are lots of enemy types, but it seems like you fight them for too long in some sections.

Now for the characters and voice acting. I really like the design for War, but I felt the character was rather generic. He seems to be the traditional warrior with the big sword and gun and doesn't seem to be unique in his personality. That doesn't make him a bad character though. His voice actor was spot on though. The voice actor, who's name I've forgotten, hasn't done work for many other games as far as I know, but he always does a very good job, especially as a main character. The other characters I won't go into because I fear I may spoil some story moments if I do.

Something that is bad is that you might come across some very cheap enemy's who will take way a lot of your health if your not careful and paying attention. I know that's how it is in these type of games, but in this it can get pretty bad sometimes, especially if you're swarmed by enemies.

Finally, I have to comment on the art style. The graphics are those sort of comic book looking graphics where they aren't very realistic in terms of like facial features like pores and facial hair, but the animation is top notch and the designs of War, the demons and the angels makes this game a good thing on the eyes. Though the environments seem rather bland and always lack a variety of colors. I remember a lot of grey's and dark blues and reds, and that's about it.

Overall though, Darksiders is a great hack'n'slash game with a great but generic story, awesome characters, music, gameplay, character models, animations, and voice acting, but with a few cheap enemies, bland environments and a difficulty spike here and there.