Darksiders 2 Review: Death on vacation
The first Darksiders was one of the most notable appearances in 2010, despite its apparent lack of originality, most game elements are borrowed from other successful titles. Creation of the Vigil Games has been likened to the Legend of Zelda series from Nintendo, but too little known in our country in order to be considered a relevant standard.
Instead, Darksiders can be compared easily with titles Legacy of Kain (Soul Reaver especially subseries), the basic concepts are the same: a fantasy story, with a particular emphasis on his dramatic side, a character seeking revenge fallen and open game world, access to certain areas is conditioned by the acquisition of certain skills. Add to that a battle broke like God of War, biblical characters and events and a campaign of considerable dimensions and enough arguments for the claim arising from the beginning of this article.
Under these conditions, despite the problems facing the publisher THQ, a sequel was inevitable. Thus, Darksiders 2 is guided by a simple principle: better and more than what his predecessor had to offer. To what extent Vigil Games team was able to meet this goal is to find in what follows.
The story, characters and continuity
Darksiders was told the story of War, one of the four knights of the Apocalypse, falsely accused of triggering the end of the world. Thus, the long beat War and wide Earth devastated by angels and demons to prove his innocence. Darksiders 2 deals with the strategy of “Opposing Force” (first expansion pack for Half-Life), showing the same time, but through the eyes of another character. This time it’s Death, a second Knight of Revelation, determined to do everything he can to prove his brother’s innocence.
While the first action game in the series take place on Earth, Death’s steps are carried by other fictional realms, in turn deeply affected by events that took place in the human kingdom. If the first Darksiders receive one “game world” Death’s adventure provides players with no less than four such worlds, each with specific backgrounds and characters. Unfortunately, these characters are far less interesting than you make appearance in the first game of the series, the story leaves the impression of an optional narrative, which pales in comparison to the really important things that occur on Earth.
And because of the considerable size of game worlds, manufacturers were forced to dilute the narrative and more hours of gameplay players can pass without any significant detail to find the quest of Death. Fortunately, there are only two Darksiders main goal, the world is studded side quests that make their own contribution to the narrative, it is true, seldom linked to the initial thread of the story.
Also attending the first title in the series proves imperative to understand the role of several characters who do appeared in Darksiders 2 and the impact brought by the end of the game. Overall, throughout the narrative, Darksiders 2 is not exactly what we expected, but fills some gaps in the universe created by Vigil Games.
GAMEPLAY
Darksiders mentioned earlier that did not hesitate to borrow elements from other games gameplay established reputation. Darksiders 2 continues in the same direction, bringing everything squared. Inspired battle system has been refined adventures of Kratos, a whole RPG element is introduced into the equation. As an action-RPG like Diablo, Death has a number of attributes that can be improved by equipping weapons, armor and Inventory objects, they can be obtained either from felled monsters or from chests scattered through the world game or purchased from various merchants.
Although not missing magic items, unique etc., Their impact on gameplay is still more limited than in a classic RPG. First, Darksiders 2 is a single player game, the efficacy of an object is limited to the experience of each player. True, the game benefits from a variety of messaging system and transfer of items between friends list on Xbox Live / PlayStation Network / Steam (depending on what version of the game you have), but the online integration is far from what Give a title like Diablo III.
And to continue in the RPG, after killing legions of monsters and quests to fulfill, Death receives experience that goes on in the level. Each level brings a skill point gained, which can be invested in two types of special skills: Harbinger and Necromancer. Harbinger class skill sites are dedicated to those who wish to rely on wrestling, while Necromancer skills are reserved for those who prefer spells and magic. Taken together, this simplistic RPG system works properly, but might as well be absent, linearity main thread of the story and lack of online modes diminish much impact the gameplay additions.
Another novelty is the emphasis on platforming aspect of the game. In Darksiders 2, Death dungeons to explore sites that are rich in ramps, Hauri, hooks and the like. These are navigated through a system that reminds the older Prince of Persia appeared in 2008. As in the creation of the Ubisoft walls that can run are marked by specific patterns, and the main character benefits from an arm equipped with a “claw” only good to perform certain movements.
Unfortunately, unlike Prince of Persia’s platforming in Darksiders 2 seems much more awkward, often executing Death totally different than the desired player movement. These leaks can cause some moments of frustration, especially over sections of the game contretemps.
As I said, Darksiders 2 is a much more extended than its predecessor, the first two worlds are studded equally as dungeons and side quests. Each of them has a similar way: a well-dosed fights and puzzles, the difficulty increases as the story progresses and Death and acquires new abilities objects. End of such a dungeon is marked by a battle with a boss, they may vary from monsters far more life than usual and to special creatures whose sensitivities and movements should be exploited in order to progress.
Although the last two worlds of games are somewhat smaller, Darksiders 2 remains a game that can be categorized as huge by current standards. While God of War title may be brought to completion in under ten hours, Darksiders 2’s campaign offers over 25 hours of gameplay, without taking into account all the side quests.
Graphics, sound and control
Those who have already tried the first Darksiders know what to expect from the next: the artist Joe Madureira art addressed immediately stands out, giving the impression of a World of Warcraft on steroids. So we should not expect much of a technological miracle, but a vast world, the prevailing artistic side at the expense of the number of polygons per square meter. Sure, angels stumpy, though accustomed for whatever space shooter will not be to everyone’s taste, but overall graphical presentation of Darksiders 2 is quality.
The audio delights and disappoints at the same time. While soundtrack composed by Jesper Kyd is really lovely, with arrangements and themes composed specifically to highlight the peculiarities of each gaming environment, voices have no impact in the first game of the series. Although Michael Wincott, the actor that plays him Death, trying to give the new hero personality is, it pales in comparison with the benefits of Liam O’Brien (War) and Mark Hamill in the first title in the series.
Regarding optimization and control, things have really improved over the first Darksiders. Although there were problems with the original version of the PC edition of the game, they were corrected in the meantime through updates, also console versions running smooth, the PS3 version of Darksiders 2 having no annoying framerate issues first game. The same kind of conclusions can be drawn and the control scheme much better now willing gamepad (such a device is recommended even if the PC version), Death react appropriately and quickly to every command.
CONCLUSION
Even though his contribution is limited narrative point of view, Darksiders 2 fully compensate these shortcomings in Chapters gameplay and longevity. The characters in this sequel does not have the charm and impact of the first Darksiders, but even so, the campaign level models, clever puzzles, and exciting battles ton of secrets scattered through the game world fully recommend this title.