Written by: Justin on September 2, 2012.

FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now that I got that out of my system, it’s time for another review. When a sequel to DarkSiders was announced, I was more than overjoyed. My daily dose of blood, gore, insane sword/scythe action, and post-apocalyptic dark stories could once again be fulfilled. DarkSiders 2 takes place immediately after its predecessor, with Death (yes, that is his name) taking the lead this time around. Out to prove his brother’s innocence, Death is looking for a means to restore humanity. Albeit, a very roundabout way to prove innocence . . . erasing the crime completely? While his brother, War, awaits judgment from the “Charred Council”, Death eagerly fights against shadows, demons, angels, zombies and a new threat known as “Corruption”. With the ability to assimilate with whomever it comes into contact with and drive them mad, “Corruption” is Death’s biggest, and only, real threat.

Let’s face it, of the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”, Death most definitely takes the cake for the most intimidating-named, scariest-looking, ass-kicking mother-effer on this side of the damn universe. With a name like that, you’d assume that most of his enemies would rather surrender than fight with Death himself. Though, that’s obviously never the case in an RPG.

Death and his primary weapon(s). Two sickles combine to make a larger scythe. Also, he wears a mask.

The story in this direct sequel is very solid and engaging throughout its entirety. I found myself wanting to learn more about Death and the other Horsemen whom we now know are named War, Death, Strife and Fury (where the last two were previously Pestilence and Famine in Biblical terms). But this story only centers around Death and his need to save War. While he battles his way through Heaven, Hell, and everything in between, this Zelda-esque sandbox world offers a very intriguing set of side-events. In fact, there are almost too many side-quests to be normal . As badass as Death is, he very often shows a side of concern almost unbecoming of someone named so.
The story aside, the fighting is much the same as the first, save for the fact that Death uses a scythe that he can break into two parts and be used as sickles. With a plethora of secondary weapons to use consisting of everything between a Hammer and Glaive, to Bucklers and Claws, Death is damn near a one-man army. This time around, you are given a set of skill trees. One side focusing on strength and close-range combat, the other on using Death’s many dead followers and magics.

The battle-system was fairly frustrating at times. More often than not, I found myself cursing the camera in-battle and wishing I could just toggle the damn Target Button on and off rather than having to hold it for a bloody ten minute fight! These may sound like small problems, but they get rather bothersome VERY quickly. Usually, when a targeted enemy jumps around you, the camera won’t know which way to turn and will start to spasm more than I would after a couple cups of coffee, definitely not pretty nor helpful.

I had a lot of time to experience these aggravating system flaws over the course of several hours of side-quests. There are about three worlds in which Death is introduced to, each as big as the last. This sandbox-like approach to the game gave it a very “Zelda”-ish feeling. This is one of the changes I felt improved the game greatly. Being able to explore the worlds and find several secret treasures and dungeons was all the more exciting when it was coupled with the magnificent scenery. The games environment and backdrops were absolutely breathtaking… sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, these graphics don’t compare to the real-world (whatever that is) Grand Canyon or The Great Wall, but they add so much depth to the game, it makes me WANT to explore.

Just one of the many stunning views in this game.

Now that the basic stuff is out of the way, it’s time to bitch. There are few games I will go out and buy, DarkSiders 2 being one of them. The rest I borrow or “GameFly”. After loving the first game so much, I figure dropping that much is obviously worth it. When I decided to spend the $60, though, I wasn’t aware I was buying a damn Beta. I’m sure some of you have heard the rumors, but I can tell you for certain. Around the 15 hour mark for me, roughly half-way through the game, I encountered a game-breaking glitch (and not the good kind). I was forced to completely start over from the beginning because of the Auto-Save function and the amazing ability to have only one save file. Through my wearisome second playthrough, I have had my game freeze on me about five times. Each time more frustrating than the last. . . Trust me, you can ask a certain friend who was on Skype with me about how many curse words I used in a span of 60 seconds. Not a pretty sight. After that, there’s even a world where you’re basically forced into a terribly simulated Resident Evil style 3rd-person shooter taking on around 300 zombies over an hour and a half. Needless to say, it was boring, clichéd, and R.E did it better. Next time, add more than two “guns”. . . punks.

Like his brother War, Death has a more powerful mode called “Reaper Form”.

The last thing that pisses me off is this stupid “Loot System”. When you kill enemies or open treasure chests, often times a weapon/armor piece will drop. But like any MMO, the loot is given random stats with a Max/Min. rate. Damnit to hell, if I wanted to play a trivial MMO, I would play one! Preferably one that doesn’t glitch up and freeze on me every time I pick it up! There are also several spots in the game that are very, very dry. From running to point A to point B being your only objective, gameplay gets incredibly stale late-game. And with a very limited move-set and ability list, Death himself almost becomes boring as well. Not to pile on, but his “gadgets” are pretty stupid too. At least War could use his in a fight. That’s the end of my little hissy fit.

Overview:

Story: 4/5 – Dark yet engaging story-line. I hope for a sequel, maybe one with less glitches; but if the story keeps the spark it has I’d love to see an end to the story one day.

Gameplay: 3/5 – While the beginning is somewhat familiar yet fresh, the end-game feels like you’re just repeating the same motions over and over. The added effect of acrobatics Death has makes dungeons a bit more fun; but even then, absolutely none of the puzzles were even remotely hard. Quests are the usual generic “Kill this monster, fetch that item” and don’t usually add anything to the story. . . Was also pretty pissed they took out the Quick Time Events (QTE) except for two extremely unexpected parts in the game. . . Screw you glitches.

Battle: 3/5 – Again, the battles seem to get old after awhile, kinda like how I keep saying that. Wash, Rinse, Repeat.

Visuals: 5/5 – The stunning scenery and backgrounds were top-rate. I could literally sit there and look around for a few minutes just to see what there was to look at. At one point, you can watch a two-headed dragon fight itself while you run down a staircase. Some of the debris could clip through the ground, but was never very noticeable.

Music: 2/5 – There wasn’t much music to be heard in this game, just ambiance music when travelling around the worlds that, to me, sounded a bit too much like WoW. The music that was played felt almost obligatory. Some boss fights had music, but nothing short of lackluster.

Overall: While Death loses a lot of his initial charisma, he also keeps a lot with the addition to parkour over most obstacles like “Prince of Persia”. I found several points to be dry and almost offensive, ( i.e the B.S “Resident Evil” style 3rd-person shooter stage) like trying to make a test run of the what might work on the next game. Being charged $60 for a glitched game didn’t make me much too happy either; hence some of the . . . less than stellar uses of swear words earlier. While I eagerly hope for a new DarkSiders, I don’t think I’ll be buying the next one. Big surprise, right?

Score: 17/25

That’s a D, and not the good kind. The bad kind, where you don’t pass class. If this game was taking English, it would fail. . . well not English, it did well in the dialogue/acting department. . . but you know what I mean. Screw you glitches.

Darksiders 2 Cover Art.