Darksiders II Review: Has All The Right Pieces For A Grand Adventure

Darksiders II Review: Has All the Right Pieces for a Grand Adventure

Darksiders II
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
THQ
Action/RPG

Darksiders II is an action-rpg that takes you on a great adventure with endless obstacles and puzzles, and the best thing about it is that it never seems to get too repetitive.

Story Trailer

Darksiders II is pretty much near perfect and almost non-stop fun in every aspect of the game. First of all, the setting and surroundings are wonderful. You may think the graphics might not be the best at times, but the scenery and the structures have some wonderful moments and viewpoints. It builds an awesome playground for the entire game. I also want to mention how well the music for the game enhances the experience. It’s a great soundtrack that you will enjoy throughout the game. What makes this game even greater is its execution. A game can be full of obstacles and puzzles for you to solve in order to get by, but if the execution isn’t there then you most certainly won’t enjoy endless hours of this type of gameplay. Thankfully, the execution in Darksiders II is very well done.

Starting out with the design of each area, it’s always a fun and new experience to progress to the next area. The simple execution of climbing along the walls and figuring out which direction to go next is always fun. Running along the walls is even more fun. Using a hand grip to grab an object to help move forward is even better. That’s one thing as well that makes this game great. You start out with your basics techniques and then you progress into new ways of moving forward. Darksiders II does an excellent job at introducing a new helping hand when it comes to progressing levels. It’s not just the same gameplay, it evolves ever so slightly, but enough, to add to the enjoyment. It quite literally is a helping hand at a certain point in the game. The puzzles that you will need to solve in order to move forward are very much the same way. The game starts you out with basic techniques and then introduces new objects in your surroundings that play a role in how you solve the puzzle at hand. Sometimes it will be easy, while other times it will cause you to ponder for a while.

12 Minutes of Gameplay Footage

I’m not always the biggest fan of progressing from one level to the next, solving puzzle after puzzle and getting through multiple obstacles to do so. However, I absolutely must say that my entire progression through the game was an absolute blast to play. It’s also balanced very well when it comes to implementing the amount of battles you get involved in. Solve one puzzle – get one battle. The different type of battles that spawn up are just right as well, from basic enemies that you’ll topple without a problem all the way to mid-major enemies that will have you slightly worried. It’s a great progression throughout the game.

The fighting in the game is an absolute blast and it does the action-RPG bit of the game to perfection; from the leveling up, unlocking new abilities and the hundreds of weaponry and gear that you can attach to Death. As you level up you will learn new attacking abilities that make the basic hack and slash even more fun as you continue to play. You have two main attacks with two different weapon types. Your main weapon is a fast weapon and your secondary weapon can be either a fast or slow weapon type. Obviously the slow weapon type will deal a higher level of damage but takes longer to swing at your enemy. Whichever you choose will make for a fun and unique battle experience. As you level up, the abilities that you can use are great additions to add in battle. Each attack maneuver you can do adds to the great combative gameplay that the game has to offer. It really is a lot of fun!

Gameplay Video – Basic Battle

There are many ways to get the items you need, whether it’s by defeating enemies, buying them from someone who is selling them or by opening a treasure chest, there are multiple ways of doing so. Each area that you explore is full of treasure chests for you to seek out, some harder and more challenging to get to than others. It’s always a lot of fun to add a new and more powerful weapon or piece of armor. It’s also fun to see how it affects the appearance of Death. They certainly got this part of the game right as well.

What makes the fighting even more enjoyable is that you have good enemies that are fun to attack. You certainly have that with the basic enemies, but then you also have a good sense for those mid-level enemies that are more challenging to take out. It has a good balance between your basic enemies and your mid-level guys. It also makes sure that you make good use of the dodge button, something that isn’t always necessary in some games. Now when it comes to the boss battles, those are just straight up fun and can actually be a little bit scary. Finding the weakness isn’t always apparent, but it’s usually easy to figure it out eventually. It most certainly always is a challenge in some way and makes good use of the game’s features in order to defeat the bosses.

Showing Off My Incredible Attacking Skills

For those of you who like extras, the game features plenty of those as well. First you have the “Serpent Tomes” which is an in-game messaging system that allows you to send and receive items with your friends. The Tome is used for random other things as well including how you will retrieve your pre-order items. Second is “The Crucible” which is a mystical arena where you battle it out against enemies. It is a 100 level combative challenge system that works by sending in waves of enemies. After every 5 levels completed you will get the chance to accept a prize or keep going. The further you get the more challenging the enemies become. If you happen to die while still battling, you won’t receive any prize at all. There are some great rewards to be earned by competing in The Crucible and by completing it. Last – there are online leaderboards for you to keep an eye on to challenge your friends and others. Such categories include highest combo, highest combo damage, best critical, total kills, The Crucible stat tracking and more.

Darksiders II is simply a must own title. It hits the right spot with the most important factor of any game which is the gameplay. It has an enjoyable story and a great setting in which the game takes place, a fun sense of adventure, and of course great action. It has its moments visually and as I said before, the soundtrack is absolutely wonderful and enhances the setting of the game even further.

Score: 9/10